Between the Pack

10

Chapter 10

Sly’s POV

Five days later

The police wereat the camp site the morning after the full moon, investigating calls they’d received about weird noises in the woods. Together, we'd all told the cops there was nothing to worry about. Even Paisley and Claire had gone along with the story, so I thought it was over and done with. At least, I until this asshole turned up a few days later.

I stared at a different police officer as he scrawled notes in his little yellow pad, aggravating me with every passing second. I could not see the point to this at all. I'd already told him that nothing happened while we were camping and that I didn't hear any of the noises that had been reported, but he didn't seem to believe me.

"Okay,well, I think I have everything." He pursed his lips into a frown. "But I'll be back if we have any more questions, alright?"

I sighed with irritation. "Sure thing. I guess I'll be seeing you again."

I leaned against the door to the venue and watched him go. Honestly, what a piece of work. Was there a reason he had to keep poking at this? Couldn't he just leave me the hell alone? We were just trying to quietly get on with our lives, not harming anyone—we were always very careful about that—but it was hard for us to keep going with people like this digging at us all the freaking time.

"He gone?" Daisy called out from behind me. "Oh, thank you, Sly. I couldn't get rid of him. What was all that about? Christ, what happened on your camping trip?"

I laughed it off because I didn't want to bring Daisy into this as well. I really didn't think she would be able to take our reality easily. Maybe I was wrong, but she seemed too highly strung for it.

"I don't know. Something that didn't affect us, that's for sure."

She nodded, buying that, thank goodness, and started to walk back into the auditorium. She didn't exactly ask me to follow her, but I really felt like that was what she wanted me to do. There I found Claire up on stage, trying some new dance moves. She hadn't stopped for even a second while she was here in Vegas. She was always upping the ante and changing up the game for the fans who'd come to see her. It was actually kind of cool.

No wonder C'Dion had risen to fame so fast. There was just something about her absolute determination to succeed which made me really proud of her. I'd gotten to know her quite a bit since we'd started this gig, and she was awesome.

But, of course, it was never Claire who caught my attention for too long. Whenever Paisley was in the room, my eyes automatically sought her out. It didn't matter what she was doing, who she was with, I couldn't stop staring.

This time as I caught her eye, she wasn't alone. Paisley shot me the briefest of smiles, but that was about it. She was too busy in a deep conversation with Vinnie. Their heads were close together as they whispered about some papers in front of them. Jealousy coiled through my veins as I noticed his hand resting on her thigh like it absolutely belonged there. I wanted my hand there!

Ever since our camping trip, they'd been growing closer by the day. Clearly, they had shared a lot during their time in the shack during the full moon, and it left me a little broken inside. Sure, I was doing exactly what I'd been assigned to do and I was protecting Claire, but it definitely didn't feel like enough.

Paisley and I had shared an intense connection on that first night. It wasn't just a chemical, sexual attraction, there was something deeper there as well, even if I didn't recognize it at the time, and I wanted that back. I yearned for it.

Without even thinking about the consequences of my actions, I headed toward them with a plan of taking a seat right there with them. I just could not think straight around Paisley, and that didn't get better no matter how much time I spent around her. She made me feel like a mess.

"Hey, guys." I smiled as I took a seat. "What's going on?"

"Oh, hey, Sly." Paisley grinned, softening any negative feelings in my heart. It was so much easier for me to feel okay when I could see in her eyes that she still liked me. I wasn't alone in my feelings. "We're just looking through some of my new fashion designs I've been working on."

"They are really good, Sly," Vinnie confirmed. "This one here has talent."

As she rested a hand all lovingly on his cheek, I waited for that twisted knot of jealousy to overcome me once more, but, weirdly, that didn't happen. Instead, I just felt warm inside. It was nice to see Paisley and Vinnie so blatantly happy in one another's company. Actually, the issue before was just being left out. I wanted to be in the middle of whatever was happening here.

Huh, I guess my wolf instincts were in there more than I thought. These days, I thought I had them pretty much stifled, only to be released when I wanted them to be so. But if the idea of a harem romance—one woman attracting the whole pack—with the guys who were clearly my pack didn't terrify me, then my wolfy was in there somewhere. No doubt about it.

It was normal in shifter cultures to have a harem romance. It had always been our way, but as society changed and our kind kept ourselves more of a secret than anything else, it wasn't so easy to find.

But Paisley truly was different, wasn't she? She seemed to have a bond with all of us in some way, and she accepted us so wholeheartedly. If there was going to be anyone in the world right for us, it would be her.

I cocked my head to one side and considered that thought as she lifted up her page and showed me exactly what she'd been working on.

"Whoa." Vinnie was not wrong. These designs were gorgeous. My heart fluttered with excitement as I looked over the garments she had drawn. "Do you make these too? They're awesome. I would love to see them up on stage."

We all automatically looked toward the stage where Claire was still rehearsing. It was an obvious answer for me. Of course her sister would want to help her out. After all, Paisley had put her life on hold for a while to assist Claire.

I glanced back at Paisley to see her mouthing along to the words with a sweet smile on her face. She had me in freaking awe. She was so amazing. How could anyone be around her and not fall head over heels in love with her?

Whoa, was I in love with her? I knew I liked her and that I obviously had some serious feelings for her, but love…now that was crazy. Especially since we hadn't known one another for too long. But that wasn't how love worked. It just wasn't. It was a life-altering, show-stopping thing that I'd never experienced before.

"You should ask Claire about wearing this gown," I insisted. "If you can get it made to fit her, you should ask her. I bet she would do it."

Paisley frowned a little. "I don't know. Wouldn’t it be a little tacky to ask her? She might think I'm just trying to use her career for my own advantage."

I shook my head. "I don't think Claire would be like that. I just can't see it. I know she would want to do this for you. Plus, this isn't some hideous gown. It's lovely. It would look really great on her."

"You can tell that from a picture?" she asked curiously.

"Oh yeah, you can definitely tell from this picture. Don't you think, Vinnie?"

"For sure," he agreed eagerly with me. "Show Sly the design for the dress that you've already made. The one you did in college for yourself."

Redness stained Paisley's cheeks, and she looked all coy and sweet as she went through her pages until she reached the one Vinnie was talking about. Almost instantly my heart leapt up into my throat.

"Whoa, that is beautiful, Paisley. You should definitely wear that." An idea popped into my head. "Hey, we're throwing that surprise party for Daisy tonight, right? Because it's her birthday. Why don't you wear it then? Do you have it here?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I do actually. But I don't know…"

"I think you should." I did my best to encourage her because I just knew it would look stunning. "Then Claire will see it and fall in love. You just know she will want to wear any one of your designs."

I wanted Vinnie to agree with me, but his cell phone had gone off, taking his attention away from us. So much so that he actually got up.

"I’ve got to go, Ollie needs me." He leaned down and kissed Paisley on the cheek. "I might not see you until later on. Maybe at the party."

Paisley seemed surprised and reached up to touch her cheek where Vinnie's lips had just been. Clearly, this wasn't something that normally happened, so I didn't quite know how to take all of this. Everything was incredibly confusing.

"Yeah…see you," she whispered back. "Bye, Vinnie."

"See ya later, Vinnie." I waved at him. As soon as he was out of ear shot, I turned back to Paisley, needing to tease her a little. "Ooh, so what was that about? Are you two an item now or something? That was sweet."

She shook her head hard, reddening even more. "No, definitely not. I don't know what that was. Just Vinnie, I guess."

"I don't know. I've never seen Vinnie like that with anyone else."

She parted her lips, but had no comeback for me, which was freaking adorable. I was almost tempted to tease her some more. It took all my inner strength to stop myself from doing so, because I didn't want to make it worse.

"So, you are going to wear the dress to the party?" I pushed, heading back to that subject instead. Perhaps she would find this safer. "Because I'm not joking, I definitely think you should. I can only imagine it's amazing."

"I don't know," she admitted with her eyes fixed on the page. "I don't know if it'll be a bit much. But at the same time, I don't know what else I'll wear."

"I don't think any fashion could be too much for you. You can pull anything off." I truly meant that. There was nothing nicer than Paisley’s clothing. "I think you look absolutely great in anything."

"Most people think I look ridiculous," she laughed.

"Nah, most people are wrong," I shot back with sheer determination. "You look gorgeous. I noticed it on the first night we met, and it hasn't changed."

I could see the memory of our first night together flashing across her face. I wondered what would happen if I took her hand now and kissed her. Not like Vinnie kissed her, but really kissed her. Would she let me take her back to my hotel room so we could have a repeat? Because, fuck, I would love that right now.

If Daisy hadn't grabbed the both of us and pulled us back into work, I might have acted on it. Maybe tonight we could have some fun. After all, a party was the perfect way for us to reconnect, wasn't it?

* * *

"Any sign of them yet?"the driver asked, leaning out of the limo window to check in yet another time. "They're taking a while to get ready, aren't they?"

I smiled thinly at him. I didn't want to get in to an argument with this guy, but at the same time, he'd been hired to drive whenever Claire and Paisley were ready. I wasn't going to push them just because he was impatient.

"They won't be long," I said through gritted teeth. "They're getting dressed. They will be here when they get down. It is what it is."

Daisy was likely already at the party. Everyone had yelled surprise and the fun was going on. But that was okay, she wouldn't mind. No one was going to be pissed off about this aside from the driver, and I wasn't worried about him at all.

I checked my cell phone. I had a couple of messages, one from Vinnie and one from Ollie, trying to work out where we were, but still I didn't mind. C'Dion was a star in Las Vegas, everyone loved her. She was likely to be followed by paparazzi these days trying to get a picture of her, so if she wanted to look great, then so be it.

I leaned up against the limo, smoothing down my suit as I did. I wasn't often in a tuxedo, so this was a little stiff and weird, but I kind of hoped Paisley was impressed. This wasn't like me at all, I'd lived my whole life not caring at all what anyone thought of me, but Paisley was so different.

If I wasn't head over heels in love with her, then I didn't know what was going on with me. I hadn't ever felt this way about anyone before. I might have dated and enjoyed the company of a few ladies in my time, but none of them had ever gotten under my skin like Paisley had. Ever since I'd laid eyes on her, she'd been on my mind. Dancing through my brain in a way I just couldn't ignore.

Yeah, I loved her. I really loved her. Perhaps tonight was the time to tell her. Maybe at some point, I could pull her to one side and let her know everything. I didn't know what words I would use, this wasn't a conversation that I'd ever had to have before, but I was willing to have it right here and now for her.

"Oh, there they are!" I straightened up my spine as the doors burst open and Claire came flying out. Her red dress splayed out everywhere, capturing the attention of everyone surrounding her. But then C'Dion just had that X factor about her, didn't she? Hence the fame she had built up and surround herself with.

But then Paisley came around the corner, and I absolutely lost my breath. Holy shit, Claire might have looked good, but Paisley was mind blowing. She was wearing the dress she had created. Oh my God, she was doing it. How brave. And more than that, she looked incredible in it.

Maybe I didn't know much about fashion and designer clothing, but I did know she had my head spinning like crazy. It took every ounce of self-control in my body not to race across the sidewalk to scoop her up in my arms and to bring her close to me. I wanted to claim her here and now as my own. Maybe even forget the party entirely and just take her to my hotel room because she looked so good.

But her dress deserved to be seen by anyone and everyone. She had her dress on, she'd braved wearing it, so I wanted everyone to see it.

Instead, I smiled widely and opened the limo door for them both.

"Wow, you look amazing," I let them both know. "I like your outfits."

Claire laughed and flicked her hair over her shoulder. "I know, right?"

But Paisley took the compliment in a much more coy manner. She muttered thanks underneath her breath with a pinkness in her cheeks. I caught her shining eyes, though, and we shared an intense look. My heart beat a little faster as we locked in on one another, because I really did feel like something was burning bright between us. Something was going to happen tonight, right?

She brushed passed me as she slid in to the car, her hand pressing ever so lightly against my stomach. Oh God, tonight was going to be insane. It was going to be a whole lot of fun. I couldn't wait for it.