“They have a similar intensity.” I stepped out of the large bathroom decked in marble with threads of gold running through it. “No sweat. I get it. I was just surprised, is all. It’s hard to be rational where Austin is concerned.”
“I get that.” Earnessa led me out of the bedroom and down the arched hall with ten-foot ceilings.
“It was like that with Kingsley when we first mated. I was love and rage side by side, throwing girls across bars and challenging anything that got near him. But you’ve been mated awhile, haven’t you?”
“Yes. A few months now.”
“Does the mating fervor last longer with female gargoyles?”
“Honestly, nobody knows. There’s not much information about my beast. We’ve had to do a lot of guessing.”
Mimi and Denise were murmuring quietly in the kitchen together when we walked in.
“Where are the guys?” Earnessa asked. “Getting the fire ready, I hope?”
“Yes.” Mimi pushed off from leaning against the counter. “We chased them out so we could have a little peace. Kingsley mopes much too frequently for my taste, always put out when we have these dinners.”
“I wonder why,” Earnessa murmured, giving me a knowing look before bustling me toward the side of the big room. “Let’s go join them. Jessie, I heard the craziest thing today, by the way. Did you get townspeople to transport your Bigfoot? Or…is it Bigfeet when plural?”
I let her coax me out of the door as I explained the various details about the basajaunak, including their names, as I took in what Earnessa had referred to as a sunroom, which held three long tables filled with food items. A hot tub sunk down into the floor at the other end.
“Here we go…” She led us toward two French doors beyond the hot tub, and we stepped out onto a deck that ran the length of this side of the house. Lawn chairs and umbrellas had been folded up and stowed to the side under a canopy. To my right, under a covered area, hunkered a large grill with space for charcoal and gas burners lined up below it. A counter unit with a granite top held what looked like a small refrigerator and other drawers and cabinets. Two round outdoor tables had been
arranged next to it, the chairs pushed in, and beyond them stood the three guys, with Kingsley stoking the fire of a big brick pizza oven.
Mr. Tom stood off to the side in a “disguise,” the leaves of a nearby tree partially covering his face but nothing else. I’d felt him near but ignored him and, given the others were also ignoring him, figured it couldn’t hurt just to leave him at it. It would be far too much effort to shoo him away.
“Very cool space,” I said, feeling the overwhelming urge to return to Austin’s side and glue myself to his body.
He must’ve felt it, because he turned, his hand in one pocket and the other holding his glass of wine. His hand left his pocket, reaching for me, an irresistible temptation. I met him halfway, wrapping my arms around his middle and soaking in his heat.
“You look nice,” he said, holding me tight. “Feeling a bit better?”
“I’m usually pretty good at this family stuff, but this time I’m a little overwhelmed.”
“Understandable. Life within a house of alphas isn’t easy to navigate.”
“Okay, everyone.” Earnessa smiled and clasped her hands in front of her. “As you can see, we will be having brick oven pizza tonight! You have everything you need set up in the sunroom, and when you have the pizza of your dreams, bring it out here and my amazing mate will fire it up for you.
He is incredible with that oven, I’m telling you! All our friends rave. Denise, you know, you’ve had it before.” Her smile burned a little brighter, almost at half-mast now. “Okay, let’s eat!”
“Finally, ” Mac said, the first one through the doors.
“She talked you up pretty hard,” Austin told Kingsley as we followed the others. “You’d better deliver.”
“Usually she nitpicks at me. She’s probably trying to compensate for how lovey-dovey you two are. It’s making us look bad.”
“Sorry you’re not as awesome,” Austin said, holding the door for me.
“No, you’re not.” Kingsley shoved Austin and walked in after me. “Thanks for holding the door, chump.”
“Kingsley, be nice to your brother,” Earnessa admonished him. “He’ll think we don’t want him here!”
“You don’t,” Mimi said, and Mac—standing by one of the tables of fixings—spat out a laugh before turning around and starting to cough.
“You’d better eat everything you just spat on,” Denise told him.
“Yes, ma’am,” Mac said, wrestling with a smile.
“Shall I give you a demonstration?” Austin asked Kingsley at the dough station.
“Oh, what, you’re a pizza-making expert now?” Kingsley asked, crossing his arms over his chest with his wine glass tucked below.
“I was single and living on my own for a long time in that backwoods town without a lot to do besides tend bar and work on my hobbies.”
“And pizza making was a hobby?”
“Of course. I knew one day you’d get that brick oven you’ve always wanted, but your mate wouldn’t let you get because she was worried you’d burn the house down. You can wear people down like the best of ’em.”
“Bullshit,” Kingsley said as Austin rolled up his sleeves to reveal his muscular forearms.
“Do you need an apron?” I asked as my body tightened up. He’d actually never made pizza for me, and I was incredibly eager to watch the dough-tossing show.
“Oh! I almost forgot.” Earnessa hurried to a little cabinet in the corner I hadn’t noticed. “I had
these made up.”
Her eyes glimmering with excitement, she hurried to us and held out white aprons stenciled with a logo consisting of a half pizza on top of the pack name. To the side and a little behind the logo was a waterfall.
She looped one over Kingsley’s neck before turning to Austin, then held two aprons out to the side for me to grab.
“I’ll let you put it on him.” She lifted her eyebrows at me before taking aprons to the others.
“Mom, no, I’m not wearing a—”
Earnessa swatted Mac’s hands. “Cormac, do as your mother says. Put this on.”
“Aurora doesn’t have to.”
“Aurora is secluded in shame and won’t be joining us.”
“Can’t I just grab a pizza and go seclude myself in shame?”
Earnessa shoved the apron at her son, who was acting more like a spoiled teenage boy than a budding young man.
I reached up and looped the apron over Austin’s neck, getting a kiss for my efforts. I tied it around his waist, leaning in to him to do it, before pulling on mine and securing it.
“Okay, I’m all set for the show, hot stuff,” I told him.
“You guys make me a little uncomfortable,” Kingsley grumbled, taking a step back.
With a grin, Austin grabbed a handful of flour and tossed it onto the cutting board before spreading it around a bit. That done, he worked the dough for a moment with his fingers before dropping it onto the cutting board. He grabbed a rolling pin from the side and flattened it out a bit.
“This is enough dough for a personal-sized pizza, right?” he asked Earnessa.