At One's Pleasure (10 page)

They had
managed to distract her long enough to bundle her into the jet.  Now she was
sitting in a sinfully plush dark leather seat between Jacob and Linc with
Griffin watching her from across a small table.  Logan had disappeared after
Cleo, very neatly, while she was still trying to figure out what he was talking
about.

The plane
itself was worth a look.  Modern and comfortable, it had everything from a bar
to a flat screen, not to mention there was actually a bedroom and a full bath
on this modern marvel.  Just now, she was more interested in some answers.

"I
thought I was coming to give Linc my support.  What exactly does meet the pack
entail, exactly?"  Becca would have been pacing but they were on a moving
airplane, so instead she was tapping her foot and very carefully touching no
one.

"Just
what it sounds like," Griffin said.  "We are going to introduce you
as the Alpha female of our pack.  It'll give you a measure of safety among the
wolf packs.  As it stands right now, out in the world, you would be recognized
as a female alpha wolf without pack.  That's dangerous."

She stopped
tapping.  "You mean they would try to kill me like they did Jacob?"

"No one
would kill an alpha female; they are practically non-existent these days.  But
they would try to claim you."  Griffin’s eyes were hard and fixed on
hers.  "This way you are an acknowledged member of our pack and mated by
wolf law."

"Are
you saying you have some kind of wolf government?"

"More
an understanding that all wolves abide by.  Most shapeshifter groups have
them.  Some more than others."

"Wait,"
she said, holding up her hand to stop him.  "There are other types of
shapeshifters?  Really?"

"Many
kinds actually," Linc said from beside her.  "Cleo is a Lion
shifter.  They have a different set of rules.  Though I believe Cleo lives
outside Lion society with her father and brother.  It's an unusual situation,
especially since theirs is the only group I know of that has different flavors
of animal shifters working together."

"Cleo's
a Lion?  Really?"  She could see that, actually.  With all her golden
gorgeousness and fluid way of moving.  "Crazy.  Hey, Logan is a wolf
right?  Not something else?"

"Yes,"
Griffin said, his voice going rough.  "And he's going to be a dead wolf if
you keep flirting with him."

"I was
not flirting with him."  She looked him up and down, smirking.  "I
have enough on my plate, thank you.  I innocently looked at him because he was
talking and my eyes got stuck a few times.  That's not flirting; it’s an
involuntary girl reaction to a hot cowboy.  It's encoded in our genes or
something.  Not actually my fault that you shapeshifters are all hunks of
burning man love."

"Becca,"
Griffin growled in warning.

"What
Griffin?”  She huffed, sitting back in her seat.  "Are you going to tell
me what's going on, or keep trying to distract me with silly talk about Logan? 
We both know I didn't react to him the way I reacted to any of you.  So tell
me, please, what this meeting the pack entails and what it means, specifically
to me."

Linc sighed
beside her.  "It means you will be meeting more than one pack at the
funeral.  Just a few people from each, but enough are coming for the funeral of
a respected pack enforcer, that it will be the equivalent of making a formal
announcement in the local paper."  She turned away from Griffin with his
stony jaw and looked at Linc while he continued.  "It means that in the
eyes of the packs and lone wolves, even the other shapeshifter and supernatural
groups, you are our wife, and we have the right to defend you, to the death if
necessary."

"Linc,"
she whispered it through a throat closing in panic.  This was new, as well,
that dive to straight panic, along with all the other intense emotions that
seemed to be invading her randomly these days.  "I can't..."

Before she
could finish Griffin pulled her out of her seat and into his lap. 
"Breathe," he said harshly, but his hands were gentle on her skin
when he pushed her hair back from her face and pressed his forehead to hers. 
"Breathe Becca."

She wasn't
sure if it was the word wife, or the 'defend to the death' statement but she
was definitely having breathing issues.

"When
were you going to tell me?" she asked, her arms tight around Griffin, her
eyes closed.  She laughed harshly.  “Just because I seem to be on some crazed
emotional rollercoaster, and you never know when I’m going to rage, cry, laugh
or lose my mind, is no reason to keep me in the dark.”

He ignored
the sarcasm and answered the question.  "When it was over and you didn't
have a chance to argue about it."

"You
are such a bastard."  But she didn't let go of him.  Right now he offered
a safety she desperately needed. 

"I
know," he said quietly, holding her tight.  "But we need you.  I
can't..."  His voice stopped then started again softer.  "We can't
lose you."

She opened
her eyes and lifted her head, searching his eyes.  They were molten wolf gold. 
"You know it won't mean the same thing to me that it does to the wolves. 
I will make my own choices.  If I decide to go, I will go, no matter what the
'supernatural community,' considers marriage."

"This
is more about keeping you safe than keeping you," Linc said from behind
them.  "This will make it so no one
will
take away your
choices."

"Except
you," Becca said, still lost in Griffin’s smoldering eyes.

"Maybe." 
Jacob joined the conversation.  "But I trust us not to hurt you or force
you into anything you don't want.  I don't trust anyone else."

She sighed,
then pressed a soft kiss to Griffin’s hard lips, watching his eyes soften for
her.  "All right.  I said I'd come.  It's my own fault for not getting
more information to begin with."

"It
wouldn't have mattered," Griffin said gruffly, returning her kiss before
placing her back in her seat between Jacob and Linc, and fastening her
seatbelt.  "We both know you still would have made the same decision to
support Linc."

She smiled
across at him, showing a lot of teeth.  "If you're so confident of my
choices, why not just give me all the information to start with and trust me to
make them?"

He smiled
back at her, only she would bet money his smile was scarier than hers.  "I
suppose that is one way to go."

"You're
problem is you're used to being bossy."  She took Linc’s hand into hers
because she sensed he needed it.  A reaction that needed no thought on her
part.  She didn't even notice until she felt his relief at her touch.  She
squeezed his hand, using her other one to brush over the skin of his wrist,
enjoying the feel of him under her fingers.  Meanwhile, she watched Griffin,
continuing to bait him, enjoying that too.  "You need to practice sharing
Griffin.  Get rid of those nasty loner habits."

He smirked,
taking in with his eyes her proximity to Jacob and Linc.  She hadn't even
noticed when her feet and Jacob’s got tangled up together.  "I think I
share pretty well.  But if you want to practice, I can think of a few positions
we haven't tried."

Becca
snorted.  "The one place you don't need practice is in bed.  As far as I
can tell you excel at all primal male acts, including, but not limited to
raunchy hard core, sex."  She waved that away even as he raised a brow. 
"No, what I'm talking about is what we women like to call relationship
issues."  She used her fingers to air quote relationship.  "You need
to practice having people in your life who are your equal, not your
subordinates."

"I'm
Alpha," he drawled out.  "Everyone is my subordinate."

She narrowed
her eyes.  "Not me.  And if we are forming a family unit, then Linc and
Jacob have an equal say in the family stuff too."  She held up her hand
stopping him before he could speak.  "I'm not saying they co-lead your
pack, in pack business they are your enforcers, obviously they have to follow your
commands, but at home they should be able to relax without commands from their
Alpha keeping them hopping."

"I
don't order them around at home."

"Really,
so when you sent Jacob to bed last night, what was that exactly?"  Jacob
froze beside her, Linc tensing under her hand.  It was very quiet all of a
sudden.

Griffin
studied her, then the men beside her, and she tried to keep her bravado under
his intense wolf eyes, but it wasn't easy.  For their parts, they were very
carefully saying nothing with word or expression.

"You're
right," he said, finally, with an irritated growl behind his voice. 
"I will attempt to tone down the commands when we are at home."

"Or
alone."  She couldn't help but push on this one, it was too important for
all of them.

He sighed,
long and loud.  "Very well, when we are alone, I will try to keep the
commands to the minimum."

"You
could try asking, instead of commanding."

Up went the
brow.  "Don't push too hard little bit.  It's enough.  As it is I will
forget at times and act according to my nature."

She smiled,
this time it was sincere.  "Don't worry Griffin; I'll remind you when you
forget."

"Of
that I have no doubt."  He shook his head, as she felt the tension seep
out of the other men.  "You excel at reminding me I am flawed beyond
redemption."

"No,"
she said it flatly and with finality, her smile swept away.  "Never that. 
You are flawed, just like the rest of us, but not without redemption, and what
I'm trying to show you is that it doesn't all have to fall to you.  You have help. 
With all your responsibilities to the pack, you have shoulders to lean on and
family to back you.  Not peons to command."

"Are
you intending to be around to help shoulder these burdens, little bit?  Or do
you still intend to run the first chance you get?"

She opened
her mouth and then shut it with a snap.

His tone
became mocking.  "Then changing our family dynamic is a moot point right
at the moment, isn't it?"

She licked
dry lips.  "So you're suggesting that if I agree to stay you'll make the
effort, but until I decide, why bother?"  She turned to look at first
Jacob and then Linc, whose hand she held again.  "What about you guys, how
do you feel about the family dynamic as it stands now?"

"Honestly,
Becca," Jacob said, his voice low.  "I don't even think twice about
following the Alpha's commands, no matter where he gives them.  Other wolves
try to give me commands and I will respond aggressively.  I've seen other
Alpha's and would chafe at their restrictions, but Griffin?  No.  My wolf
trusts him to lead and I've been following too long to change now."

"Fair
enough," Becca said.  "Linc?"

"As
Jacob said, I follow my Alpha," he pushed her hair back from her face, his
eyes earnest.  "But it is not blind obedience as it might appear.  We have
all found our place here through fiery trials.  We know we can trust each
other.  Griffin is my Alpha, not because he was born the Alphas son and I was
not, but because he has earned the position, through sacrifice and honorable
dealings.  I choose to follow my Alpha, to death if necessary, it is not forced
upon me."

She blew out
a breath, her head finding Linc’s chest and her eyes closing.  "Then you
are happy with the way things are and I'm just being a trouble maker when it's
not necessary."

He held her
tighter, his hand cupping the back of her head.  "Truthfully, we work as a
pack, but happy?  There has always been something missing.  We did not become a
family until you walked into our lives.  That is a precious thing, as is
knowing you would fight for our happiness so earnestly, as you are doing right
now."

She kept her
head on Linc’s chest, but turned so she could see Griffin, who was studying
them without expression.  "Why am I driven to fight with you,
Griffin?"  She shook her head, still pressed to Linc.  "I don't want
to be difficult.  It's just that so much of the time I feel like you're
watching from a distance, and I'm compelled to scratch at you."  She
placed her hand over her heart.  "I feel it here; it chafes, and pulls me
to random acts of defiance."

She smiled,
it was big and mischievous, and she sat back in her own seat.  Her voice
turning teasing.  "The more I think of it, the more I realize it’s all
your fault."  She nodded.  "Yep."  She popped the p in yep. 
"You should work on that."

Griffin
laughed, feeling a strange lightness he wasn't used to.  He shook his head at
her convoluted paths of thought.  "You could lead a man to more than
'random acts of defiance', as you call them, piling on the bullshit like that. 
But I will take it, if it means I get to see you smile at me while you
shovel."

"Wow,
from you that was practically sweet talk."  She widened her eyes, adding a
twang to her words.  "You keep that up, and Linc'll lose his spot as the
purtiest talker."

"Hey,
what about me?”  Jacob asked, a half smile on his luscious lips.  She turned to
face him, opened her mouth, and then bit her lip, stumped.  "Honestly
Jacob, we don't ever seem to get around to talking, the two of us.  But you
could medal in the kissing Olympics."   

He leaned
forward until he was just a breath from kissing distance.  "I suppose I'll
have to work on that."  He turned his head a bit and rubbed his cheek
against one side of her face and then the other.  "Do you like
poetry?"

"Poetry?" 
Her voice was breathless, but really what did he expect. 

"I have
an MBA from Harvard, but I minored in Literature."  He leaned back, his
smile turning devilish.  "Chicks dig it."

"I bet
they do."  She cleared her throat.  "Are you making a point to tell
me that you are actually a grown up so I don't feel weird about lusting after
you?"