“The cake is gorgeous, isn’t it,” said Roni. “I ate so much of it, I’m surprised there’s any left.”
Marcus gave his mate a mock scowl. “Let’s not forget you ate mine too.”
“And mine,” added Zander. Roni just sniffed.
Hearing a string of curses, Ally looked to see that Bruce was stealing food from the buffet. Kathy and Grace—a Phoenix mated female—had been good enough to cook all of it and had also tried outdoing each other in the process. Both females attempted to shoo him away from the table.
Having no success, Kathy glared at her daughter. “Roni!”
Blinking in surprise, Roni demanded, “How is this my fault? God, you’d blame me for the fall of Eve if you damn well could.” Roni was probably right, though Ally was coming to suspect that Kathy only used her daughter as a scapegoat to keep her on her toes.
Suddenly Eli came storming over, pointing his cell phone at his sister. “Oh my God! I can’t believe you did that!”
Leaving the siblings to argue over whatever prank was now being played, Ally headed to her mate. She had to smile at the sight of him holding a chuckling Willow, who was tugging hard on his hair. “Everything okay over here?” Damn, he looked edible in that gray shirt and those dark pants.
Derren tickled the little girl under her arm, making her release him with another chuckle. “She likes to see me in pain. She’s a sadist.”
“My daughter is not a sadist.” Shaya took her daughter with a playful huff.
“She shoved a breadstick up Greta’s nose.”
“Because she senses evil.”
Derren blinked. “I can’t argue with that.” With another huff, Shaya walked away to join Stone, Brad, and Wyatt. Glad to be alone with his mate, Derren yanked her against him and took a moment to sip and nip at her lips. “I missed you.”
“I was gone five minutes.”
“And in those five minutes, I was repeatedly assaulted by an infant. You weren’t here to protect me.” He hungrily devoured his mate with his eyes as she scooped some of the chocolate cake into her mouth. She looked truly amazing in that silk, midthigh coral dress with her hair slightly curled and hanging loose around her shoulders. He just wanted to lick every inch of her. His wolf wanted to take a big bite.
“At least I didn’t leave you with my uncle Chase.” Cain and her uncles had returned home the day after Kerrie and Miranda’s execution, but they had come back to—or, more accurately, snuck back onto—Mercury territory the previous night with two of her other foster uncles. Whereas Sam seemed to like her mate, Chase did nothing but grunt and scowl at him . . . purely to fuck with him.
“No amount of animosity could make me hate your uncles.” The news they had brought on their arrival had shocked the shit out of Derren. At Ally’s request, the males had done some investigating and meddling, and they’d managed to achieve something Derren hadn’t ever imagined would occur: they’d cleared his name.
In Cain’s words, “It was just a matter of putting the right pressure on the right people.” And since the sociopath had also had The Movement backing him, he’d done it quickly too. Despite the false accusation no longer hanging over Derren, he’d had very few apologies from his old pack. His sister had been one of those to contact him, despite her mate’s disbelief. Derren was simply glad to no longer feel the weight of a guilt that didn’t belong to him.
“Oh, look out, here comes the old dragon.” Ally smiled as Jaime, Dante, Dominic, Trick, Ryan, Tao, and Greta approached. Other than the dragon, they all once again congratulated Ally and Derren, making complimentary comments about the ceremony. Well . . . Ryan merely grunted his agreement to the others’ compliments, but still.
Noticing that Trey’s grandmother was sneering at her, Ally arched a brow. “You do realize you can’t kill me with your glare, right?”
Greta narrowed her eyes. “You might have healed my Roni after she was shot, but I still don’t trust you. I’ll never like Seers.” Tao and Trick rolled their eyes.
Tilting her head, Ally studied the woman from head to toe. “I guess Satan appears in all sorts of packages.”
When Jaime laughed, Greta huffed at the Phoenix Beta female. “You find her funny, do you?”
Jaime wagged her finger, leaning back into her mate, who wrapped his arms around her. “Now, now . . . Just because you’re so old the Three Wise Men helped you with your homework doesn’t mean you need to take it out on me.”
Dominic smiled at Ally. “If you were my homework, I’d do you on the table.” Trick yanked him aside before Derren’s fist could connect with the prick’s face.
Tao shook his head at the enforcer. “Dom, why do you want to die?”
“We should get him away before Derren breaks his nose again,” proposed Trick. Grunting, Ryan—who seemed to mostly communicate in grunts—grabbed a laughing Dominic by the back of his shirt while Trick and Tao followed.
Derren was about to suggest to Ally that they leave . . . but then Taryn, Trey, Marcus, and Roni—who had Kye wrapped around her like a boa constrictor—approached.
Greta gazed at Roni adoringly and kissed her on the cheek. “Hi, sweetheart.”
Tightening his grip possessively on Roni’s neck, Kye frowned at his great-grandmother as he firmly stated, “Mine.” The kid loved Roni.
“We know, we know,” Greta gently assured him. “Roni, you look beautiful tonight. Doesn’t she, Marcus?”