Chapter 23: Chapter 23

MYRA

On Thursday, Myra found herself wandering down the halls of the house after abandoning her work in their bedroom.

She’d spent most of the day reviewing reports from her teaching assistant, who was substituting while Myra was on medical leave.

She had made some notes and replied to suggestions about the lesson plans for the coming week.

~Wow, my leave is almost over~, Myra thought, gazing mindlessly at a landscape painting that hung on the wall.

It was a bright watercolor depicting a couple walking together under an umbrella through a colorful forest in a rainstorm.

The longer she stared at the vivid colors of the art piece, the more her vision started to blur and her mind wandered off.

~The week seems to have flown by with surprising swiftness, what with all these different activities~, she thought as she returned to the here and now. ~But the house feels extra empty today.~

Sloan had to attend several meetings outside the house. Since the break-in, the rogues were seemingly limiting their activities and had retreated underground, taking Elizabeth with them.

Their sudden lack of activity had caused great concern for the council leaders, resulting in Sloan and the others working tirelessly to locate them.

Her suggestion about finding other survivors was proving to be fruitful.

Declan had found a list of reported animal attacks, then he’d independently reviewed the accounts to add possible victims to the data they already possessed.

Aside from council business, Sloan also had to go into the J & Sons head office for back-to-back corporate meetings with the different shareholders and investors.

It wasn’t an ideal time to have these meetings, but it needed to be done.

It was disconcerting to be in a quiet house, especially after the events of the day before.

She rounded a corner and walked straight into Leanne. Leanne quickly grabbed Myra’s upper arms to prevent her from falling.

“Oh, sorry, Lee,” Myra giggled.

“I should be apologizing. But it’s convenient that we walked into each other.” Leanne smiled. She made sure Myra had her footing before she released her arms.

“Oh?”

“Megan’s here.”

“Really?! Thank you!” Myra smiled, jogging down the hallway.

“She’s in the common room!” Leanne yelled out as Myra skidded on the smooth, polished floor of the entryway.

Her smile brightened when she saw her friend standing nervously, gazing out of the window. It had been raining all day, and the raindrops were falling gently against the glass.

“Hey, bitch!”

“Hi, ho.” Megan laughed as Myra launched herself into her friend’s open arms. “Sloan definitely agrees with you.”

Myra smirked and shook her head. “You’re deflecting. What happened at my claiming?”

“You don’t remember?” She gasped playfully, grabbing the sides of Myra’s face and staring into her eyes. “First of all, you got all dolled up in the sexiest lace dress I have ever seen…”

“Not that, bitch! What happened between you and Declan?” Myra growled.

“Oh, that,” she said halfheartedly as she released Myra’s face. “Can I get a drink before you interrogate me?”

“No. Now stop stalling and start talking!” Myra demanded, pulling Megan over to the couch and yanking her down.

“Nothing happened.” She blushed.

“I know you tend to swap saliva with anything with a pulse and a penis, but this is Declan.”

“Swap saliva? What are you, twelve?” she asked, folding her arms over her chest, still stalling.

Myra pinched the side of Megan’s boob.

“FUCK! That hurts! Dammit! We only kissed, and you know that already.”

“The fact that you’re so reluctant to talk about it means it’s so much more than nothing.” Myra scoffed. “We’ve never kept secrets from each other, so please don’t start now.”

Megan slapped both of her hands onto her face and rubbed it before raking her fingers through her silky hair. She sighed heavily, slumping against the back of the couch.

“It’s not like I want to keep secrets. I can’t say anything about it, because I don’t understand it myself.”

“Oh, honey.” Myra comforted her by hugging her.

“You know I’m a take-charge, enjoy-her-independence type of bitch. But from the moment I met Declan, I—I—I don’t know. My brain turns to mush.” She sighed. “It’s why I’m so childish around him.”

“Immature, for sure,” Myra muttered.

“Not helping! Do you want me to stop talking?”

“My lips are sealed. Please continue.”

“I don’t know what’s really happening between us. I mean, remember when Ms. Sian was talking about the scent thingamabob? That scared me,” Megan said in a rush.

“Please tell me he smells like mint chocolate to you too!” she begged, slowly becoming more and more hysterical.

“Whoa. Whoa. Okay, baby girl. Breathe.” Myra chuckled. “Jesus, I’m usually the one to freak out. Besides, you’ve been around shifters all your life. It’s only natural for you to assimilate…kind of.”

“Yeah, maybe,” she agreed halfheartedly. “But you didn’t answer me. Does he?”

Myra bit the inside of her cheek and shook her head.

“Fuck. Since meeting Declan, I’ve been reassessing my life. Me. Megan Alexander. Actually contemplating her life.”

“Oh? And what have you discovered?”

Megan’s expression suddenly turned sad, and she cleared her throat before answering. “I started with my parents, the real ones. Who are they? Why did they give me up?

“I’ve even been wondering if they’re still alive.”

“Wow.” Myra gasped in genuine shock. “Do you want to look for them?”

“Yeah. No. I don’t know. This is all his fault.”

“I wouldn’t—”

“Oh, I would,” Megan cut her off. “I was quite happy with my life and how it was. But when…but when I look at his stupid, smug, pretty face, I picture a future I’ve never considered for myself.

“You know the cliché: a house surrounded by a white picket fence, a big yard with two dogs and two-point-five kids running around—well, in his case, bear cubs—and sex!” Megan gasped, sitting up.

“Lots of it! Bed-breaking, earth-rumbling, loud and wild, purely unadulterated, animalistic, and hopefully illegal, sex!”

“That’s my girl.” Myra giggled, pulling Megan in for a hug.

Megan laughed too before sniffling into Myra’s neck. “I haven’t had my itch scratched in almost two weeks.”

“That’s a drought for you. What happened to Baron?” Myra asked, but she already had her suspicions that Declan had thoroughly warned him off.

“I haven’t seen him since the day I dropped you off at school. Plus, he’s a fucking pussy,” she grumbled, making Myra laugh some more.

“Apparently, Declan had a man-to-boy chat with him. What the hell did I see in Baron anyway?”

“His dick?”

“It wasn’t even that good,” she confessed. “But his oral skills, though…”

“Stop,” Myra demanded, covering Megan’s mouth to silence her. But Megan’s eyes glazed over, and a wicked smirk spread across her face.

“Wait, how did you get from Declan to your parents to Baron’s oral-ness? Is that a word? Anywho, Sunday. What happened on Sunday?”

“He couldn’t take my ignoring him, and we started arguing about his interference in my love life, and the next thing I knew I was ‘swapping saliva’ with him. And, nerd, it’s swapping spit,” she finally explained.

“Saliva is spit.”

“But honestly, Declan was, hands down, one of the best kissers I’ve ever kissed in my life.”

“He might be your only kisser from now on,” Myra teased, making kissy faces at Megan, who grabbed a throw pillow and hit her with it.

Before a full-fledged pillow fight could start, one of Megan’s coworkers texted her, asking to switch shifts, and Megan excused herself, saying she needed to get home for a quick nap before work that night.

Soon after Megan left, Declan came barreling out from the direction of the den. He looked like he was out for blood. He said nothing as he rushed past her, slamming the front door shut as he left the house.

Seconds later, she heard a motorbike start and tires squealing on the asphalt.

Myra chuckled to herself, shaking her head. ~Nothing happened, my ass.~

A little lightbulb went on in her head, and she started to formulate a plan as she turned toward the kitchens. She needed to discuss dinner preparations with Arthur first.

After a brief conversation and reassurance from the elderly chef, she went to step two of her plan. She texted Sloan and told him to let her know when he left the office.

She knew he’d have had a long day, and she wanted to help him de-stress when he got home.

She then returned to their bedroom and looked around the place. ~A romantic dinner on the floor. Perfect.~

She pushed the coffee table away from the couch and grabbed the duvet off the bed. She spread it out on the floor and piled some pillows against the couch.

“Leanne?” she called out, and Leanne’s head popped into the room through the open door. The silly look on her face made Myra giggle.

“Do you need something, Myra?”

“Yes, tea candles and, if possible, a string of fairy lights from Saturday night.”

Leanne smiled and nodded her head. “Leave it to me.” She disappeared for a bit and quickly returned with the items Myra had asked for.

Leanne stayed and helped Myra arrange the vanilla-scented tea candles around the room, away from anything flammable.

She would light them later, when Sloan got home. They even arranged the fairy lights along the border of the duvet and plugged them in.

She smiled brightly, happy with the layout of the decorations. Leanne quietly excused herself, and Myra took that time to take a nice hot soak in the tub to soothe her well-used girlie parts.

As she waited for the tub to fill up, she stripped and looked at her body in the mirror while tying up her hair.

On her left breast, she saw the evidence of Sloan’s new habit: he’d placed a hickey on the swell of her breast and kept it bright by sucking on the spot, either during their sexual encounters or when he found her naked.

She glanced down at her phone, and a different evil thought popped into her mind.

~Sloan will blow a fuse.~

She smiled, picked up her phone, and quickly snapped a picture of the hickey.

She looked at it, and it was angled perfectly. It provided a clear view of her naked breasts, which were barely concealed by her free hand, covering her nipples.

Myra

Missing you, cum home soon.

She giggled to herself as she attached the photo to the text message and hit Send. She’d just climbed into the tub when her phone buzzed.

Sloan

Jesus, woman! I’m sitting in a boring-ass meeting about financial projections and now, thanks to you, I have a raging hard-on.

Sloan

Your ass is mine.

~I’m already in trouble, so let’s dig myself into a deeper hole~, she thought. She raised her legs out of the water and hooked her ankles together on the ledge of the tub.

Though the water acted as a distortion, one could still just make out her private parts. She snapped another picture, reviewed it, then quickly typed a message to go along with the photo.

Myra

I do love your raging hard-ons.

Sloan

Myra…you are on a warning! Don’t push me.

Myra giggled as Sloan’s name flashed on her screen. She decided to ignore it and continue washing her body. Her phone kept on buzzing as the call cut off and several messages started coming through.

Once she’d finished soaking, she dried off and wrapped a fluffy towel around her body. She picked up her phone and giggled.

Sloan

Why didn’t you answer your phone? Call me back!

Sloan

Myra, don’t play games with me. Call me.

Sloan

Oh baby, you are so getting it when I get home

Sloan

Leaving the office now, see you in 30 mins.

~When will I learn?~ Myra smirked, dressing in a comfortable silk crop top and long matching pajama pants.

Myra

See you soon, drive safely.

Sloan

Love you.

Myra smiled as she read his message. Even over text, that word gave her butterflies.

Myra

Love you too…now don’t text and drive.