The Alpha King Call Boy
Chapter 225

Our guests finally arrived a few minutes before midnight. Our little night owl was wide awake so we carried her with us to greet them at the front of the palace. A servant was easing open the back door of the limousine we'd sent to retrieve the foursome from the

airport, just as my husband and I reached the top of the stairs.

vehicle.

First out of the car was a very tall, distinctly strong but somewhat slender man with jet black hair streaked through with wisps of silver. His eyes landed upon Alex immediately and he bowed his head before stepping aside to make room for the others to exit the There was no doubt in my mind that this was

Grayson, the leader of the Cold Moon pack. I felt a surprising recognition of his Alpha powers, even from a distance.

This was the first time, I realized, that I'd been near another Alpha since the awakening of my own abilities. I was looking at a stranger, but he seemed so familiar. Puzzling through this sensation, I realized it stemmed from the fact that he reminded me of my husband somehow. Their bodies and faces resembled each other in no way. It was only their energies, an intense aura of power and dominance that they shared.

As the servants wheeled away our guests' luggage ahead of us, Alex and I welcomed the travelers inside and engaged in introductions.

Grayson's wife Olivia, who insisted we call her Liv, was about as tall as me and had a long tangle of dark brown hair swept forward over one shoulder. Her eyes were dark blue, rimmed with thick black liner, and she had one of those big, pretty smiles that I could just tell was liable to be contagious.

The other woman was much smaller and much younger, with light skin and prominent freckles, big green eyes and shoulder-length black ringlets. She looked about eighteen, and she was impossibly beautiful in a very unique way. Her name was Dana. She and her husband Chase - Grayson's Beta, a chiseled and handsome brunet about Alexander's age - seemed glued together. They couldn't keep their hands off each other, and Dana looked up at her man with an adoring gaze that told me they were likely newlyweds, and madly in love.

Liv was the chattiest of the bunch, and I found myself grateful for her unexpected energy. She adored Alexis at first sight of her and asked me lots of politely friendly questions about the baby. Having someone else contribute so much to the conversation was a relief. After that push to finish the renovations, I had little energy left tonight for playing hostess.

We walked Chase and Dana to the stairs that led to their tower suite first and said goodbye to them there. Then Alex and I led Liv and Grayson to the forest room, Scarlet's old suite, where they would be staying.

"Whoa." Liv glanced through the doorway and stood before it frozen, then swung her eyes over to me dramatically. "This place is incredible.

Beautiful."

My heart swelled with pride. This little project had been a lot of work, and it meant a lot to me. It was my first attempt at really taking ownership of the palace. Of acting like a Queen.

"Thank you," I said with a sincere smile. "We have some refreshments staged in the TV room, too. I didn't know if you'd be hungry at this hour, but there are some options in there for you just in case you are. Please rest and enjoy. It's the least we can do to thank you for traveling all this way to meet us here, and on such short notice."

Liv, perhaps feeling particularly sensitive because she was tired, had a shimmer of emotion welling in her deep blue eyes as she looked into the room once more. She was still frozen in place.

"It's our pleasure," Grayson said, taking his wife's hand and giving it a squeeze. "Truly, it's an honor just to be here and meet you both. And this is lovely," he added, darting his eyes into their room."

Thank you."

"Fiona just finished renovating these rooms," Alex bragged, sliding an arm around my shoulders.

I rolled my eyes, I suppose trying to shrug off the compliment as too much.

"No," Liv almost shouted. "You did this? Oh, it's beautiful, Fiona!"

My cheeks felt go hot. "Certainly not on my own. I had lots of help. But thank you."

I'd enjoyed the appreciation for my work when it was anonymous, but now I wanted to get out of the spotlight Alexander had just shone down upon me. I looked up at him and glared. He grinned and gave me a mischievous wink. "So," Alex asked, pulling our bedroom door closed behind him. "What do you think?"

"I like them."

"Me too." He reached out to take Lexi off my hands. She cooed at her father and melted into his chest.

"We'll need to actually have some conversations with them, of course, in order to develop an informed opinion. But I like their energies."

Alex raised his eyebrows, interested. He waited for me to say more.

"Especially Grayson." I paused, trying to figure out how to articulate what I perceived of the man. "His energy reminds me of yours."

"Huh." Alex bounced Lexi in his arms. He bobbed his head a little, seeming to agree. "I might not be an empath, but I got a good feeling from him, too."

Just then, a knock sounded on the door. A knock I recognized easily - three quick little taps.

"Nina?" I opened the door and raised an eyebrow at my friend. She strode right inside while I looked down at my watch, bewildered. It was almost one a.m. "What are you doing here?"

"Reporting for duty," she answered, walking over to Alex with her arms outstretched.

He passed the baby right off to her, then looked over at me and beamed.

"I promised you I'd make time for us tonight," he said. "I know it's very late. But she doesn't mind." He pointed his thumb at Nina, who met my eyes and nodded to confirm. "Unless you're sleepy, and want to crash out instead?" "Very late date sounds... perfectly acceptable," I decided.

Alex said he would make time for me, and I already appreciated him providing that. But there was even more to the surprise, I discovered once he swung open the door to our getaway.

Candles filled the room with low, flickering light, and as soon as we were inside I spied white rose petals adorning the bed. The floral, slightly smoky aroma in the air put my senses at ease immediately.

"This is so sweet." I put my hands to Alex's chest and slid them up to circle his neck.

In between light kisses, he whispered into my mouth, "But wait... there's more..."

I laughed, nuzzling into his neck as his hands crossed behind me. He lifted me up into his arms and carried me over to the bed. He tossed the petal-strewn blanket aside and lay me down gently on the crisp, silky sheets, giving me a little jolt at its cool touch. Standing back, Alex shrugged off his jacket and cast it to the foot of the bed, then loosened his tie and shirt sleeves. I followed his eyes to the bedside table and discovered a little device there. It was a bowl full of oily liquid, atop what I soon discerned to be a warming apparatus plugged into an electrical outlet in the nightstand.

"Hot wax?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at my husband as he began removing my clothing.

One side of his mouth twitched upward into a devious half-smile. "It's massage oil. Warm, not hot. But now that you've put that idea in my mind ..." Alex's eyes darted around the room at all the flickering candles. He licked his lips.

"I think the warm oil will do for tonight," I said a little sternly.

He smiled down at me. "Yes, ma'am..."

I let my eyes flutter closed while he finished undressing me, lazing back and letting him do all the work both because I knew he wanted to and because I was tired. I adored him for this. For knowing just what I needed.

"I've been thinking about this all day," he grumbled once his project was complete and I was naked underneath him.

He buried his face into my neck and breathed in my scent heavily, his hot breath so intense on my skin that I couldn't help but shiver and moan.

"Hm. You're cold," he said, pulling back. "Good thing I have a remedy for that." He pushed his rolled sleeves further up onto his forearms before reaching out and dousing his hands with oil. He rubbed it into his hands and let a little excess to drip back into the bowl before bringing them back to my body.

He pressed his hot, wet palms to my neck first. The intense heat and his expert touch were absolute bliss, flooding my muscles with soothing relief and my brain with serotonin. Then he pulled his hands heavily down my shoulders and arms, sweeping in one slow, firm, fluid motion all the way to my hands, where he squeezed hard on my palms and fingertips.

"Oh," I whined. "That feels amazing."

My eyes were closed, but I could hear the smile on Alex's lips as he tried to swallow some breathy, self-satisfied laughter. Then I heard his hands dipping into the wax again. But before returning them to my skin, he paused and said, huskily, "Tell me what to do