Wolf of Sight

Chapter 2-2

“Make that two,” said Ciro gesturing to the shirtless, dirt-covered Nick and Kale. “As you can see, I didn’t engage with these two pups.”

“Guilt by association,” said Stella.

“Trubul?” Kale asked Heather loudly. His eyebrows rose to the top of his head. He let his accent thicken. He rarely spoke this way anymore, but he could lapse into the old tongue at any time, and he thought his mate might get a kick out it. “What ya mean, mot? I’ve only been tinkin’ about how tha lilies of the field cannut compare to your beauty.”

Heather made a gagging sound in her throat. “I don’t know what a mot is, but you can stow the pretty words, Irishman. You’re going to tell me right now why you’ve had our bond closed down tight all morning if you want to get back into my good graces. That or your mouth is going to have to do a lot more to me than talking.”

The girls laughed. Nick coughed and Ciro cleared his throat.

Kale blanched for a second, then recovered himself, grinning. “You might not want to draw that particular line in the sand just yet, mot. Not unless you’re ready for me to cross it.”

“You keep calling me that,” said Heather. “What does it mean?”

“Mot is an old Dublin word,” interjected Ciro. “Originally derived from the word maith, meaning good. It’s morphed into an endearment meaning girlfriend.”

Everyone turned to give Ciro a questioning look. He shrugged. “What? You live as long as I have, you pick up on a few things. I’ve hunted with the Irish pack several times over the centuries. I’ve become familiar with their vernacular.”

“Aye, what he said,” said Kale, jerking his head at Ciro.

“Regardless,” said Heather, “pet names will not excuse you. I want answers or I want action. Now. Give it up, wolf. And I mean that however you want to take it.”

Kale’s wolf practically jumped out in response to her teasing. It was all Kale could do to contain the beast. Heather did something to him he didn’t think possible. She made him lose all control. Ciro was right. It was going to be hard not to lose his head around her. A high-pitched sound escaped his throat before he stifled his wolf and tried to cover the noise with a cough.

“Did he just yip?” asked Stella.

Kale tried to plaster a look of dignified offense on his face. “I did no such thing.” He’d wanted to tease his mate, to make her uncomfortable in front of the others. His wolf had wanted to play with her, to watch her squirm. Instead, she’d instantly turned the tables on him. And that playfulness was just one of the reasons why he adored her so much.

“He did,” said Heather, smiling. “He just yipped. I made my wolf yip.”

“I didn’t—” Kale began.

“I’ve never heard one of them yip before,” said Kara.

“That was so cute,” crooned Stella. She turned to Ciro. “Are you going to yip for me?”

Now it was Ciro’s turn to look affronted. “I do not yip. Only pups yip.” He gave Kale a pointed look and Kale quickly looked away. “I am an Alpha. I am a Canis lupus. I may growl. I may snarl. I may even bark on occasion. But I will never, ever yip.”

“Yep, he’ll yip for you, Stella,” said Heather. “I can tell by his voice. He might act all serious now, but get him alone and he’ll roll over and yip as much as you want him to.”

Ciro cleared his throat and ignored the comment. “Ladies, if you would allow us fifteen minutes to get cleaned up, then we can discuss matters,” His calm, diplomatic manner had returned. Kale had to admit he admired the way Ciro handled himself. Kale’s temperament was a bit more volatile. The fieriness of his temper was matched only by the color of his hair.

“By all means,” Heather said. “Wash off the stench so we can focus on more important things … like your hot accents … I mean … whatever important matters are weighing on your minds.”

Stella sighed. “How did you become the spokesperson for us today?”

Kale’s mate shrugged. “I’m just going with what feels right. I’m doing me. Isn’t that the modern-day lingo of being yourself? Be a unicorn and all that jazz?”

Stella groaned. “Please, for the love of all things ridiculous, don’t latch on to the unicorn fad. I’ve had all the sparkling farts and rainbow manes I can handle.”

“You’re just a little ball of sunshine.” Kara laughed.

As Kale walked past her, he paused next to Heather and leaned down. “Good morning, love,” he said and then pressed a kiss to her neck just below her ear. She sighed and tilted her head to the side, giving him better access to her throat. Kale chuckled. “Are you trying to tell me something?” he asked through their bond, letting go of the tight reign he’d had on it while he’d been talking with the other two males.

“I just don’t want the rest of my neck to feel neglected. If you’re going to kiss my neck, then you need to be an equal-opportunity neck kisser,” she replied.

Kale pressed another kiss to her neck and then another. Then he whispered in her ear, “I’ll have to take care of the rest of your neck at a later time.”

“I suppose I can wait.” She sighed. Kale could feel her mirth coming through their bond, though she was doing her best to sound disappointed. “Go wash your stink off,” she added, making him want to kiss that smart mouth of hers. Kale stood up and continued past her. He needed to get away before he swept her up in his arms and took her somewhere more private. Damn Peri for declaring the Blood Rites off-limits. The ceremony needed to be performed now.

Ciro couldn’t take his eyes off of Stella. She was simply a vision to him. Her skin was a lovely shade of brown that reminded him of smooth, melted chocolate. It was flawless. Her eyes were light brown, crystal clear, and turned up slightly at the outer points, giving her an exotic look. She had full, plump, lips and high cheekbones.

“I could take a picture of her for you,” Kara said, breaking into Ciro’s thoughts.

Ciro smiled as he watched Stella nudge Kara and mutter something along the lines of ‘Shut it, little healer.’ “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t plan to have her out of my sight much so I don’t think a picture will be necessary.” Ciro didn’t want to intimidate or scare Stella by being too forward, but he wouldn’t lie to her. Now that he’d found her, he’d be as patient as she needed him to be, but that didn’t mean he planned on allowing any distance between them.

Stella met his stare, and there was more curiosity in her eyes than anything else. “Good to know,” she said with a small smile.

“Will you ladies please remain inside while we clean up?” Ciro asked.

All three of them saluted him. He couldn’t help but laugh.

“What?” Heather asked. “What happened?”

“You three seem to be very in sync with one another,” Ciro said.

“We all did the smart-ass salute,” Stella said.

Heather put a fist in the air. “Healer solidarity. It’s how we roll.”

Ciro’s brow drew down. “I’m going to have to learn a new language.” Half of what the girls said made no sense to him, but he wasn’t about to admit that out loud.

“That you will,” Heather agreed. “Or just pretend to understand. I’m pretty sure that’s what the other males do.”

“Yep,” Kara agreed.

As Ciro walked past Stella, he paused and held his hand out to her. He waited several heartbeats until she finally set her hand in his. Ciro leaned down and gently pressed a light kiss to the back of it. “I look forward to spending more time with you today,” he said. Ciro was trying to be cautious in his pursuit of his mate, but he also wanted to make it clear he had every intention of getting to know her and giving her time to get to know him.

Stella gave him a small smile. “I’m not going to lie,” she said. “I don’t envy the position you’re in. I’m not going to be an easy conquest.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “My dear, I have no desire to conquer you. Quite the opposite really. I want to see you soar and be there for you to give you a gentle push when you need it. I also want to be at your side should you come into trouble and need my help or protection. I simply want to be your partner, your equal.” Ciro released her hand and then headed upstairs to get cleaned up. He hoped his words would give her something to think about and that he’d planted seeds of hope in her heart.

“The look on your face right now is creeping me out,” Stella said to Heather.

“I have to agree with her,” Kara said.

“And I might care if I wasn’t floating on a cloud of Irish hotness.” Heather sighed. Her mind was filled with thoughts of Kale. He was intense. She’d never experienced with anyone else the kind of connection she felt to him. Not that she’d dated much in her short life. But she’d also never thought she’d meet someone like Kale. Both of her friends sputtered as they laughed at her words.

“A cloud of Irish hotness?” Stella said slowly. “And how exactly does that feel?”

“Yes, please do tell,” Kara added with a playful eagerness to her voice.

“I’m not sure you gals really want me to go there. Not unless you’re really okay with hearing me say things like tingling in my core and moisture flooding my—” Heather rubbed the palms of her hands down the arms of her chair letting her fingers curl over the edge.

“Whoa!”

“Stop!”

Stella and Kara both shouted at the same time, the cacophony of their mingled voices startled her. Heather bit her lip to keep from laughing.

“I don’t want to know what your two filthy minds were thinking. I was going to say moisture flooding my mouth with the need of his kiss. Y’all really need to get your minds out of the gutter.”

“Psht, please.” Stella huffed her Bronx accent magnified in her sarcasm. “Your mind is nothing but a system of interlocking gutters and sewer pipes. Your thoughts run through one gutter only to flow into a culvert, then drain into a ditch, which eventually makes its way to a swamp.”

“Just tell me this,” Heather said leaning forward. “Does he look as sexy as his accent sounds? I mean, do I have a reason to have tingling cores and flooding mouths? Lie to me if you have to.”

“He is,” said Kara breathed deeply and Heather wondered if it was to find the right words for the lie or because she was swooning. “Probably even better than you can imagine.”

Heather groaned as she slid down her chair in a melted version of a slouch.

“We don’t have to lie, honey,” said Stella. “He’s the real deal. But it’s not just yours. Every one of them is so…” Heather tilted her head to hear how she would describe them. Without sight, Stella’s words would have to be conjured in either descriptions of sounds, smells, or mouth-watering gutter talk. Stella already knew which way Heather preferred.

“Out-of-this-world, off-the-charts, so-smoking-hot-they-make-your-eyes-hurt good looking?” asked Kara. Heather squeezed her eyes shut to elicit a pain of just how good looking that could be. Maybe if she poked her eye…

“Not exactly how I was going to put it but, yes, he is as hot as his accent and so are the rest of them.” Stella’s affable tone underlined by mentioning Kale’s Irish accent shot Heather into a straight sitting position with excitement.

“I knew it.” Heather shivered. For the first time in a long time, she really wished she could see.

“Knew what?” Kale’s voice filled the room as his scent hit her. The night air right before the storm awakened her more than their gutter talk, but it was masked with smells of dirt, sweat, and a foreign body odor she assumed was Nick’s from their fight. Tackling would do that to a man.

Was it ridiculous that she wanted to throw herself into his arms and gush about how much she’d missed him in the past fifteen or so minutes that he was gone? Yes, yes, that was ridiculous, Heather thought to herself. She’d never imagined she would be one of those clingy women. But here she was, giving serious consideration to just climbing on his back and making him haul her around like some freaky, human backpack just so she wouldn’t have to spend a second away from him.

“That you’re a stud muffin,” she answered. Heather thought for about five seconds that perhaps she should be embarrassed by her frankness, but then she remembered the dangers they were facing. Her amazing new life could very well be coming to an end in the not-too-distant future. She wasn’t about to waste the time she had left by being proper or self-conscious. If she had to spend that time as a human backpack, so be it. As long as she was wrapped around Kale, she’d be just fine.