they’d be annoyed with him for not returning Mila to her apartment. “Let them through the gates,” he told the Alphas as he and Mila rose from the bed and snatched their clothes from the floor. “Mila and I will meet them at the entrance to the caves.”
Mila dragged on her jeans, but since there was blood all over her top, she didn’t remove Dominic’s shirt. Hearing her cell ring, she fished it out of her jeans pocket. Joel. She instantly canceled the call.
“I’m guessing that was Joel by the face you pulled,” said Dominic.
“It was,” she confirmed. And then her phone was ringing again.
“He’s gonna keep calling until he hears your voice and knows for sure that you’re fine,” said Dominic, beating back the resentment he felt at that. “His instincts will hound him until he does.”
She shrugged. “That sounds like his problem, not mine. We both made our choices. Adele’s his choice.” And neither she nor her cat felt any bitterness about it. “And you’re mine.”
Fully dressed, Dominic lifted his brow. “If you hadn’t known that your true mate was spoken for, would you still have claimed me?”
Mila frowned at the idiotic question. But then, she supposed she’d wonder the same thing in his position. “My claiming you had nothing to do with him or anyone else. I claimed you because, well, I love you. Which is seriously annoying, by the way, because I don’t like mushy stuff. If I hadn’t known about Joel, I still would have loved you. In which case, yes, I still would have claimed you.”
His face all soft and warm, he gathered her close. “You love me?” he asked, his voice thick with emotion.
“Yeah. As I said, it’s annoying.”
He brushed his nose against hers. “Since you don’t like mushy stuff, I won’t tell you that I love you right back.”
Mila’s mouth curled, and warmth trickled through her and her cat. “You just did.”
“You can pretend I didn’t.” He took her mouth in a soft, slow, deep kiss that—
Knuckles rapped on the door again. “Um, hello,” called Taryn. “You guys ready or what?”
Sighing, Dominic reluctantly drew back. “We’ll continue this later,” he promised Mila. Crossing to the door, he opened it wide to find both his Alphas standing there.
Taryn smiled. “Thanks for finally joining . . .” She trailed off as her eyes dropped to Dominic’s claiming mark. Spotting the matching one on Mila’s neck, the she-wolf lifted her brows. “Well. I have to say, I was not expecting that so soon. I’m doing a happy dance in my head right now.”
Trey didn’t look so surprised by the claiming marks. “It’s about damn time.”
“The bond hasn’t formed yet,” Taryn observed.
“It will.” Dominic took possession of Mila’s hand and said to her, “Now let’s go greet your family.”
“Taryn and I will join you,” Trey stated. “It’s important that Vinnie, as another Alpha, receives an official welcome from the two of us.”
Aware of the dynamics, Dominic gave a curt nod and began a brisk walk through the tunnels. “Where’s the rest of the pack?”
“Some have gone with Riley and the kids to the playroom,” began Trey, keeping pace with him. “Others have retreated to various rooms within the caves. Only Dante and Ryan are in the living area, waiting for us to join them.”
Dominic understood why Trey had sent their other pack mates away. If there were more Phoenix members than Olympus members present in the living room, it might look both confrontational and as if Trey didn’t trust that he could deal with any problems without additional backup.
“How pissed do you think your family will be with Dominic?” Taryn asked Mila.
Her nose wrinkled. “Not much. My parents adore Dominic, and the others like him a lot too. They just won’t be happy that they weren’t with me when I woke up.”
“Understandable,” said Taryn. “If Kye were hurt, and then fell unconscious, I’d want to be one of the first people he saw when he woke.”
Finally reaching the entrance to the dwelling, all four of them stood just outside the door. Dominic kept possession of Mila’s hand, skimming his thumb over her knuckles. Whoever was manning the security shack must have given the Olympus Pride directions to the dwelling, because Vinnie’s vehicle soon came into sight. It followed the rocky trail into the parking lot at the base of the mountain.
Vinnie took the lead as he and the other pride members began to climb the steps of the cliff face, but Valentina pushed past him when