Falk Clan Tales - Chapter 84: Chapter 84

“Minnie, slow down,” Sunny whispered into the phone, listening to her bestie go off the rails about her manager during her latest art tour.
“That rat bastard has been stealing half the profits, overcharging clients and not reporting it,” Minerva screeched.
“Wow. What a dick! Look, call Macconwood Law and get the Lowell brothers to give you some advice. They’re the Pack attorneys and will have a solution,” Sunny replied.
She listened a few more minutes, Sent Minerva her best, and hung up the cell phone. Poor Minnie. It must be terrible, being such an important artist only to have the one person you trust make a fool of you like that. Sunny shook her head, hurting for her friend, but she could not give Minnie the attention she deserved.
Not when her head was still spinning and her heart still reeling from the last forty-eight hours. She’d left Devine’s home after the encounter in his greenhouse just yesterday, but the Dragon had not called or come to see her since. Her Wolf was scratching against her skin, wanting to go and check on their mate, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Desperate much?
Dang it. Sunny hated feeling this way. She rolled her shoulders and tugged on the hem of her tie-dyed crop top she wore with wide legged linen pants that hung low on her hips, revealing a smooth strip of skin from her soft belly. Most Werewolves were muscular and trim, but Sunny was one of those blessed, or cursed depending on her mood, with ample curves and a fuller figure.
That never stopped her from wearing what she wanted or enjoying herself. She was a big girl with tons of energy and was as happy in her own skin as she was in her fur. She and Minerva, another Werewolf, had met in high school when the latter moved to Maccon City. They’d bonded over being fluffy she-Wolves and had stayed besties ever since.
And yet, for some reason, Sunny had not confided in her about her newly mated status. She hadn’t even mentioned him. But what could she say? Everything she knew about him read like a really lame dating profile.
Devine Graystone, QuartzDragon, dark hair, stormy blue eyes, terrific body—meaning hot as fuck and packing—great in bed and growly out of it. Oh, and he grows orchids.
Wait—that was it! The flowers were her in. She’d been checking up on why his beauties were not doing well, and Sunny might have stumbled on an answer. Simple really, and so typically male, it was laughable. That was it. She was going to stop by with new food and a couple of books for him that very night.
“You can run, but you can’t hide,” she muttered.
“Sis, you are getting weirder and weirder—wait, what the fuck? Who bit you?” her brother snarled, his eyes glowing with his Wolf.
“Shhh! River, there are humans all over here,” she whispered, grabbing him by his shirt collar and flinging him into the nearest supply closet.
“Hey, Sunny girl⁠—”
Her father’s smile stopped as he leaned forward and—sniff. “Where is he? I’ll kill him,” he growled.
So much for being a pacifist Wolf, Sigh.
“Hey guys, Crystal’s here. Say, are we having a family meeting or something?” Mom walked in with Sunny’s older sister, and the shit had officially hit the fan.
“Okay, before you all start snarling, and sniffing me—for fuck’s sake, River, back off—I have an announcement,” Sunny said, facing her family. “I have a mate.”
She’d tried to smile after that declaration, but what happened was a sniffle, a gasp, and a sob. Sunny was suddenly in the middle of a Daye family group hug—the most embarrassing and oddly comforting of all the Daye family group hugs. Her siblings used to fight when her parents forced them to do these kinds of things. Yes, Werewolves needed physical contact for reassurance and to reinforce familial bonds. But sometimes, too much was just too much, and that was never a good thing.
“Who is it?”
“I’ll kill him!”
“Dad, you don’t believe in violence⁠—”
“Shut up, River. This is your sister.”
“Shut up, everyone,” Mom said, pushing them all to break up their stranglehold hug. “Sunny? Are you okay? Wanna tell us about it?”
“Not really. Look, I’m sorry I got emotional, we’re just starting, and he’s, well, he’s not a Wolf, he’s a⁠—”
“He’s a fucking Cat, isn’t he? I hate those bastards,” River growled.
“No! And don’t hate anyone, idiot,” she replied sternly.
She closed her eyes and shook her head. Dammit. This was why she should have stayed home that morning. Of course, they would be able to tell the change in her scent. Mated Wolves took on some of the aspects of their mates’ essence, and Sunny’s was now infused with the smokey spice and fire of her Dragon.
A fact that would have made her proud any other day. If only Devine had been with her to make this announcement to her family. But she was alone, confused, and in a supply closet at her place of business.
“Shoot, I can hear Mrs. O’Neill ringing the bell at cashier 2. Let me go check on that, hon, but look, you come find me when you are done here, and if some young buck needs his ass kicked, I am your guy, kiddo,” Dad said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you, Daddy. He’s just different from us, and we have some things to talk about. I’ll be fine. Promise.”
“Okay, baby,” Mom added, kissing her other cheek and ruffling her already frizzy hair.
Her parents left, leaving her with Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dummer, and Sunny shook her head. River and Crystal glanced at each other, and she knew what they were up to.
“No. I can see it in your eyes. Stop right there,” she said, lips twitching as she started to back up.
Rule number one in Werewolf pup horseplay—never turn your back on a predator, especially small ones with tiny, sharp puppy teeth. Sunny could not hold back her grin as she made a dash for the door, but she was just so damn clumsy. She got tangled in her feet and fell backwards as her siblings attacked, tickling her till she almost peed herself.
“Stoppp! Ahhh!” she screamed.
Suddenly, the door was torn open and an enormous male trembling with rage barreled into the small closet and roared. Yep. He actually fucking roared as he grabbed Crystal and River by their shirts and lifted them off Sunny.
“Dev! Stop. No, no! Put them down!” Sunny scrambled to her feet but moved too fast and she started pitching forward—fuck, that was gonna hurt, but then Dev was there. He’d dropped her siblings and caught her mid-fall, whisking her up in his arms like some hero from a romance novel.
Fuck, was he hot. Sexy, romantic Dragon. Good mate.
“Um, Sunny?”
“Oh shit. Put me down, Dev. It’s okay,” she said, wiggling to get down, and he allowed it, barely. The big man had his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back to his chest while she tried to check on her siblings.
“Are you guys alright?”
“What is the meaning of this attack?” he growled.
“They weren’t attacking me⁠—”
“Technically, we were,” Crystal replied, giggling as she stood and rubbed her butt.
Her sister was so beautiful, and for a moment, Sunny felt old self-doubts creeping up, but she refused to indulge them. Crystal had been born with honey gold locks and bright cerulean eyes. No freckles. She’d lucked out in the gene pool, for sure, but Sunny was nothing but proud of her.
“Tickle attack. A Daye family tradition whenever one of us is down,” River explained. Her goofy younger brother grinned, offering his hand to Devine, who looked likely to snap it off.
“Dev, this is my sister Crystal, and my brother River,” she said, and Devine took the younger male’s hand in a tight, but brief shake.
“Why were you down?” he asked.
Clever Dragon, getting right to the heart of the matter.
“I’d say that was your fault, hotshot,” Crystal said, smoothing her hands over her hair. “You good, sis?”
Sunny nodded.
“Okay then, looks like you both have some talking to do. I’ll keep Dad busy,” River said, which was probably a good thing.
Sunny waved them off and stepped out of Devine’s warm embrace. Her skin felt the loss of his warmth keenly in the unheated room. November weather was fickle at best, and today it had stayed under fifty degrees. Normally, she wouldn’t care, but Sunny had gotten used to being near his Dragon’s inner fire. If Werewolves ran hotter than normals, then it was safe to say Dragons walked around in a permanent fever state.
Focus, Sunny. Ask him what he wants.
“What are you doing here?”
“I missed you,” he replied, and she could scent his honesty.
“It’s only been a day,” she said, trying to play off her hurt.
“And it felt like a year,” he whispered, so low she wasn’t sure she heard it.
“I was going to stop by with some books for you on orchid care. I think I know the problem.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s just the change in the temperature and humidity in the room. It’s off balance. I think adding more moisture to the air will help, and less fertilizer.” Sunny was rambling, but she could not seem to stop.
She turned around, giving him her back while she straightened bottles and boxes, turning their labels to face front. Stuff like that did not usually bother her. Sunny wasn’t particularly neat or anal about stuff like that, but she was clean, and she needed to do something with her hands or else she’d end up tackling the poor guy.
Get a grip, girl.
“Will you go out with me?” he asked suddenly, and she stopped her fiddling with the bottles on the shelf, turning slowly to face him.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I want to get to know you, and I want you to get to know me,” he mumbled, ruffling the hair on the back of his head with one big hand, elbow pointed towards the ceiling, like he was nervous or something.
She found the gesture endearing and smirked as she pretended to mull over his offer. He wanted to take her out—like on a real date. Hot damn! Typically, when supernaturals found their fated mates, that was it. It was like wham bam let’s getcha pregnant ma’am—the biological imperative to procreate overpowering all others.
Some believed the Fates blessed supernaturals with this, knowing when they met their mates to make life easier on them to have fulfilling relationships, and yes, that also meant propagating the species. But it was a burden too, wasn’t it? Brokering no choice for the supes involved. Sunny felt that truth keenly as she looked at her mate. Devine had not been given a choice. The Fates had taken that away and here he was, trying to make the most of it. After all, it was not the big, sexy, dumb Dragon’s fault she’d gone and fallen for him.
“Okay,” she replied, trying to stem the heavy beating of her heart. “I’ll go out with you. When?”
“Now.”
“But I’m not dressed⁠—”
“Look fine to me,” he grumbled, and she warmed at the way his heated gaze raked over her body like hands.
The man was so damn sexy. Too sexy for his own good. They’d set fires in bed, and out of it, together already, and Sunny knew he liked her body just fine. But Devine was right. She did not know him, and the Wolf was as curious as her human side.
“Alright. Let me tell my family,” she said, untying the work apron she wore around her waist.
The entire room seemed to reverberate with the sound of the powerful growl coming from Devine’s throat. She met his blazing blue-black eyes and swallowed the moan that immediately tried to escape her lips. Helplessly attracted to the man, that’s what she was. Sunny moved closer to him and rested her head against his chest, allowing him to soothe her frazzled nerves with a tender hug.
“Will you let me meet them?”
“Who?”
“Your family,” he replied, and she heard the smile in his voice without having to raise her head.
Duh, Sunny. Lol.
She stepped back reluctantly and nodded as she led the way from the supply room. Once they were in the aisle, Dev took her hand in his and immediately her Wolf stilled as feelings of care, comfort, and protection filled her.
“Mom, Dad?” she called, approaching the service counter where her parents were chatting over a flat of fall mums.
Both Werewolves looked up, her father growling at the sight of her mate holding her hand. Devine stilled, and she felt him purposely tamping down on his natural dominance. Werewolves were snarly as fuck, but he was a Dragon. A motherfucking badassed Dragon, and she preferred her parents alive and breathing.
“Dad, this is Devine Graystone of the Falk Clan,” she whispered, knowing her parents would hear and understand. “My mate.”
“I see,” her father said, still not bothering to hide his Wolf from the larger predator. “I’m Leaf and this is my mate Moonbeam, Sunny’s mom. Now, I’m a pacifist and you might be a Dragoon, but if you make my little girl cry again, there’s not a fucking thing in this world that will stop me coming after you,” her father stated, and damn, if she didn’t love the man a little more for it.
“Leaf, hush,” Mom said, elbowing him with a wink at Sunny.
“Daddy, I’m fine,” Sunny said, stepping away from Devine to give her old man a hug.
“You cried?” Devine asked, and his expression was almost comical if he did not look entirely devastated.
“It’s no big deal, Dev. I was just being emotional⁠—”
“I understand if you should like to seek revenge, sir. Lashes, perhaps or something else⁠—”
“Eek! What? No,” Sunny said, shaking her head. “Not necessary. Dad, tell him,” she growled at her father, who seemed as taken aback as she.
“Um, no, we are all good. This time,” Dad added, earning him another elbow from Mom.
Thank you, she mouthed at her mother as she hurried Devine out the door, barely missing an angry old man with a shopping cart.
“Whoops,” she said as Dev pulled her into the safety of his arms once more.
“You really have no sense of self-preservation at all, do you, Sunny Daye?”
Nope. Apparently not, she thought as she gave another chunk of her heart to the sexy Dragon.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked, pulling out of his arms and tucking a few curls behind her ears.
“It’s a surprise.”