Chapter 39

Pip showered, and while he looked around Krey's bathroom, he thought hard about what he was doing with his life.

Pip had known Krey for almost three weeks, and now he had moved into Krey's home. This is different, he reminded himself. Krey is a werewolf and we have this... this...

Pip didn't know what to call their connection. He still didn't really understand what it meant to be Krey's mate because he didn't feel any different.

I feel a little ill, actually. Pip thought his lack of energy was because of his exhaustion. Washing his hair was a lot of effort.

The steam in the bathroom helped unblock his sinuses, but the water beating down on his head didn't help his headache.

The cold air in Krey's room wafted into the bathroom when Pip opened the door. Krey look up from the couch, but Pip saw his deep frown before he stared intensely. "Do, um, do werewolves sleep the same as humans?" Pip asked, putting his clothes with his bags. He felt Krey's eyes following him through the room.

"Yes, though we can handle a few more sleepless nights than humans."

Pip knew he still had lots to learn about Krey and how he lived like someone with a raging animal inside him. Quite literary, Pip thought and smiled to himself.

"What's so entertaining?" Krey's deep voice pushed through Pip's chest like a drill, vibrating him to his core.

Pip looked up to those deep brown eyes. "J-Just the thought of you with an actual wolf inside of you."

"Are you getting used to that yet?"

"I'm not sure." Pip hovered near the bed, still too awkward to flop onto the duvet. "I think it depends on my reaction when I next see your wolf."

"When do you want to see it again?" Krey asked. During Pip's shower, he had texted Sid about Pip and to tell the wolves not to panic about smelling a human. Sid hadn't yet replied. Krey also received a text from Francis and he hadn't yet opened it. She was somewhere in the institute. Krey thought it was best to talk face to face, if he wanted to resolve things.

"I don't know." Pip wore a green long-sleeved t-shirt and green patterned pyjama bottoms. He pulled the sleeves over his hands. Krey's room was very cold, but Pip was too shy to ask if they ever put the heating on. He eyed the duvet and shuffled closer to the bed.

Krey not only saw his anxiousness, he felt it. "Get into bed," he said, "and I'll turn off the light."

Pip climbed onto Krey's thick duvet, a little guilty that Krey had to squeeze himself onto the couch, but Pip would sleep a lot easier if he wasn't hyper aware that Krey was next to him.

Pip slid under the duvet, immediately comfortable, and surrounded by the smell of Krey. Pip couldn't describe the smell, but he liked the way it was familiar like he had smelt it for years.

He pulled the duvet up to his chin and Krey turned to look at him with his finger hovered over the light switch. Pip stared back, and as the light turned off, Pip could have sworn he saw Krey's lips curl towards a smile before the room was engulfed with darkness.

He listened to Krey's footsteps moving through the room and towards the couch. When Krey settled, Pip asked, "Can you see better in the dark because you're a werewolf?"

"Yes."

Krey's deep voice coming from the darkness was oddly alluring. Pip sank further under the duvet until only his nose and above was visible.

Pip blinked in the darkness, and soon, outlines formed of the unfamiliar room. He hoped that when he woke up, his mind would feel a little less busy, and he would feel a little less awkward.

Krey, with a cushion propped up against the armrest and his legs curled to avoid hanging over the side, watched his bed with a thumping heart. Pip's scent had made its way around his room. Pip had used his own soap in the shower and that seeped from the bathroom too. Krey couldn't be more thrilled and knew sleep would be hard to reach.

* * * * *

Krey had woken up every time he tried to move on the couch. He would have slept better if he was in his wolf form. Even sleeping on the floor would have been more comfortable.

Every time Krey woke, his attention darted to the bed, smelling his mate and hearing his soft breathing. Krey would get excited and take a while to fall back to sleep.

When dawn arrived, Krey sat up and his eyes fell on the mop of brown wavy hair poking out from the top of his duvet. Pip was curled in the middle of the bed and buried deep under the covers. His breathing was slow, and his heart drummed steadily.

Krey stretched and his wolf stirred within. He ached to taste the fresh morning air, and to smell the earth and to feel the cold mud under his paws.

Instead, Krey sat on the couch until the sun rose higher.

Krey soon got tired of sitting and tiptoed around his room, getting dressed and ready for the day. Krey would have to organise a morning meeting to announce Pip as his mate, and Pip had to be there.

When he was dressed in his all-black attire, Krey stood by the bed, wondering how to wake his sleeping Mate. Krey would love to let Pip sleep in, but he felt the restlessness of the wolves in the institute. Krey knew most of the pack would be in the canteen eating breakfast, and Pip's scent would be the main topic.

Carefully, Krey sat on the side of the bed and leaned closer. He gently tapped the lump that was Pip until the lump stirred.

"Morning," he said when Pip's head emerged from the duvet. Half-closed blue eyes started back, confused.

For a moment, Pip looked like he had forgotten where he was, until he mumbled, "Morning."

Krey's heart was a hot gooey mess in his chest. Pip's wavy hair stuck up in every direction. His cheeks were pink. Pip was like a dozy puppy waking up from a deep nap. "Did you sleep well?" Krey asked.

Pip nodded and yawned. "Did you?"

"Yes," Krey lied, so Pip wouldn't feel bad. Krey hoped he would only be sleeping on the couch for a few more nights. "I'm waking you up because I have to speak to my pack about you and it's best that you're there when I do. You don't have to speak or anything, but it's best that they get used to seeing your face around."

Pip understood, but the thought of having unfamiliar faces looking at him wasn't kind on his nerves. "So, everyone in here is a werewolf?"

Krey nodded.

"And I'm the only human?"

"I know that's daunting." Krey felt very singled out in Crescent Town, even when humans didn't know he was different. "But everyone in here will give you the respect they give to me. If they don't, they can find somewhere else to live."

Darkness formed in Krey's eyes, and Pip couldn't help but ask, "I-Is this, um, protectiveness thing a werewolf thing?"

"We are very possessive. I'm trying to hold it back as much as I can."

Pip rubbed his eyes, starting to feel more awake. The air above the duvet was very cold. Pip wondered if they ever turned the heating on because he had been very cold during the night. "I appreciate you holding it back," Pip said quietly, "but you should be yourself. I-I should get used to your werewolf traits."

Krey tilted his head at his small human mate wrapped in his duvet, with round blue eyes twinkling in the morning sun. Pip was a very accepting person, and wanted to see everybody's true self, even Krey's, despite how horrible he could be sometimes.

"Come on then," Krey said and stood up. "The sooner I tell everyone about you, the better."

Krey sat at his desk as Pip rummaged through his bag for clothes, then went to the bathroom to get ready.

Krey had hoped that his mother would come back to his room to see Pip, but she didn't. Krey wasn't sure if she would truly accept Pip. If she didn't, Krey wasn't sure how he would handle a rejection.

When Pip was ready, he left the bathroom biting his lip and fiddling with the ends of his sleeves. Krey didn't have to look at him to know he was nervous. He felt Pip's nerves and could smell them.

"Don't worry," Krey said. "I'll keep the meeting short and I'll do the talking."

Pip nodded and pursed his mouth to stop himself from chewing right through his lip.

Krey, as he always did, stormed to his bedroom door, reassuring Pip again that everything would be fine, and he would settle in soon enough.

Krey was looking at Pip as he flung his door open and stepped into the corridor, almost crashing into Francis.