Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 109705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109705 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Instead of being annoyed, Roni was amused. “Be as bitchy as you like, woman, I saw you crying when I nearly drowned.” Kathy just huffed.
Brushing his lips over her temple, Marcus said, “Don’t remind me of that day.” The fear and anxiety hadn’t quite left him yet. As if she sensed that, she fleetingly rubbed his lower back. His mate still wasn’t a touchy-feely person, and he knew she never would be. But she was slowly becoming more and more tactile with him.
“I was just telling Roni and Marcus our little alternative to them switching packs.” Taryn repeated her proposal to Nick and Shaya.
“You would be willing to do that?” Shaya asked Trey.
The Phoenix Alpha male shrugged carelessly. “I don’t want to lose Marcus to another pack. He’s my friend as well as one of my best enforcers. Besides, Roni would make a valuable addition. That makes this a logical move.” And Trey was all about logic. When Kye struggled to get down, Trey placed him on the ground before turning to Nick. “What about you?”
Nick looked like he wanted to stamp his foot. “I don’t even like being blooded to my pack members.”
Marcus gave Nick a look of mock sympathy. “Need a hug? Bro?” He received a glower.
Stifling a smile, Shaya laid a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “I think it’s a good idea. We don’t want to lose Roni. And if you connect with Trey, Marcus would be ours as much as theirs.”
“But which Alpha would they answer to?” asked Dante, sliding his arm around Jaime. “It can’t be both.”
Trey snorted. “When has Marcus ever answered to anyone for anything?”
Nick sighed. “Yeah, Roni’s just the same. You won’t get obedience from her.”
“No,” agreed Taryn, “but we’ll get someone who can handle Greta. That makes your sister worth her weight in gold.” Jaime nodded in agreement. “Packs have done it before, including my father’s. As you know, Lance collects alliances, and it worked out well for him.”
Feeling someone fiddle with the back of her top, Roni twisted to see Dominic reading the label inside her collar. “What are you doing?”
He just nodded. “Made in Heaven. I knew it.” Jaime laughed, Marcus growled, and everyone else groaned. “I tell ya, I didn’t know angels could fly so low.” He chuckled when Marcus took a swing at him.
When Roni went to retaliate with a cheesy line of her own, Marcus clapped his hand over her mouth. “No.”
Eli, Tao, and the Phoenix and Mercury enforcers appeared, took in an irritated Marcus covering Roni’s mouth while Dominic laughed hysterically, and instantly summed up the situation. Ryan obligingly cuffed Dominic over the head.
“Ry! Ry! Ry!” To everyone’s amusement, Kye proceeded to climb the enforcer like he was a fence post. Poor Ryan couldn’t have looked more awkward.
Coming to Roni’s side carrying Lilah, Greta lightly kissed Roni on the cheek and gave her a winning, affectionate smile. “Hello, sweetheart, how are you feeling?”
“I’m good. You?”
“Oh, I’m fine. Now that one of my boys has found a worthy female, I couldn’t be happier.”
Taryn leaned toward Roni, her voice quiet. “Roni, I have to know how you do it.”
Greta sneered at the Alpha female. “It’s rude to whisper.”
“And yet, I just don’t care.”
“So,” began Trey, obviously looking to halt the argument, “what do you think, Nick? You willing to blood or not?” As he elaborated on the matter for Greta and the enforcers, Nick thought about it for a moment.
When the Mercury Alpha male finally spoke, it was to Roni and Marcus. “Is it what you guys want?”
Marcus looked at his mate, who was worrying her bottom lip. He could sense through their bond that she was seriously considering it, but something held her back. “What is it?”
“I like the idea of not having to choose between packs, but we’d still have to choose where to live, so I don’t see how belonging to both packs would make much difference.”
“We could just do what we do now: spend a few days a week here, and spend a few days a week at Phoenix territory.” It would mean that Roni had a break from Kathy when she needed it—as Eli predicted, the woman still did her best to taunt Roni and interfere in her life. Nick had eased up a little, but it was still irritating.
“That could work.” The arrangement would allow her to break away from her family’s hold without actually leaving them.
Nick nodded, handing Willow over to Shaya. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”
“You sure?” Roni didn’t want him to do it if he were truly against it.
“I don’t want to lose you to another pack, and I don’t want Fuller here twenty-four/seven. This works for me.”
Marcus chuckled, seeing the humor in Nick’s eyes.
Turning to face each other, the two Alphas sliced their palms and then slapped them together. Roni felt it as the links combined. It wasn’t like the two were one, but like each was an extension of the other. Everyone on the dance floor immediately sensed it and crowded around them. To Roni’s relief, they all seemed happy with the decision. In actuality, though, the only opinion that truly mattered was that of her mate.