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“Your mom doesn’t take them all the time?” I ask him, and he shakes his head.
“No, Auntie Zoe banned them from the house, but she has a secret stash in the pantry. I saw her grab them out earlier while Zoe wasn’t looking. She keeps them in the raisin box. Zoe hates raisins, and so does Casey.”
I glance over at Everly, passed out cold. “Get some sleep,” I tell Valarian, kissing his head.
“Love you, Dad,” Valarian mumbles.
“Love you too,” I tell him.
Tomorrow I’ll find that stash and confront her, I think to myself as my eyes close.
ChapterForty-Nine
Everly
I wake up to pee during the night and realize Valarian is in my bed. No wonder my back is killing me, with Valarian’s butt resting in the center of it. However, it’s the body beside him that makes me tense.
Shaking my head, I quickly race to the bathroom. I never wake up in the middle of the night and will remain asleep until my alarm wakes me. so I’m a little disoriented as I walk back to the room. Glancing at the alarm clock that resides on the bedside table, I note that it’s a little after 3 a.m. Why am I awake? In the pit of my stomach, I know it’s the bond—the dull throbbing ache of him being around for so long and the bond trying to pull me nearer, wanting me to seek him out.
I even took some of my pills, hoping the incessant nagging pains would dissipate. I knew they would come on; they always do after seeing him, even if it’s only for a few minutes. Plus, I was worried I would sleepwalk and crawl into wherever he was sleeping. The ache… the need to see your mate… is ridiculous.
Bonds are far from a blessing. I would consider the bond to be more of a curse. It was irrational and illogical. Damn, the Moon Goddess really screwed werewolves over with that inbuilt setting in our DNA, as if breaking every bone in our body to shift wasn’t bad enough. We didn’t even get a say in who our mates were, and we’re as good as dead if we don’t accept them. Valen is turned, facing Valarian, Valarian’s head resting on his arm next to Valen’s face.
I carefully pull the blanket up as I climb back into bed, not wanting to disturb them. They both look pretty peaceful.
I eventually drift back off, but not for long before I feel the bed move. I jolt upright, still caught in my dream of forsaken taking Valarian from me. I try to shake the remnants of the dream away to look over at the clock and see I’ve only been asleep for twenty minutes. What the fuck? More movement makes me look over at Valarian to see he’s climbing out of bed.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Valen asks as Valarian climbs over him to get out.
“I’m just using the bathroom,” Valarian mumbles, half asleep, before walking out of the room. My dream is still fresh; I find myself following him, now paranoid about the forsaken getting in my house and stealing him. He shuts the door and I lean on the wall, yawning. Why can’t I sleep? I have to do a double tomorrow. I need to sleep!
I debate whether it might be worth taking another pill, but they also give me terrible heartburn for the first half hour after taking them; the wolfsbane is not a pleasant ingredient in them.
I hear the toilet flush, and Valarian opens the door, rubbing his eyes and yawning before walking off in the opposite direction toward his room.
“Val?” I say. He stops and looks up at me through his half-lidded eyes. He’s not coherent at all as he yawns.
“Don’t you want to sleep in my room?” I ask him, knowing his father is in there.
“No, you keep kicking me,” he mumbles, turning around, walking into his room, and climbing into his bed.
I tuck him in, stuffing the surrounding blankets over him before kissing his head. I don’t know what to do with myself now. I check all the windows and locks before rechecking them to ensure I didn’t imagine checking them. Anxiety at its finest. I debate what to do. Valen is in my bed, so I don’t really want to go back there. I could climb in with Valarian, but he said I woke him from kicking him.
I sigh before heading back out to the hall. I pause as I start to head out to the couch. Every part of my body tells me I’m going in the wrong direction. It’s like my body is trying to lead me back to my bed—to where Valen is. I knew the bond would get stronger, now I marked him, but this is ridiculous, making me wonder what will happen tomorrow when he isn’t here. Would it get worse with him further away? Would the pain get worse?
My mind and body fight against one another before my body wins, my feet carrying me back to my room while I mentally scold myself for letting them. Valen has moved, now more in the center of the bed where Valarian was.
“I can sleep on the couch if Valarian isn’t coming back in. Is that why you were pacing in the hall? Or did you go take more of your pills?” Valen says while yawning.
Pacing? I didn’t realize I was pacing. I feel like I’m losing my damn mind. I swallow. I know I should tell him to go sleep on the couch.
“Everly?”
“No, it’s fine,” I mutter.
“It’s fine?” he says, sitting up on one elbow and looking at me. I pull the blanket back, climbing into the bed. My entire body is awake now, every part of me twitchy and antsy. I clench my hands into fists and place them under my ass to stop myself from trying to touch him. What is wrong with me? The pain I’m used to, but the feeling of him so near is making my heart rate increase, my breathing faster, as I soak up his scent that’s perfuming the room.
I feel him lay back down, getting comfortable behind me. He sighs loudly.
