Duce grumbled about how it was not romantic but then ultimately agreed, which caused her to throw her arms around him in thanks.
I watched as he hugged her back, closing his eyes as he took in a big whiff of her scent, and a smile settled on his lips. Yep. This was a problem.
It was a problem that Duce was already in love, with Bricks close to following him. It was bad that Gears was just sitting back, smiling as he watched her. It was worse that Rabid refused to do anything about her. I hated to the bottom of my soul that a piece of me wanted to be on the receiving end of that hug.
Nope, I needed to get my brothers’ heads back on straight before this whole thing was over, and she left us all high and dry in her wake.
Chapter 12
Ihoppeddownthesteps of our porch and out of the house, Celine following me, and I strangely felt like a young boy bringing his girl to meet his family for the first time. Granted, this situation was a little different. She was just meeting my sister, and it wasn't like we had talked about even being a thing, but to me, all of that was semantics.
My wolf was shining with pride underneath my skin, wanting to come out and lead our woman to his sub-pack. That wasn't normal for a wolf to have a pack and a sort of sub-pack, but with how I handled what happened to us, that was the only way my wolf and I could agree on importance. While the pack as a whole was essential, Emma was slightly more important than the rest, making her and I our own sub-pack of sorts. And we were taking our women to go meet her and he felt proud, wanting to show her off to Emma.
Our compound was quite large. The main house, where the guys and I lived, was more towards the center of the land. If you went forward, you would see a motorcycle shop that Gears handled. It also doubled as our weaponry station, which was handy to have towards the front. Then if you started to circle to the left, you hit some houses for the single guys. They liked to bunk up, hang out together, and be loud and rowdy. It's also to the back left, where we had our private bar and pool hall. This was where most of the single guys hung out and brought over some of the ladies to have some fun. It could get quite crazy, but at least they were doing it here and not out in the world where they could get in real trouble. Here, you just had to fear the wrath of Rabid. Now that I think about it, that was just as bad.
I grabbed Celine’s hand, pulling her with me as we circled, and I let her know about the left side. “And over here, Cupcake, is where you really don't want to go.” I was passing the group of the younger guys. They all practically had their tongues hanging out as Celine passed by. I called out a little louder, “This isn’t for a dime like you. These guys don't know their head from their ass.”
“Hey! Let the lady decide that on her own.” When she turned her head and her bright blue eyes connected with the group of twenty-year-olds, they all just stuttered. One of them even said, “Mommy. No, I mean, Mommy. Mommy.”
She giggled as she put her free hand on her hip. “I guess I could do some charity work and teach you, boys, a few things.” She took one single step in their direction, and I yanked her back.
“Oh, hell no!” I said, tugging her along. The boys in the background were crying out for her to come back. They desperately needed a lesson, and I threw over my shoulder, “Go practice on that tree over there and leave my woman alone!” She laughed, pointed at me and shrugged her shoulders, telling them it was my fault.
I pulled her closer to me, putting my arm around her shoulders as a much bigger show to everyone how mine she was. She ran her nose along my chin as she whispered, “You know that it was a joke, right?”
I nodded because I did know that logically, but the blood pumping in my veins did not and was calling me to give them all a beating. I knew it was my wolf causing havoc on my body, pulling me to do things that it would do, but she was right. It was a joke, and she was still underneath my arm.
I tried to distract myself as I kept up the tour. “Back here is like our backyard that goes out to the ocean.”
Her hand landed on my chest as she exclaimed, “You have an ocean view?!”
I nodded, and she looked that way in longing. I didn't know much about sirens, but I could guess that they liked to be near the water, the ocean. Maybe after we visit my sister and get her comfortable, I can take her to our secluded beach. That was romantic as shit.
“We are almost there, see.” I pointed to a small white cottage to the back right of our land. She was mainly on her own back here, behind the family side but not far away from where I could get to her if I needed to.
“That's a cute place. I bet she loves living on her own.”
I scratched my head because my sister was at an age where she desperately wanted to go out in the world, and I was having a hard time with it. “Yeah, I think she sees it a little differently.”
“How?” Celine’s crystal eyes turned to me, and I just blurted out what Emma told me last time.
“She thinks it's a prison.” I sighed, not wanting her to think the worst of me.
“Well, it's definitely not a prison, but if she wants to get out into the world, then you need to really think about letting her. You both suffered so much, you don't want to hold her back because you are scared, right?” Well, when she put it like that. The guys just kept telling me that she was going to rebel and leave me, so I have been trying to keep a hold of her, but with how Celine just phrased it, it made me feel like I was stifling her. Not letting her stretch her wings so that she makes sure to come back.
“I just need to find a way that I can see her do itsafely. I need her to be safe.” Celine's eyes softened as she squeezed my hand.
“Of course! Remember my GPS idea?” I laughed hard, knowing for sure that Emma would not allow that, but it made me feel better.
I knocked on Emma’s door, and she called out for me to come in. “I have a guest with me, if that's okay?” I winked at Celine as I opened the door and saw Emma, her long dirty-blonde hair splayed over the arm of the cozy couch she was currently lying on, a book in hand as her gray eyes kept scanning the page.
“It's just one of the guys. You know they are like brothers to me, too. You don't need to call them guests, weirdo.” She still hadn't looked away from her book, her eyes rapidly growing wider as she must be getting to a good part.
I looked at the book, and its only title was Landry. It had this sexy girl in sunglasses on the front of its smoky pink cover. Not as sexy as my Celine, of course, but I would’ve given her a go back in the day.
“In fact, maybe you guys could learn something from this book. If you look at this page and the way that he plays with her, while this other guy-” My face grew red as I realized it was one of her lady books that made her very happy after the end of it.
“Emma!”
