Page 83 of Wild in Spirit

She had felt the vibration in her back pocket, so she turned, showing him her ass. “Grab my phone, will ya? You can check the message yourself.”

Gently, and in an effort not to touch her too much, he pulled the phone out and checked the message. “She wants to know what guard.”

“Okay, so tell her your name, silly. She’s going to link you.”

She waited while he texted her back, then got the link. He nodded at the other guard, and she pushed the container into his hands. “Enjoy! Oh, can one of you give me directions? I get lost in this pack.”

She waited while they debated whether to escort her and abandon their post, or let her find her way, so she climbed into her vehicle and made the decision for them. “The main road, right? The food’s getting cold. I can figure it out.”

After he wrote directions in her notes app, she was on her way. That was the easy part. Now she just needed to wine and dine the Alpha. Parking close to the back door, Zhair and Lana both waited on the back steps, and before she got out, she threw the hoodie on. She didn’t think the Alpha would appreciate her physical tactics on his men.

“Zhair, grab one of the big boxes from my trunk, please. Leave the other one in my back seat. I have to deliver it in a few minutes.

He sauntered past her slowly, smirking. “I see you couldn’t stay away. Must be something in the water over here.”

She grinned, aware his mom could be watching from the window. “Keep it up, and I’ll tell everyone you have a small dick. You’ll never have a chance at those mating parties.” She didn’t wait to see his reaction because Ajax walked out the back door, arms folded and shaking his head.

“Ajax!”

Ajax, Axel’s twin, had been staying over at Rathlin for the past week, so she hadn’t seen him in months, other than briefly at the big ceremony. He had raised Ava over in Aisling, and ran the gym there, training up all the Aisling warriors. Which meant he had trained her, and she spent most of her childhood in his house with Ava. Reaching up to give him a hug, she hadn’t realized how much she missed his gruff and protective manner.He knew her much better than anyone, and that showed when he murmured in her ear.

“What are you up to, troublemaker? You just got here and have already succeeded in pissing my brother off.”

“All in a day’s work, right?” She laughed brightly, breezing through the door behind Zhair.

Axel’s sour demeanor from the empty kitchen table didn’t cause a ripple in her plans. She had counted on that.

“I know you missed me, and now that you and my Beta declared the danger null and void, I decided to repay you for all your kindness. Nubia works so hard to feed a horde of men that I wanted to give her the night off and treat you to my family’s food. And since you would have never come to Aisling to visit Mariana’s, I brought it to you!”

“I haven’t had Mariana’s in a year. I’m glad I dropped by tonight.” Ajax rubbed his hands together, pulling a plate from the stack Lana was passing out.

“Oh, my! What a thoughtful gesture. I knew I liked you.” Nubia stood excitedly to pull containers from the box, but Bailey shooed her away.

“Not you. Zhair can unpack, and me and Lana can set the table. You sit and enjoy.” She began pulling containers from the box and then set two wine bottles between Nubia and Axel. “One for now, one for later. This one goes with dinner, and the other dessert. Any kind of dessert.”

She winked at Nubia, who shimmied her shoulders at Axel when he grumbled. “That’s not what I, or your Beta, meant when we said you should stay in Aisling. Do you have any guards with you?”

“Just the ones who escorted me to your border.”

“And how did you get across my border without my permission?”

“Oh, you know. I have my ways.”

“Bailey.”

“Come on. Guys have their muscles to intimidate, and girls have other attributes. We all use what we need to.”

“You’re saying my border patrol—”

She thought a vein was about to burst in his head at that thought, but Ajax’s chuckle filled the room. “Relax. She’s messing with you. It’s Bailey’s specialty. You never know what she’s going to do or say.”

Ajax didn’t pause from filling his plate with the various dishes on the table.She plopped down on the other side of him, stealing a piece of bread from Zhair’s plate.

“Lana talked to them. I didn’t want to ask you because it was supposed to be a surprise. And—” She waved the crusty bread around. “You would have said no.”

He didn’t look at her. Instead, he looked down at the plate Nubia had filled up for him, over at the now-full wine glass, and up to Ajax. “I blame you. You didn’t instill enough fear in these girls. They treat me like I’m you. Both of them, starting with Ava.”

“Sounds like a you problem, brother.” Ajax’s smartass comment was punctuated by him shoving the fork in his mouth.

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