Christmas for the Wolves & a Wolf for Valentine's Day (Grey Wolf Pack) (19 page)

“Both beautiful, angel.” He leaned down and brushed her lips with a kiss. His beast was prancing around in glee.
They were going to have a little girl!
He hoped she was just as pretty as her mother. Finding out this news had made up his mind.

“I’ve decided to give up my job as Sheriff,” he told her, abruptly.

“You have?”

He nodded fervently. “I want to spend more time with you, and devote more time to my duties as Beta. I think I’ve been letting things slide a little.” He was referring to the fact that recently a number of pups had been breaking into the richer houses in their town and using the pools. “What do you think?”

“I think that’s a good idea; I’ve decided not to work as the receptionist anymore. I had a talk with Delilah, and I think you should give her the job while she’s pregnant. I think it will be ideal for her, and I think she’ll be better than me anyway.”

Alec grinned as his wolf roared in approval. That sounded great. They could each devote themselves more fully to each other and the pack. “That sounds perfect, angel. Have I ever told you I love you?”

Her eyes twinkled. “Not in the last thirty seconds.”

She giggled as he leaned down for a hungry kiss, ignoring the gapes of the passersby.
Mate. Mine.

Casey & Deanna – Party

13
th
February

Deanna hummed as she gathered her purse and coat. After a long shift she was on her way home, soon enough she’d be curled up in bed with her hot, wolf shifter honey. Yep, everything was good.

Deanna was a bobcat shifter who worked as a Sheriff’s Deputy in the small town of Rose, VA. Recently she had mated with a wolf shifter called Casey. It hadn’t exactly been an easy road from meeting to mating, but now she was happier than she’d ever been.
She firmly believed that all women should have a six foot two tower of sexiness who worshiped the ground they walked on.

Her fellow Deputy Jake Foreman strode through the door. He blew on his cold hands shucked out of his coat. “Your stalker’s outside.”

She smiled as her bobcat pranced around in anticipation. “Which one?”

He rolled his eyes. “The big one.”

Deanna stifled a giggle as her bobcat almost purred. “See you tomorrow, don’t stay too late.”

Jake cocked her a rueful smile and sat down at his desk. He was a good guy and very dedicated to the job, so much so that he went the extra mile and put in hours of overtime. Crime wasn’t exactly rampant in their town, but there was always someone who wanted help.
Usually for a cat up a tree.

She’d had a teeny-weeny crush on Jake when they first started working together.
Alright, maybe it wasn’t that teeny-weeny.
Of course, all that changed when she met Casey, but she was still fond of Jake.

As for the stalker thing…
Deanna had somehow managed to make herself the objection of affection of two twin teenage bear shifters. When they weren’t in school, they followed her around and had even started leaving her gifts. They figured that they had to start going the extra mile since she was now mated. They pissed Casey off no end, but she thought they were sweet. And hey, it didn’t hurt that they made him up his game, she’d received breakfast in bed every single day for the past week.

Deanna went out into the cold night to find her handsome wolf waiting impatiently. The moment she got out the door, Casey beamed and swept her up into a spine-tinglingly warm kiss.

He pressed kisses over her cheek and down her neck, before licking her bonding mark. She shivered pleasurably. “Ummm, hi, honey.”

“I missed you, kitten,” he murmured gruffly, his wolf howled in agreement.

She chuckled as her hands roamed over his hard chest. “It’s only been a few hours.”

Casey always made excuses to come see her throughout the day. They were never apart for very long.

He grunted as his wolf grumbled. “I just saw Jake go into the station.”

Deanna bit her lip to stop herself from laughing as her bobcat rolled around. It wasn’t funny. Really, it wasn’t. A couple of weeks ago, while in bed, they’d been talking about past crushes. They had teased each other, and after Casey had tickled her into submission, she admitted that her most recent crush was Jake. Ever since then, he’d been huffy and standoffish toward the older male. Deanna found her grumpy mate infinitely adorable.

“Yeah, I passed him as I was leaving, he did give me a hug goodbye though…”

Casey roared and easily hefted Deanna up and onto his back. It had quickly become routine that Casey would pick her up from work. Literally, pick her up. He always carried her home, sometimes on his back, sometimes princess style and once doing a fireman’s lift. They did garner quite a few looks, but Deanna didn’t care. The responsible streak in her told her that she should. But the bobcat and her wilder side didn’t give a damn.
They weren’t hurting anyone, and a little fun couldn’t hurt.

Deanna wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Only teasing, wolfy. Now, giddy-up.”

Casey huffed but set off a tremendous pace. “Minx, just wait ‘til I get you home.”

*

Casey grinned as he looked down on his tiny mate’s body sprawled over his. They’d only been together for a few weeks, but it was the best few weeks of his life. His wolf concurred as the beast panted like a puppy. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was. His beautiful mate was sweet, playful, driven, smart and unbelievably sexy. She was a complex little thing and to him she was absolutely perfect.
He didn’t deserve her, but he was damned if he was ever going to let her go.

He stroked her back as she dozed on his chest. She lifted her head and gave him a beatific smile. “Hmmm, so what do you want to do for Valentine’s Day?”

Casey ran a thumb over her jaw. He knew what he wanted to do, and it involved them being naked and not leaving their bed. However, he didn’t want to disappoint his mate. “What do you wanna do?”

“Hunter told me they were having a party…”

Casey tensed as his wolf snarled in annoyance. Hunter was an old friend of Casey’s – they’d known each other since birth and Casey trusted him implicitly, except… his wolf didn’t like her talking to any unmated male.
And Hunter had tried to ask her out on a date before.

“When did you see Hunter?” he asked stiffly.

“I just ran into him on the street.”

Casey snorted, and Deanna pinched his arm, making him flinch. “No need to be crabby. I was on my way out, and he was coming out of the Diner. We started chatting, and he just mentioned that he and Jimmy were having a party. He invited us both to stop by.”

Casey pursed his lips as his wolf growled lowly. Jimmy and Hunter were his closest friends and shared a house on pack land. When Casey mated with Deanna, he decided to leave the pack, but it didn’t change his relationship with his friends.
The fact that his jealous wolf had trouble dealing with unmated males being around his mate - that was the problem.

“You mean he invited you and said that you could bring me if you wanted.”

She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. “No, more like he invited me because I’m your mate. He’s your friend, if we weren’t together, I wouldn’t be welcome.”

“Please, the asshole virtually drooled the last time he saw you.”

Deanna frowned remembering when the four of them had shared an impromptu lunch at the Honeypot Diner. “I’m pretty sure he was just hungry and deeply envious of my bacon double cheeseburger. Come on, if I wasn't your mate, neither Jimmy or Hunter would want a Sheriff’s Deputy at their party. And I’m hardly the kind of girl who gets invited to those parties by guys like them.”

His wolf snapped his jaws. “What does that mean?”

She rolled her shoulders. “I’m not exactly the kind of girl that attracts that kind of attention.”

Casey bit back a roar. “First of all, you don’t have to sound so upset that more men don’t hit on you. You’re off the market - don’t ever forget that. Secondly, you’re the hottest girl in the world. Given half a chance, those horny mutts would be all over you. I can’t forgive Hunter for asking you out…”

Deanna groaned, and her bobcat flexed her claws. “It was before we were a couple and it was more like a knee-jerk reaction. He didn’t really want to date me.”

Casey muttered under his breath, and she began feathering kisses over his chest. Her bobcat let out a soft, soothing purr. “I just think that the party will be fun.”

“Please, It’ll be full of drunken dickheads who will try to hump anyone who moves.”

She chuckled. “You know from experience?”

He nodded. “I used to be one of them.” He cupped her cheek. “Trust me, that party is not the place for a sweet bobcat like you.”

“Sweet? You make me sound like some kind of naïve little girl; do I need to remind you of how we first met?”

A lascivious smile flashed over his features as his wolf howled gleefully. Nope, she definitely didn’t have to remind him. Admittedly, parts of that night were a blur due to too much alcohol, but their first encounter, a steamy liaison in a handicapped bathroom, was firmly ingrained into his memory.

He ran his hands down her back and softly massaged her buttocks. “That depends on how you’re going to remind me.”

Deanna smiled and traced circles with her finger on his chest. “I just kind of thought it would be nice to relax, and not have to worry about anyone else for one night.”

Casey felt an immediate twinge of guilt. Growing up he’d been pretty wild and had happily sowed his wild oats, doing whatever the hell he wanted. But Deanna had always had to be responsible and take care of her younger siblings. Not that she minded, she was absolutely devoted to her family and wouldn’t swap her life for anything. It just meant that she hadn’t exactly had any chance to really be a kid.

As it stood, he and Deanna were sharing a house with her grandmother, four younger siblings and the mate of one of her siblings. The family all pulled together to support one another, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t want to let loose once in a while and not worry about whether everyone would make it to school, or their doctor and dentist appointments on time.

While some people thought that Deanna and Casey were ill-matched, Deanna completely disagreed. She was making him more responsible, and he was showing her how to have a good time. They complimented one another.

Deanna saw him wavering. “Grandma’s away visiting her friends in Florida and the kids are sleeping over at your mom’s house for the night. We have a free night, so let's have some fun.”

“We can have fun at home, just the two of us.”
Free from dozens of unmated males slobbering over her.

“We do that every night…”

His wolf was getting increasingly frustrated with the direction of this conversation. “Because it’s better than going out.”

“We don’t have to stay long…”

“We don’t have to stay at all,” he replied stubbornly.

Deanna gave him a naughty smile. “Just an hour and then you’ll have me for the rest of the night.”

“No, absolutely not. I am putting my foot down. We are not going to that party.”

*

14
th
February

Deanna squeezed her mate’s hand as she pulled him into Hunter and Jimmy’s house. He harrumphed but allowed her to lead him through the throng of people.

The party was in full swing. Hunter and Jimmy had actually thrown around a few pink and red streamers to make the house look festive. They found both hosts in the living room playing pool. Casey’s eyes bulged on seeing that both his friends were already shirtless.
It appeared to be some kind of strip pool…

They both grinned and ducked out of the game on seeing Deanna and Casey.

“Hey guys!” Hunter moved to give Deanna a hug and Casey pulled her back against his body, snarling at the other male.

Hunter chuckled. “Settle down, killer.”

“Glad you came,” said Jimmy. “Drink?”

Deanna asked for a beer and Casey said he wasn’t thirsty. Since bonding with Deanna, he had eased up on drinking.
Spending time with his pretty mate was much more fun than being drunk.

Casey helped her out of her coat and dumped both his and hers in the closet. He held back a growl as he came back to find Deanna sipping her beer and chatting to his two friends. Immediately, he approached and snaked one hand around her chest and the other around her waist. He forced himself not to growl the word ‘mine.’ They knew she belonged to him; he didn’t honestly think they would try anything with her. It’s just that he’d feel a little more secure once they were mated.

Deanna rubbed her mate’s arm with her spare hand. Everyone seemed like they were having a good time, and most people were already drunk and a lot were involved in some heavy petting. A warm, happy buzz pulsated through the party.

She looked between Jimmy and Hunter. “The party’s great, but how can you afford to ply all these people with beer? It must be costing a fortune.”

Jimmy shook his head. “Nah, everyone gives us money to cover anything they eat or drink.”

“Or destroy,” muttered Casey, as one rambunctious couple making out on the couch managed to knock over a lamp.

“Eat?” asked Deanna, looking round for food.

“Yeah, there’re about eighteen bags of pretzels in the kitchen. You should check them out.”

“I will; so what’s the charge?”

Hunter grinned. “Twenty bucks for females and thirty bucks for males.”

Deanna frowned, but Casey rolled his eyes. That arrangement had been his suggestion when the three of them first started throwing parties.
They wanted more females at the parties than they did males.

“Oh, I didn’t realize. I can…”

Hunter winked at her and then smirked at Casey. “No charge for you, beautiful.”

Casey grunted as his wolf snapped and snarled. Hunter was just an ass; there was nothing to it.

Deanna graced his friends with a sweet smile.
Far too sweet for those two bozos
. “Thanks guys, we’re grateful, right, Casey?”

She elbowed her grumbling mate, and he muttered his agreement.

“I’m impressed so many people turned up.”

Hunter chuckled. “It’s Valentine’s! Everyone’s looking for love.”