Her Legacy (Reigning Folklore Book 1), page 31
“Thank you.” She bent forward to kiss the center of his chest before pulling away to gather her things. Grant was waiting for her silently by the sink. When he opened his arms for her, she darted into them. The duo’s embrace was no less impacting than their kiss had been. “Thank you all.”
“Call us when you get home, babygirl,” Grant requested lightly as she gave all of his Brothers a warm, full-bodied hug. She even offered one to the giggling Jeremy, shook hands with Peter and Robar, and shared cheek kisses with the women on her way out.
Joel followed her as far as the front patio. She boarded her improved and repaired truck with a grace born of a Prima Ballerina. She turned the engine over with a smile that could have brought down entire nations with its breathtaking beauty. He was forced to turn his head downwards to avoid embarrassing himself by begging her to stay. He listened to the truck fade in the distance. It was followed by a howl.
She is safe. Just let her go, he thought to himself firmly.
“We are all doomed,” Isaac confided faintly from where he leaned in the open doorway. He did not bother to look towards his Brother. He knew what he would see on his face because it was a mirror of his own. Dreamy wonder.
“That is how the Goddess meant it to be.” His voice dropped with finality, his spine stiffening to the nth degree. “She is mine. Ours. She will not leave us. I will not allow her to.”
“None of us will,” Daire confirmed with the same level of assuredness. He stepped out of the front doorway to stand beside them and stare off in the direction their precious mate had disappeared in.
She will stay and she will be happy. That is all we need to know. Hawk’s voice dropped onto them heavily through the mind link.
His fellow Alphas were correct. Adeline belonged with them and to them just as they belonged to her. She could not leave them. He would not let her. It would kill him if she even tried.
Because in that one freely given kiss, he had felt his heart wrap around her and pull her into his own being. He had committed himself to her completely, man and wolf as one.
He, Joel Sumpter, had fallen irrevocably in love with Adeline Rimbauer.
And so it begins.
Chapter Twelve
Adeline
The kitchen was a train wreck as Adeline swept by the sugar-dusted counters in thigh-high socks. Twice she almost slipped. If she’d knocked her head on the floor, she could imagine not only the reaction of Theo – one of the other Captains of her Sentinel – who was sat on a dining room chair just outside of the kitchen, but also the Alphas that would doubtlessly get the emergency call. Twice she pulled herself together and caught the Formica countertops to keep from face-planting the linoleum floor.
“Slow down, girly.” Theo shook his head at her bemusedly. Not for the first time, either.
“I’m so late,” she panted as she hurriedly transferred the cupcakes she’d made Jude and the other nurses into the deep plastic container she used for either cookies or cupcakes, depending on the occasion, of course. She had forgotten how long it took to make everyone’s favorite strawberry-lemonade cupcakes and how much like a crack addict she felt once she sampled a fingerful of the frosting.
“You are going to break your fool neck and then where would I be?” Theodore Buchannan hummed as he took another large bite of the cupcake she’d handed to him as a bribe for his silence. She didn’t want him tattling on her upcoming trip to his Alphas. The others, Booker, Paulo, and Juliet, had also gotten their own decadent bribes. “My Lady, if my Locke is half as capable as you in the kitchen, I will die a happy wolf. These cupcakes are heaven. So light!”
“I shouldn’t be allowed on Pinterest.” She shook her head in self-recrimination as she shook pink and yellow sugar sprinkles over the piped frosting of each cupcake. Once they were coated, she carefully snapped the lid in place.
“I beg to differ.”
As soon as the cupcakes were ready for transport, she hustled around the watchful Beta to her booties. The heel was so low that they might as well have been nonexistent and accented the socks nicely. The cream-colored socks stood out against the black booties yet matched the knitted cream sweater which overlaid her jersey-knit, blush dress. A scant thumb-width of skin was visible between the tops of the socks and the hem of the skirt. She’d braided her hair preemptively, knowing that the winds coming off the water would knot her hair otherwise.
It was an even nicer day than it had been on Friday and Addie was supremely thankful for it. It was so warm, in fact, that she didn’t even have to wear her fur coat. The sweater, despite its lacy appearance, would be warm enough. When it got colder as night drew closer, she’d use one of the blankets she already had thrown in the bed of Hunk.
And yes, Hank had officially been transformed into Hunk thanks to Daire and his talented employees.
Adeline darted a quick glance to the clock on the wall and winced.
Jude hadn’t come home from work due to the hospital being short-staffed. Her sister had said that there had been a disastrous accident involving a bunch of campers and they’d needed all the help they could get. Addie had been determined to make the nurses a special treat, which she did from time to time as a way to thank them, before she went to bed, but she’d slept right through her alarm. Now she was going to be late in picking Yuri up because she still needed to deliver the cupcakes.
“Can I have the leftover icing?”
She whipped around to face Theo and snarled. The brown-haired, hazel-eyed man widened his eyes in surprise at her show of vitriol. He was tall and well-built, wearing something similar to military fatigues. With his militant buzzcut, he looked as though he had recently walked off of an army base. For him to be visibly taken aback by her, if not a little intimidated, was a novel experience.
“Stay away from the tub or you’ll be sorry.” It was more threat than warning. Normally, she wasn’t a fan of icing, but the homemade, whipped lemonade topping she made for these particular cupcakes was pure addiction. She could sit with a spoon and bowl of it and make a glutton out of herself.
“All right. Stand down.” Theo laughed as he stood to his booted feet. With his right hand, he waved towards the container of cupcakes. “Would you like me to run these out to your truck?”
“That would be great, thank you.”
Once the man was out from underfoot, Addie moved back into the kitchen to make sure that all the leftovers were marked and labeled for her sister once she got home later in the afternoon. She went so far as to tack a note up to the fridge telling her how long to microwave each dish. Knowing Jude, though, she’d eat most of it cold.
She thought again that she needed to put in the effort to teach her sister to be at least moderately passable in the kitchen on her own. They just hadn’t had the time.
Knowing that things at home were as set as they were going to get, she snatched her rarely used, distressed leather clutch, dropped her phone into its depths, and ran out the front door. Once it was locked, she turned towards her idling truck in enough time to see Theo’s back disappearing into the neighboring wood.
She felt her phone vibrate in the clutch but ignored it.
The trip from the house to the hospital was quick even on a weekend and Addie pulled up into the lot reserved for the staff. She didn’t want to take up spaces for patients even if she was only going to be popping into the building for a few minutes. She didn’t leave the truck running in the parking lot. Small town or not, she’d lived in the city long enough to not be comfortable leaving a vehicle unlocked and operational while she wasn’t near it.
As soon as she walked into the Emergency Room entrance, the clerk on duty greeted her with a welcoming smile and a robust hello.
“Hiya Idris! I come bearing gifts!” She held the cupcakes aloft to him and was rewarded with an even bigger smile. He immediately buzzed her through the electronically locking door.
“You’re an absolute angel, Adeline. You know where to go. Bring one of them up my way on your way back through, hm?”
The Emergency Room was, thankfully, mostly empty now that most of the patients from the night’s accident had presumably been discharged or moved to more long-term rooms. The two-dozen patient rooms circled the long nurse’s station in the center of the wing. It was here that Addie found Jude bent over a stack of clipboards.
“Hey, sis! Look what I have.”
Penelope, another nurse, got to her first. With a happy squeal, she took the cupcakes right out of her hands and rushed them to the desk. The nurses and some of the doctors fell on the cupcakes like ravenous wolves – haha – before the blonde could disengage from her work.
“Sorry about last night, girl. It was hectic here.”
“No worries, Jude. I know how busy you can get. Make sure you grab a cupcake before those vultures eat them all.” They hugged quickly before Addie pulled back. “Sorry to deliver and run, but I have a party to get to. I may not be back tonight depending on how late it runs.”
“Gonna shack up with one of those fine-ass men of yours?” Though it was spoken in a near whisper, she smacked Jude’s arm and sent searching looks around the room to make sure no one had overheard.
“Shush!”
“Oh, it’s not like nobody’s heard about my pretty big sister having a trail of men drooling after her. You’re a legend, sis! Half of my nurses are singing your praises and the other half are jealous as all hell. Even some of the men.” The blonde chortled happily. “Never you mind, though, sister. I’ve got your back. I won’t let any of them sink their claws in you.”
“Thank you, honey. I have to run. I need to pick up poor Yuri.”
“Take pictures! See you whenever.”
Addie shoved through the throng of overworked medical personnel to get Idris his cupcake before dashing off. She was snickering by the time she got back in her truck and on the road again to OVA. It occurred to her that she’d burn enough calories in her morning to outweigh the amount of food she would be packing in come lunch and dinner catered at Mills’ Break.
She was singing obnoxiously loud – and off-key – to a new lite rock hit when she pulled up beside Yuri’s late-model Mercedes. The small woman was leaned up against the driver’s side door and talking with a curvy Hispanic woman. The two looked thick as thieves.
“You’re late, Addie!” Yuri reprimanded her gently as she opened the passenger side door. Her eyes goggle when she got a good look at her spiffy new interior. “Dayum! Someone’s car got a makeover. It looks good, girl!”
“Thanks, Yuri. Who’s your friend?” Addie stretched out her right hand to shake the other woman’s in a friendly manner. “My name’s Adeline Rimbauer. Call me Addie.”
“Wanda Jimenez. A pleasure to meet you. Yuri over here has gushed about you nonstop.” Wanda nodded her head towards the bench seat. “Got room for one more? My car’s in the shop for repairs.”
“Sure thing. Hop in.” Once the other women were buckled up, they were off. “So, are you just a friend of Yuri’s or do you work for our company somewhere? I don’t recall seeing you around.”
“Oh no. I’m a pediatrician. I just recently moved to the area and will be working at Kensington Memorial in a couple of weeks once my transfer is complete.” She busied herself with tugging her fall of kinky black curls up into a manageable bun. She growled when the strands kept springing free. “Gah! Sometimes I just want to lop this mess off! You have no idea how much product I have to use to get my hair to behave.”
“I have an idea,” Addie replied with a giggle.
Wanda was a tall woman, maybe an inch shy of six feet, but she was adorned with lush curves. She had an ass for days and legs a mile long. Her olive-to-cinnamon skin was offset by pretty, dark green eyes. When she smiled, Addie could see straight white teeth. Her own were a little crooked, but she took care of them as best as she could manage since dentists were one of her worst fears. Normally she felt self-conscious around someone with a perfect smile like Wanda’s, but the Hispanic woman with a lilting accent and ready smile put her at ease.
She was wearing a pair of stylishly ripped skinny jeans, white lacy top covered by an open-front red plaid shirt with long tails. Above all of that was a cute grey bomber jacket. Both sets of sleeves were pushed up to her elbows. Wanda wore her weight well and with no apparent shame. Addie wished she had half of the confidence as the other woman with her own body.
But of course, Wanda was a doctor. Who wouldn’t be justly proud of themselves if they were so successful in their career, had an obvious winning personality, and were ridiculously pretty?
Her phone buzzed in her clutch between she and Wanda’s thighs. The other woman looked down and back up inquisitively even as the screen in her dash flashed the inquiring message to them. “You wanna get that?”
“Nope.” She smiled. “I’ve got a few worrywarts that are in for a surprise this afternoon. I’m going to keep them guessing until then.”
“Ooh, you mean the Stud Farm?” Yuri’s grin was devilish as she leaned forward to look at her around Wanda.
“Stud Farm?” The new woman snorted with mirth. Actually snorted! Addie found it an endearing sound.
“Oh yes. Didn’t I tell you, Wanda? Addie-girl has her own little doting harem that trails after her like lost ducklings.” She began to fan herself. “And oh my, my, my, but aren’t they scrumptious! In fact, I’m pretty sure I saw one of them gracing some magazines a few years ago.”
“What?! Who?”
“Two words…Daire. Hudson.”
Wanda whirled on Adeline as she laughed in good humor. The woman wore an expression that defined gobsmacked to a ‘t’. “Please tell me she’s shitting me. Is she shitting me? She has to be shitting me.”
“’Fraid not, girl.” Addie shook her head in the negative. “My sister – who works as a nurse at the hospital you will be working at, by the way – is good friends with his cousin. I was sick not too long ago and they all pulled some strings to get the man to come out to check on me. The rest, as they say, was history.”
“I call bullshit on that one, my friend!” Yuri shook Wanda’s arm on her side. “This girl is gone for a week while she recovers from some horrendous flu virus or something and when she comes back? Bam! Day after day she has a new man picking her up. She doesn’t even have the common decency to pick one style of man. Oh no! She has a walking, talking batch of skittles. I couldn’t pick who’s hotter with a gun to my head.”
“I’m pretty sure you’ll get to meet them today,” she told Wanda while wagging a quick finger at Yuri’s excited chatter. “Don’t get her too excited, Yuri. I’m sure you’ve heard the gossip around the office of how standoffish they are.”
“That’s because all those bitches are fawning over them when they’re obviously not interested.” The slight Asian woman waved her off. “It’ll be different with us because we’re your friends. We won’t hit on them and they’ll be nicer to us.”
“How many are there?” Wanda sounded skeptical.
“Seven.” It was quiet for a long moment. “They’re very intense and what we share is unorthodox. No matter how many of them show up, you might be uncomfortable with what you see. They are interested in me and aren’t afraid to show it.”
“Girl, I’m a hot-blooded woman. I read ménage and reverse-harem books aplenty.” Wanda shrugged her shoulders. “I never thought I’d see something like what I read in real life, but I’m not adverse to it. To me, so long as what you do doesn’t hurt anyone and you don’t push your lifestyle or beliefs on anyone else, why should I complain? Worst you’ll get from me is a green face from jealousy.”
Yes, Addie decided, I think we’re going to be good friends.
The rest of the drive was made with friendly, boisterous chatter between them. In between they had spurts of cranking the radio and belting to whatever catchy hit happened on the station. It was possibly the quickest ride in history to the beach as far as Adeline was concerned.
She was leaned over the side-step in the packed parking lot of Mills’ Break when a deep, yet cheerful voice rang out over the merry banter of Yuri and Wanda. Addie looked up from the tub secured in the bed of her truck to see Gunner Drake running up to them with a couple other males behind him. They shared like facial features, and she assumed they were related in some way. Possibly brothers. They all wore clean button-down shirts and dark khakis. The three men were beaming at them.
No. They were looking at her. She decided this after the men tilted their heads to bare their necks in unison and then rushed to greet her.
“Lady Adeline! It’s so good to see you. I had hoped when I saw the reservations to glimpse your beautiful face, but it is a real treat.” He gestured his men forward. Upon closer inspection, she decided that they had to be blood brothers. They were almost close enough in resemblance to be triplets. “Please, if there’s anything you need to have moved, let Hunter and Fisher do it.”
“Hello, Gunner.” She offered him a smile but kept reaching for the blankets in the tub. “Let me pull these out. We can carry them ourselves.”
“Allow them to serve you, babygirl.”
Unashamedly, Adeline hooted and cheered as she leapt off of the side-step to run full bar for the Alphas that’d disembarked from their own set of vehicles. She was only peripherally aware of Wanda gaping like a landed fish as she jumped into Daire’s arms. Her thighs hooked his trim hips while her arms stretched long as she leaned back to smile up at him. His big hands supported her rump and between her shoulders. He was trying to glower at her, but her eager positioning onto him killed his ire.
“Fancy seeing you here,” she jested giddily.
“Yes, fancy that.” He pursed his lips at her. “You should have told us, little one.”
“I wanted to make it a surprise.” Not able to contain herself, she pulled herself forward and upward enough to buss a kiss to his lips. “Don’t be mad.”
