Marcus nuzzled her neck, inhaling deeply. “Your scent drives me insane.” Drawn to the mark on her neck, he swiped his tongue across it, enjoying the way she shuddered.
When he lowered his tone like that, it did all sorts of interesting things to Roni’s body. “Good insane or bad insane?”
Marcus knew his smile was wicked. “Oh, very, very good insane.” He nipped her earlobe, just because. Of course, he almost jumped out of his skin when her arm slid around him and her fingers drummed down his spine. One, because it felt amazingly good. Two, because Roni wasn’t a touchy-feely person, particularly in public. To touch him like that, and in front of others—it meant something. It was an acceptance and a claim. “I wasn’t sure if you’d return the claim.”
“Well, I thought hard on it. I figured you could serve some purposes.”
He smiled. “Serve some purposes?”
“You can deal with small talk. I don’t like small talk. You can change tires. When there are lines, you can stand in them. I hate them. You can also bring me chocolate fudge cake.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes. Never neglect the G-spot. That would turn out badly for you.”
He laughed. “Duly noted.”
“Ro!”
Roni peered down to find Kye grinning at her, a cookie in either hand. “Hey, little man. What you got there?”
Pulling a face, he held both cookies against his chest. “Mine.”
“Well, of course.”
“Mar!”
Marcus smiled. “Hey, kid, have you showed Roni your Alpha snarl?” Kye’s expression instantly turned fierce as he bared his little teeth.
“Wow, scary.” Roni frowned as Kye suddenly started spinning in a circle. “What’s he doing?”
Marcus sighed. “He farts and then looks for it.”
Tao, Dominic, and Ryan made their way over. Dominic was grimacing and rubbing his knee. “Do you have a Band-Aid?” he asked Roni.
Her brow puckered. “No, why?”
“I just scraped my knee falling for you.” Laughing, he barely dodged Marcus’s fist.
Tao shook his head at Dominic, handing both Marcus and Roni a beer. “I honestly fear for your life sometimes, Dom.” Ryan grunted, as if to second that.
“Ry! Ry! Ry!” Kye tugged hard on the enforcer’s jeans. The toddler had a soft spot for Ryan, which was odd, considering the guy barely spoke and wasn’t the least bit playful.
Looking somewhat pained and uncomfortable, Ryan reached down and grabbed Kye by the back of his shirt. He then lifted him high, letting him dangle in the air. Kye laughed in delight, striving to pinch Ryan’s nose.
Taryn came to the enforcer’s rescue, taking her son into her arms. “Are you tormenting Uncle Ryan again?” The kid kissed her smack on the mouth in response.
Standing beside his mate, Trey studied Marcus. “Either Roni’s brothers took it easy on you, or you didn’t hold back. I’m hoping it was the latter.”
“What do you mean?” asked Dominic.
“Marcus did some male bonding with the Mercury Pack,” explained Grace as she made her way to Roni, giving her a huge hug that took Roni by surprise. “I was told you helped get the party organized, so thank you.”
Roni nodded. “No problem. Happy birthday.”
“Thanks. I did tell Taryn to cancel the party, what with everything that’s been going on and—”
“No, we planned it months ago,” interrupted Taryn. “No way were we going to let anything mess it up for you, Grace. You do a lot for the pack, always take care of everyone. Now it’s our turn to take care of you, because if anyone deserves some pampering and attention, it’s you.” Marcus had to agree with that.
As Dominic cupped Roni’s elbow and tried to move her arm, she slapped at his hand. Dominic held his hands up. “I’m just trying to see what your T-shirt says. No need to get testy. It’s hard to tell, though. Can I read it in braille?” If Dante and Jaime hadn’t appeared at that moment and pulled Dominic back, Marcus would have knocked him clean out.
Roni simply smiled at the pervert. “Your body is like a wonderland, Dominic . . . can I be Alice?”
Jaime laughed. “Good one.”
Dominic, however, wasn’t so amused. “Stop that!” he whined.
Eli appeared then, his face a little marked up with lacerations and bruises. Taking in Dominic’s expression, he arched a brow at his sister. “You throwing cheesy lines at him again?”
“The dumbass thinks he can take me. Still getting advice about STDs on Twitter?”
The amusement on Eli’s face died a quick death. “I’ll get you back, sis. Trust me on that.” He turned his attention to Jaime. “Oh, and thanks for making it worse by recommending antibiotic creams and wishing me a quick recovery.”
The Beta female shrugged innocently. “I didn’t know it was just a joke. I was trying to be helpful and supportive.”
Dante wrapped an arm around his mate’s shoulders. “Baby, you’re so good, I could almost believe that.”
“Believe what?” asked Trick, coming up behind Trey. Marcus was surprised when Roni stiffened; he might not have noticed if he hadn’t been touching her. When Trick came to Marcus’s other side, she went totally rigid. There was the smallest flash of her wolf’s eyes, revealing the animal’s agitation. Well, now, that was interesting.
It hadn’t occurred to him that either Roni or her wolf might feel uncomfortable or jealous around Trick, despite that Marcus would have felt the same if the situation had been reversed. Maybe other guys might like that their female was jealous, but Marcus had never cared for jealousy. He didn’t want Roni or her wolf feeling uncomfortable or insecure.
“Roni’s playing pranks on Eli again,” Marcus told Trick, sliding his hand up to rest firmly in the crook of her neck so he could soothingly draw circles on her nape with his thumb. It was an attentive, possessive move that he knew would relax her wolf and hopefully appease Roni. She would get the message that she was his choice.