Wicked Cravings (The Phoenix Pack Series - By Suzanne Wright Page 0,155
if it wasn’t for Leif. The poor kid’s already lost one parent.”
“Blane’s dead?”
“No. But he was involved in a bar fight with a human, so he was dealt with by human laws.
He’s in a maximum-security prison, where he’ll stay for a very long time. Laurie’s parents spoke with Trey over the phone. They asked if he’d accept her punishment as being isolated to a cabin on the border of their territory, where she’ll be away from her pack but Leif can still visit. It gives her the opportunity to try to earn a place in her pack in a few years, but she’ll forever be confined to pack territory.”
Jaime winced. Being confined was one of the worst punishments that any shifter could have.
“Who’ll be caring for Leif?”
“His grandparents. They’re good people, and he loves them. They’ll give him the stability that his parents could never have given him. From what I understand, he more or less lived with them anyway. They’ve got no problem with me staying in contact with him.” That was good news. “I really need to take a bath.” When she felt his arm contract around her, she rolled her eyes. “I’ll only be in the next room.”
“I know. But I don’t want to let you go yet.”
“I know. But I desperately need one, and then I need food.” He nipped at her mouth. “I’ll ask Grace to bring some breakfast for us.”
“Why? We can go to breakfast with everyone else.”
“I don’t want to share you with everyone yet.”
That made her smile. “I have to at least see Gabe. He’ll be a mess until he knows I’m okay.” Dante couldn’t deny that. He’d received several text messages from her brother in the past hour—among many more from others within the pack, all of which he’d ignored. He would bet that the only reason Gabe hadn’t barged in was that he knew his sister needed rest. “Fine.” Smiling, she kissed him. “Thank you.”
“But can we do something about this first?” He flexed his cock inside her again, grinning wickedly at her loud moan.
“Oh yes, we certainly can.” At that moment, there was a knock at the door. “Or not.”
“Who is it?”
“I just need a quick word,” called Trey. “Of course if you’d have just answered your phone, I wouldn’t have had to come here.”
Frustrated in every sense of the word, Dante carefully pulled out of Jaime, dabbing a kiss on her mouth. Once he’d buttoned up his fly, he opened the door. “What?” he griped.
Trey arched a brow at his tone, but his expression was amused. “I didn’t want to interrupt,” he said quietly. “I just thought you and Jaime should know something.” The way Trey’s expression quickly became serious made Dante’s hackles rise. He stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind him. “What is it?”
“Shaya’s leaving in an hour.”
“Leaving?”
“You must have seen this coming.”
Yes, he had, and so had Jaime. It didn’t mean this would be any easier for either of them, particularly Jaime, as she had grown quite close to Shaya.
“Taryn thought you and Jaime might want to stay in your room all day doing that reconnecting thing. I wanted to tell you about Shaya so that you at least left the room to say good-bye to her. Plus, I figured Jaime would do better with the news if she had prior warning.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you soon.” When he reentered his room, he saw that his mate was gone from the bed. He found her in the en-suite bathroom, lying in a bath that wasn’t even a quarter of the way full. Approaching with a smile on his face, he asked, “You couldn’t wait until there was some water in it?”
No, thought Jaime, she couldn’t, because then he would have seen the tattoo that she’d had done as a surprise. He’d been so distracted by their reunion that he hadn’t noticed yet. “Shh. I’m trying to relax.” When he squatted and dipped his hands into the shallow water, skimming them over her legs, she guessed, “You’re not going to leave the room, are you?” Nope, not at all. Maybe it was unreasonable, but Dante didn’t want to be away from her. He’d only just got her back, and the fear of losing her was still fresh in his system. Feeling her skin against his and smelling the unique smell of their combined scents were the only things keeping his anxiety at bay. He couldn’t let her out of his sight yet. Didn’t want to.