Mr. Red Riding Hoode

Epilogue

“What have you done?” Graciela was giggling like a little girl. It was the cutest thing Steve had seen in a long time. Even better was the cleavage on the dark red, V-neck dress she wore. The dress hugged her curves and showcased her golden skin to perfection. The gold, strappy heels were the sexiest things he’d seen in years. He had every intention of taking her home after the reception and fucking her while she wore nothing but those pretty little heels.

He wanted to rip the eyes out of any male who glanced her way, even the mated ones. Maybe she’d be willing to dress Amish when they were in public?

“Me?” He held his hand to his chest, doing his best to look innocent.

Rick stood next to Graciela, shaking his head in disbelief. “I never would have believed it.” He sipped his champagne and turned to the petite blonde tucked under his arm. “My Luna?”

“My Alpha?” Belle arched a brow at her mate.

“Did you have anything to do with this?”

“Pfft. If I had, do you think I would tell you?”

Graciela giggled again.

Ted clapped Steven on the shoulder, hard enough to stagger him. “Holy shit, Hoode, how the hell did you convince him to do that?”

Steve stared at the dance floor, where Dave was currently dancing with his new husband, Ben. The man was shaking his booty left and right, the hot-pink tulle tutu swaying around his hips as Ben laughed his ass off. “I can be very persuasive when I want to be.”

“Meaning he got me to nag Dave until he agreed.” Charlie sauntered up, the blonde looking utterly regal in the black, feminine tux she’d insisted on wearing as Dave’s best woman. She eyed the couple on the dance floor, completely ignoring the Wolf who’d gone quiet and still next to her. “Not that I had to nag much. I basically showed him the tulle, he snagged it, end of story.”

Ted was staring at Charlie like a starving man would eye a cheese plate. “But why pink?”

She shrugged. “I like pink.” She pointed toward Ben as the others laughed. “Why is Ben wearing that T-shirt under his tux?”

This time Steve was the one who snickered. Ben’s T-shirt declared him to be Dave’s trophy wife, the dark brown shirt matching his eyes exactly. “He loves that thing.”

“He wears it to Pack meetings all the time.” Belle shrugged. “Something to do with holding on to hope, he said.”

“No, I know about that. I was in Disney World with them. Why is he wearing it today?”

“I think he wore it for Dave.” Ben would do anything for Dave, even wear something that was totally humiliating. Strangely enough, now that Steven had gone through the change, he scented both Ben and Dave on that shirt. He had to wonder what that meant.

Then he had to mentally scrub his brain as images flew fast, furious and…ew. Not how he wanted to picture his best friend, thank you very much, no matter how happy he was with his lover.

“I think my favorite is the wedding cake topper.”

Charlie held up her hand. “That one was my idea.”

Belle was grinning as she looked over at the cake table. “I love that you got one with one groom dragging the other to the altar. But what happened to the one they’d picked out?”

“It got turned into a chew toy by a really large cat. Poor thing didn’t last very long.” She winked at Belle. “They just don’t make things like they used to.”

The rest of the Pack slowly joined Ben and Dave on the dance floor of the Red Wolf Lodge’s banquet hall. The theme, winter wonderland, had been the one thing Ben had insisted upon. Steve had to admit, it was pretty nice. White Christmas lights dotted everything, twining around the columns and the ceiling. White, crystal-encrusted branches had been turned into tall centerpieces. The colors were ice blue and white, even down to the lighting. It was like stepping into Jack Frost’s ballroom, and the moment Dave had seen it, his face had lit up. Apparently none of the Pack had allowed him to see it before the wedding, so it had been a complete surprise, despite the fact that he was the event coordinator and was usually in and out of these rooms on a daily basis.

Graciela leaned around him to smile at Charlie. “Congratulations on your new job, by the way.”

“Thanks. Now if I can pry my boss’s head out of his husband’s ass, we might actually get some work done.” Charlie winked. She’d landed the job after her interview with Belle, and Rick had welcomed her into the lodge. While he hadn’t accepted her into the Pack, she’d agreed to live by his rules until such time as she either quit or mated in.

From the looks she and Ted kept exchanging, he had the feeling she’d be accepted into the Pack before too much longer. Hell, he doubted they’d wait much longer than the end of the reception.

Even better, neither Rick nor Belle had made the connection with the Leo until after they’d hired her. Dave had gleefully informed them of whom they’d brought into their home the day after they accepted her.

Rick and Belle had surprised him. They’d shrugged, basically said, “And?”, then proceeded to treat the Lion like any other new employee, down to making sure she had her own tiny cabin in the back of the lodge and growling when she didn’t show her throat quickly enough to suit the Alpha pair. From what he’d seen, Belle was thrilled to have another big cat roaming the Poconos. He’d seen the two women whispering over clipboards together, Graciela right at their sides, plotting whatever the hell made them look like…

Well, kind of scary, now that he really thought about it.

“Oh, God.” Charlie started laughing. “Dave, you nut.”

Steve looked out on the dance floor and shook his head. Dave had picked Ben up and slung the slightly smaller man over his shoulder in a manly display that would have looked a lot better without the hot-pink tutu. “Geez, guys.”

Belle cupped her hands around her mouth. “Get a room!”

Dave’s head whipped around at the sound of his Luna’s voice. “What do you think I’m doing?”

Ben’s expression was resigned. “We’re playing rock-paper-scissors when we get home, asshole.”

Dave’s grin turned lascivious. “And you will go down again. Literally.” He laughed as Ben swatted his ass, carrying his new husband out of the banquet hall and into the night.

Graciela tugged on his arm. “What do you think, Mr. Hoode? Should we stick around and dance, or…?”

He grinned, allowing his fangs to show. This was a shifter-only event, which was good, because he hadn’t gotten complete control of his shift yet. If the way everything around him had gone yellow and blue was anything to go by, his eyes had shifted too. He’d thought all animals were completely color-blind, so he was happy to find out that they had some color vision.

“My, Mr. Hoode. What big eyes you have.” Graciela batted her lashes at him as she slowly backed away from him.

He laughed, snagging her around the waist before she could get very far from him. “All the better to see you with.”

Her gaze landed on his mouth. “And what a big mouth you have.”

His brows rose. “Like I haven’t heard that one before.”

She smacked him on the arm. “You’re supposed to play along.”

“Honey, in this game, you’re the big bad wolf.”

She glared up at him. “And you are?”

He waggled his brows. “Hoping to get eaten.”

Those around them erupted into laughter as Steven pulled his laughing mate into his arms and kissed the ever-loving breath out of her.