Page 172 of Home to the Hollow

“Stopped wearing all that sodding alpha male horseshit clothing!” Doyle winks at me as he tugs on his costume.

My eyes narrow. “What the fiddling shit was wrong with my wardrobe? It cost a fortune!”

The pup plops down on the bed next to me, still emanating the radiant glow that seems to permeate his being. “You went from popped collar douchebag to hot, nerdy Henry Cavill pretty easily, Teddy.”

I blink.I did?

“Be amazed that we replaced your Tommy with Tom Ford while you get ready, Boone,” Prez says. He walks over to the bar Wolfie set up on yetanotherspecific piece of furniture he added to the house—a cherry wood bar cart with Baccarat and bottles of everyone’s favorite liquor. He pours a Blanton’s for me, a Jameson for Doyle, a Macallan for himself, and an absinthe for our favorite submissive before handing them out. “Get naked so Lucy can help you get ready.”

Suddenly, I’m very worried.

* * *

I willnever againmakea snide remark about how long it takes women to get dressed as long as I live.

Between the shaving, plucking, primping, shading, lining, and shadowing, it took damned near an hour for Pup to finish my look. It’s a startling change, and I’m still getting comfortable with it—though I’d die before I let anyone outside of my family know it. Our girl was busy in theen suitefor nearly as long, but once I was finished, Haggerty brought up a very sensitive subject.

Mating is an expectation in the elite circles and the emerged supes in this crowd do not have the suppression spell to prevent them from seeing marks.

It made both docs get very edgy, and the Irish asshole reveled gleefully as they fretted about. Finally, I had to step in and bark at them all. “Someone tell me what the problem is so I can strategize fixing it!”

Hamilton sighed. The pup curled into the armchair, and the git who started it simply smirked. I glared at them until the spectacled doc gave in. “Lucy and I have an unfinished bond. You and Magpie have one finished bond at least. No one will expect it of the dick over there, but it’s going to draw a lot of attention when we show up as we are. It might also cause other unattached supes to feel as though they can… shoot their shot.”

No. Fucking.Way.

“Are you telling me that because your inner pigeon hasn’t finished his job and our pup is half-naked, a bunch of bitches or assholes are going to see that an invite to…”

The gold dust covered Fae flushed pink under his golden tan and he muttered, “It’s okay. I’m used to idiots like Agatha being inappropriate. I can handle it. Prez knows I can.”

Before I could stop myself, flames danced in my eyes and I lost my grip on the fog for a brief second. “The hell you will.”

“This is what I was looking for!” Doyle clapped his hands , looking like a kid in a candy store. “It’s delicious!”

“Stop. Causing. Chaos.” I gritted out. “You’ve made your point; we don’t want incidents we can’t explain to Tilly.”

Prez walked over to Wolfie, holding his hand out. When the vet took it, he led him over to me and tilted his head. “We’ll have to do something about it, Boone. Even if it’s only a match to Magpie for the moment, we can make certain no one touches what’s ours.”

My hound liked the sound of that—fuck, all three of the inner beasts did. In fact… it aroused considerations for later.

“Pup, is this what you want?” I looked into his eyes as Hamilton flanked him from behind. Consent is key in a relationship like our family’s, and I wanted to make absolutely sure my slight fog slip wasn’t influencing his decision making.

His lush mouth curved into a smile as he nodded, whispering softly. “Oh, I’m sure. When Sugarplum emerges, our whole family will match. But I especially want to belong to the three of you.”

Shit, shit, shit… hold it back, Boone. You don’t have time to do what you want right now.

“That’s my darling boy,” Prez said before he winked at me. In a blink, his face morphed and the cry of his caladrius echoed in my mind when he leaned in to mark the left side of Wolfie’s neck.

How did he do that?

I let the hound out, burying my face in the opposite side of Wolfie’s neck. He made a whimpering sound as we both sealed the marks as best we could. Mate marks without the magic that swirls around during primal sexual encounters are painful, but the Pup took the brand well. I’m sure Hamilton’s wasn’t a picnic, either, but when I lifted my head, I gave our new mate an apologetic smile.

“Don’t worry, Teddy,” he murmured. “I have a fairly high tolerance for pain.”

My eyes darkened, and Hamilton lifted his head. “Story for later, mate-in-law. Lucy should go check on our girl.”

“Yes, I should.” The adorable golden Fae wiggled his way to the bathroom purposefully, and I sighed.

“Fuck me, I think I have two brats now.”

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