CHAPTER 435 - BRRR...

CHAPTER 435 - BRRR...
VALEN’S POV
“An alliance gone bad. How could six packs suddenly turn against each other?” Theo asked, draping his arm over the back of Azara’s dark aubergine upholstered chair.
“Breach of terms, and because of that, they decided to play the spite game,” Devin said, picking up one of his lamb-and-cheese hoagies.
We were having breakfast at my house. The eight of us sat at the round, dark wooden table by the sun-drenched nook. The spacious, airy area was framed by windows arranged into a broad wall of glass that gave a beautiful outside view of the side of the house.
“Now I'm expected to waste my time mediating and help them work things out. Don't they know I'm trying to prepare for a war?” I said, feeding my mate her artichoke heart.
“Can someone fill us in?” Raina advocated for the girls. She looked at the bite before her electric blue eyes locked on mine. She knew the only way out of this was to be a good girl and eat. She opened her mouth and gobbled the artichoke.
“Boys, stop keeping us in the dark.” Penn nudged her elbow into the Beta’s side, and they stared at each other for a long moment.
When she looked away, she reached for the jug of grape juice. His hand reached it first. He lifted it and poured the liquid into her glass. Their gazes met, and his eyes flashed molten-gold, showing his wolf.
I sighed and glanced at Raina’s plate to make sure she was eating up. Lately, her appetite has been off. I stayed back for breakfast to ensure she would have a healthy meal. In fact, I’ve decided to have meals with her to be certain she was eating properly.
“Bluefields Pack claimed they were under attack, and none of the alliance gave them help,” I related, taking up my hoagie.
I caught a bit of juice at the corner of Raina’s mouth as she chewed. I instinctively wiped it with my thumb. Her gaze swept to mine, and she smiled before I casually sank my teeth into my hoagie.
“That's not the weird part,” Devin said, chewing a bite out of his crunchwrap. “They want us to believe it was one of the Worgen that attacked them, and get this, they also want us to believe they captured him.”
“Lies,” Theo huffed out with a snicker at the end, holding up his jalapeño sausage on a fork.
Thaines' throat worked, and he shook his head.
“And it is no surprise that Bluefields is accusing Burdlang and Talowsnail Pack of helping the Worgen escape,” Devin said, swallowing down his food. “Now they want to kick Bluefields out of the alliance. For the last two days, every report they sent was about their grievance. They can't reach an agreement.”
“Just knock me over with a feather ‘cause that’s hilarious,” Azara chuckled, covering her mouth while still holding her chicken-filled bread in the other hand.
As absurd as it was, the alliance rivalry demanded my attention. It set my wolf on edge, knowing we were about to leave the territory over something so hard to believe.
“Let's not forget it's the same pack Kavya went in as herself and came out as her alter ego, Jiya,” Jason said, his face twisted in disgust. He stretched to the middle of the table to load three sausages onto his plate.
“The Lunairess,” Theo mocked airily, rolling his ‘r.’
“Give me the chills,” Jason shuddered, clamping his arms against his ribs with his fists beneath his chin. “Brr.”
Jesting, Theo leaned sideways, closer to him, and whispered with emphasis, “Lunairess.”
“Brrr...” Jason shuddered again.
“Lunairess.”
“Brrr...”
“Quit it, you two, or do I have to separate you?” I chided, leaning on my elbows on the table. “You’re worse than hyenas.”
The whole group was quiet before they all exploded in a fit of laughter. Jason threw his head back and barked out a snorted laugh, joined by the rest.
I paused everything to watch Raina’s face beam, enjoying the sweet sound of her laughter. Those plump, candy-pink lips were always so distracting.
Goddess, I was fucking addicted to her.
As I sipped my frappuccino, my gaze noticed every movement of her lips, from the way they parted, curved, and closed into a grin, only to burst open again with another bright laugh. Damn, I can't even handle how cute she was right now.
For a few seconds, I was completely enraptured. She was happy, and that made my heart light.
“You know, there’s a vast difference between a lady and a strayed saint,” Jason snorted, the grin barely leaving his face. “I bet even Selene gets fed up with her strays.”
“You’d know. All you care about are the three F’s. Food, firmware, and fucking,” Azara teased with a smile, air-quoting the last three words.
“Keeps me living,” Jason stated smugly as the laughter died down. He sipped his coffee and placed it down.
“Mmm-hmm,” Theo drawled dramatically. “For all your expertise on bending women to your whim, you sure did get that pretty Italian girl wrong.”
“Don’t go there.” Jason shot him a glare, and all of us laughed jovially.
“What was her name again?” Theo glanced sideways at Thaines, who gave him a chin lift, before looking at Jason again. “Gracie? Yet somehow you turned that into Gresheen.” Theo chuckled, patting Jason’s shoulder. “And every time she corrected you, you thought she was saying grazie.”
"I'm going to fucking kill you," Jason growled, unamused, pointing his fork at him.
Theo crackled. “Man thought she was thanking him when she was actually begging him to get her right name. How many times did she correct you before she finally stormed out?”
All curious eyes turned on Jason. He let out a deep sigh and scowled. “Probably twenty. What? I gave her my best ‘A’ game. I thought the gratitude was only right. Although I was pretty stoned, but still...”
The group continued to laugh, doubling over or throwing their heads back as they busted Jason's chops.
“Get off my case, man. It was one bad night. One,” Jason scoffed under his breath, with one finger up. “Never got another name wrong. But sure, laugh away. I can take it. I’ve been taking all the sappy romance shit you throw at me anyway. You gang up on me just because you’re all whipped.”
“Whipped and loving every damn minute of it,” Theo cheered, hoisting his glass of orange juice as he turned in his chair to clink against his mate’s.
Azara glanced at him, and he waggled his eyebrows.
He leaned in to kiss her shoulder and nuzzled his face against her neck, saying, “Plum-bee makes every other woman phase out.”
“Aw, grazie.” Azara beamed playfully, prompting another fit of laughter around the table as she gazed lovingly into her mate’s eyes.
As Raina recovered from cracking up, her right hand fell on my left leg. I was taking another sip of my drink when my body seized, and I choked. She was groping me with her fingertips, brushing on the tip of my cock.
I sputtered as I managed to get the drink down, then cleared my throat.
The repeating gesture sure made my cock hard against my leg. I didn’t mind, but my erected cock sure did, since it began straining against my blue jeans.
This impossible woman.
Her glinting, watery eyes landed on me as her laugh quieted, smiling sweetly innocent, like she wasn’t aware of what her naughty hand was doing. The alluring troublemaker flashed me a knowing smirk and then bounced her beautiful eyes from person to person in our tight-knit group, still purposely rubbing my hard rod.
Desire shot through me like wildfire, and despite my best efforts, my breathing turned ragged and heavy. My nostrils flared with every breath as a different kind of hunger overwhelmed me.
I placed my drink down; I couldn’t drink it. Her gentle strokes jumbled my senses, scrambling every thought I've ever had into one thing. Her. I wanted her. And I fucking loved it.
My cock was throbbing with a feral pulse; all of my blood rushed to it, and I was damn lost in lust. I was one snap away from throwing her on this table and devouring her.
On impulse, I shifted in my seat, propping my elbow on the table and my temple against my fist. My other hand was on the backrest of her chair, gripping it rigidly. My eyes narrowed, watching her sinfully toy with me while engaging with the others.
The growing urges started to become almost painful. The need to release tore at me so violently I could scream. I needed what’s between her legs. I needed to explode inside her, to pour out everything in a flood. But it wouldn’t come. It refused. How was she doing this?
My jaw locked, lips pressed into a thin line as a growl rumbled in my chest. I swallowed it down and forced myself to breathe.
Her strokes teased my orgasm, kept me hovering on the edge, never letting me crash, only throbbing and pulsing.
Suddenly her hand stopped. She turned to me and leaned in with those bedroom eyes. Both of her hands pressed into my chest, gripping my shirt and yanking it. I eagerly leaned forward, and her lips crashed on mine. A hot bolt of lightning ripped through me, and both my hands settled on her waist.
Oh, horny moons, the things she did to me. As her lips parted, I swept my tongue into her mouth, kissing her hungrily, needily.
A faint moan of satisfaction left her lips as she rolled her head to the right.
In an instant, my lips found her sweet spot. “Careful, Bluebella, or I'll forget work and keep you locked in our room all day. No disturbances,” I warned huskily.
She turned her face to mine, and I kissed the corner of her lips.
With an easy smile, she teased, “Then you better stop, or I will make you forget work.”
She twisted out of my hands and laughed as I growled.
I wasn’t done yet, but my Beta mouthed off about today’s agenda.
“So, Alpha, about our trip…” Devin trailed off.
Raina pulled back, staring at me, confused. “Trip?”
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