AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah.”
“Tell me you aren’t going to leave.”
Mia turned and leaned against the counter. Lucian had run into the office for a few hours, promising to bring dinner home with him. She was glad he wasn’t there right then, because she didn’t want him to hear her being upset.
“What would you have me do? What if you weren’t allowed to be part of the pack, but Acksel was? Would you want him to go on doing the same-old, same-old and leave you home alone?”
The pause was long enough that Mia knew Brynn was trying to think of something to say to the contrary, but the truth was there, heavy in its reality.
“I’ve got a new future now, B.”
“What does that mean?”
“I need to think about what’s best for my family. Not just what makes me happy.”
“We’re the two musketeers. You’re not allowed to break up the set. I’m entirely planning for our children to be best friends. My boys mating with your girls, and vice versa. They’re going to rule the pack, and maybe the world…I haven’t decided yet.”
A tear slipped down Mia’s cheek, and she brushed it away with her knuckle as she smiled. Brynn was an amazing best friend. Mia was supremely lucky to have her in her life and at her side. “Nothing’s set in stone right now, but unless Acksel does a one-eighty and lets Lucian be honored as my mate in the pack, then…” She let the rest of the sentence drift away, because saying the words seemed exactly like putting it into stone. And she didn’t want to do that right now.
“I’ll fix it,” Brynn said. “That’s what besties do.”
“I love you, B.”
“That’s because I’m full of awesomesauce and glitter, and that’s a potent combination.”
* * *
Lucian blinked a few times and his eyes burned, which made him realize he’d been staring at the computer screen long enough to dry out his retinas. Leaning back in the chair, he rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms and then linked his fingers behind his head. He was trying to work, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Mia. Not just the romantic, moony love-filled thoughts that often traipsed through his mind ever since he’d set his berserker free and claimed her. These thoughts were about what she was dealing with when it came to her wolf and her pack.
He’d never expected to be on this side of things. If he’d thought about the future at all while his beast was caged and his job had been hunting rogue shifters, he always pictured himself eventually settling down with a human female and having some kids. They’d be part-berserker, of course – he could cage the beast but he couldn’t take it from his DNA – but he’d planned to keep the magical tattooing as a family tradition and cage his kids’ beasts, too. Which, in retrospect, would have been an entirely shitty thing to do to them. The tattoos had hobbled him, made him believe he had a modicum of power over a creature who had no natural enemies. So fearsome. So feared. And rightly so. He only had to think about the ravens to know that when his berserker took over, there was no one safe who would harm his Mia.
If only he could prove to the pack that he would never just randomly harm someone. Mia hadn’t been in danger before. She’d had a good life with the pack, and Acksel, despite his reputation for being an asshole, was a good and fair leader. Lucian wouldn’t want an unknown monster hanging around his mate either, so in some respects the two males were quite similar. Not that it made things easier for Mia.
Turning his attention to the computer screen, he sighed, knowing he was entirely unsuited for actual work today. He needed to be home with Mia. She still hadn’t taken a pregnancy test, even though Nila had said she could. He didn’t know why she was waiting, and he hadn’t wanted to press her. Because he spent so many years keeping her at arms’ length, he was inclined to let her do whatever she wanted and not give her a hard time about anything.
Turning off the computer, he settled back in the chair, swiveling lazily as he looked around. The office had been his since he and Mal started the company, but Lucian had been a ghost to everyone except Mal. There’d been a desk but no chair, a credenza but no file drawers. It was a pretty apt representation of his life up until he’d mated Mia. He’d been living, but only about halfway. Now that he had Mia, now that he could actuallylivewithout fear of some bad fucker coming out of the woodwork to hurt the people he loved, he felt like he was truly living.
The only problem was that his sweetheart wasn’t living. Not really. She was a wolf, and wolves were pack creatures. It was just part of their nature. It had been hella fun to sex her up all night because her wolf was all worked up for the full moon, but it had been a Band-Aid fix. Like putting a cartoon sticker over a crack in a wall and saying it was as good as new. Mia needed a pack, and he was standing in the way.
Him and his damn beast.
He wanted Mia to go be with the pack on the full moon. He’d told her as much several times over the last two weeks, but she hadn’t wanted to hear anything of the sort.
“You look like you’re between a rock and a hard place,” Mal said as he leaned against the door jam.
“Feels like that.”
“How was the full moon for Mia?”
He half-smiled. He wouldn’t be filling his best bro in on the goings-on of their mating, but he knew what Mal meant. “She didn’t like being excluded from the pack, but honestly I think even if she hadn’t been punished she would’ve stayed with me.”
“She’s very loyal.”
“And too good for me.”
Mal grinned. “I’ve been telling her that for years.”
“I’m not planning to go anywhere. Wilde Creek is her home, and where she is, I am. Conversely, if she says go, then we’re gone.”
