“Hi, I’m Jaz and this is Sheila,” a woman with a close crop head of hair said, holding out a square hand. Her other was linked to Sheila’s hand. “That’s Nick, Mel, and Joe. We’re down on Jakers Street, up the end.”
“Hi, guys,” I said with a lame wave. I felt hopelessly awkward, and doing this over and over tonight hadn’t seemed to alleviate that. It didn’t matter, Jaz turned to Slade with a broad grin.
“Slade, you fucker! I never in a million years thought anyone would willingly choose to put up with your shit, and on a permanent basis?” She looked over her shoulder at me. “You know what you’re getting yourself in for?”
“Pretty sure,” I replied.
“Ah well, too late now, I guess.”
“Hey, if Sheila’s prepared to put up with your crap—” Slade spluttered, but the woman yanked him into a hug, slapping her hands on his back, and he returned the gesture with gusto. “Thanks, mate.”
“Best of luck to you, and if he gets too much, just let us know,” she said to me with a cheeky grin. “We’ll sort him out.”
“But seriously,” Sheila said with a roll of her eyes. “We’d love to have the two of you over for dinner one night.”
“Sure,” I said. I needed to start making some friends, now that I was apparently staying here for the rest of my life. “That'd be awesome.”
“I’ll give you a call,” she said with a smile before her group moved to place a moving-in present in a pile with the others.
When I turned back to greet the next person, I thought it’d be more of Slade’s family or our new neighbours. I hadn’t expected to see Aaron, still in khaki fatigues, with several of his similarly dressed colleagues at his back.
“Aaron! You’re off rotation? I thought you weren’t on break until tomorrow.”
“Princess,” Slade said with a nudge. I watched, my mouth dropping open, as Aaron and his guys all dropped down to one knee. “I told you there would be ceremonies.”
“Julie, daughter of Marian, I ask that you accept this token as a symbol of my regard for you. I wish to start the petitioning process to join your pack. My deepest wish is that I will prove worthy, and that I will take a place by your side. As part of my offer, I gift to you the arms of my brothers, so that they might fight for you in any conflict and protect you from those that would hurt you.” I scanned all eight of the men, then darted a quick look at Slade. He just shook his head slightly. “I believe I will bring strength and security to your pack.”
Apparently, that was the end of that, as he got to his feet, the guys behind him following suit. As the crowd clapped, he fished something out of his pocket. It was a small carved pendant, made from a gorgeous jade green stone, that hung from a leather thong. “I’ve been making it while on roster,” he said in a lot less formal tone, stepping in closer so only I could hear him. “You don’t have to take it. It doesn’t mean anything at this stage, just a gesture, that I’d like to see where things might go.”
All of a sudden, the noise and the people around us fell away. Aaron and I didn’t have the same relationship as I did with Slade. If anything, we weren’t much more than fuck buddies. I liked him well enough, that which I had seen of him. He’d been called back to active duty quicker than the other guys, and when he got home, the need to touch each other was so strong, it crowded out everything else. I felt that same hunger now, my fingers going out automatically to brush against his chest. He saw them, grabbing them with his own and pressing them against the broad muscle there. When I turned to answer him, he’d bowed his head, his lips only inches from mine. I could feel the fan of his breath on my skin.
“Yeah, of course,” I said, feeling the need to slide my hand between those buttons to the warm, hard flesh beneath it. His grin was lighting quick, then he darted forward, sealing whatever this was with a kiss. It was probably supposed to be some nice, neat, social thing, but as soon as his lips touched mine, both of our mouths parted, and his hands slid up into my hair as his tongue flicked out.
I was dimly aware of cheers coming from the crowd as we kissed, something that forced its way into my consciousness when we finally pulled away. Aaron looked inordinately pleased, while I just glanced around, blinking. Slade grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze, which helped me to focus back on the here and now.
“God, I’d love to see him fill you with his cum,” Slade said in a low rasp. “Then I could slip in afterwards, and you’d be fucking drenched.”
“Can be arranged,” Aaron rumbled. “As soon as your announcement was made, I was put on leave a little earlier. Some of the married guys are cursing us but...” he shrugged.
I felt a throb deep between my legs. “You have no idea what it’s taking to stop myself from walking you two over to the bedroom and doing exactly what you described.” I smiled when the two of them groaned.
“We know how she feels about it,” one of the older women holding court under a large tree shouted. “But what about him?”
Aaron grinned at this. There was something almost shy about the big man’s smile that I loved. He had hands like massive rocks, looked like he could flatten the both of us with minimal effort, but he still smiled like a little boy.
“Better do this right, so the Nanas don’t get pissed. Slade, son of Cheryl, do you approve my request to pursue your mate and to petition to be a part of your pack?”
My eyes flicked between the two of them, confused.
“I get a say as well, seeing as I’d have to share a house with the bloke,” Slade whispered. “Not as much as you, but some. Most blokes would find it difficult to say no to their mates, but there have been instances.” He turned back to Aaron, who waited patiently. “Of course, mate. Good to have you in the running.”
The two of them clasped arms in what looked like some kind of Viking handshake, and then pulled each other in for a hug.
“Now, you’re going to meet some of the other matriarchs,” Slade said when he pulled away, and sure enough, the catcalls began.
“Bring that boy of mine over here!” one said.
Slade rolled his eyes. “That’s my Nana, Nancy.”