Domesticity

EVERETT

“Where the fuck have you been? It’s been hours since you left to get her. Did you fucking kill her?” Lucius questions, looking at the sleeping little girl in my arms.

“I took her to get some food, and she fell asleep in the car. We’re going to bed now,” I declare, heading up the Aurora-proofed stairs.

Everything is cushioned now. I wish I could just tape cushions all around her so if she does fall, it doesn’t hurt. And cushioning her is easier than cushioning everything around her.

“Alpha,” Lucius calls out. “I found out what pack she belongs to. Ace fucking knew. Red Moon. Alpha Nick and Luna Victoria. They’re apparently the ones who tried to kill her.”

“Apparently?” I growl a little. He doesn’t believe my mate? She was covered in her own blood when I found her. Her beautiful exhausted clumsy self.

It’s been a couple of weeks since I blew up at her for Eddie and that kid who put his fucking hand on her. And she yelled at me like the strong Luna she is.

I plan to mark her. I plan to be with her for the rest of our lives. But she needs to be ready, and I want her to love me. Because I love her. I know I do. But I don’t want to scare her by saying it just yet.

“Night,” Lucius concludes, rolling his eyes at my protectiveness of her and closing his door.

I open my door and roll back the covers for my little mate. But she nuzzles her face into my chest and makes cute little mutterings, wriggling around adorably.

And all I can do is stare. She’s so beautiful—goddess-like beauty. And she’s so petite; I can hold her in one arm. And she wants me.

“She’s the most beautiful mate ever,” Chaos hums, sighing in contentment with our mate in our arms.

I place her gently into bed, lifting her over the cushioned barricades on either side of it, and roll in next to her, careful not to wake her. But her eyes flicker open and almost blind me with their luminescent color.

“Hello,” she mutters with a dazed smile.

How could someone ever hurt my little mate? They tried to kill her. I’m going to kill whoever tried. She’s going to have to see those fuckers again eventually, once she becomes Luna of the pack.

Especially if I get roped into this conference. Alpha Nickolas has always been a dick, coming with his father most years and supporting the ~hate on humans~ campaign.

I’ll have to protect Aurora for the entirety of it, the whole week, never leaving her alone. She can’t defend herself, especially against titled wolves, even if they aren’t as powerful as wolves in this pack.

“Hello, little one.” I kiss her sweet soft lips, deepening it as I grab the back of her neck and roll her into me.

These past two weeks, I can’t seem to keep my hands off her. I had no idea putting her back in school would have such a great effect on our relationship.

I just know she loves school and work and learning, and she’s always made sure to keep up with it. And I needed to work for her forgiveness, but she just gave it to me, falsely even though she didn’t know it.

Two weeks ago, when we fought, it showed that we have a connection, a relationship—a passionate one. She’s not afraid to speak up to me anymore, and nowadays, she’s probably the only one.

The only time Lucius says anything against me, it’s to insult my mate, and any time Ace says anything against me, it’s to insult me for my treatment of my mate.

“Is it night? I didn’t think it was that late,” she comments, resting her head on my chest.

Stroking her silky hair, I chuckle lightly as she feels my arm muscles. “You’re very strong,” she whispers dozily. She barely knows what she’s saying when she’s just woken up or we’ve just made out.

“Thank you, little one. I’m glad you think so.”

“I do think so. I think so a lot,” she says, looking up and pecking my lips, her eyes about to close once again.

After I settle her in, I decide to look into her old pack more. They have to pay for what they did, don’t they? Even if she wasn’t my mate, they tried to kill a human—not just a human, but a human who grew up in the pack.

She was a pack member, even if she wasn’t a wolf, and they tried to kill her for no reason. But there are no laws against it.

The council barely gets involved in interpack matters. It’s the Alpha’s job to create order in their pack, and what they say goes. But she’s my mate, so I have justification to bring them to justice. Although, that’s not council law.

“Alpha, what are you doing out so late?” Lily asks, fluttering her lashes at me for some reason.

As far as the hating on Aurora goes, the females are more frustrated that I’m not their mate than by the fact that Aurora is human and they think she won’t make a good Luna.

“Just doing some research and decided to get some fresh air. How are you, Lily?” I ask politely.

“I’m amazing now that I’m talking to you, Alpha. I haven’t seen you about a lot.”

“Well, I have work, and a mate now,” I declare, making sure to emphasize the point that I have a mate.

“Oh, right,” she mutters, tucking her hair behind her ear as she walks with me. She moves to touch my arm but I back off, avoiding her touch.

Aurora can’t touch males or let males touch her; I’m not going to be a hypocrite about my own rule. And I don’t want anyone touching me other than Aurora anyway.

“Sorry, Alpha. Where are you heading now?”

“Back to the pack house, back to bed with Aurora,” I tell her.

I give her a polite smile before walking off back to the pack house. When I slide back into bed with Aurora as I left her, she snuggles up against me, still in a deep sleep, and I just hug her back.

Why does cuddling with her feel so good? I’ve never been a sensitive guy—protective but never sensitive. I don’t generally like cuddling or, fuck, I don’t even know.

I guess no one else is my mate. There’s been no one else I would want to do it with. She’s…everything.

I wake up to Aurora knocking against the cushion and then rolling back onto me from the bounce. I’ve tried to think of everything to Aurora-proof the place.

When I don’t go to bed, I want to know that she won’t wake up falling out of it and injuring herself. A few more bumps to her head and she could have a concussion.

She’s lucky that she’s actually perfectly healthy, the doctor said, which surprised me a lot. Nothing broken, no serious injuries, nothing. Just a few bruises that fade and then get renewed at the next fall that I can’t control.

“You okay?”

“It’s actually fun to hit a cushion in the morning. It’s refreshing,” she says with a giggle, jumping up in the bed and crawling to the end to get off.

She’s small, so it’s a long way from top to the bottom, and she can’t get off if it’s not from the end—which, I’m realizing, might be a disaster in itself, so I grab her by the waist before she can get down, and I lift her off.

The fact that she can be like an excitable little kid does nothing to help her avoid the effects of her critical clumsiness.

“Sleep well, little one?” I ask, kissing her cheek from behind her.

“Yeah.” She looks back at me and narrows her eyes. “What do you want to tell me?”

I sigh and reply, “You’re getting good at reading me. Ace is taking you to school—and picking you up, maybe, if I don’t get back. It’s better than Lucius, isn’t it?”

“Why can’t you take me?”

“I have some errands to run.”

I’m visiting her old pack, with Lucius as my backup. I want to see if they feel guilty for what they did without telling them we have her and she’s my mate.

I want to see who tried to kill my beautiful mate. I’ve met Alpha Nickolas only in passing—his father was much more talkative when he was Alpha, with Nickolas following behind.

We set out early, the drive only an hour away. Aurora made it pretty far on foot in rogue territory and toward mine.

I thank the goddess that we decided to go out hunting that day and got caught farther out than we’d intended, perhaps destined to find Aurora.

By the time we get there, Lucius has thoroughly complained to me about the broken kitchen appliances I actually allow Aurora around, and about the many loud sounds that Aurora causes by accidentally bumping into things.

I’m glad to finally get out of the car and be led to the Alpha.

“Alpha Everett, what a pleasant surprise.”