Day Four

ADARA

I woke in the morning frozen in place as I realized I was so warm and cozy because Ryder was cuddled up next to me, his arm around my waist.

I lay there, trying to find a way to get up, but every time I tried it would make him shift in his sleep. I slowly rolled over so that I was facing him. I looked up at his face to see he was wide awake.

“I . . . You . . .” I stuttered.

Ryder laughed. “It was entertaining watching you struggle.”

I punched him. “You’re the worst.”

He closed his eyes and cuddled up closer. “Am I though?”

I glared at him. “Yes. One hundred percent, the worst.”

He looked up at me with fake sadness. “Ouch.”

“I was trying so hard to find a way to get up without waking you, and you were awake the whole time. You’re not allowed in the bed anymore,” I teased.

Ryder chuckled. “It’s too late for that now. There’s no getting rid of me.”

He wrapped his arm tighter around me, pulling me close. He shoved his face in my hair as I playfully struggled to get out of his grasp.

“Where are you going?” he whispered.

I huffed as I tried to pry his arm off. “Away from you.”

“But who will keep you warm?” he smirked.

I pushed the covers off, immediately regretting my decision. I pulled them back up and cuddled close to him. “Why is it so coooold?”

Ryder gave me a smug grin.

“It’s the end of summer, the nights and mornings are going to start having a chill. We need to finish up the house so you don’t freeze to death, since I’m not allowed in bed anymore.”

I looked up at him with teasing eyes. “I MIGHT let you stay in the bed, if you ask nicely.”

Ryder growled before climbing out of bed. “Breakfast?”

I frowned, a little hurt that he had ended our game and obviously didn’t like my teasing.

“Yeah, sure . . . breakfast,” I replied softly, before climbing out of bed and walking to the bathroom.

I showered quickly and got dressed for the day of work ahead of me. Ryder had finished breakfast just as I walked out of the bathroom.

“We need to head over early this morning, the roofers are supposed to get there at seven.”

I nodded silently, still bothered that he had shut me down like that.

“Adara?”

I looked up to see him waiting for a response. “Yeah, that’s fine. Do you want help with the front of the house or do you want me to finish up the apartment?”

Ryder shrugged. “How much is left?”

“Just a bit of painting left and then I need to give the floors and bathrooms a good cleaning.”

Ryder nodded. “Well, why don’t you finish with the apartment and then you can help me when you’re done.”

“Sounds good,” I replied, before going back to eating my breakfast in silence.

I could feel Ryder’s eyes on me. He could tell something was bothering me, but I wasn’t about to talk about it.

We made our way to the pack house and I walked inside to finish up the apartment while Ryder worked on the front of the house as he waited for the roofers.

At some point they had arrived and I could hear them working above me.

“Adara?”

“In here!” I hollered from the bathroom of the master suite.

“How is it going?” Ryder asked, leaning against the doorway.

“Good, almost done,” I replied, sitting up and wiping some stray hairs away from my face.

“Well, I finished up the front of the house, so what do you want me to do?” he said, looking around the room.

“What? It couldn’t have been that long...” I looked at my watch, realizing it had been a few hours. “Oh. Well, I guess if you want to finish the living area, it needs to be cleaned.”

Ryder nodded before walking out of the room. I huffed—something had changed since this morning.

At the end of the day, we had a new roof and the Alpha apartment was all cleaned up. I stood in the doorway, proud of what we had done.

In the last few days I had given the apartment a new coat of paint, cleaned the floors, walls, tables, counters, and anything else that had collected dust and dirt.

I washed bedding and furniture and set everything up nicely. It looked better than new.

“It looks great, Adara,” Ryder said as he looked over the apartment. “Ready to move everything over?”

I nodded. “Yep.”

We packed up the cabin and stacked all of the boxes in the back of my truck that my mom had kindly brought by a few days ago. We drove back down to the pack house and unloaded our things.

I let out a deep breath as we sat on the couch in the apartment, happy in our new home.

“It’s gotten pretty late. How about some sandwiches for dinner?” I asked Ryder as I got up from the couch and walked to the little kitchen in the apartment.

“That’s fine by me,” he replied, closing his eyes as he rested his head on the back of the couch.

A few minutes later, I handed him a plate with a sandwich and chips on it before sitting back down with my own.

“Are you doing okay?” I asked, wondering how he was feeling being back in this house.

Ryder shrugged. “Fine, why?”

I looked down. “Well it’s your first night back in this house...”

Ryder took a deep breath. “It’s fine.”

I knew he wasn’t fine, but I wasn’t going to press it. I stood up from the couch, not finishing my food. “Well, I’m exhausted. I’m heading to bed.”

“Okay, goodnight,” Ryder replied, as I walked down the hall to the room, a little bothered he wasn’t coming with me.

I was jostled awake a while later as he climbed into bed, making sure to keep his distance. I tried not to notice but it was hard not to.

~Why is he being so weird,~ I thought to myself.

~It’s the house. Give him some time, maybe he’ll be better in the morning,~ my wolf whispered.

~Or maybe he’s changed his mind and doesn’t want us anymore...~ I replied, before drifting back to sleep.