18

I was surprised to find out that Milo actually enjoyed getting his hair combed. After our mini wars whenever it came to bath time, I was prepared to have to fight him with the comb as well; however, he proved me wrong. Rather than being afraid of it, he was curious. I helped him run the comb through my own hair at first before taking it and doing the same to his and it was like love at first sight.

The normally rambunctious omega sat calmly as I worked through detangling his hair. My goal was to get it as detangled as possible before I took him to get it cut. His eyes followed my movements with curiosity and once I was done, his fingers repeatedly ran through his dark hair in fascination.

Getting him to wear clothes was a different story entirely.

My small mate kicked, punched, bit—anything in his power to try and break free. It was almost as if he were possessed. It was a lot of back and forth between him and me. I could get his arm into the sleeve of his shirt one minute and then the next he could have it right back out. Pants and underwear were equally as bad, but after a while, I managed to get him dressed.

"You look cute," I told Milo as I took a seat.

The expression on his face was almost comical. "No."

"Yes," I argued.

"No."

I sighed. "Next time I'll be sure to take you to the store personally so you can pick out your own clothes."

Whether he understood it or not, Milo ignored what I said and used the wall to slowly make his way out of the bathroom. My brows furrowed and I walked behind him, trying to figure out where he was headed. He made his way out of the room and glanced back before leaning on me and taking little steps toward the couch. He took a seat and his hands immediately moved toward the remote. I rolled my eyes and rested my hand on his head, running my fingers through his hair.

"Stay here while I get ready to go, okay?" I said, but Milo's eyes were already focused on the TV.

I made my way back to the bathroom and quickly hopped into the shower. It'd be a lie if I said I wasn't excited to take Milo out. I was excited to show him around the pack. If our last outing had told me anything, it was that he was extremely curious. I wanted to feed that curiosity and show him all the places I loved.

I finished showering, and quickly got dressed before heading back out to the living room where Milo was sitting.

"Are you ready to go?" I asked with a smile on my face.

Milo's gaze flickered between me and the TV multiple times, and I halfway expecting him to say no but to my surprise, he looked at me with an excited expression and said yes. I helped him off the couch and carefully made my way from the front door to the car so that I could help him get inside. Once I made sure he was seated, I got inside myself. Milo's eyes darted around with curiosity shining inside. A small smile formed on my face as I started the short drive to the barbershop.

"Are you excited?" I asked Milo, occasionally glancing over at him.

Milo nodded wordlessly and my smile grew.  The drive to the barbershop didn't take that long. I quickly parked the car and unhooked my seatbelt before moving to Milo's side to do the same. I helped him out of the car and we carefully made our way inside. The doorbell rang slightly scaring Milo, but I calmed him down. Mr. Nicholas, the barber, glanced over at us with a big smile on his face.

"Alpha Slater!" He called out. "I wasn't expecting to see you here. Can't say I'm not glad though. What do I owe the visit? Here for one of my famous haircuts?"

I smiled at the greeting as a child. My parents would always take Solomon, and me to see Mr. Nicholas when we needed a haircut. I had known the man since I was a child—before I could even talk. He was like a second father to me and I wouldn't trust anybody more than him to cut my Milo's hair.

"I'm glad to see you too, but I'm not here for me," I responded. "I'm sure you've heard that I've met my mate recently. This is Milo. We're here to get him a haircut and I knew you'd be perfect for the job."

Mr. Nicholas' eyes trailed to Milo, and he smiled at him. I was used to seeing Mr. Nicholas smile with warmth, but Milo clearly didn't get the same impression. The moment he saw Mr. Nicholas' toothy grin, his face immediately scrunched up into one of distrust. His eyes immediately snapped back to mine.

"Leave," he demanded.

"We just got here," I said as he attempted to move me in the direction of the door. "Come on. I promise your Mr. Nicholas is really nice. Just try it and if you still want to leave then we can, okay?"

Milo glanced at Mr. Nicholas and then at me. He repeated this motion a few more times before sighing softly and nodding. Mr. Nicholas watched us with amusement on his face as I helped Milo toward the chair.

"What type of haircut are we getting today?"

I hesitated to answer the question. I wasn't sure if Milo wanted to keep his long hair or not and given just how opinionated he was, I didn't want to make the wrong decision. I glanced around, grabbed one of the magazines sitting around, and moved toward my mate.

"Milo, do you want one of these haircuts?" I asked as I flipped through the magazine and showed him the different styles.

Milo stayed quiet as I showed him, but once we reached the end of the magazine, his face scrunched up and he said, "No."

Mr. Nicholas snorted and handed me another magazine, so I repeated the same process. It was almost as if Milo was a toddler who'd just entered the "no" phase. Everything I showed him, he rejected without a second thought. When I asked what was wrong with the styles, he stared at me before shaking his head as if to say, "You wouldn't understand."

"Milo, come on. I know you don't want to spend all day sitting in here," I said after we'd finished going through the fourth magazine.

He simply ignored this and took the fifth one from Mr. Nicholas' hands. I watched as he examined each page before flipping to the next and repeating the process once again. I took a seat in a chair of my own. Part of me started to believe that he wouldn't end up getting a haircut at all. That is until I heard the sound of his voice as he pointed to a haircut.

"This," he said confidently and I took the magazine from his hands to see.

I blinked a few times as I stared down at it. The haircut looked barely any different than how his hair was now—at least, to my eyes it did. The only real difference I could spot was that it was shorter. The style could've definitely been achieved at home without having to come to the shop, but as I stared at the proud expression on his face, I couldn't resist nodding along.

"Give it to him," I told Mr. Nicholas and handed the magazine to him.

Mr. Nicholas took one glance at it and snorted. "You've got your hands full with this one, don't you?"

"You have no idea," I responded honestly. But I wouldn't change him one bit.

"Let's get started," Mr. Nicholas said as he grabbed a pair of scissors.

Seeing this, Milo's eyes widened like a cartoon character's and he looked back at me as he attempted to get out of the chair.

"No!"

I quickly closed the small gap between us before he could hurt himself.

"Calm down," I said softly. "Mr. Nicholas isn't going to hurt you, I promise." Milo stared at me disbelievingly so I moved and intertwined our hands. "I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

Milo nodded slowly and I glanced back at Mr. Nicholas, letting him know it was okay to get started.

I sat there talking to Milo as a way to distract him while also watching as the white floor was concealed by the dark hairs falling from Milo's head. Though the haircut was a small one, you wouldn't be able to tell by staring at the floor alone. It surprised me just how much hair he was losing, but it all proved to be worth it in the end when I saw the large, toothy grin on his face as he stared at himself in the mirror.

"Do you like it?" I asked though the answer was clear as day. Milo nodded repeatedly and I laughed to myself as I helped him out of the chair and turned to pay Mr. Nicholas.

I held out the cash, but he shook his head. "Don't worry about it. This one's on me."

I frowned. "Are you sure?"

Mr. Nicholas' eyes drifted toward Milo and he nodded. "That's quite the interesting mate you've got there."

I could tell by the smile on his face that he meant it as a good thing so I nodded as well. "He is interesting, but that's why I like him so much."

...

After Milo and I left the barbershop, I decided to stop and get something to eat. I knew that if there was one thing Milo loved it was his food.

That was how I ended up sitting at a table, watching as my mate gobbled down an array of different foods with a newfound fascination for them. Everything he ate, he examined with a curious look on his face before trying it. Watching him was amusing. Milo was an extremely expressive person and it showed in most of his actions. It was easy for me to tell what he did and didn't like from his facial expressions alone.

After Milo had finished eating, I paid for his food and the two of us left the restaurant. His brown eyes shot around the pack lands and I smiled softly.

"Come on," I encouraged Milo.

As we walked, more pack members started to move around. I made sure to keep enough distance between them so that Milo wouldn't freak out, but he seemed to be more curious than anything. There was still some caution in his eyes but it wasn't strong in comparison to the first day I'd met him.

While I watched him, I couldn't help but grin. I knew that being with Alfie McClain for so long meant that he didn't have many, if any, friends. I hoped that while he was in the pack he'd be able to make some. I hoped the same for the other rescues as well. I'd talked to Alpha Emerson and he had told me that the rescues we'd sent to his pack were thriving which made me feel good inside. It gave me hope that the others would too.

We walked around for a little while longer, occasionally stopping to take a seat so that Milo could rest his legs. Seeing how well he was adjusting to the pack made me happy.

By the time we made it back to the house, Milo looked tired. I sat him on the couch and went to grab a pair of the new pajamas we'd gotten for him, but when I returned, he was curled up and fast asleep on the couch.

I grabbed a blanket and covered him before heading back to the room. I took a seat in a chair that was placed in the corner of the room and stared up at the ceiling. Today was a good day—a great day, even.

"Alpha Slater," One of the warriors linked me. "There's a couple here to see you."

A couple? My brows immediately furrowed.

"Who are they?" I questioned as I stood from my spot.

There was a brief moment of silence on the other end. "They're claiming to be one of the rescue's parents."

"Whose parents?"

"Milo. They're claiming to be Milo's parents."

Everything around me seemed to freeze. My eyes drifted back toward the living room and I stared at the sleeping omega. His parents were here? How did they find him? Were they really his parents? Questions swarmed my mind and I needed answers to them, so I quickly linked Stellan to come sit with Milo before replying to the warriors.

"I'm on the way."

...

We didn't really receive visitors at the southern border. The vast majority of land in that direction was unclaimed. The majority of the wolves we spotted in that direction were rogues which was why I was surprised to learn that was where Milo's parents were.

When I reached the border, the warriors stood there with a couple in front of them. I took one look at the two and I could immediately see the resemblance between them and my mate. The woman specifically looked like Milo. She had the same facial structure and dark brown eyes as him—eyes that were currently filled with tears.

Her head snapped up at the sound of my footsteps and I could hear a quiet gasp leave her mouth.

"You're the alpha of these lands right?" The woman immediately asked.

I nodded carefully. "I am."

"We were told that you have our son here. Milo?"

"Can I ask how you got that information?" I asked her.

"A man reached out to us saying that he had found our son. Solomon, I believe his name was," the previously quiet man explained.

My jaw immediately clenched, but I forced the anger off my face. I'd deal with him later.

"Is he here? Is our son here?" The woman asked me. I hesitated to answer, but as I watched the tears fall down her face, I couldn't help but feel bad.

The picture of the grinning omega entered my mind and I sighed.

"He is here," I replied.

"Can we—can we see him?" She asked.

On one hand, I was worried I was making a mistake, but on the other, I didn't want to be the thing that kept Milo away from his family. If there was a chance that there were more people in the world who loved my mate then I wanted him to experience it. I wanted to give him the world.

So, I took a deep breath and nodded. "You may see him."

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