The water in the tub is half-full. He reaches in, turns the hot water higher. Then climbs in, holding a hand out to me. “Will you stay with me tonight?”
I nod. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
He smiles at that. And while I can still see his demons—I can feel them lingering, below the surface—it’s the first time I wonder if he might be okay.
When we finally make it to bed, and Silas falls into a surprisingly peaceful slumber, I turn, tucking my hands under my head, resting the urge to trace the scar above his brow.
Such a brutish man. A spiky barb. A sea urchin, and if you mishandle him, he’ll poison you.
But on the inside, he’s soft and beautiful. He has so much to offer.
I don’t care that he’s declared he’s staying—if he tries to leave, to go back on it, to run away from me, from us, I’d chase him down.
I think Grayson and Orion would, too.
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Chapter 19: Grayson
If he were any other man—pack mate or not—if the situation were any different, I’d be breaking down that door and stealing my mate back.
If only my mother could see me now. I push eggs around in a pan with a spatula. The oil splatters and burns my arm, and I hiss and blame the eggs. I surreptitiously glance at her old apron, still hanging exactly where she left it, in the corner of the kitchen near the brooms. Hilde’s used it. A few other wolves, too, in the last fifty years. Yeah, I’m not putting on my mother’s apron.
I can hear them upstairs. Mona and Silas. He hasn’t let go of her since yesterday. They spent the rest of the night in her room, and he wasn’t kidding when he told her if he gave in, if she gave herself to him, that he’d be intensely possessive. Maybe he used the word obsessive, but with Silas, same fucking difference.
And I thought I was bad.
Orion comes downstairs whistling. “They still at it?” he laughs, hooking a thumb over his shoulder. He’s grinning, andI don’t have to feel him through the bond to know he’s elated, asking stupid, rhetorical questions like that.
I grunt in the affirmative and turn off the burner. He peers over my shoulder.
“Eggs?”
I grunt again. I push some eggs onto a plate along with a piece of toast and jam from a stack I already made. Orion’s practically keeling over with laughter.
I let out a long, suffering sigh. “What?”
“You really gonna interrupt them right now witheggs?”
I grit my teeth. Yes. I was planning on it.
But then the door opens and Mona’s bright voice carries down the stairs. I shove the plate at Orion, and he sets the table.
I don’t have to say so, but I do anyway. “That’s hers. Make your own fucking plate.”
Orion’s still laughing when our mate comes down the stairs. She jumps directly into my arms, and I practically have to shove Silas’s hand away to get my arms all the way around her.
“Were you boys always bad at sharing?” she asks lightly.
“No.” “Yes.” We both answer at the same time. I sigh and set her on her feet after kissing her forehead. “I made you breakfast. You need to eat. You’ve been up there too long.”
Silas smirks, then steals a piece of toast from her plate. I slap the back of his hand, and his alpha growls at me. This turns into a light, minor scuffle, while Orion and Mona eat breakfast around us, talking about their day ahead.
Silas eventually stops annoying me, and we sit down to join them. He has one hand on her knee, eating with the other. I wrap my foot around the leg of her chair and tug her closer.
Mona smirks and side-eyes me. “Yes, Grayson?”
“I didn’t say anything,” I grumble.
