Page 85 of Hunter

“Oh this. The hat? What, does it clash with my red suit? I thought so.” Viktor snatched it off his head and tossed it across the room. “Ah well, I must be going. I have to get these people back to where they came from. The musicians are wolves. These guys,” he nodded toward the servers, “they’re vampires. But don’t worry. They have no idea where they are. They’ve all been sworn to secrecy. Trust me when I say they won’t talk. Or they’ll die. No choice really.”

“We weren’t worried about any of that…” Willa began but was interrupted by Viktor.

“Hurry now. The food is getting cold. Open the gift before I leave and then I’ll be off.”

“Um. Okay. Do you want to do the honors?” Hunter shrugged and smiled at Willa, nervous about Viktor’s gift. He didn’t trust him after the one hundred and one balloons floating above their heads.

Willa reached inside the gift bag, laughing as she retrieved a black leather paddle and handed it to Hunter. “It’s, it’s…it’s lovely. Really. I was expecting something Tiffany’s perhaps, but this is a surprise.”

“What the hell, vampire? Seriously?” Hunter shook his head. Not that he opposed giving her a good spanking, but Viktor had no business giving his mate sex toys.

“I knew you’d like it. Trust me when I say you will love the feel and the sound of it.” Viktor clapped his hands together, his eyes lit with delight. “It’s my favorite.”

“Well…my…now this…gee, I don’t know. I already have one but it’s in pink.” Willa laughed as she handed Hunter a two-foot-long silicone penis. “What do you think, dear? Will it go with the curtains?”

“I thought you’d like it. Don’t worry. I didn’t forget the lube. Blueberry flavored. You’re going to love it. Goes well with dessert.”

“Time to go, Viktor,” Hunter told him, his voice firm. “We’re done now.”

“What? She said it goes with her curtains.”

“We’ll meet you at the jet in three hours. Now off with the cooks and the musicians.”

“You’ll thank me later. Give me a minute.” Viktor strode into the kitchen pressing through the swinging doors and returned within seconds. “Musicians are next.” As he began to walk toward the foyer, he paused, turning his head toward them. “You’re blessed, you know. Not everyone finds someone…gets to have a lifetime with their person.”

Hunter sensed Willa’s sadness as Viktor disappeared with the musicians. Her empathetic smile touched his heart. “He’s going to be all right. He doesn’t think he’s going to find anyone again but he’s wrong.”

“How do you know?” she pressed.

“Because if I can find a princess in Hell, our vampire…our friend…the Goddess has someone for him too. Even if he doesn’t know it, I have faith.”

“Yes.” She nodded.

“Come…let’s eat.” Hunter took her hand as she set the bag onto the ground.

“This is beautiful,” she admired the incredible spread on the table, lobster and fresh vegetables, candles and flowers.

Hunter drank in the sight of his magnificent mate, and his cock twitched. He was never going to get through dinner.

“That was amazing.” Willa brought the glass of champagne to her lips. “I’ve never had someone treat me so…like…just so nice…like a princess.”

“I love that you’re independent, that all this time you’ve survived, but you’ve got me now. I’m not saying it will be easy. But we’re going to get through this, Wills. And when it’s all over, we’ll have dates. Lots of them. Maybe we’ll go horseback riding.”

“Skydiving,” she suggested.

“Horseback riding,” he repeated, giving a low chuckle.

“Skydiving then horseback riding.” She smiled, batting her eyelids at him.

“Wolves are hard to kill, but not impossible.”

“It’ll be fun.”

“I can think of some other things that would be even more fun.” He winked.

“Perhaps we should open the rest of our gifts?” she suggested, a flirtatious lilt in her voice. “You stay there.”

Hunter watched in anticipation as his delicious mate stood and glided across the floor. With her back to him, she stopped in front of the bag, pausing to look over her shoulder, a sultry smile forming on her lips. Her hand found the back of her dress and she teased down the zipper. Hunter sucked a breath as the entire gown pooled around her feet.