noun ~ a trip or journey in a car

CHARLIE

"Can you keep a secret?" I wondered.

My mate blinked at me, dropping the box in her hands onto her stripped mattress. "That depends?"

"Oh, please!" I begged. "I need to tell someone! I've been holding it in for a week! A week!"

"Okay, okay!" She laughed. "What is it?"

"Nova can teleport!" I blurted.

Calida eyed me, folding a t-shirt. "She can?"

"Yeah. She goes to different, weird, dreamy worlds." I nodded, watching her intently. "It was pretty cool."

"Was it now?"

"Well, duh!" I scoffed. "I think Phoenix was going to shit his pants."

Calida laughed. "Charlie, why did you not get a picture?"

I grinned, approaching my mate. "I didn't want to get eaten alive?"

"That makes sense." She hummed, leaning into kiss me.

I accepted her affection with a broad grin. Calida was slowly opening up to me and in the couple of weeks that passed since we copulated, she was more accepting of my advances. I was eating up every single kiss or brush of her fingers with a happy heart, eager to reciprocate them.

Kissing her back, I nodded into her mouth. "Phoenix is scary."

"Please." She snorted, pulling away to place another t-shirt into the box. "Have you seen him with his kids?"

"That's not Phoenix." I shook my head. "That's Daddy."

Calida quirked an eyebrow. "Daddy?"

"Yep!"

"You realise how you say that makes it sound like Phoenix is your sugar daddy?" She wondered.

I hesitated, acknowledging her comment. "He basically is anyway."

"Charlie!" She laughed. "You cannot go around calling Phoenix Daddy."

"Why not?" I pouted. "He gave me a house, pays me every week, and we go out for fun little adventures."

Her laughter didn't lessen, and she shook her head. "Stop it, you'll make me pee."

"Bladder control issues at your ripe age?" I mused. "Can't relate."

"Charlie!" she scoffed, whipping me with a t-shirt.

I laughed with glee, jumping out of the way. Calida was not older than me, but I loved to tease her about her age.

"Charlie!" she scolded. "You are eighteen months older than me!"

"Maybe in earth years but not by heart!" I taunted.

My mate rolled her eyes. "Twenty-six is not old."

"Just think, you've been here a year and you are already in love with me." I teased.

She scoffed, placing another t-shirt into the box. "Just because I am moving in with you does not mean I love you."

"Nu-uh, you told me you love me." I shook my head.

She frowned. "Did I?"

I gasped, my turn to scoff. "Calida Ramirez, all this time it was a lie? Or is your old age affecting your memory? Besides, I see it in your wrinkled eyes."

She giggled, placing her hands on my shoulders. "Charlie Evans, if you call me old one more time, I will feed your testicles to Daddy."

My eyes widened. "Poor Phoenix."

Rolling her eyes, Calida folded up another t-shirt before closing up the box. She pushed it my way with a pointed look and I grinned, taking it with ease.

"I shall be back, Madam." I hummed from behind the box.

"Yeah, yeah." She sang, continuing her packing.

I left her room with a pep to my step. Nothing could bother me today. Calida was happy to move into my chamber. It only took me a day of puppy eyes and irritation for her to give in. She was sleeping in there every night anyway, so she may as well move her clothes in. Otherwise, she would have to wear mine every day.

Sometimes I wished I could wear her clothes, just so I could smell her all day. But I feared I wouldn't fit, and her fashion choices were rather questionable. There was no colour, living her life in grey-scale.

My poor, depressing mate.

I aim to colour her wardrobe up as much as I do her life. She won't even see it coming.

Entering the penthouse suite, I placed the box of clothes on the bed. My job was to carry the big boxes and unpack them into her drawers. She didn't have enough to fill them, so I had made it my mission to buy her clothes all week. Just yesterday, a parcel arrived for me from the village containing t-shirts, dresses and long sleeves of various colours.

We would start slow. Some blues and greens before I even thought about adventuring into the reds and yellows. Calida's darker skin was easy to shop for, but then again, she'd look good in anything she wore.

Or didn't wear.

After an afternoon of back and forth with various boxes, we called it done and collapsed upon the bed. I groaned, accepting the ache in my bones.

"Oh, my knees ache."

"Who's the old person now?" Calida chimed.

"You didn't have to go up and down stairs all day." I grunted. "How about a kiss better?"

She rolled her eyes, kissing me softly. "There!"

I hummed, bending my knees. "We need an elevator."

"Then get one put in!" She laughed.

"I have tried, trust me." I sighed. "Phoenix is reluctant to spend money on luxuries."

"Says the man who built a three-story house on a hill." She rolled her eyes. "And bought you a car."

"Hey, don't talk smack about my baby." I pouted.

She giggled. "You still haven't taken me out for a ride in it."

"I haven't, have I?" I mused. "I'm working all week. Why don't we just go now?"

"What about your aching knees?" She teased.

I nudged her, poking her sides with my fingers. "Shush, old lady, you are losing your mind."

She laughed as I scooped her up from the bed, planting her on her toes. I kissed her with a raw passion, the burning fire of the mate bond aching between us. It was mad it was still incomplete, and any time we coupled, I was having a hard time not completing it.

"Okay, okay." She breathed between kisses. "Let's go in your car."

"In my baby." I mumbled.

"That's just as bad as daddy Phoenix."

I laughed softly, setting her on the balls of her feet. Taking her hand, we left the suite and headed downstairs.

"How's your knees coping?" Calida teased.

"You know, a lot better, actually." I smirked. "Amazing really what a kiss can do."

My mate blushed but brushed it off with an eye roll. I chuckled softly, taking her toward the car garage. There were few vehicles in here, most of the pack choosing to move on foot. Phoenix had two cars, which was ridiculous because the man never drove. One was his large eight-seater tank style car, and the other was his tinted Royce. I eyed it with jealousy, trailing my hand along the paintwork as I meandered over to my own.

I hung the keys on the wall beside it, and I grinned at the sight, unhooking them.

My dark red baby. Baby dark red. Red baby dark.

Mhm...

"She's clean." Calida commented, suddenly nervous.

I cocked my head, attune to her avoiding eyes. "What's up?"

"You'll... You'll drive careful, right?" She asked.

"Of course." I grinned. "Wouldn't want vomit in my car."

She scoffed, but her shoulders relaxed slightly. With a teasing grin, I unlocked the car and opened the passenger door. She climbed in with a faint smile, and I shut the door with an eagerness akin to a child on their birthday.

I loved driving my baby, but I never got the chance or the excuse.

Date night seemed like the perfect one.

Siding into the driver's seat, the cool leather brushed my bare knees. I forgot I was wearing shorts and a dirty t-shirt, but alas, date night shall go on.

I can always get naked.

Chuckling darkly to myself, I pressed the button to start her up. She rumbled and groaned, the lights on the dash flickering on.

"Don't you need to open the garage to get out?" Calida wondered.

I shook my head, pressing a button on the roof. "Automatic, Babe."

The garage door creaked open, and once it was half-way open, I revved the engine. I noticed how my mate's hands gripped her chair, her eyes wide as I teased the launch. Little did she know, I had placed a red marker on the garage wall, which was just the perfect height of my car. The moment the door rolled past it, I was out of there in a flash.

The engine roared, throwing us back into our seats as I drifted down the path. Calida squealed, her eyes slamming closed at the g-force. I laughed gleefully, only slowing once I was in the highest gear. The moment my foot relaxed off the pedal, Calida opened her eyes. She let out a puff of air, followed by a curse sent my way.

As we drove down pack-lands, I noticed her relax and stare out the window.

"How fast are we going?" She wondered.

"About seventy miles." I shrugged.

"What's the top speed?" She cocked her head.

Mmm, my baby is talking about my other baby.

"Something you will not want to experience." I teased.

She let out a loud breath, and we fell into a comfortable silence. Calida had little experience with cars, most of her adult and teen life spent in isolation. It must've been a while since she was in one, and I was determined to make it enjoyable.

I drove up the long path around our territory, relishing in the soft gasps and murmurs of delight. It was prettier this way, with meadows, trees and the river all trailing alongside us. I went slower as I neared my final destination.

"Where are we going?" Calida breathed. "Are we still on pack land?"

"It's the only night we have together. May as well make it a date."

"Another one?" She wondered, eyes wide.

"What? Had enough of me already?" I teased. "Spoiler alert, we're forever, baby."

She flushed at the pet name, dropping her eyes to stare at her lap. I grinned, focusing back on the road as I brought the car to a stop. Calida was boisterous more often than most, but the small moments of her like this reminded me how human she truly was. Masks were hard to look past, but beneath her defensiveness, there was a softness I adored.

"What is this place?"

"It's human land." I shrugged. "I found it years ago."

"Really?" she gasped. "It's pretty."

"Not as pretty as you." I teased.

"Oh, so cliché, Charlie." She laughed.

I laughed, turning the engine off. We plummeted into a silence, no longer talking over the engine or radio.

"Now we are here on our date. What do you want to talk about?" Calida mumbled.

"I was rather content staring at you." I hummed.

Again, she rolled her eyes.

"You know, one day, your eyes will roll into your skull and be gone forever."

"Geez, dad, thanks." She scoffed.

I laughed softly. "That's Phoenix. He's daddy."

Calida giggled lightly. "If he hears you talking about him that way... Let's just say I want a front-row seat to the aftermath."

"Granted." I mused.

Silence again before she spoke. "So, this is really human land?"

"Yeah..."

"Is the entire bordered territory covered by human land?"

I was pleased she was asking questions about the pack. It would be hers one day; the responsibility of beta female was a major factor she had to accept.

But if she couldn't, I would drop being beta in a heartbeat to make her happy. I'd just hope Phoenix would still send me money. My sugar daddy.

"Not all of it." I shook my head. "The north and east are no-man's-land. West is human and south is wolf."

"Any issues with the southern border?"

"No." I shook my head, jaw tense. "They're fairly placid."

"Not jealous of Phoenix's power?" She speculated.

I hesitated, wondering what she was hinting at. I was certain she did not know of the threats that Phoenix received, but her question threw me off guard. The southern border was, in fact, one of the unhappy ones, but I would not tell her that until it was public knowledge.

"No, they've been allies for a long time."

She hummed, eyeing me curiously. I narrowed my eyes back at her, but instead of asking more questions, she just giggled. Shrugging off my uncertainty, I took her hand over the armrest.

"So, ever made out in a car before?" I grinned.

"I think you know the answer to that one." She rolled her eyes. "No!"

Without having to push it any further, Calida was unbuckling her belt and climbing over the seat. My eyes widened with glee, hands falling to squeeze her thighs as she straddled me.

"Hello." I grinned.

"Hello, mate." She purred.

It was instant. The desire that burnt from her seductive words was enough for me. I knew right now that I was going to take her in this car and saturate the seats with our scent. My mate was not stepping out of this vehicle without an ache in her groin.

"Come here often?" I breathed.

"Only if it's with you." She whispered.

Fuck.

I'm done.

*****

All I'm gonna say is ... prepare yourself