She started off leaning back into me, but the longer she’s slept, the more she’s curled into me. Shifting her body around in her sleep, she’s now sitting sideways in my lap with her head on my shoulder and her face in the crook of my neck. Every so often, she nuzzles closer to me, and any time I move one of my arms off of her for a moment, she whimpers. It’s one of the most adorable things I’ve seen.
Goosebumps keep traveling down my arms with her soft breath blowing on my neck. I’ve been trying not to take advantage of the situation, but my will to resist snuggling back into her is waning. I hope she gets the same comfort from me that I feel from holding her. I’m getting drowsy, and my whole body has relaxed with her warmth soaking into me.
The cushion underneath me shifts, and I open my eyes, realizing I didn’t notice them closing. Alex has taken the seat next to us, and is creeping closer by the second. He lays his head on my other shoulder and stares at the precious girl in my arms. “Boundaries, Alex, back off.” I itch to shove him off, but I don’t want to wake her up with the movement.
Alex huffs a sigh but doesn’t move right away. He blows out a second sigh, aiming the air right into her face. Irritation frays at my nerves. “Dude! I’m not going to say it again. Do you really think she’ll appreciate you waking her up?” I swear Alex has become so annoying when it comes to our girl. His desperation is so not attractive.
Thankfully, Klaus walks in and immediately gives Alex a glare that could compete with Marcus. Not giving him a chance to fuck around, Klaus comes over and grabs Alex by his collar and drags him to the large single recliner on the other side of the coffee table, before he comes back over and takes the vacant seat next to me.
Unlike Alex, Klaus doesn’t invade my space. We can hear Marcus enter the house and make his way to his room, presumably to take a shower. I hope Klaus was able to settle his frantic thoughts. “How did your talk go?” I inquire in a low voice.
“I hope I was able to help him out. It was a bit one-sided, but I was able to tap into that telepathy skill without touching her. So maybe you guys were wrong about your assumptions. Anyway, as soon as Marcus comes back in here, we should talk about what we’re going to do about the Summit.” Damn, I forgot all about it.
He’s right; we really should talk about what to do about the Summit. I don’t feel comfortable leaving Princess here by herself, and I’m pretty sure the rest of the guys will agree with me. I’m distracted from my thoughts when she reaches over for Klaus with one hand. She places her hand on his chest and he immediately covers it with his own. She lets out a contented sigh and her cheeks form a smile that brushes against my neck, and I know it’s there even if I can’t see it right now.
“What! She didn’t do that to me,” Alex whines in dismay. I don’t need to peek at him to see the disappointment and jealousy on his face. We all watch as she fists her hand into Klaus’ shirt and pulls him a little closer to us. I swear she’s so adorable when sleeping. Klaus glances at me, to see if I’m okay with him sitting squished up to my side. If she wants him near, I won’t say no.
Klaus moves over until our girl stops pulling on him to get closer, which means there is zero space between us. Once he’s settled in, she moves her legs to drape them over his lap. Klaus places a hand on one of her ankles and she lets out another sound of happiness.
“I thought you wanted to talk about the Summit,” Alex says from across the room, folding his arms over his chest. Poor guy is super salty right now.
Klaus gives a grunt before answering him, “No sense in starting without Marcus, you know he likes the final say in strategic plans.” His voice changes to mock Marcus. “Safety is a priority, a threat can always be lurking around the corner.”
I feel movement in my lap again, and see my sweet cuddling bundle is scooting over onto Klaus’ lap. With how much she moves around in her sleep, we should keep an eye out to make sure she doesn’t sleepwalk in the middle of the night. I remove my arm from being wrapped around her so she can get comfortable on his lap, and once she’s snuggled into his chest, I take my other hand off of her back where it was resting.
The moment I’m no longer touching her, she whimpers, annoyed. She’s too cute for her own good. I place my hand on her back once again, and her body seems to relax even further. If she keeps this up, I may have to draw the line at sharing a bed with Klaus tonight.
“I don’t get it. It’s like from the moment she woke up, she’s tried to stay away from me but she latches onto you, and then the moment Klaus comes up, she’s all over him too. What did I do to make her cringe away from me?” I guess Alex has a point, but I’m willing to bet the answer is a lot deeper than he thinks.
“Maybe she thinks you stink. Have you even showered yet or have you been hovering too much?” Klaus teases him.
Alex throws him a narrowed glare. “Har har, very funny.” He leans back in his seat, places his elbow on the back, and subtly tries to take a sniff of his pit. Paranoia settled, he scowls at Klaus.
“It’s probably because she knows he kissed her without her permission.” We hear from the doorway. Marcus walks into the room, his chest dripping water from his shower, and pulls on a black t-shirt. He takes the seat farthest from us, trying to avoid a repeat of her waking and screaming in his face. “She looks so peaceful. I didn’t imagine her waking up, did I?”
I can’t blame him for making sure. I would prefer her reaction to be something that occurred in a nightmare too, against the alternative of not having woken up. She chooses this moment to slide her hand from Klaus’ chest up to his neck, placing it on his clavicle in the space of skin he’s showing just above his V-cut t-shirt.
“I won't lie, I’m struggling with things right now.” Marcus leans forward and places his elbows on his knees and folds his hands together. “I know I said I’m fine with sharing her, which I am, don't get me wrong, but her reaction toward me and now seeing her holding onto you guys like that... it hurts.”
“Sorry, man. I know it sucks. I wish I could say that I’ll put some distance between us for now, but my priority is what’s best for her. I think her need to be close to us is just that, a NEED. It feels like it’s much deeper than just an emotional comfort. I can’t quite describe it... I swear it felt like she was absorbing my energy. Because now that she’s on Klaus’ lap, I feel like the exhaustion consuming me has passed.” Klaus gazes up at me with shock reflecting on his face, like he’s just realizing how tired he is now that I pointed it out.
Marcus nods his head in agreement at my response. “I can’t let anyone take her away from me again,” he whispers. More like he’s talking to himself than to us.
“Again? Do you know her? Have you been holding out information on us?” Alex throws at him, shock and accusation lacing his words.
Marcus seems a little shocked himself at both what he’s said and Alex’s response. “No, of course not. I’ve never seen her before we rescued her.” He seems to contemplate why he used the words he did. “I feel like she completes a piece of me that has been missing. A piece I had no control over losing, and the ache that was there before felt like it had violent ties. I just... that woman is my everything. I haven’t spoken one word to her, well, at least not while she was awake, but I know in my soul I belong to her and she belongs to me... to us.”
We all think about what he’s said. I can’t help but verify one more time, “Marcus, are you sure you’ve never met her before?”
Marcus absentmindedly rubs at his left forearm. “Absolutely positive. There’s no way I would forget meeting her, not with the way I feel about her. I know she’s my mate. I know it with more certainty than I’ve ever believed anything else.” The conviction in his voice leaves nothing to argue with. “I don’t know why I phrased it the way I did, but it feels completely true. Somehow, she was taken away from me, and I know I can’t survive it again. It makes sense seeing as how I lost the ability to experience emotions, but they suddenly returned as soon as I saw her. Maybe sheisthe lost Queen from Derrick’s story.”
“Now, now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here!” Klaus is quick to jump in. He’s so full of denial these days. It seems like the rest of us believe she could be something more than just a human. Although, I still haven’t been able to detect anything indicating she isn’t human. Quite the puzzle, our girl is.
“You know maybe it would be a good idea to hide our shifter side from her. We don’t know what her reaction will be when she does find out. I’m sure if she comes to know about what we are, she’ll say something about it. And if not, we may save ourselves a hysterical reaction.” Alex gives a shrug to go along with his statement.
“Yeah, I’m going to have to agree with that. I’m not sure I’m prepared to watch her freak out over finding out about shifters for the first time.” Klaus is quick to agree.
“Enough talk about my feelings, and how we’ll keep secrets from my mate. The Summit is coming up. We need to make plans.” Well, it seems Marcus has shaken off what happened earlier and is more himself now, thank the Fates for small mercies.
