WESLEY
“Gone? What do you mean, the Wainwrights are gone?” I growled, my nails lengthening to claws and digging into the arms of the chair. Receiving this news after the high from Haven’s premiere and the gala the night before was a punch to the gut.
“I mean gone,” my dad replied, leaning forward and resting his arms on his desk. “House is dark and closed up, and their car is gone. The neighbors haven’t seen them in a few days.”
“Okay, but what about their credit card records? Surely those are showing something?”
“Their credit cards show no transactions at all. Their bank records too.
They must be using cash they had saved in their house or something.” “But what about the facial recognition in the CCTV?”
“With the limited searching we can do legally, we haven’t found them. It’s likely they didn’t fly, though, since their car is gone. I can only assume they took back roads and are using gas stations that are out of our reach.”
“Fuck!” I grunted, clenching my hand into a fist and slamming it into the chair arm.
“Wesley—“
“I know, I know, you did everything you could,” I muttered, rolling my eyes to the ceiling.
“No, I was going to say I really like these chairs and would prefer if you didn’t destroy them.”
I glanced back at him and couldn’t stop the laugh that spilled from my mouth at the frown on his face as he glared at my hand on the chair. I rubbed my hand over my face and shook my head.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I don’t know why I reacted that way. It’s just—“
“I’m not blaming you or upset with you for your reactions when it comes to her,” he said. “You’re very protective of her. As any alpha would be with their luna.”
I swallowed and shook my head. “I don’t even know if she’s my mate yet, though.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he replied with a shrug. “You and your lycan have decided she’s yours, mate bond or not. If she does end up being your fated mate after her birthday, then that instinct will get even stronger. And even if she isn’t, well…” He paused for a moment, glancing over at a framed picture of my mom on his shelf. Then he shook his head. “Even if she isn’t, that instinct won’t go away. As I said, you and your beast have claimed her. It would go against your nature to intentionally hurt her.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with me choosing her?” I asked him again, even though we’d already discussed it.
“As long as it’s her choice too,” he said. “Once her birthday passes, if she’s not your mate, we’ll contact the king and the council to get permission
to reveal ourselves to her so she can decide for herself,” he reminded me. “For now, just make sure you don’t let anything slip and you’re careful with her.”
“What do you mean, careful?” I asked. “You know what I mean, Wesley.”
“You mean don’t have sex with her,” I grumbled, resisting the urge to roll my eyes again.
He groaned. “I’m not saying don’t sleep with her. I’m saying be careful if you do. I can feel the tension in your aura. I know you’re holding back from her. Which is good. With as strongly as your lycan feels about her, we don’t want to risk you marking her.”
“Yes, I know,” I replied. “Because she’s not twenty-one yet.”
It was illegal to mark someone before they were twenty-one, because there was no way to know if that person was your mate. Once both partners were over that age, however, it was fine to mark a chosen mate as long as it was not a forced marking.
It was why Nolan hadn’t marked Rachel yet. He wanted to, was ready to settle down with her as his chosen mate. After Kimberly rejected him, we were worried he’d just give up on a mate altogether, but Rachel helped him find peace. But she wasn’t ready to be marked again yet. Understandably so. And since Nolan respected that, he was willing to wait until she was ready. Even if it was never.
“That, and she’s human,” Dad said. “Marking a human is different, whether or not they’re a fated mate.”
“Shit,” I muttered, scratching at my beard. “Fuck!” I sighed, clenching my fist again but remembering to not punch the chair.
“Exactly,” my dad said, raising his brows and giving me a brief nod. “So if you don’t think you can control your lycan, don’t risk it.”
I wanted to kick myself. I hadn’t even thought about the most important aspect of marking a human mate—that you had to do it under the same moon phase as when they were born. If you tried to mark a human mate under any other moon phase, they likely wouldn’t survive. And that meant potentially waiting even longer to claim her after her birthday.
And it meant holding back from her for longer. The thread on my restraint was already thin, short, and frayed, and I didn’t know how much more of her teasing and scent I could take before it snapped altogether.
“Don’t stress yourself about it right now,” he reassured me, sensing my spiraling thoughts. “There is still some time before her birthday, so we will worry about it when we need to.”
I nodded as I breathed out a sigh, then I stood up. “I need to get ready for the performance tonight,” I said.
“Will you tell Haven? About her parents?”
“Matthew and Melissa, you mean,” I corrected him, then I said with a firm shake of my head, “No. Not yet, anyway. She needs to stay focused on her dancing. I’ll tell her after this weekend is over.”
Dad nodded as he also stood and followed me out of his office. “Thank you, by the way,” he said as he closed his office door behind him.
“For what?”
“For trusting me to look into this and find answers,” he replied. “You could easily have gone ‘behind my back’ and used your own connections and methods to look into the Wainwrights, but you didn’t.”
“I could have,” I agreed, sticking my hands in my pockets. “But you’re still the alpha. And I respect that, and you. Not just as my alpha but as my
father. I may not agree with the decisions or like them, but disrespecting you in that manner wouldn’t be showing strength, showing unity to our pack.”
We paused on the landing—him to go up to the alpha suite and me to go to my house. He clapped me on the shoulder. “And that’s how I know you’re ready and will be an effective alpha for our pack when you take over soon.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Will you drive yourself to the ballet tonight, or will you ride with us?”
“I’ll drive myself,” I told him.
“I figured as much.” He laughed. “We will see you there.”
 |
“WHERE ARE WE GOING?” Haven asked me as we walked down the street after her performance.
Mom, Dad, and Maddie had gone ahead of us to save a table at the ice cream parlor. They’d wanted to do a full meal afterwards, but I’d told them Haven wouldn’t want to eat that much this late at night. I think they forgot she was human and didn’t eat like we did. So this was their compromise.
“My family is waiting for us at Scoops Ahoy,” I told her. “Well, Mom, Dad, and Maddie. Seb didn’t come tonight.”
“No Sebby?” She pouted.
I furrowed my brow and turned to her to find her already laughing at me. “I can’t believe he lets you call him that,” I muttered, shaking my head and pulling her to my side.
“Are you jealous?”
“That he lets you call him Sebby?”
“That we have nicknames for each other.”
With my arm around her shoulder, I squeezed her lithe body into mine and pressed my lips to her temple. “No,” I grumbled unconvincingly.
“Liar,” she teased as we stopped near the door to the parlor, and I turned her so she faced me, my hands resting on her hips.
“There’s nothing to be jealous of,” I replied with a shrug, hooking my thumbs into the belt loops on her jeans and tugging her closer. “Because—“ “While I love how nauseatingly adorable the two of you are together,”
Maddie’s voice said, interrupting our moment, “I REALLY want to order my ice cream, so can you please get your ass inside?”
“Language, Maddie!”
“PDA, Dickhead!” she retorted, then looked at Haven and added, “Nice to see you again, Haven!”
I groaned and grabbed Haven’s hand to follow Maddie through the door of the shop.
The vise grip Haven had on my hand had me pausing as soon as the door shut behind us, and I turned to find her biting her lip. I swallowed and resisted the urge to pull it out of her mouth with my thumb and sink my own teeth into it.
“Hey,” I soothed, standing in front of her to hide her from view. “You don’t need to worry. They already love you.”
“That’s why I’m worried.” She laughed. “They love me, but they don’t even know me. What if, when they do know me, they hate me?”
I wanted to laugh but knew that wouldn’t assuage her fears. But she didn’t need to worry. Not only did they already love her, they also pretty much considered her part of the pack.
I looked over my shoulder to where Maddie was impatiently waiting at the counter to order and at my parents talking quietly in the booth. “Just be yourself,” I murmured to her as I looked back at her, my hand caressing her cheek.
She took in a deep breath and nodded, reached up on her tiptoes to give me a quick kiss, then strode past me to the table.
“Hi, Mr. Stone, Mrs. Stone,” she said, holding her hand out to my dad. “I’m Haven. It’s really lovely to finally meet you.”
“Please, just call me Harrison,” my dad said as he stood up, shaking her hand firmly. “We’ve looked forward to meeting you for a very long time.”
“It’s so wonderful that you two found each other again,” my mom chimed in, coming around my dad to hug Haven. “We thought—well, it doesn’t matter what we thought because you’re here now.”
She pulled back to look at Haven and then pulled her in again for another hug, squeezing her tightly.
“Can we order our ice cream now?” Maddie whined, her arms crossed and her toe tapping against the linoleum flooring.
“Yes, yes, go ahead, Madeleine,” Mom said with a huff as she let Haven go.
She and Dad went to join Maddie at the counter, and I pulled my girl into my side, putting my arm around her shoulders again. We stood behind my family while Haven looked at the menu, and everyone else ordered.
“I’ll take a single scoop of the mint chocolate chip in a bowl,” Mom said. “And I’ll have a double of the same in a waffle cone,” my dad added.
“I’ll take the double fudge brownie sundae with an extra brownie and an extra scoop of peanut butter ice cream,” Maddie said.
“You can’t possibly eat that whole thing!” I laughed, shaking my head.
“I told you the other day, Wes, I’m a growing…” She glanced at Haven and then continued, “Growing girl. I need ALL the scoops.” I rolled my eyes. “Also, challenge accepted.”
“No, Madeleine Renae, that is WAY too much sugar!” my mom exclaimed.
“Come on, Em, it’s a treat!” Dad replied, chuckling and hugging her like I was hugging Haven.
She sighed but relented, nodding her head.
“Yes!” Maddie cheered, jumping into the air.
“What the fuck? You would not have ever let me order something like that?!”
Maddie stuck her tongue out at me as she slid by to go sit back down, and without thinking, I did it back.
“Children! We have company!” my mom scolded. “She started it!” I pointed out.
“But you’re twenty-four, you know better,” she admonished.
I gritted my teeth together and grumbled out a string of incoherent mutterings as Haven’s body shook next to me, her hand covering her mouth as she laughed.
My face heated, and I bent my head down to hers. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to
—“
“That was so entertaining.” She chuckled. “You two are adorable,” she added, patting my chest.
“Adorable?” I smirked, then nipped at her ear. “I don’t think anyone has called me adorable since I was twelve.”
“Well, I just did,” she chirped, turning and pecking me on the lips.
Her mouth was gone from mine way too soon, and I missed the feel and taste of her. She was like a drug, and I was slowly but surely becoming addicted to the high she gave me.
“What did you want to order?” I asked her, pulling her body in front of mine and resting my chin on her head.
“I’m honestly not sure,” she said, shrugging. “What do you usually get?” “The cookies and cream milkshake,” I told her, pointing to the picture on
the menu. “It’s their specialty.”
Her eyes widened when she saw the large milkshake with two Oreos tucked into the mound of whipped cream on the top.
“Oh shit, I would not be able to finish that on my own!”
“We could share it?” I offered, my lycan perking his ears up at that. “I don’t mind not having one to myself.”
She tilted her head back to look up at me, and I kissed her nose just after she nodded at me. My lycan leaped with joy, excited that she was allowing us to provide for her, even if it was just ice cream.
“One cookies and cream dream milkshake with two straws,” I said to the cashier, then I led Haven to the table with my family.
“Don’t we need to pay?” Haven asked, whispering in my ear. “We own the shop,” I said back.
“Oh,” she said, looking around the 50s-themed ice cream parlor, her eyes taking it all in. “It’s very cute,” she told my parents as she finished her perusal.
“Thank you!” Mom said.
“Maddie,” I said, looking at my sister. “What did you mean when you said ‘Nice to see you again, Haven’?”
“I saw her the other night? At Maya and Levi’s party?”
“You went to the party?” Dad said, leaning around Mom to glare at Maddie.
“Just to grab some food!”
“You saw Haven, and you didn’t tell me?!” I exclaimed.
“I didn’t realize it was her until you came home the next day whining and crying because she stood you up and then yelled at you!”
“I wasn’t whining,” I grumbled, frowning.
“You were totally whining,” Maddie replied with a scoff.
“I wasn’t whining!” I said again, “I wasn’t,” I repeated softly, glancing down at Haven as she laughed next to me.
The waiters brought out our ice creams and set them in front of us, saving me from further embarrassment.
As soon as the server handed me our milkshake and both of the straws, Maddie faux gagged. I glared at her, letting out my aura, but the soft giggles coming from the gorgeous female next to me forced me to relax. I blew out a breath, calming my annoyance with my stubborn baby sister, and threw my arm on the booth seat behind Haven, letting her relax into me as she talked to my parents.
And as we sat there, her at my side and sharing my food with me while spending time with my family, I had flashes of us doing this for years to come—a glimpse of her with a ring on her finger that she twirled while she talked, a snippet of pups running around us and causing a ruckus while Haven tried to get them to settle down and my dad encouraged them—and I couldn’t help but smile at the imagined future I hoped with all my heart would someday come to be reality.
