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.

Tao gently nudged Roni. “Why is your mom glaring at you?”

Following Tao’s gaze, she found her mother stood at the other side of the room, glowering. “As far as she’s concerned, I’m living in sin. She thinks all females should wait for their mate.” Roni jerked when Marcus tightened his hold on her neck. “Did she continue making her ‘Roni’s weak’ case to you while I was gone?”

“No, she didn’t. She hasn’t said a single word to me since I spoke up for you earlier. She did grunt at me when I said good-bye, though.”

Eli grinned. “Mom’s not used to people questioning her. She wouldn’t have expected it. Nick definitely hadn’t. Speaking of Nick, have you seen the look on his face?”

Roni almost laughed at his sulky expression. Nick was no more a fan of parties than she was, purely because people in general tended to annoy him. He even found being around his own pack a trial at times. Shaya was the only person whose company he sought out and truly enjoyed.

“He probably wouldn’t have come if Shaya wasn’t pregnant; he hates being away from her,” continued Eli. “By the looks of it, he’s trying to get her to abandon her cake and leave.”

“Ah, that would explain why she’s just whacked his nose with her spoon,” said Jaime.

Marcus arched a brow. “There’s still cake?”

“Last time I looked,” said Dante, “there was one slice left.”

Marcus knew exactly who loved cake as much as he did. He met Roni’s challenging look. “Not on your life, gorgeous.” He rushed out of the room and into the tunnels, but she dived on his back, did some fancy-ass move, and took him down. Bitch. She sprung over him, intending to make a run for it, but he grabbed her ankle. The sneaky little minx easily managed to get free of his grip, but by that point he was on his feet. Before she could move, he clamped his arms around her, wrestled her to the ground, and pinned her beneath him on her stomach. Another fancy-ass move later from Roni, and he was on his back and she was straddling him.

“What are you doing?”

They looked up to see Cam standing over them, eating . . . cake.

“Oh, you bastard,” said Roni.

Marcus shook his head. “How could you, Cam?”

The guy double-blinked, seemingly baffled. “Do what?”

“Satan’s helper—that’s all I’m saying.” Roni stood and held out a hand to Marcus, but he jumped to his feet. Snarling at Cam, they both shrugged past him.

“What?” Cam sighed. “You guys are weird.”

In the kitchen, Roni and Marcus fought over what food was left—to the extreme amusement of those around them—but he didn’t mind, because it meant he’d got her to play with him. Later, after she’d annoyed Eli a little more and Marcus had taken about as much as he could of Dominic hitting on her with cheesy lines, Marcus tugged on her hand. “Come with me.”

“Huh?”

“Come with me.” He led her through the labyrinth of tunnels, straight to his room. The second the door closed behind them, he was on her. Molten need flared through him as his mouth found hers, feasting on her. Pulling the tie from her hair, he buried his hands in the silky tresses—an image of her hair draped over his thighs as she sucked him off flashed through his mind, and a growl rumbled out of him. “I’ve been thinking about this all fucking day.”

The harsh words spoken against her mouth made her gasp. She would have admitted to feeling the same torture, but then he was sucking on her tongue. She fisted her hands in his T-shirt as his hands roamed over her body like he owned her, possessively cupping her ass. Then he froze as one hand skimmed over her hip.

“What’s this? Have you brought a weapon on my territory, Roni? Because, you know, as an enforcer, I’d have to deal with that kind of insult.”

Breathless and kind of confused, she double-blinked. “What? It’s just my cell phone.” And why was he talking?

“Hmm. You understand I have to be sure.” He spun her to face the wall and placed her hands firmly on it. “Arms and legs spread wide apart.”