AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was fine with me, but it would take some getting used to like everything in life.
“I thought waiting for her to get home was bad before. Now it’s murder.”
Collyn. When he fell, he fell harder than anyone I knew. “We eat breakfast. Get groceries to make our mate the best dinner of her life, and we make up that beautiful nest of hers. Show her how sacred we think it is. Take care of what she cares about.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Haven
Concentrating on work when my body still pulsed from the aftermath of mating and about every second, my mind was pulled back to the night before was rough.
I’d never felt so loved in all my life.
I got up from the desk and walked over to the window, looking out over the city. Wrapping my arms around myself, I remembered the way Collyn and Fitz held me. I’d never wanted to flee this office more than today.
“Haven,” Tilly said. “What’s going on with you? Your private line is ringing off the hook. It’s your mom. Haven?”
I turned around, and she rushed over. “You’re crying. Did they hurt you? I’m going to rip their fur right out of their…”
Cracking up, I shook my head. “They didn’t hurt me. No need to neuter my mates.”
She gasped, and I did as well. That was the first time I’d said it out loud and, moreover, I hadn’t even told my best friend what happened the night before. “Your mates? Sit your ass down and tell me everything.”
She closed the door to my office, and we both ignored the ringing phones and the pinging of unanswered emails. “Tell me everything.”
I spilled my guts. Told her about everything with Collyn and Fitz and even about my nest. Tilly would never judge me. She might make comments, but she had my back no matter what. “They sound amazing, and I’m happy for you, but when I walked in here, you were crying.”
This was the hard part. “I’m afraid. I’m so fucking afraid that I can hardly breathe. Everything was fine, but then I got to work and it was almost like it was going too well, you know? I’m afraid I’m going to go home and find their minds have changed, or worse, that they have already left. They figured out that I wasn’t worth the trouble or the effort.”
She took my hands in hers. “It sounds to me like you are projecting your own self-depreciation on them, babe. No one thinks you are anything but a strong, smart, amazing woman.”
I cracked up as more tears fell down. “Except Jerome.”
Tilly scoffed. “That alpha wolf can kiss all of my ass. He was looking for someone to submit to his every whim and be obedient. I stalked him on social media. Collyn and Fitz had it bad for you even in my car that day on the way home from the airport.”
I swiped at some tears. “What am I going to do?”
“What do you want? Close your eyes and imagine your future with them. What does it look like?”
Laughing, I obeyed her, closing my eyes. I thought about Collyn and Fitz. Warmth overtook my body. I saw my house filled with children. I saw myself with my mates in my nest. Rocking babies. Being kissed by them. Running as our wolves.
Then I did something different. I imagined my life without them.
No. I wouldn’t even let myself do that.
“I know what I have to do,” I said, standing up.
“I’m canceling the rest of the afternoon.” I grabbed my bags and started to walk out—my resolve was clear. Maybe clearer than I’d ever been before.
I rushed home and found Collyn and Fitz sitting on the couch, both of them reading one of the books at the top of my list. They both turned and I dropped my bags on the floor.
“Haven?” they said, standing and abandoning their paperbacks.
“Can you both move in?”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Collyn
