The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 90: Chapter 90

Kylie left Michael to tend his patients and waited for her ride outside the house. She had left her car at the Pride House the night before. She hadn’t thought about it before, but retrieving the vehicle was going to be mortifying.
Not her fault. She simply had not been thinking about it or how she would get anywhere the next day.
Duh, said her she-Tiger.
All she’d been thinking about was getting her hands on a very naked Michael Turner. The Pride Healer had spent the whole night initiating her into the sensual side of mating.
Thank fuck, she’d lucked out in that department.
Michael was an exceptional lover. Not that she’d had anything to compare him to, but she knew it without a doubt. She frowned as a smiling Hank held the rear passenger door open for her, as she climbed into the limo that had arrived to pick her up.
“Good morning, dear. You missed quite the pre-party last night,” he began.
“Oh crap, is Elissa terribly upset?”
“Not at all. Everyone is looking forward to the shower today, but I heard some of the ladies say you are not getting away without a performance⁠—”
“Oh Lord, not karaoke! What do I have to do to make them just give up on me already?”
“Kylie, my dear, I do not think anyone here will ever do that,” he replied, his blue eyes glowing with magic. “Now, tell me, how are you feeling today?”
Uncle Uzzi smiled as he sat across from Kylie in the immaculate car, and she tried to wrap her head around everything the older man had just said. She wanted to believe his words were true, but did not think she could bear to find out they weren’t.
Just the fact she was allowed in the Maverick Pride was too good for words, but to be treated like an old friend by members of the inner circle was incredibly humbling. She had been alone for so long. Kylie realized she would give anything to truly belong.
“I’m feeling okay, thanks,” Kylie returned, and tried to ignore the blush warming her cheeks.
It was hard to pretend not to be embarrassed when she knew the Witch knew what she had been up to. Kylie bit her lip nervously. Should she or shouldn’t she ask this man what to do about her current situation?
“Hank? Can you run us down to Jessica’s Closet? I promised I’d pick her up as well,” Uncle Uzzi instructed the driver before turning his electric blue eyes on the young woman.
“You know, it’s not that I can’t drive, but I do prefer to use Hank’s livery service when I am visiting the Garden State. There’s just something about his old world courtesy that reminds me of the old days,” Uzzi told Kylie conspiratorially.
“I bet,” Kylie said.
The handsome chauffeur was something else alright. She smelled fowl on him, but was unsure what type of Bird Shifter he was. He had great manners, and his limo was always immaculate. She and the girls used to giggle over how hot he looked in his uniform, but handsome as he was, he did nothing for Kylie.
Not like a certain hot doctor, she might add.
“Well, now, I suggest you ask me whatever it is that’s on your mind, Kylie McNaughton. While we have the time.”
“Oh, uh,” she wiggled in her seat and closed her eyes for a count of three.
The shameful truth was a bit embarrassing, but she had to admit it to someone. Kylie ran a hand over her hair and hoped it wasn’t too disheveled from her romp with Michael.
Michael. Mate.
Her silly she-Cat went belly up just thinking about the dang man. Especially the way he’d looked in various positions and when he’d whispered deliciously naughty things to her.
Sigh.
How was she supposed to concentrate when images of the spectacularly raunchy things he’d introduced her to, kept popping up in her mind?
“Kylie? Well, if you won’t talk, then allow me to state that we have five minutes before we pull up outside of Jessica’s Closet. Once we get there, I suggest a change of clothes, or the Neta, Nari, and every Shifter within ten feet of you will be sure to pick up on exactly what you and Michael have been up to this morning.”
Though his words were casual, Uncle Uzzi eyed her disheveled wardrobe with amusement twinkling in his sapphire gaze. Kylie felt her cheeks heat up, and embarrassment coursed through her.
“Oh my Lord! I am so sorry, Uncle Uzzi,” she said, horrified.
“Nonsense. I was a married man too and believe me when I tell you my liebling and I were quite inseparable. She was quite the believer in physical intimacy, was what kept a marriage strong, while the heart kept it warm.”
“That sounds so romantic,” she told him.
“Now, are you sure you have nothing else to say?”
“Well, I guess I should just tell you the truth. You see, I heard the message you left about the Sharp Claw Pride closing in on me, and I wondered if things would not be better for everyone here if I just left,” she whispered the last word, scared her confession would reveal her as the selfish coward she was.
Kylie’s eyes filled with tears, and she took the tissue Uncle Uzzi offered.
“Kylie, you leaving is —” he began, but Kylie cut him off.
“Uncle Uzzi, I know I should leave for everyone’s sake, but I don't think I can,” she cried miserably.
“This is the first place I ever felt like I belonged. I want it too much. I want him too much. Does that make me selfish?”
“Kylie, I am surprised at you! Of course, it does not make you selfish to want to be happy, loved, and safe, and you are all those things here, aren’t you?” Uzzi asked, sympathy shining in his eyes.
“I think so,” she murmured. “Am I supposed to love him so much, so fast?”
“Love is good, no? It is the purpose of life.”
“I guess, I mean, I don’t have a lot of experience with love. But I always knew Michael was something special to me.”
“Indeed, he is your fate, child.”
“Fated mates?”
“Of course, dear.”
“It seems so strange,” she whispered. “I mean, that sort of thing seemed to be for other people. Not me. Never me.” Kylie closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to shake off the feeling of impending doom.
Wasn’t it time she embraced a little hope? Maybe Uzzi was right. Maybe she needed to just trust in the Fates, or more precisely, in the fact that Michael was her fated mate.
“What do I do if he decides he doesn’t want me anymore?”
Kylie looked down at her short-clipped nails and gave voice to her biggest fear. She had learned to be a realist before she had ever come to Maverick Point. Always expecting the worst was second nature.
Her childhood had allowed for nothing else. Dreaming about fairytales was not something that was encouraged. Images of a lonely little girl flashed through her brain until the little girl grew into a terrified teen, and then finally, a woman on the run who’d managed to find a place to land.
Maverick Point had become more than just that, though. She’d made friends there, started a business, and found her mate. Kylie had a home now.
“There is no way Michael Turner does not want you, child. Are you not aware of the months he’s spent pining for you? The Tiger has been waiting for the right moment to claim you, but you never have to settle. You know this, right? You are worth a king’s ransom, child, but should he not make you happy⁠—”
A warm, wrinkled hand closed over hers and she looked up to see Uncle Uzzi’s eyes brimming with emotion. Kylie clasped his hand in return, knowing finally why he was everyone’s uncle. The man had more kindness in his pinky than any relative she had ever had. He was like family, and she was grateful for him.
“Oh no, Uncle Uzzi, he makes me so very happy. Truth is, I was ready to run today, but after talking to you, I think this is where I belong. I love Michael. He told me he loved me before I left his office. But he wasn’t even looking at me. He just said it, real casually⁠—”
“Well, maybe he did not want to frighten you.”
“Maybe,” she agreed. “Anyway, I think I loved him since the first day I saw him. I know he’s a doctor but I’m just me, and, well⁠—”
“We will have none of that now, my dear child. And don’t you ever let me catch you saying anything like that again,” Uzzi said, and she could tell he was simmering with outrage.
“Who told you formal education made a person good or better than anyone else? Why, some of the finest people I know do not even know how to read,” Uzzi started.
“A medical degree does not make a person better than you. Especially not you, my dear Kylie—You are a warm, kind, beautiful woman. A fierce, protective, brave she-Tiger. Not to mention, a completely brilliant designer, if I do say so myself. I have even started passing your cards out to my clients, and so far, they love your work,” Uzzi informed her.
“Oh!” Kylie was surprised by Uzzi’s statement, and she laughed, wiping a tear from her eye. “Thank you for your endorsement.”
“Of course but believe me I would not tell anyone about your wares if they were not good. The mates of my clients are too precious for subpar handling, my dear, and Kisses by Kylie knows how to treat today’s woman or, so I have been told,” Uzzi stated.
“Back to you and Michael. Your love for each other will only grow, Kylie. It’s how these things are meant to be.”
“Oh, but what if he only thinks he loves me,” she began, then stopped and stared at Uncle Uzzi, her mouth hanging open. “Wait, he does, doesn’t he? He really loves me,” she said with wonder lacing every word.
“Yes, dear, of course he loves you. He’s no dummy. Now, go run up to your apartment while I get Jessica, quick shower and change, then meet me back down here in fifteen minutes,” the older Witch instructed and winked.
“Good idea. I’ll be right with y’all,” Kylie said, and she didn’t even wince when a bit of South Carolina poured into her voice.
She took the stairs two at a time, hardly aware of her surroundings and so full of hope, more than she’d allowed herself to feel in years.
Kylie wondered if this was what euphoria felt like. She was in love, and even better, someone loved her back. Eyes twinkling, she grinned with amusement as she thought about all the shenanigans she and Michael had gotten up to in the hours since he’d brought her home from the Pride House.
Kylie unlocked the door that led to the stairwell to her apartment. It was unusually dark and quiet, but she was too busy daydreaming over her night with Michael. The things he’d done to her untried body. Kylie had never had time for sexual exploration.
Shifters were very physical creatures, but she had spent so much of her childhood and young adulthood just trying to make it out of her old Pride alive, She’d never had a boyfriend. Never knew what being in love meant, physically speaking.
To say she’d been shocked was an understatement. Michael had done things to and with her, she’d only ever read about. He made her quiver and sigh, moan and scream, gasp and come louder and harder than any battery-operated boyfriend from her intimate toy collection.
Michael Turner was something of a sex god, in her opinion. He’d been completely insatiable, licking and fucking her into oblivion. And Kylie had loved every minute of it. Honestly, she’d never felt like more of a woman than when she’d been wrapped up in his arms, and his kiss, with his big, beautiful body between her thighs.