“What do you mean ‘let me’?” she asked in a tone that she knew was disgruntled. “You call bombarding me with roses, kisses, and adorable soft toys ‘letting me’? I’m not even going to mention my cell phone or the closet.”
A chuckle. “Yes—now imagine how much worse I can get.”
Unable to resist smiling, she shook her head. “You’ll probably come up against the ice walls again in the future,” she said, knowing herself. “But you have full permission to do your worst.”
His laughter was warm and open. “Snuggle closer to me.”
“I can’t get any closer.” But she pressed deeper into him, her wolf still sprawled out in abandon inside of her from their recent loving. Andrew Kincaid, she thought sleepily as Drew continued to run his hand over her hip, his breath steady against her hair, had some serious moves.
He also had an endless supply of energy.
She woke in darkness to his nibbling kiss along the line of her neck, his fingers playing between her thighs. Melting, she pulled his head down for a kiss. When he lifted up her leg and slid into her, it made her nerve endings sizzle with delight.
It was a lazy loving this time, Drew rocking her to a long, deep orgasm before coming in a pulse of heat inside her.
Andrew knew he had a smug arrogance to his step when he walked back into the den with Indigo by his side, but he couldn’t help it. He was so damn happy, the joy bubbled through his veins. Even when Indigo gave him a scowling look that said “behave,” all he wanted to do was grin and shout to the world that she was his.
And he was keeping her, mating dance or no mating dance.
“What’re you doing today, Lieutenant?” he asked after they’d gotten changed.
“I’m going to check up on Silvia.”
Andrew had looked in on the girl the previous day, happy to see that she was conscious and well on the road to recovery. “I’ll come with you. Lara’s certain now that she won’t have any long-term injuries.”
“Damn lucky, given the height she fell from.” Wrapping an arm around his waist, she said, “Did the cats’ little healers have anything to do with it?”
Andrew shook his head, curving his own arm around her shoulders. The “little healers” were two very gifted children—whose talents DarkRiver had only divulged to a tight group in SnowDancer because the kids often came to play with their friends in the den, and the wolves needed to know to keep them away from the infirmary. “Everyone’s in agreement that those two need their childhood,” he said. “I think the cats have decided to put them off-limits until they turn eighteen.”
“Good. Pups need to be pups.”
“And,” Andrew added, “might be, the kids can’t heal all physical injuries. Lara and the DarkRiver healer are starting to think their gift may be linked directly to traumatic brain injuries.”
“Makes sense,” Indigo murmured, “since the Psy are so cerebral.”
Andrew nodded in agreement as they neared the infirmary. “There goes Brace.” The boy was heading in the other direction.
“I hear he’s been skipping classes to go sit with Silvia.”
“Boy’s got it bad. Teachers are letting it slide for the moment since he’s normally such a good student.” Smiling at the way she walked close enough to him that their bodies occasionally brushed, much as courting wolves walked in the wild, he drew in the scent of her skin—which now carried his own so deep and true, there’d be no more talk of it fading.
Indigo shot him a warning glance when they headed out of the infirmary after visiting Silvia. “We’re doing the outside run with the novices today. Riaz is helping me.”
His wolf snarled, but Andrew wasn’t stupid. She was waiting to see what he’d do. Maybe it would’ve been better to pretend he didn’t still want Riaz’s blood, but he wasn’t about to lie to the woman he wanted by his side forever. Showing her his teeth, he said, “Then I’ll make sure I’m not in the vicinity.”
Indigo paused in the corridor. “You’re going to behave?”
“Maybe.” He let his wolf rise to the surface. “We both know who and what I am. Therefore, we both also know I don’t think too straight when another male is near the woman I consider mine. So I can’t promise you completely rational behavior, but since you let me tumble you so thoroughly, I will try.”
Indigo’s lips twitched a little. “Awful man.” Gripping the lapels of his white shirt, she tugged him down for a kiss.
A passing packmate whistled at them and was ignored.
“Try hard.” She let him feel the prick of her claws before she let go. “What’re you doing today?”
“I had a message on my phone to see Hawke when I returned to the den, so he’s probably got a job for me.”
Frown lines marred Indigo’s brow. “When are you supposed to head back out again to do your rounds of our territory?”
“A couple of weeks.” He hated the idea of being away from her for that long. Especially since they were finally really, truly bonding. Because, though strong, that bond wasn’t yet set in stone. “I might be able to rework things, come back to the den on a more regular basis.”
Indigo’s gaze was dark when she looked at him. “What you do, it’s important, Drew. Don’t shortchange the pack because—”
“Shh.” He kissed her this time. “You make me happy. A happy Andrew is a more productive Andrew.”