Delilah and Riley by Melissa Nichols (ebook reader browser .TXT) 📖

“Thanks. Its was my mother’s idea. She really figured white and a gemstone color would make great pairs. You’ll find the same scheme in just about every room, but with a different color to go with the white. The nursery has a rose pink and the room you’ll move into after the birth of our first pup has emerald green.”

“Oh, nice.” I said appreciatively as I pictured what it must look like. I had to admit, I liked what I was seeing.

“Yeah. So, umm, the bathroom is in there. Its been fully updated for your arrival so you’ll find all of the latest stuff as well as the complete list of your favorite bath stuff on the shelves underneath the counter. You can leave it out if you’d like, to make it easier for you to reach.”

“Okay, Riley. Thanks.”

He nodded and moved to a wardrobe on the other side of the room. I went to the other wardrobe and grabbed a pale purple dress and went into the bathroom, locking the door soundly behind me. I stared in shock at the bathroom. It was massive, complete with a bathtub, a stand-in shower and a Jacuzzi. All of them on one wall! On the opposite wall, the entire length had a countertop and two sinks with cabinets lining underneath the polished marble so every inch was utilized with style and a giant mirror that covered the wall to the end and up the wall a couple of feet. On one of the two other walls was a triple-lined rack lined with towels of varying sizes, all folded neatly on the rungs. On the fourth wall were two hampers; one for nightclothes, which already had Riley’s bedclothes in it, and the other for used towels.

Walking over to the bathtub, I stripped off my traveling clothes, put them in the hamper, started the water and searched in the cabinets for the bath stuff Riley mentioned. I found several scrubbers, bags of razors, many bottles of body wash, shampoo and conditioner, as well as more bath salts and oils then I could count. I grabbed just the body wash and a scrubber and checked the water. Finding it satisfactorily warm, I plugged the drain and stepped in. washed my body, drained the water and refilled the tub. I wanted to soak. Lord knows my body needed it. After all of the drama and highly strung emotions of the past week, I needed more than just a wash.

I sighed as I covered as much of my body in the steaming water as possible, braced myself with my feet so I wouldn’t slide and closed my eyes.

The next thing I knew, I heard worried shouting, but it was as if it were at a distance. I forced myself into consciousness and it soon became clear that it was Riley shouting. His tone was half panicked as he begged me to open my eyes. I could feel his hands on my shoulders, shaking me forcefully but still gently, as if he didn’t want to hurt me.

Why would he be shaking me? I asked myselfand I thought back. I had closed my eyes. I must have fallen asleep. Riley must have thought I had drowned or something. Well, then there was only one thing I could do.

I opened my eyes and looked my husband in his eyes. It took a couple seconds for his eyes, a beautiful emerald green color, to fill with relief. He stopped shaking me and, instead, just help me upright.

“I’m alright, Riley. Sorry to worry you. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” I said as he crushed me to his chest in a hug.

“Worry me? God, I almost died of a heart attack! You’ve been in here for over an hour so I came to check on you and I find you asleep!”

“I know, I’m sorry. I guess I was more tired than I thought and the water felt so good.”

He breathed another sigh of relief as he picked me up out of the now cold water. I started to object since I was still clad only in my skin and he and I weren’t lovers yet. “Oh, stop it. We’re married. And besides, I already promised I’d wait until you were settled in here before I touched you intimately so you don’t have to worry about me now.” He said as he set me on the floor and grabbed one of the larger towels. He wrapped it around me, picked me up again and took me into our bedroom and set me on the bed. He lay down next to me, still holding me in his arms. I cuddled up against his chest and just enjoyed having him so close.

In time, Riley calmed down and gently got us into the business of the day, helping me pick out a dress for the day, though he left getting the dress on to me. After that, he showed me what I would be doing while giving me a tour of the castle and introducing me to everyone. Since there was so much I needed to get acquainted with, we didn’t have breakfast in the dining room like we normally would. We ate during the tour of the castle and the grounds.

I didn’t really learn anything new about my duties. I already knew that I was supposed to supervise the household staff like the maids, the gardeners and the kitchen staff. I rolled my eyes. I’d been doing that since I turned fifteen three years ago. But I was quite shocked to find that the castle had a massive herbs garden and, even though we had gardeners who kept the plants healthy and happy, the pack didn’t have a healer, at least not officially. Riley told them there were several wolves in the pack that had either a vast knowledge of the herbs in the garden or they had the ability to heal others. But since they were largely uneducated, they couldn’t do more than close the skin and hope for the best.

Hearing this, I was really aggravated. Back at my parent’s pack, everyone had a job to do, even the children. Healers were taught how to use their powers, how to heal and about the herbs available to us. Those with hunting abilities were used in the hunts and those with other powers or strong protective instincts were sent to patrol the borders and keep the peace inside the pack. Also, those with growing or elemental abilities were sent to grow the pack crops. The Domiscuss pack had no such structure. I was totally amazed that a pack could be this large and this old but it wasn’t really prospering.

Naturally, I told Riley all of this and I volunteered to add improving the pack infrastructure to my list of abilities. He tried to get me to take it back but I refused and all he could do was give in. I have to admit, I’d never had much to do with the Lune pack infrastructure - that was left to my dad – but I’d learned a lot over the years and I was sure I could do it.

After that, Riley took me back inside so I could get started. We immediately called a pack meeting by howling together and, while everyone gathered, I set up a couple of scrolls and I grabbed some blank parchment leaflets. I grabbed Riley to help me, sat him down at the table that had been moved to the ballroom.

Once everyone had gathered, I addressed everyone.

“Its come to my attention that many of you have abilities, powers, and that they aren’t being utilized to their full potential. I’ve volunteered myself to taking care of this problem. So, if you would please line up in an orderly fashion, we’ll get started.”

There was a resounding ‘yes, ma’am’ from several of the men and the men moved into line.

“That includes the women. Actually, let me amend that. The women without a mate and children. The mothers will have a special job during the day. I’ll be available after this so we can talk about the job afterwards.”

Several women joined the men in line and I nodded and sat down. The first man stepped up to me. I asked him for his name and if he had a power. He didn’t, so I asked him for a trait he was most proud of. The trait he gave me, or more like a talent, was enough for me to place him in a group. I nodded and wrote down his name on one form and asked Riley to make the man a leaflet with the first letter of his new role and, once he was given his leaflet, I directed him to one corner of the room. With the next man, I asked him the same questions and decided he was better off in another role so I sent him with his leaflet to another corner. And so on it went for two hours. At the end of it, all four corners were filled to the point where everyone was elbow to elbow. I stood up on the table again once everyone had been sorted and addressed the pack yet again.

“Alright, everyone. All of you have received one of four codes. They are M, P, HU and HE –“ I pointed to each corner. “M leaflets mark you as a Mother. Your duty will be to bring your children together each day so they can play and I expect all of you to pay attention to them, even if they aren’t yours. This will enable the children to become more socially active with other children their age, and with all of them in one place it’ll be easier to keep them out of trouble. Once we’re done here, this ballroom will be big enough for them all to play in. Chairs will be brought in for each of you to sit down. I’ll also look into supplying toys for them to play with, as well as other things for you to do as you watch the children. For now, though, I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for talking amongst yourselves.” I saw most of the women nod and I moved on to the next leaflet.

“P is for Protector. Those of you with P leaflets are now Protectors. Your duty is to patrol the borders in teams at various times of the day. The teams who aren’t on the borders are to keep the peace inside the pack. I’ll be assigning each of you to your teams tonight. Report to the dining room tomorrow morning for you team and patrol time assignments.” Again, most of the group nodded so I moved onto the next leaflet.

“HU is for Hunter. I hope this is self explanatory but to be safe I’ll go into details. Like the Protectors you will all be assigned into teams and you’ll spend the whole day hunting for the packs. All kills are to be brought to the back entrance to the kitchen after each kill. The kitchen staff will deal with it from there. Report to the dining room tomorrow for your assignments.” This time, I got some vocal acknowledgement so I moved on to the final leaflet.

“HE is for Healer. Those of you marked as a Healer either have a vast knowledge of herbs and healing, have the power to heal or you want to learn how to heal. The only way we’re going to be effective is if we come together each morning. I will teach you all I know about herbs and gardening, someone else will teach you about anatomy and using your power and knowledge to heal more effectively than simply closing the skin. We will start out each day in the garden by the herb section at the crack of dawn, though it will be later tomorrow due to me giving out the assignment for the hunters and protectors. Now, if you have any questions, please