Talia stirred from her sleep at the sound of the door closing.
She watched through her eyelashes as Damon tiptoed to the bed. He slipped under the cover carefully, and she could hear him exhale in relief because he thought that he was sneaky enough.
"Where have you been?"
Damon froze when he heard Talia's voice and he turned to her robotically.
"I just checked something."
"Is something wrong?"
"What makes you think that something is wrong?"
Talia gave him a knowing look. "I can sense your emotions, and I know you are worried."
Before Talia could ask more questions, Damon pulled her into his embrace and kissed her forehead.
He didn't want to tell her about Lisa. Talia already had a lot on her mind.
Besides, Damon handled Lisa and he assigned a few of his people to pay attention to rumors and shut up any person who is talking nonsense about Talia. It was not a foolproof plan, but it was a stopgap that will do for now. Tomorrow evening he will introduce Talia to the important members of the pack, and until then he will need to figure out the issue with Marcy.
The truth was that Damon didn't want to deal with any of it. If it was up to him, he and Talia would go to a cottage in the woods and live forever like hermits. But that was not possible because a lot of people depended on them, and Talia wouldn't approve if Damon neglected his responsibilities.
Damon could see the end of this. He will impregnate Talia, and their child will become the next Alpha of the Dark Howlers pack, and then Damon and Talia can move to that cottage, and it will be perfect. But until then… "Sleep more, kitten. There is still time until breakfast. Additional guests are about two hours away."
Talia understood that Damon's uneasiness was related to 'additional guests', aka the group from the Red Moon pack.
Talia didn't want to talk about them. They already said everything that should be said (at least twice), last night. There was no point in mulling over how to deal with Marcy. Damon and Talia were on the same page about what they wanted to accomplish: to send Marcy packing. They didn't know how they will accomplish it, but Talia was aware of Marcy's haughty attitude, and she believed they might be able to use that against Marcy. Somehow.
Damon and Talia concluded that as long as they are together, things will work out. Isn't that why the Moon Goddess paired them up?
Talia felt Damon's hand slowly caressing her back. He did that to make her relax and lull her to sleep.
She wiggled. "Don't. It's making me sleepy."
"I want you to sleep, kitten."
"How can I sleep when you are working?", Talia asked.
Damon smiled at the silly girl. "I am here now."
Talia snuggled into him. "You are here now. I'm aware that you are working even from the bed." She wished for a power to shut down his mind-link. Only then it will truly be just the two of them.
Talia's gaze moved on the bird she drew on Damon's shoulder with a sharpie on the previous day when they were at the beach.
She frowned. They were in the water for quite some time, yet the ugly thing didn't fade at all.
Damon noticed where Talia was looking. "Do you like it?"
"I like birds, but this one is not good."
"Really? I thought of getting it tattooed permanently.", he admitted.
Talia's face fell. "Please, don't."
"I thought you like tattoos."
"I do. I mean… it's not that I like them, but I find them interesting. If you want to tattoo something, I won't stop you, but please don't go with this doodle. It's horrible."
"How can you say it's horrible? It's from you. It's perfect."
Talia's lips twitched. "If I knew that you will want to make it permanent, I would never agree to draw on you."
"You don't want me to make this permanent?"
"That's right.", Talia confirmed without missing a beat.
"Convince me."
"How?"
Damon wiggled his eyebrows mischievously and Talia rolled her eyes when she realized that this was the playful Damon. He wanted sex and he was being creative about asking for it.
Talia knew that if she just called him out, he won't get the satisfaction of thinking that he tricked her, so she played along.
Talia ran her fingers over his chest while asking coyly, "I wonder… what can I do to convince my Alpha not to ruin his body?"
"What is my Luna willing to do?"
Talia bit her lower lip. "I could do… anything…"
Damon's tongue darted as he licked his lips. "Like what? I need examples, kitten."
"I can order you not to do it.", Talia deadpanned. "After all, you are mine, so your hunky body is mine also, and I won't allow you to ruin it." She paused and gave him a smile. "Or I could do something else…"
Damon's eyes widened when Talia slipped lower and disappeared under the cover.
"Ah…", a barely audible sigh escaped his lips when Talia took him into her mouth.
His kitten was getting bolder by the day, and he loved it!
While Damon and Talia were lovey-dovey, someone was not having a good morning…
Lisa sat in the back of a jeep and looked at her surroundings nervously.
She woke up to someone incessantly ringing the doorbell of her apartment.
"Mom!", Lisa shouted, hoping that her mom will get the door.
After her plan to get close to Alpha Maddox failed, Lisa scampered back to the beach and sat with Ester and other girls.
She was watching as Tony was playing cards with guys and she wished that he noticed her presence, but that didn't happen. And then all of the guys went to the lake, and not long after that Omegas started clearing up the VIP area which was an obvious sign that Alpha Damon and his guests were not going to stay on the beach anymore.
Lisa was embarrassed and dejected, and she needed to vent her anger. However, she knew that making a scene in public will backfire.
She gathered her things and decided to head home. To her horror, Ester was sticking to her with, "I will come with you!"
Ester followed Lisa all the way to Lisa's apartment, and Lisa couldn't hold it in anymore and she started talking trash about Kalina, Talia, Maya, and Meg, and Ester soaked in all that eagerly behind a mask of a compassionate friend.
Ester didn't care much about Meg or Kalina. They were from different packs.
Maya was a well-known Beta, so Lisa didn't say anything that Ester didn't know already.
What got Ester's attention was information related to Talia. Talia was a newly established celebrity who was associated with Alpha Damon. How could Ester miss this chance to hear gossip?
But no matter how juicy those things were, Ester had a feeling that Lisa might be exaggerating, and that's how she ended up looking for Dawn and Zina which led to the situation in Lisa's apartment.
