Caleb retrieved his mate, aware there had been private communication with her brother but not concerned about it. He was slowly coming to adapt to the fact that he had to share his woman; that he had to let her fly free so she would always come home to him.
“Let’s go home, sweet one,” he whispered in her ear as she melted against him and gave him one of her many smiles that turned his heart inside out and made him forget all about breathing.
They said their goodbyes and headed outside, Rhianna pausing on the steps to look around the compound slowly. Caleb stopped at her side, following her gaze.
Two little brown and golden cubs were tearing around outside’s Cedar’s home, their parents watching carefully with slightly bemused expressions on their faces. Cedar looked up at Alexei and his arms came around her, a reassuring smile on his face as he held her close. He said something low under his breath and his mate giggled before they turned back to watch their daughters romp in the dirt in wolf form.
Lily and Kallum suddenly burst from their house, their annoyed father following them outside trying to keep a scowl on his face even as his lips twitched with amusement.
“Oh my!” Loretta said with a startled squeak as she came to stand beside Andrei. Her children seemed to shift of the run, one moment human children, the next two little black wolves, Kallum being slightly larger than Lily despite being the younger.
Excited yips filled the air as the Romanov children shifted for the first time, awkward and gangly for the first few moments as they adapted to four legs and then suddenly confident. They dived onto their cousins with glee, rolling in the dirt with them.
Loretta looked a little pale but Andrei appeared to take the shifting in his stride. He glanced at his mate and then turned to his brother. “Watch the kids for a couple of hours!” It wasn’t a request and he didn’t wait for an answer, simply picking Loretta up and vanishing into the house with her.
Further away, Nors and Ashleigh were coming out of the community centre, Liam running ahead towards the cubs. “Daddy, when will I be able to do that?” he called as he ran, laughing when Dara accidentally knocked him over. Immediately his laughter turned to shrieks of glee as the four cubs started licking him all over.
“You can ask Rayne later,” Nors called back, his arm around Ashleigh as she tensed slightly; worried the cubs would be too rough with her son. “Hey Alexei, watch Liam for us for a couple of hours.” Nors yelled.
A loud growl sounded in the air and a very frustrated expression crossed the blond vampire’s face. “Do I look like a fuc… erm I mean a bleeding babysitter?”
Cedar laughed as Nors quickly pulled his mate away in the opposite direction before Alexei could object further. “No, love,” she sighed softly. “Your fellow Ancients just trust you with the lives of their most precious little children. Instead of railing at it you should view it for what it is.”
She patted his tight ass lovingly as the children couldn’t see her. “And I’ll make it up to you later, lover,” she added with a sultry smile on her lips.
Alexei groaned and kissed her soundly; remembering inquiring little minds were around before he became too lost in her sweet taste. “Damned right you will, sweetheart.”
Rhianna sighed again as she watched the interaction, other wolves bustling around the compound doing their own daily activities. Her gaze turned to Caleb who was watching her expressive face. She smiled.
“Interesting how they can shift into different colours,” she remarked quietly referring to the cubs. “More unknowns about just what their many capabilities will be.” She wasn’t worried about it; it was intriguing more than concerning.
“I’ll feel easier once Demetri has contacted this Mackenzie person and the Praetorians are in place. I am surprised you don’t know of him, love. I trust Demetri but it still feels a little strange that there is someone out there who sounds so powerful and yet you’ve never come across him before.”
Caleb shrugged and pulled her into a tight embrace. “The most important thing is we both trust Demetri. He has often left my side over the centuries, gone his own way when the wanderlust took him. I’m sure he knows many others I have never met. But rest assured, sweet one, I will know all about Mackenzie before he is allowed anywhere near our family. Pietro too.”
Rhianna laughed softly, gazing up at him with total adoration on her face. “I had no doubt of that, my love. You will always protect what is mine.”
“What is ours, my Annie,” he corrected gently, bending his head to kiss her tenderly, savouring the sweetness that was her lips, drinking in the scent and taste of the woman that was his very heartbeat.
He heard more laughter within the compound, Jen and Aaron’s voices adding to the background, their children complaining that they’d have to wait until they were teenagers before they could shift into wolf form for the first time. He broke their kiss and leaned his forehead against hers, sighing softly.
“As much as I love our family, I want you home with me so I can taste every inch of you until you beg me to stop. Come, woman. Your vampire needs you.”
Soft tinkling laughter filled the air, the sweetest sound in his universe, after the low throaty moans his mate issued when he pleasured her so lovingly.
“Yes, Caleb,” Rhianna said meekly, laughter dancing in her eyes at the suspicious glint in his at her easy acquiescence.
“Come on, witch! Run with me.”
Hand in hand they vanished into the trees, Rhianna’s soft laughter still filling the air as they took off at breakneck speed, leaving the compound safe and secure behind them.
***** Dayton could feel how tense Freya was as he tugged her downstairs towards the front door. She gave a whole new meaning to the term ‘dragging your feet’ and he would have smiled at her reluctance if he didn’t feel the same way too.
When Rafe had called them into his study to quickly apprise them of the situation and what he wanted from them, Dayton’s heart had slammed hard into his chest. He was only just starting to feel comfortable around Aaron and Cedar after so long and now he had to face the rest of his family.