“Maybe he’ll get mad enough to finish loading the dishwasher,” she bit out.
Sharone laughed. “Wanna bet?”
“Ten bucks he doesn’t,” Anya shot back.
“Ten bucks he does and the kitchen sparkles when he’s done. Alpha doesn’t like messes unless he makes them.”
Well hell, she had nothing to worry about then, because she was the biggest mess there.
She wasn’t much better by evening. Adrenaline was racing through her system and Dr. Armani wasn’t being helpful. Natural arousal her ass. There was nothing natural about her reaction to Del-Rey, and no one was going to convince her otherwise.
She waited until darkness fell to check the kitchen and turn over the ten bucks to Sharone, then she and the three other girls slipped out into the night.
The guards on duty were used to her slipping out; they didn’t even blink. As usual, when Del-Rey was on base, there was a strangely relaxed atmosphere. She’d slipped into the base a few times while he was there, when she had forgotten something she needed. She had noticed the difference. There was more of an air of camaraderie, a warmth that was lacking when he was on a mission. It made her feel curiously lonely, and aware that the Coyote home wasn’t complete when their alpha was gone. Their coya just wasn’t a fitting replacement.
Del-Rey stared around the kitchen and at the younger soldiers that had completed cleaning up the mess that had been made.
“How long has your coya had kitchen duty?” he asked one of them, strangely enough one of the men from his own group, not the group that came from the Russian facility.
The young Breed shrugged, glanced at his feet, then lifted his gaze to Del-Rey. “Whenever you aren’t here, Alpha,” he finally admitted.
“This is the reason I have the request for kitchen staff, in bold, in my coya’s list of requirements?” he asked the Breed.
“It’s not just me, Del-Rey,” the Coyote Breed breathed out roughly. “Sometimes we just forget to do things.
You know how we are. If we were perfect, we’d be Wolves, right?”
His own words thrown back at him. He growled in warning. The Breed cleared his throat and stepped back, but there was a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.
“Make a roster for kitchen duty,” he told the other man. “Put the Felines in first.”
He almost chuckled at the idea. Damn, he could see those Felines having fits already.
The Coyote Breed whistled soundlessly. “Alpha Lyons will protest.”
Del-Rey shrugged. “So, I’ll just protest right back the next time he puts our Coyote team on babysitting duty. Last time they were out, they had to make mud pies with the babies.”
“Yeah, but we liked that,” the soldier laughed. “Man, those Feline kids know how to pitch a mud ball.”
“Yeah, but Alpha Lyons protested,” Del-Rey reminded him. “So now his Felines can start off kitchen duty.”
They both chuckled as Del-Rey made his way from the kitchen and went searching for his coya. He found her scent in Command, in laundry. He found her scent in the new barracks being built within one of the caverns, and he found her scent in her bedroom. It was strongest there. The scent of feminine heat and delicious female.
Damn, why hadn’t he taken the time to go down on her when he had her in his bed? To run his tongue between the luscious folds of her pussy and lap at her like candy? He’d kicked himself a dozen times a day for missing out on that.
He found her scent in damned near every area of the base, but he didn’t find Anya. Activating the communications link, he clicked into Brim’s channel and waited while it beeped.
“I’m in Command, what’s up?” Brim answered him.
“Everything okay?”
“We picked up hunters on the eastern side of Base. We have a team heading out to cover them,” Brim answered.
“Pull in security monitors; see if you can find Anya.”
“Manage to lose her already?” There was a chuckle in Brim’s voice.
“Laugh at me later,” Del-Rey grunted. “For now, find her before I have to kick your ass.”