6: Devil May Care

Coal

She let out a small moan when I pressed my lips to her skin, and I smiled victoriously. "Did you like that?" I whispered.

She nodded.

I pressed my lips to her skin again, and sucked gently, she squirmed in my grasp and moaned softly again.

I grinned, and I flicked my tongue out to which she gasped softly and leaned back even closer to me.

A throat cleared behind me, and I growled. She went rigid in my arms. I frowned.

"What?" I snarled without moving an inch.

"Care to introduce us, your Majesty?" Cassian snickered.

I huffed out, and reluctantly turned around with my mate pressed firmly into my side.

My mate looked at Cassian with her eyes narrowed, and I smiled at her clear annoyance with him.

I pressed my nose to the top of her head and inhaled her scent, "what's your name, miss?" I asked her softly.

She caved into me, and grew unsteady on her feet. I grinned. "Rae-- gan." She said brokenly as I moved from her hair to her neck.

"Raegan," I said. Her name rolled off my tongue, and my wolf howled his approval. Raegan. Mate. My mate, Raegan. She shuddered as her name left my lips.

"Your Majesty--" she breathed out.

"Coal," I corrected, inhaling her scent from her neck again, "you can call me 'Coal', Raegan."

She shook her head, "I couldn't--"

"You could," I nodded, "you're my mate, you can call me by my name."

She sighed, and turned slightly towards me. "Coal," she said, and I playfully nipped at her earlobe, growling gently as she giggled. "Coal, I-- I'm tired. It's been a long night and the conference starts the day after tomorrow."

I nodded and pulled away from her so that I could look down into her eyes, "alright, let's go to bed."

She shook her head, "I have a room--"

"Raegan," I raised my eyebrows and tucked her hair behind her ear, "there isn't a chance in hell you are sleeping in a guest room."

One of the males that had joined us that I hadn't recognize made a sort of choking sound, and I looked up at him, tilting my head to the side. It was the one who was watching us angrily earlier. He was still angry. I growled at him, and my mate gently pinched my hip.

"Coal, I have a room to sleep in, I would like to sleep in it." She spoke softly, cutting a glance to the male.

I scrunched my nose, "if you will not share a bed with me, then you will stay in a better suite. Please," I looked down at her, cupping her face with both hands.

"I couldn't--"

"Please," I repeated, "I don't think my wolf would let me sleep knowing you're on the same floor as so many unmated wolves without us."

"I'd feel guilty," she said.

I sighed, "don't. It's not being used right now, and the space is just going to waste. If anything you'd be doing me a favor by sleeping in it."

She clenched her jaw, "if Shawn can stay with me."

"Not a chance, Raegan," the woman who I didn't recognize said with a laugh, "you're not the only one who found their mate tonight, and unlike you I intend to sleep in the same bed as mine." She yanked a shorter male towards her, and he blushed heavily while intertwining their fingers.

My mate huffed at her, and I looked down at her, "if you don't sleep on my floor, I'll sleep on your floor."

She narrowed her eyes at me, and stepped away, "I'll sleep on your floor. I don't want to bring any ruckus to the wolves who are sleeping already."

I grinned, "thank you. Though, I don't think many of my other guests are actually sleeping tonight," I winked at her, and she blushed before shoving me.

"Ew!"

I laughed, and placed my hands on her waist, pulling her flush against my body.

She exhaled softly, pressing her forehead against my chest.

I hummed contentedly.

"Will you be joining us for breakfast?" The angry male asked. I looked up at him and glared.

"Yes," she said, turning to look over her shoulder at him.

I scrunched up my nose, but didn't protest. I would not be a jealous prick.

The male made eye contact with her and smiled softly. I growled lowly at the look in his eyes. He clearly felt something for her.

"Might you introduce me to your friends, Raegan?" I asked her, looking down at her face to try and distract myself from the budding anger in my chest.

"Right," she swallowed, and after a long second she backed away from me, "that's Shawn," she pointed to the woman who had spoken earlier, "my Pack Alpha," the Alpha smiled and bowed her head respectfully. "Cris," she pointed to the angry male, "he's the Pack Gamma." He reluctantly bowed his head as well, and then she pointed to the other male. "And that's Morgan, he's my older brother."

Morgan grinned, and bowed at the waist, "your Majesty. It's lovely to see that my sister has a mate as rich--"

"Morgan!" She hissed.

He rose from his bow with a wide grin.

I pursed my lips to contain a chuckle.

"What about him?" Cassian asked, nodding towards a third male who was lingering behind Shawn.

"I have no idea who that is," Raegan shrugged. "I mean, he's obviously Shawn's mate, but I don't know his name."

"Donnovan," the man said softly. He looked nervous and his face was still red. I smiled a little at his demeanor.

He seemed like a shy fellow, but he clung to Shawn for dear life. It was sweet. As he took in a sharp breath, I caught a glint of his fangs, and smiled a little more. This event was working out better than I could have imagined.

"It's lovely to meet you all." I said with a quick nod. Morgan beamed at me.

Shawn and her mate bowed their heads respectfully, and Cris glared, his fists balled at his sides.

"Are you ready for me to show you your new room?" I asked Raegan softly, forcing myself to look back at her and keep my grip on her waist loose.

She looked at her friends, then back to me and nodded.

I intertwined our fingers and walked forward, leading her inside the kitchen door.

The small group of people that had gathered with us followed us inside. The kitchen was empty, but as we passed the island I caught glances of Raegan swiping food off of the trays that laid there.

"The party is pretty much over," Hannah said to me, walking beside me on my left, "after you sent the servants to their quarters I had the guards lock the ballroom down without alerting any of the other guests, but now that the threat is neutralized the guards are letting people go back to their suites. They said that there is only a handful of stragglers left in the room, so the party will be completely dispersed by two."

I nodded, "thank you for handling that for me, Hannah. I appreciate it."

She nodded, smiling a little as she glanced back at Raegan. Raegan was busy shoving the food she'd swiped into her mouth aggressively so she hadn't noticed our conversation.

"I was worried for a second there, that this whole thing had been a waste of your time. I'm glad it wasn't." She nudged my shoulder gently with her own. Raegan growled behind me. I raised my eyebrows at her, amused by the small display of jealousy.

Her cheeks were red as she shoved another piece of food into her mouth and looked away.

I chuckled, "a little jealous now, are we?" I whispered to her as I pulled her to my side while we walked.

She huffed, and shook her head, swallowing her bite of food.

I frowned, "are you hungry? I can order dinner--"

"Oh god, yes," she nodded eagerly. "I am starving."

I smiled at her, "what do you feel like?" I asked as we reached the elevator. One of the guards who had joined us outside pressed the button.

She pursed her lips, "is Annalise still the head chef here?"

I nodded.

"I feel like her steak and potatoes then, the one that she makes with the honeyed carrots on the side."

I mind-linked her immediately.

She responded still wide awake and alert, and when I told her my request she assured me that she would have it ready within the hour. I thanked her, and shut the mind-link.

"It'll be up in an hour," I said to my mate, pulling her to stand in front of me as the rest of our entourage stood behind us. I wrapped my arms around her waist and she leaned back into me, letting out a sigh.

I exhaled deeply, and leaned my chin down on her shoulder.

The elevator binged, and the doors opened. We filed inside and I made sure there was distance between Raegan and Cris while keeping physical contact with her.

Hannah pressed three buttons, and the doors closed. I leaned closer to my mate, and inhaled her scent once more.

I would never get enough of it. I could smell it 24/7 for the rest of my life and it still wouldn't be enough.

I pushed her curls out of the way of her neck, grazing her skin gently as I did so. She shuddered under my touch and I smiled. "You smell so lovely," I whispered to her as I ran my nose from her jaw to the crook of her neck, all the while inhaling as much of her scent as I could.