Michelle walked past them and muttered, “I felt his energy, vampire. He still wants me. Call me when he’s ready for some pups.” She left the building as if she’d won the final fight and Macauley assumed she would’ve slammed the door behind her if it hadn’t been broken all to pieces.
Adres turned and faced him with an I’m-two-seconds-from-blowing-you-away-also expression.
“Don’t look at me like that.” Macauley gave Adres his most charming, innocent smile. “You know I can feel that you’re not really angry with me, right?”
Adres continued to glower.
“And I also know that you rather enjoyed bursting in here in the middle of the day and showing off your powers just now.”
Adres clenched his teeth, knowing he was busted when Macauley pulled him into his arms, still feigning upset.
“And you also know that I do not want her.”
“She said she felt your energy,” Adres scolded.
Macauley snorted. “That was gas.”
Adres seemed to catch himself from laughing, but Macauley felt his amusement still.
“Are you ready to go see the omega?” Adres allowed Macauley to kiss him on his cheek.
“Sure. But first.” Macauley walked over to the storage closet and pulled out a large industrial broom and dustpan. “You’re going to clean up this mess you made.”
Adres blinked for a moment, but Macauley didn’t budge. Eventually, Adres yanked the broom from his hands and began to sweep up the glass. He cast Macauley a dirty look over his shoulder every couple of minutes, but he liked it. Liked his mate feisty.
While Adres cleaned in his fine suit and robe, Macauley straightened his papers on his drafting board, then sat down and got back to work. “I’ll bill you for the windows. Next time I suggest you just kick the door open like a normal angry person.”
Adres was sitting at the dining table in Justice’s home talking with Wrath and Belleron as they waited for Taleb and his new mates to come over. It had been almost a week before Taleb decided that he and Henry had healed their omega mate enough for him to come out and meet the pack.
“So, how have things been with you and Mac?” Wrath asked with Belleron on his lap.
“Splendid, my friend,” Adres answered.
“And that expression you just made radiated the word ‘splendid’.” Belleron scoffed.
“Trust me. If he says it’s splendid, then it is.” Wrath grunted, his smoky eyes leveled on Adres. “But don’t expect it to reflect on his face. Hundreds of years of being disguised as evil has its lasting effects, I presume.”
“I see.”
Wrath kissed Belleron on his neck, a puff of steam escaping his lips before he closed his mouth over a mark that looked like a healed third-degree burn. Belleron dropped his head back, his long, inky mane falling over Wrath’s arm as the kiss intensified. Adres got up and silently excused himself, not wanting to be a voyeur to their bond. He was appreciative that Aleksei allowed Wrath to surface so much when he was around. It was nice to have a familiar face at his new home, someone he was positive he could trust besides his cherished.
Everyone was in the living room, and Adres took his seat beside Macauley on one of the leather sectionals. He absently placed a possessive hand on Adres’s thigh while he continued having an animated conversation with his sister. Instead of interrupting their conversation, Adres observed Justice and Wick’s pack enforcers and officers filing into the large, open room.
“So where is he?” Farica asked when there was a break in the various muted conversations. “He’s made us wait a whole damn week already. What’s the hold—”
“He is coming, Farica.” Justice glared. “Be patient.”
“He is here,” Taleb said from the entrance to the living, his masculine, sure voice cutting off the remaining chatter.
Adres didn’t know Taleb Volkov as well as he’d gotten to know his siblings over the past months, but he understood him to be the most intelligent and steadiest of his brothers. Adres had not seen Taleb since before he’d left for the Monstrous Reef. Somehow, he looked older, more mature, in his dark blue jeans and crisp white collared shirt.
There were gasps and other vocal reactions as Taleb reached behind him and took each of his mates’ hands, “Justice, Wick, family. I want you to meet my mates. Henry Fitzwell.” The usually shy vampire stood at his alpha’s side with his head high and his mating mark on full display. Adres’s eyes widened when Taleb motioned for his second mate to come forward. “And Orion Whitefly.”
It was almost comical the way everyone in the room turned their noses upward, nostrils flaring as they inhaled the omega’s amazing scent, which was still as incredible as before, but minus the heat and pheromones, therefore far less trance-inducing. The stunning white-haired man blinked, his long lashes fanning over his violet eyes as he smiled at them as if the pleasure was all his.