Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Unedited

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"Have you eaten today, or this week for that matter?"

I look over the top of the rims of my glasses to see Jasper stood in the doorway to my office, a concerned look adorning his usually impassive features.

He's wearing a suit, which is uncommon, a slim fitting grey three piece over a navy blue shirt. The top few buttons are undone, like the casualty of the man wearing it has leaked through into his outfit, and you can see the tattoos of his chest peaking out like the tentacles of an octopus.

I can see his eyes dragging around the room, halting briefly on the empty take out boxes on the floor, and I raise an eyebrow when he realises they answer his question.

I've been holed up here the past week, completing all the business side of the pack merging from this half of the pack, Kaden helping me out with the other half. It's been exhausting, but giving myself something to do has aided in me moving on from losing Sophia. I spent a few days in our house, and I was slowly going mad. Kaden eventually suggested I help him with the merging, and gave me a long list of tasks he knew I was capable of completing. I've spoken to him constantly throughout the days I've been away, and we've visited each other a few times.

But, he knows how much I need space right now, not someone coddling me, so we haven't spoken at all today seen as though he's coming to visit towards the end of the day.

"Jasper why are you here?" I sigh, rubbing my eyes underneath my lenses. "I know that Kaden didn't send you, because he promised he'd let me do this on my own, especially after he suggested it."

"The pack is worried about you." He admits, stepping into the room and taking a seat across from me. "I've had Olivia and a few more wolves breathing down my neck about you."

"Technically I'm still in pack territory." I remind him, pointing outside of the window. "I just happen to be on the CrescentMoon side of the lake."

Jasper rolls his eyes, resting his leg across the other and giving me a wry look. "Lola, you know what I mean. You've used the joining ceremony as an excuse to spend time in your old pack and..."

I hold my hand up to stop him as I quickly scribble something down on a note from an email that has just entered my inbox. It's from an old retired wolf that lives on the edge of the lake with his mate. He owns a giant warehouse that I'm very interested in purchasing as joint pack training grounds. Not only is the inside space perfect for gym equipment and boxing rings and stuff, but the four acres surrounding the building are perfect for one on one training. It's far bigger than either pack training ground, and is a way of the packs coming together even more.

So far he has amused my offers, but I'm starting to get frustrated with him as he keeps dodging my wanting of an asking price. I'm letting him choose it because that way I can offer him exactly what he wants, which won't even dent my pocket.

"Firstly Jasper," I begin, stretching my arms high above my head until I hear them crack satisfyingly. "The amount of work that needs to be done to join a pack together doesn't just stop after the ceremony, and I know you're not naive enough to believe that."

He opens his mouth to retaliate, but I send him a glare, and I catch sight of my lilac eyes burning in the reflection of the photograph on my desk, and cut him off. "Secondly, I am staying in CrescentMoon for a few days, just so I can feel closer to Sophia and Mark. My best friends died Jasper, am I not allowed to mourn them in my own way?"

Jasper looks down at the floor like a scolded child, and I know this is because he's realised I'm right. I sigh, rubbing my tired eyes with my overworked fingers. "Besides, I'm not abandoning DawnStar, because you're my home, but some things needed to be done on this side, and I volunteered. Plus, Kaden is coming here tonight, because I'm not just cutting him out, and I will be coming home the second I get this deal done, but I can't get this stubborn wolf to sell."

Jasper's ears perk up at an opportunity to get me home, and I can see that he's having one of his many ideas. Before I can ask him what the hell he's up to, he grabs the post it note I'd been writing on and punches the number into my cord phone thats sitting ascew on my desk. I watch as his face lights up in recognition at the sound of Old Man Anderson's voice, and a smirk settles onto his face.

"Hey, Anderson. How's your family doing? Oh brilliant, you'll have to let me meet him to see if he's good enough for her. Yes, anyways unfortunately it's a business call. Yes, I've heard you don't want to sell, but I know how much your mate wants to move to Florida to see her fmaily. Yes, I can get you there. Oh Alpha Lattimore has the release papers right here, she was just about to sign them at my request. I believe that sounds like a very reasonable offer, I'll pass it on. Thank you Anderson I'll be round soon to meet your family. Okay, thank you, bye."

I quickly snap my jaw shut when he puts the phone down, a knowing grin on his face. I roll my eyes at his boyish antics before pulling a binder from my bottom desk drawer full of release forms. If I'd have known that his wife wanted to leave the pack then this negotiation would have been over a long time ago. "Give me ten minutes to sign these forms and buy them plane tickets, and I'll meet you at the La Luna cafe for lunch."

Jasper can barely contain the smug look in his eyes, but a warning glance from me has him straightening up and grabbing the take out boxes from the floor. "I'll see you in ten."

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After an agonisingly long day I can finally collapse on the sofa. After lunch with Jasper I returned back up to my office and neatened the place up, removing all of the dirty mugs and half eaten take out boxes. I even opened the curtains for the first time in a week, allowing light to shine in over the dim office I've been calling home. I realise now how off the radar I became over the last week, how similarly I've spent my time like my father, holed up from sunridse to sundown working to better the pack. It almost makes me smile, the corners of my lips tugging upwards for a split second before falling again with exhaustion.

Kaden hasn't turned up yet, two hours after he was supposed to, and it's getting to the point where I'm too tired to wait up for him to see if he shows. Because I couldn't be bothered to cook, I ordered pizza to arrive ten minutes after Kaden was supposed to get here, but because he's still a no show his meat feast has long since gone cold.

My eyelids are now closing on their own accord, and I can barely open them up before they fall again. My body aches to be wrapped up in my duvet upstairs, my face buried in my pillows, but my stupid loyalty to my mate means that I'm sat here falling asleep on my mother's old chesterfield with an ache to see him sitting deep in my chest.

I hear the front door open quietly, my heightened sense picking up on the soft clicking of the latch, and the twist of the key in the door. I can smell my mate, the strong scent of pinewood, earth and man that follows him around like a cloud, and I find myself smiling even though I can't see him. I can hear the heels of his shoes clicking against the wooden floor of the atrium outside of the living room, and I can feel his presence leaning on the doorframe when the clicking stops.

"Lola, why are you still awake." I hear his deep baritone from across the room, the soft thudding of his feet on the carpet, followed by the dipping in the sofa beside me. I feel his arm wrap around my shoulder, pulling my head onto his warm chest, his nose breathing warm air against my cheek. "You're exhausted."

I open my eyes to see my mate in all of the glory, sitting beside me on the sofa with a soft look on his face. He looks like he's come straight from a meeting, with his hair slicked back, suit well fitting and tight, his cufflinks glinting in the light from the hall. The only small detail that's off is that his top button isn't done, his tie slightly off straight, and there is a small dusting of stubble on the bottom of his chin that he's missed whilst shaving this morning.

"I wanted to wait until you got in." I yawn, letting him wrap his arms around me and pull me onto his lap. I curl up in a ball and let myself get comfortable breathing in his scent, and feel his heart beating against my ear. "That way I could lock up because you don't have a key."

His chuckles vibrates through my body, and I feel his lips against my hair. "Oh you silly lilttle wolf, of course I have a key. I have a copy of every key you have, including the key to your diary upstairs under you pill..."

"Shut up." I laugh, swatting him hard on the chest with my hand before standing up from my seat on the couch. Kaden's presence has woken me up, giving me a new lease of life, however temporary. "Now, I did buy us take out to enjoy, but you're two hours late so I'll settle on you running me a bath and helping me out of these clothes."

I look into Kaden's steely gaze, and watch as the corners of his usually straight lips tug up into his signature smile. "Your eyes still haven't gone back to normal." I watch as he lifts his hands and traces the skin around my eye with the pads of his thumbs. "I think that lilac suits you more than brown."

"Are you going to carry me upstairs," I grin, running my hands through his hair until it's messy and sticks up in all directions. He growls and tries to smoothe down his hair using the gel that's in his hair. I chuckle at him and kiss him quickly on the cheek. "or are you going to make me beg you."

Kaden's grin becomes animalistic, and his eyes darken into black pits as he grabs me bridal style and drags me up the stairs.

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"How did negotiations go?" Kaden asks, his fingers tracing patterns across my bare skin. The sheets are bunched up around my waist, and my feet are tangled with my mates underneath. My head is propped on my pillow so that I'm facing him, and even in the dark midnight with barely anything illuminating his face, he still looks better than anything I've ever seen. "I know that you were struggling to settle on a figure."

"Jasper helped out with that one." I laugh, tracing my mate's face with the tips of my fingertips. His jaw is sharp, his stubble biting against my skin. His lips are soft, full and familiar. "Turns out Jasper knew Anderson and was willing to tell him what he really wanted."

"You know, people are really starting to miss you back at DawnStar." He mumbles, his hand drawing patterns up my spine until it's buried in my hair. He tugs on it slightly, causing my head to rear backwards, and I laugh, hitting him softly against his chest. "I don't want to rush you, but when are you coming home?"

I sigh through my nose, moving my body so that I'm pressed to his bare chest, letting his arms wrap round me like a shield. His scent invades my nostrils, calms and relaxes my muscles until I feel completely and utterly safe. He kisses me softly on my cheek, then my nose, and my chin, followed by my lips.

"I think I'll come home with you." I say into his kiss, a smile against my lips. I let my hands cup his cheeks and pull his face away so I can look into his eyes, that are almost white. "When are we leaving."

He grins, flashing his straight white smile. "How about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow sounds great."

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RIGHT GUYS I AM SO SORRY THAT I HAVE BEEN AWOL OVER THE LAST MONTH. I HAVE HAD A LONG THINK ABOUT WHICH DIRECTION THIS BOOK IS HEADING AND I THINK I'VE FINALLY  WORKED OUT WHERE I AM GOING.

I've got myself sorted out, and whilst updates still won't be regular, you can expect a lot more than one update a month. This chapter is shit, I know that, but I promise that it will pick up once we get back into the swing of things things will heat up.

AnYwAyS, please comment what you want to happen in the upcoming chapters, what you like/dislike, and I'll see if I can make some things happen. I love every one of you that has stuck with me, even when I disappear like Houdini on occasion.

Lots of love guys,

Lauryn xoxo