Dire Wolf Mates - Chapter 58: Chapter 58

“I never want to drink again!” Patricia Golden groaned and held on to the wall as she stumbled forward.
Her short velvet robe and oversized bunny slippers were horrifying, but Ariella was grateful for them. Last time her mother had crashed her apartment, she had walked around the next day in the nude on account of losing her clothes somewhere between the bar and home.
Yikes.
She was still having nightmares. She shivered at the memory and watched her mother slink all the way to the coffeepot. It was her favorite appliance in the world. The stainless steel goddess inspired machine sat on the counter and filled the kitchen with the strong fragrance of freshly brewed, aromatic, revitalizing, lifesaving coffee.
“This is the nectar of the gods, baby girl!”
“Shhhh!”
Ariella hushed her mom. Her head was still buzzing like she had a hive of bees floating inside. She would never forgive the woman for this. Crazy she-Cat had dosed Ariella—her youngest baby daughter—with a high potency herbal supplement meant for she-Cats in labor, for fuck’s sake. And at Serious Moonlight of all places.
Prrrrrrrrrrr.
Her kitty was still acting as if the night had been some kind of success, but she did not know why. The level of embarrassment Ariella felt was something she didn’t think she’d ever get over. And now she had to rush into work for an emergency meeting.
Crap. Crap. CRAP.
She growled and grabbed her cell. The stupid thing had been going off all weekend. Ariella looked down and opened the text from anonymous and found a giant dancing eggplant gif.
Perfect. Just perfect.
“Not another one!”
“Shhhh, baby girl, please. I carried you for nine months, and I think the least you can do is give me some quiet,” her mother moaned.
“This is your fault, Mom. When are you going to stop, already?”
“Stop what? I was only trying to get you to loosen up, baby girl.”
“Ugh. Well, I got loose alright,” she mumbled, unable to stay angry with her mother for any real amount of time.
Besides, worse things had happened after going on one of her mother’s adventures. So, what if Ariella announced her virginity to the entire bar? Big deal, right?
Well, she’d been getting spam calls and PMs on all her social media accounts from dozens of men, and a few women, ever since. Even operating at less than a hundred percent, she’d managed to identify a few fake accounts belonging to her sisters and her awful cousins, offering lewd suggestions.
Those perverse pussies. Ugh.
They were always big on the texts, but never to her face. Still, she admitted as she sipped her coffee and scrolled through her messages, there were some halfway decent indecent proposals in there.
Many of whom were offering to relive her of her little problem in the most imaginative of ways. What exactly was an Eiffel tower? And did she need to not shave her armpits to do it?
Hmmm.
“Oh, gawd! Eat my fur,” she muttered and blocked another pervert, who’d stupidly sent her a video of his limp and unimpressive member.
Like that was gonna seal the deal, pal! Whatevah.
Ariella rolled her eyes. She might be green as spring grass when it came to actually having sex, but she knew it took a little more than a Tootsie Roll, for Pete’s sake!
“Oh, even my eyes hurt,” Patricia moaned into her steaming mug of coffee.
Of course, she’d used the one shaped like an enormous purple wang, drinking from the tip deeply. Her mother had the most obscene tastes, but Ariella adored the woman.
“Serves you right,” she mumbled and glared at her mother. “What is going on with you, Mom? Are you moving back in? Did something happen with you and King Donovan?”
“I am not discussing that right now, child. Hey, it’s a full moon this week. Did you know that? Oh, look at the time! Get going. You have work, right?”
“I’m going, I’m going, sheesh,” Ariella mumbled, shaking her head.
That woman could have a full discussion and never let another person make a sound! She grabbed her purse, slipping on her lowest pair of heels before taking off for another fun filled workday.
Snark snark snark.
The cutesy little smart car was adorable when driving in her little hometown of Blue Valley, but she would never take it on the highway. The tiny lime green two-seater would be little more than a coffin if it came up against an eighteen-wheeler. She only used it to go to and from work and the condo she sometimes shared with her mother.
Patricia had been spending so much time at the palace lately, Ari wondered if she’d be living alone soon. She secretly believed the rumors that the now hearty and healthy King had fallen for her mom, but maybe, like some men she knew but would not name, Donovan Crowley just couldn’t come around to actually making a commitment.
Poor Mom.
Ariella frowned thoughtfully as she pulled into a free parking space outside her office. The Eat Well Live Proud building was not as big as some international corporations, but it suited the Pride just fine.
Keeping the supernatural world secret was tantamount to every organization run by Shifters regardless of personal agenda. The Pride had done well, developing the land bought and paid for by the royal family into a gated community complete with business section. It was like the Lions had their own little world, and Ariella grew up pampered and protected compared to some.
Nerves filled her stomach as she thought about her workday. Competition was fierce and she was still feeling hungover from the catnip, and other things. She could have sworn she’d been skinny dipping with Brock, but that couldn’t be right. Could it?
Gulp. Game face, girl.
She could not let her guard down here. Maybe later she would shift to her Lioness and go for a quick run. There was a gorgeous patch of forest running parallel to the Pride lands. Some of it was owned by them, some owned by the Dire Wolves on the other side of the creek she’d bathed in last night.
Shit. There went her mind again, traveling forbidden paths. She could not afford to slip up today, or everything she’d been working for the past six months would have been for nothing.
Back to her thoughts of romping through woods. Yes, they did lead to private property owned by the DWMC. But it was easy to avoid their land. If that was what she wanted to do. Of course, Ari’s beast knew a shortcut through the trees that led to the parking lot behind Serious Moonlight and the Dire Wolf Pack House. Not that she ever took that route. Well, not lately, anyway.
Or had she?
Just how did Ari make it home last night? She recalled waking up at five o’clock in the morning, glaring at the neon green numbers on her old-fashioned alarm clock. She had several of the things around the house, otherwise she might never wake up. Cats loved to sleep. Even Shifter Cats.
Hmmm.
She grabbed her bag, exiting the vehicle and tried to recall her steps last night. She could have sworn she had been swimming, and yet, Ariella had woken up in dry clothes in her own bed. Last thing she remembered was dancing and getting propositioned by a stranger. Her attempt at flirting back had been cut short by Brock.
Actually, the angry Dire Wolf had tossed her would-be-deflowerer, aka the Slash lookalike, across the bar. He then picked her up, curvy ass and all, and carried her out of the bar.
Shivers racked her body at the remembered touches, and Ariella didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He had seen her at her absolute worst. True, it was the longest she’d ever spent alone in his company. And even if, from what she recalled, it had been thrilling for her, Brock would probably avoid her more than ever now.
She’d been thoroughly under the influence of catnip infused tequila, but Ari still had a wonderful time. OMG! Had Brock really kissed her? She racked her brain for proof or some sign she was making that part up—call it wishful thinking, but no, even her she-Cat seemed certain.
Okay. So they kissed. Ohmyfuckinggawd!
Her heart was pounding her to death as she worried about what had happened. Kissing Brock was like the culmination of all her daydreams over the past few months. Ariella had had boyfriends, but she never really liked kissing them. What if she sucked at it?
Crap.
That was it. She totally sucked at it. After all, she had woken up alone. If she’d been good at kissing, she highly doubted a healthy male would have left it at that. How much more embarrassing were her memories going to get? Ugh. Ari tripped over a crooked slap of the sidewalk as the dreaded thought entered her brain.
Okay, she needed to remain calm. Ari had kissed boys before. They just never seemed able to handle her exuberance. Sure, boys had wanted to have sex with her, just no one she was interested in that way. After all, Ari couldn’t give herself to someone who needed to take frequent breaks from just making out.
But that was what she typically attracted—skinny mama’s boys with no idea how to handle her. She needed an apex predator. A strong one. None of the males in her Pride were interested in any of the Golden sisters.
Especially not after Adrianna had damn near castrated her high school boyfriend for cheating on her. It had been slim pickings from then on for all four of them, truth be told. Speak of the devil, Ariella damn near jumped out of her skin when her sister grabbed her arm.
“Ari, you coming inside or what?” Adrianna asked.
“Eeek! Holy fuck, Adrianna! Make some damn noise next time you sneak up on a bitch,” she growled.
“Ha! I heard someone got in the catnip last night,” she replied in an annoying sing-song voice.
Ariella just grunted. Annabeth and Antonette were waiting inside, and she cringed at the thought of what her three siblings had in store for her. Pranksters, all of them. Best to just get it over with.
Ari heaved a sigh and readjusted her purse on her shoulder. The great kissing question would just have to wait. Newly mated Annabeth was trying unsuccessfully to hide a smirk as Ari walked by. That she-Cat never could hold in a giggle.
Brats. All of them. They were definitely pulling something Ari. As the baby of the four, Ariella was used to it. Generally, she was a good sport about things like that, but her nerves were positively frayed at the moment. She only hoped they didn’t go overboard.
The Golden sisters were not typically meanspirited. But shit had been known to go too far sometimes. Like when Ad put hair removal cream in Toni’s leave-in conditioner before prom senior year. That one was particularly memorable since the cat fight that broke out between them had destroyed their grandmother’s last remaining tea set. Good thing Nana hadn’t cared a fig for tea. She’d been too busy shouting instructions at her fighting granddaughters.
Ariella supposed it was her turn to take some heat. After all, they had all ganged up on Annabeth when she’d come home with a mate a few months back. Of course, the sexified gift basket they left was bird themed for her new Falcon Shifter mate. If you asked Ariella, it was downright thoughtful of them. Especially, the sun butter part. That had been her idea.