The pack at large slept significantly later than they normally would have slept. There was almost no one interested in breakfast. Cullen actually opened his eyes at roughly the same time he normally would have. But he growled at himself, wrapped Aislinn more tightly in his arms, and went back to sleep as he listened to her purr and breathed in her scent.
Around noon a few of the omegas knocked on the main door to the alpha’s room. If the bedroom door hadn’t been left slightly open on the sitting room they probably wouldn’t have heard the knock. An annoyed growl from inside almost sent them away but then Aislinn called come in. Cullen grinned without opening his eyes. He liked the fact that she was getting confident enough to speak up like this was her room as well as his.
Aislinn sat up, holding the blanket over herself to see who it was. Cullen growled and tried to pull her back down in the bed. “Whoever it is it can’t be good. You should have let me scare them away.”
Aislinn sighed. “But there are so many people here. We should be downstairs already.”
Cullen popped one eye open. “That’s my line.” He rolled onto his back and looked at her. “What had Makeda been telling you?”
“What makes you think it was Makeda?” Aislinn grinned and headed for his door, taking the blanket with her and wrapping it around herself, to see what was going on. He watched her in amazement. She had come a long way in so short a time.
When Aislinn poked her head out the bedroom into the main room, there were three omegas bringing food in. “What’s this?” She walked out of the door and toward the little group.
The man who seemed to be in charge looked distressed when he saw her standing there. “You don’t have to get up, Mistress. We’ll bring it in to you. Keith sent up breakfast or lunch. There’s a little of both.”
Aislinn smiled and headed back into the bedroom. Cullen was lying there with his hands behind his head, not caring that he was completely naked and there were three people walking in behind Aislinn. He was impressed when Aislinn completely ignored the looks he got from the pretty omega who was helping with the trays. Aislinn got back into bed and laid down against Cullen’s side, putting her head on his shoulder and draping her arm across him, taking the blanket she had wrapped around her with it and covering the parts of Cullen she didn’t want the girl to look at. Cullen grinned and kissed the top of her head. She wasn’t really jealous or upset by the situation. Just making sure the girl was aware of the fact that he was claimed.
Cullen sat up, forcing Aislinn to sit up as well. She was meticulous about keeping herself covered. Cullen figured that it would be a long time before she got completely over that. There was a small possessive part of his brain that kind of liked the fact that she kept herself for him. Then there was the lycan part of his brain that was amused and wondered why she thought she needed to cover up. She was beautiful and should appreciate the fact that people enjoyed looking at her. He leaned over and kissed her cheek as the omegas set up the trays. She smiled at him knowingly. She had caught the entire thought process and was just keeping her comments to herself. He kissed her again.
The omegas smiled at each other and finished putting the trays of food together. There was way more food than either of them would eat. Aislinn’s stomach was bothering her a bit and she wasn’t really hungry. But she smiled gratefully at the omegas and said, “thank you” as they left. When she got strange but appreciative looks from them she shook her head. The door closed and Aislinn looked over her plate. “You know it really isn’t right that no one ever seems to be grateful of the omegas. I know the rank thing and all is important, but I feel guilty when I say ‘thank you’ and get looked at as if I’ve just given someone a present.”
Cullen pulled a piece of bacon off the tray and popped it into his mouth as he settled back into the bed. “You’re probably right. ‘Thank yous’ wouldn’t kill anyone. But I have to point out that the Arnauk omegas are generally treated better than most. You were just raised with a different idea about rank. If they want to be more appreciated then they should work a little harder and get themselves out of the omega role.”
Aislinn looked at him contemplatively then went back to her breakfast. She poked at a waffle covered in strawberries and whipped cream. “So what’s on the agenda for today?”
Cullen took in a deep breath and let it out as he thought about that. “Clean up. Why? What are you concerned about?” He could feel she was pushing in a particular direction.
“The books that caused all this trouble are still at Tairneach manor.”
He growled. If he had gone after those damn books back when she told him about them in the first place…
She interrupted his thoughts. “Not to mention the original implication was that I was supposed to stop someone else from getting the books away from the Tairneach.” There was a level of confidence in her tone that made him look at her differently.
He nodded. “Alright. When we’re done eating, we’ll head down to the rooms that the Tairneach were put in and get Jenna to tell us where the books are.” Then he pulled her to himself and kissed some whipped cream out of the corner of her mouth and licked his lips.
She giggled at him and they ended up laying back in the bed and kissing some more as his hand explored her breasts, pinching at one nipple and then another. He groaned as his cell rang. Aislinn reached over him and picked it up, knowing that he was finding her new sense of initiative amusing. “Yeah,” she said into the phone.
“Aislinn?” Keith’s voice was a bit bewildered.
She laughed. “Yeah, what do you need?”
Keith laughed with her. “You two didn’t finish the ceremony yet. Since when do you qualify to answer the great and mighty alpha phone,” he teased.
“Cute,” she said offhand as she lay across Cullen’s chest and his hands ran over her butt, sliding his fingers between her thighs and probing into more sensitive areas. “I reiterate. What do you need?”
“Oh,” Keith teased. “You’ve been taking lessons on how to talk mean to underlings. Cull can be pretty good at that when he wants. You know, the angry insistent tone, short snippy sentences…”
“Keith,” Aislinn insisted. Then her breath hissed out as she stifled a moan when Cullen pressed his fingers against her clit and began circling the little bud. Her legs spread involuntarily as he slid a finger inside her and she accidentally knocked her tray off the bed.
Keith laughed whole-heartedly as he heard the tell-tale hiss of breath and then the crash in the background. “I see. That’s pretty much my answer. I just needed to know if and when you two were coming downstairs. But I can tell you’re busy.”