Sinclair
It’s dark out by the time I get home, and I follow my nose upstairs to Ella’s room. She’s just stepping out of the shower when I walk in, her dripping body wrapped in a fluffy towel. Her rose gold hair is still dry, piled on top of her head and held secure with a pair of chop sticks.
She startles slightly when she sees me sitting on her bed, then rolls her eyes and huffs. “If you’re going to move around as silently as a ghost, would you at least announce yourself when you enter rooms, Dominic?”
I chuckle softly, raking my eyes over her wet skin. “Is that any way to greet your knight in shining armor?”
Ella steps forward before she can think to hide her nervouse curiosity. “What happened?”
“Come give me a kiss hello, and I’ll tell you.” I invite, holding my arms open to her. Her muscles relax when she sees my easy mood, and she rolls her eyes again, smiling now. I growl playfully at her sass, and Ella quivers visibly, her thighs clenching reflexively beneath the hem of her towel.
Ella crosses the floor, flushing prettily as she comes to stand between my legs. Her pink lips pucker, and she leans into my warmth, giving every indication that she’s about to brush her mouth over my own. However at the last moment she redirects, skirting away from my waiting lips and attempting to drop a kiss on my cheek. She doesn’t get very far – clearly the mischievous human forgot to account for shifter speed when she formed this plan. I intercept her mouth with my own, claiming her lips and rumbling my disapproval.
Ella giggles softly, even as I tease the seam of her lips with my tongue, and flip her onto the bed. My clothes grow damp as her towel slips away and the liquid dotting her skin absorbs into the cloth of my shirt and trousers. I slant my lips over hers, delving into her sweet mouth and coaxing her tongue into a dance. Her arms and legs wrap around me in welcome, and I’m sorely tempted to strip so that I can feel her every inch of her naked body against my own.
I pull the pins from Ella’s hair, letting it it fall down around her face and sending her lovely scent fluttering into the air around us. I continue stealing kiss after kiss, caressing Ella’s sides and silky thighs, dragging the sweetest sounds from her lips. My wolf purrs in reply, and I graze my scruffy jaw over the soft skin of her cheek, changing her contented murmurs into a fresh burst of giggles.
Chuckling with dark, sexual intent, I bury my face into her neck and give the velvety swath of skin the same treatment. Pausing to explore the abraded territory with my tongue, I drag one large palm over her round bottom. Squeezing her lush rear end, I continue kissing my way down to her chest. Ella’s breath catches as I brush my fangs over the swell of her breast, then yelps in surprise when I nip her sensitive flesh.
“That’s for not letting me kill that horrible woman in your honor.” I inform her, moving my mouth to the other breast to give it the same treatment. “That’s for rolling your eyes at me.” This time the playful bite is met with a moan, and her nipples harden into tight buds – dangerously close to my questing lips. Not trusting myself not to suck one of the sweet buds into my mouth, I finish my rebuke with a single swat to her behind. “And that’s for trying to withold kisses I earned fair and square.”
“I still haven’t heard how you earned them.” Ella argues cheekily, squirming against me and making the quickly stiffening member between my legs strain against my zipper. I pull away from her slightly, pushing up onto my elbow to gaze down at her, and wondering if this was actually a bigger mistake. At least when she was flush against me I couldn’t see her many charms.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about being blackmailed ever again.” I assure her, looking down into her lovely face and wondering if there’s ever been anyone so irresistable. “At least, not from your former exployer.”
“Really?” Ella inquires, eyes bright as she props herself up too.
“Really,” I confirm, brushing a few stray locks of hair back from her face. “I also saw Jake and Millie. I told them how much you miss them, and they told me all about how horrible their new nanny is.”
Her face falls, and suddenly I regret sharing this particular detail. “Did they seem very unhappy?” Ella asks anxiously.
“They seemed as sweet as ever.” I share, “and I don’t think they’re being mistreated. I think she’s just not any fun.”
Ella nods thoughtfully, peeking up at me from beneath her long, dark lashes. “How did you convince her to drop the story?”
“It wasn’t hard.” I explain, watching the progress of my fingers as I trace them down her arm, leaving a trail of gooseflesh in their wake. “I simply made sure she realized how foolish it was to threaten a man as powerful as I am. Her imagination did all the rest, but I still would have liked to kill her.”
“Well I’m glad you didn’t.” Ella replies firmly. “We don’t need to be inviting more trouble to our doorstep.”
“Oh I agree.” I muse, laughter obvious in my voice as I move my hand to her belly. “My hands are plenty full with you and this little one.”
“Our baby is not trouble.” Ella objects, narrowing her eyes at me.
“Oh I don’t know about that.” I tease. “With you for a mother? I’d say he’s bound to have a mischievous streak a mile wide –
though we won’t have to worry about that for some time.”
“And I suppose you were always perfectly well behaved?” Ella counters, arching one smooth brow. “I ought to ask Henry how you were as a boy. I bet he has all sorts of stories to share.”
“I was an absolute angel.” I lie, trying my best to sound self-righteous.
“I don’t believe that for a single second.” Ella laughs.
“You hear that, Rafe?” I ask our son, beaming when a little kick pulses in Ella’s tummy, right on the other side of my hand. “As if your Mommy hasn’t been naughty enough today – now she’s calling me a liar.”
“Dominic?” Ella’s serious tone pulls my eyes up to her face. “Something else happened today, while you were out.”
“What?” I press, sensing that she’s not merely trying to distract me from our flirting.
“Well Cora came over and I was talking to her about everything that’s been going on.” Ella begins slowly, not meeting my gaze.
“And well… the short version is that Roger came over while she was here. He heard part of our conversation and… he knows I’m human.”
“What!?” I explode, surging to my feet.
Ella immediately scrambles out of bed after me. Her tiny hands close around my arms, as if she’s afraid I’m going to run out on her. “It’s okay, he stayed and we talked. I explained the situation and he honestly seemed to listen. He promised not to tell – ever.
He apologized for everything that’s happened, and the only reason he left is because I made him. I thought you should hear it from me.”
“Ella, why didn’t you tell me sooner!” I demand, trying not to lose my temper. “I’m not convinced that Roger is actually on our side and with this information, the Prince could end my campaign like that,” I say, snapping my fingers.
“I know, but you only just got home, and I wanted to hear how things went at Jake and Millie’s.” Her face twists into an accusatory stare, “And I’m not the one who got us all sidetracked with kisses.”
Sighing, I acknowledge that I didn’t give her much chance to tell me this latest development. “What exactly did Roger say?”
“Well, we talked about how it happened and Cora explained that the surveillance footage was tampered with – which I didn’t even know about until today.” Ella shares, an open question in her expression.
I nod, “I knew, but we still aren’t any close to understanding who was behind this– or what they were hoping to achieve.”
“Well, Roger just kind of talked through the possibilities with us and everything. He seemed to really regret helping the Prince, I mean I actually thought he looked as though he felt guilty about working against us.” Ella conveys softly, her hands stroking my arms in long, steady movements – clearly intended to calm me.
“He should.” I mutter bleakly. Ella doesn’t know that Roger helped orchestrate the attack in the alley, and unless Roger becomes a problem, I don’t see a reason to tell her. It would only hurt her feelings, and if Roger is truly on our side then I don’t want more space between them. “And I think you’re probably right. I trust your judgement. But I need to go see him, just to be sure.”
“You won’t hurt him, will you?” Ella presses.
“No sweetheart, I promise I’m in control.” I vow. “Just give me a couple of hours. I’ll go talk to Roger and then I’ve got that bloody,
‘have a drink with the Alpha’ event – but I’ll be home by dinner. We can have a nice night together and forget all this ever happened.”
“Okay.” She agrees, stepping away from me. “I’ll see you soon, then.”
Of course, if I’d known then what I know now… I would never have left the house that night. I would have stayed home with Ella and blown off my brother and the campaign. I could have saved us all a lot of trouble if I had.
