Christmas for the Wolves & a Wolf for Valentine's Day (Grey Wolf Pack) (15 page)

She pushed herself up and leaned on her elbow. “I agree with that.”

He cocked her a lopsided smile. “My Valentine’s gift to you is not being a pushy asshole and forcing you to give up your job.”

Delilah nodded solemnly. “And my gift to you is that I won’t be stubborn, and I will agree only to take on light duties. I promise to cower in the background while everyone else runs into the face of danger.”

He leaned up and brushed a kiss over her lips. “That’s all I ask.”

She pouted prettily. “But seriously, where’s my real Valentine’s present?”

Andy laughed and carefully got out of bed. She watched his naked form move around the room, and her wolf growled.
Mmmm, delicious
.

Moments later, he slipped back into bed and handed her a small box. She smiled excitedly and pulled it open to reveal a pair of shimmering opal earrings.

“They’re beautiful,” she breathed as she slipped them on.

He ran his fingers over her ears, admiring how lovely she looked. He pressed his lips to hers for a hungry kiss. She pushed him back into the bed and clambered over his body, running her hands up and down his chiseled torso.

Andy broke away, eyes blackening with desire as his bear growled lustfully. “If this is my present, I say good choice.” He nipped her shoulder with blunt teeth before flourishing kisses over her.

“Actually, your present is in the top of my closet. It’s a case of Happy Heart Honeybuns.”

Andy stopped and pulled back to look at her face. “You’re joking?”

She shook her head. “Nope, I had them imported just for you.”

His eyes sparkled. “They’re my favorite.”

Delilah giggled. “I know; it’s a box of fifty, so I figure that should last you until, oh, at least next week.”

His lips twitched as he tried to look serious. “I don’t know; a week’s an awfully long time and they really are delicious. They taste almost as good as you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Thanks, that’s so flattering.”

“It is; they taste unbelievable.” His bear concurred vociferously. “We’re okay, honey, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, we’re terrific.”

“Good.” He flipped her onto her back, and she squealed. “Because, although you’re already pregnant, I would like more kids in the future, and I figure we should get practicing.” He slid a hand inside her pajamas. “Practice makes perfect.”

“Oooh,” she cooed, “I don’t think you need the practice, but it is Valentine’s Day…”

Her wolf howled in glee and his bear rumbled in pleasure as they kissed passionately.
Mate. Mine.

Terri & Mal – Ghosts of Relationships Past

14
th
February

Terri Tanner awoke to the gentle chirping of the birds; her whole body felt free and unhindered.
Damn that wolf was sneaky!
She rubbed her belly and sighed, the baby dutifully kicked her fiercely.
It felt like she was breeding a kickboxer
.

She was just shy of six months pregnant and had been delighted to find out she was having a boy. Her mate’s mother, Ellie, although happy, had groaned when she found out.
Another troublemaking Tanner boy was on the way
. Apparently, Tanner women had only given birth to boys for the past five generations. Ellie was still hopeful Terri was the one to end the 'curse.' Unlike the rest of Mal’s family, who were all grey wolf shifters, Terri was human.

Over the past few months, since bonding with Mal, Terri had slowly become accustomed to waking to her mate’s foghorn-like snoring, and to find herself trapped under one of his limbs. It didn't matter how he fell asleep, ultimately he would work himself over to her half of the bed,
well her third of the bed
, and throw a leg or an arm over her. Meaning she couldn't move without waking him up. He denied he did it on purpose, but the amusement in his eyes said otherwise.

She couldn't even get up to pee without him knowing. Which also meant that if she happened to feel a bit queasy, and had to throw up in the night, he also knew.
Which was one of the reasons why she had woken so easily that morning
. Her pregnancy sickness had flared up dramatically in the last few weeks. Three weeks ago she had started waking up each morning at 3am to puke. Mal had diligently held her hair while rubbing her back, then gently washed her face and held her until she went back to sleep.

Mal was patient and affectionate, making her love him even more. However, Mal had been adamant that they shouldn't make love because clearly she was unwell. She disagreed; she said that most of the time she felt fine, it was just the 3am spike that was causing a problem. Of course, when they argued they were already in their bedroom getting ready for bed, and she was taking her clothes off... When she smoothly pulled him down to the bed and kissed him, he couldn't resist and gave in to her.
Sucker
.

Then, a week ago, after very little sleep the night before, she had fainted. Luckily she had been at home, and Mal had caught her before she fell and hurt herself. But since then, Mal had been careful to come to bed after she fell asleep and leave before she awoke. Hence her easy, noise-free awakening! What was even more maddening, was the fact that since she fainted, she hadn't thrown up once. She was feeling a hell of a lot better, better than she had throughout the whole pregnancy. But now, she couldn't even get her mate to touch her!

Not for long if she had her way.

"Happy Valentine’s Day, baby!" Mal erupted into the room; it was pretty much the only way he ever entered a room.

His thick blonde hair was still tousled from sleep, and a wide grin covered his pretty face. Wearing only a pair of jeans, his luscious chest packed with hard muscles was tantalizingly displayed. Terri felt herself becoming aroused; she could barely even remember the last time she got her hands on his gorgeous body.
Patience, she told herself
.

He set a tray down on a chest of draws and came over to the bed, lifting her up into a sitting position, carefully arranging some pillows to support her back.

She eagerly threw her arms round his neck and kissed him soundly. Gently, he removed himself from her clutches and gave her a disapproving glare.

Terri pouted at him slightly. “Happy Valentine’s Day to you too, sunshine." He caressed her stomach and felt their son give a sound kick before moving away.

Mal brought the tray over and settled it over her lap. It contained fresh orange juice, a cup of caffeine free tea, some pancakes shaped like hearts covered in maple syrup and blueberries, and a bunch of lilies.
He always told her she smelt like lilies
.

“Aww, this is lovely, thank you."

He settled next to her, and she leaned over for a kiss, which he carefully dodged. She scowled at him.

He snickered. “Don't look at me like that, we're not doing anything until you feel better.”

She huffed at him. “I already told you I feel fine.”

“Alright, we’re not doing anything until I feel that you're feeling better. Until then, you're just going to have to control yourself, I know it's not easy having to look at this body...”

Terri snorted and began attacking her breakfast with relish; she demolished it within two minutes flat.

Mal looked at her wide-eyed. "Damn baby, I don't think you even came up for air then.”

She rubbed her baby bump. After a rocky start to the pregnancy, where she could barely stand to eat anything, she was practically hoovering up all food within sight. In spite of some bouts of sickness, she was now pretty big, bigger than other women at this stage of pregnancy in fact.
It gave her an idea.

“You think I'm too big, don't you? You think I eat too much? That I'm too fat! You don't find me attractive anymore!” Her eyes began to tear up, and Mal looked heartbroken.

“Of course not, baby, you're so beautiful.” He moved the tray away and put one arm round her shoulders, and covered her hand on her belly with his.

“You're the most beautiful woman in the world, and no matter what, you always will be. In fact, I don't think you eat enough.”

She sniffed. “Do you still think I'm sexy?”

“Of course I do, no question baby.”

Terri ran her fingers down his cheek and intertwined her fingers with his over her bump. She guided his face down for a kiss.

“What do you find sexy about me?" she asked him coyly.

Mal began planting small butterfly kisses over her face and neck. “These sexy lips, this sexy big brain, this sexy ear of yours, this sexy neck...”

“ Yes... yes... more...” she moaned.

Abruptly, he stopped and pulled back. "Hey, wait a second, you're trying to seduce me!”

She smirked at him. “Well, a moment ago I was succeeding...”

He got up from the bed and pulled on a t-shirt. “Nice try baby, but we’re still not doing anything.” He winked at her and left the room.

She crossed her arms. “Better sleep with one eye open sunshine...” She muttered just loud enough for him to hear. He hooted with laughter as he clomped downstairs.

*

Mal fingered the ring in his pocket again.
About the fiftieth time he had that day
.

He'd spent the entire day in a state of agitation waiting until the moment he could see Terri again;
he couldn’t wait to see her face when he showed her the ring
.

He worked as a pack Enforcer, which was basically a cop/security guard. Work had been interminable, and his boss, Acksel had been forced to yell at him repeatedly to get him to concentrate. But, finally, he was on his way to see her.

Terri had eschewed celebrating Valentine’s Day. She didn't like the idea of going anywhere crowded, and they were pouring all their money into building their house, so no date night and no presents. They decided to stay in and watch a movie.

Mal could get behind the idea of snuggling up on the couch with his mate all night, rather than going to a snobby restaurant and potentially having other men ogle his female. He didn't seem to realize that her overly large baby belly might in some way be a turn off for other men.
Well, it didn't turn him off, he could barely contain himself round her, so he assumed everyone else felt the same way...

He didn't, however, like the idea of her not getting a present. True, money was tight, but he had the perfect present.
His grandmother’s engagement ring
. It was a pretty emerald set in a butterfly shape with tiny diamonds adorning the wings. His mom had gladly passed it on to him to give to Terri. He'd had it resized, and it was ready to go.

As far as shifters went, they were married, and Terri was off limits. The bite mark he had put on her shoulder proved that. Humans, however, didn't notice the subtle mark and so he thought it wise for her to have a ring on her wedding finger, to avoid any nasty mistakes.

Mal couldn't wait to give it to her. They'd order pizza and settle down, and then he would spring it on her. Alright, so not the most romantic plan, but he knew Terri would love it.

Perhaps tonight they could have sex... if they took things slowly, of course. He was practically on fire with need for her. His wolf was roaring at him to take her,
and she wasn’t making it easy
... Despite her protestations, she had been pretty ill and not up to making love, but she had been more than keen to try and had tempted him at every turn.

If he wasn't careful, she talked her way around his resolve, and before he knew it, he was ripping her clothes off and taking his pleasure in her exquisite body. Hence, the need to avoid her at the danger times, which were bedtime and morning. He slept at her side, of course; he needed to be there just in case she became ill. He just couldn't afford to be there when she was undressing... but tonight, if she was okay, that could change.

He bounded up the library steps to surprise her. Terri had taken up the post of head librarian after coming to town a couple of years ago. Terri was supposed to be getting a ride home with his younger brother Darryl, but Mal wanted to surprise her, and Darryl had a date anyway.

With some trepidation, he noticed it was Mrs. Martin manning the library front desk. When he was younger, he had destroyed both her apple tree and her car while trying to spy on her - he was convinced she was a demon.
He still wasn’t totally convinced otherwise yet
. She still hated him for it. Some people just hang onto small things like that.

"Hey, Mrs. Martin, is Terri out back?"

She gave him a thin smile. "I'm afraid she left over an hour ago," she told him with a certain amount of glee.

Mal rubbed his jaw. “Wasn’t she feeling well?”

“She seemed very chipper to me, said she had plans.”

Huh
. "Okay, thanks Mrs. M."

Her eye twitched; she hated being called
Mrs. M
. She quickly gave him a smug smile. “But if you do eventually catch up with her, let her know that handsome man was in here earlier today looking for her again.”

His wolf snarled. He forced himself to remain calm; he didn't want to give this woman any reason to spread malicious gossip about Terri. "Oh?"

“Yes, now what was his name?” She tapped her chin with a purple nail pretending to think about it. Every muscle in his body tensed while he forced himself not to allow his wolf to rip her throat out.

“Jameson St. John. Older man, very distinguished and well spoken. Said he was an old friend, and he was keen to meet up with her. Although maybe they've already caught up with one another, that's probably why she left early. Forget I said anything, dear." Her eyes sparkled maliciously.

Mal exhaled deeply. "You got it Mrs. M."

He turned and forced himself to walk slowly outside. Slowly to his truck, get in and carefully lock the door. Then he let out a furious roar. His wolf prowled in his mind.

Jameson St. John
. He'd know that name anywhere. The fucker who Terri had fallen head over heels for, gotten pregnant by, dumped by and then found out he had been married with two kids the whole time. Then she had lost the baby in a car accident. That part of her life was a source of great pain to her, and now that bastard was here trying to stir it all up.
Jameson St. fucking John
.

After the accident, Terri said Jameson had told her he loved her and tried to restart their affair. She had hightailed it out of Alexandria and moved here to the town of Rose instead.
Best decision she ever made as far as Mal was concerned
.

What if this guy wanted her back? What if he started declaring that he loved her and had left his wife for her? Would Terri be swayed by that?
No, of course not
. She loved Mal, and they were having a baby together. The rational part of his mind told him that. His wolf, however, demanded proof of this and wouldn't be satisfied until Jameson had left town.
In a body bag would be preferable to the wolf.

There was a time when Terri considered Jameson to be the love of her life, but he was off limits. Might those feelings within her be reignited if he was now suddenly available?

His phone chirruped. Dazedly he looked and saw it was a message from Terri. ‘Come to our house immediately, it’s urgent. We need to talk.’

Oh god!
She was leaving him for Jameson. She asked to meet in their half-constructed home for privacy, so none of his family could hear her dumping him. She would ride off into the sunset with her rich, older lover and leave Mal heartbroken and alone.

The asshole probably had an enormous house with two kitchens, five bathrooms and walk-in closets! Whereas with Mal, she was forced to live with him in his parents’ house and his three noisy, uncouth younger brothers while they very slowly tried to build their own house next door.