Chapter 44
My kitchen had never been cleaner. That was the upside to waking up at four in the morning and being unable to fall asleep again. I had Poppy to keep me company, at least. She sat on the island, her feet tucked under her, watching me scrub the backsplash grout with an old toothbrush.
“What do you think?” I asked her quietly, glancing over for approval, though she had no idea what I was saying.
“I think it looks great.”
I spun toward Madison, my cheeks warming that she’d caught me conversing with Poppy.
“What are you doing up so early?” Madison slipped over to me and straight into my arms. “I thought I’d be the first one up.”
She’d scared me yesterday—scared all of us, really. Her panic attack was nearly as bad as experiencing one myself, and while I already hated Tyler for what he’d done to her, I was ready to find wherever he’d gone for dinner and borrow a knife from the kitchen.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“Something on your mind?”
“You.” Might as well be honest about it.
“Me?” She blinked up at me.
I swallowed hard, nervous to actually tell her what I’d been stewing in. “I’m no stranger to needing peace, and I’ve retreated the way you did many times in the past, but I suppose I wasn’t prepared for what that would feel like through a bond.”
“I’m sor—”
“No, treasure, it’s nothing to be sorry for.
You can’t help feeling the way you did.” With a sigh, I held her close, savoring the warmth of her in my arms. “I can’t promise you’ll never repeat that experience, but I hope you know that you don’t need to be alone to deal with it.
If your past rears its ugly head again one day, we’ll be there to help, if you want us to. ”
“I hope it doesn’t,” she said after a moment of silence.
“I hope so, too. I was thinking, though, that feeling your fear and being unable to do a thing about it, having you withdraw, brought into stark reality how much I wanted to be part of your life in all ways, good and bad. How much I…love you.”
Her twist of anxiety bolted through the bond at the same time as her elation, her pure, sweet delight over my declaration. It took barely a second for it to become the dominant emotion. “Alve.”
I loved the surprised, breathy way she said my name.
“You make it so easy to love you.” She stood on her toes, looping her hands behind my neck and rising up to kiss me. “I want to be part of your life, too, and I love you, I do. You’re so sweet, and I’m so grateful to have you.”
My instincts sang.
Madison loved me.
“I did something I hope you’ll approve of.”
“I’m pretty sure I’ve approved of everything you’ve ever done since we met, but carry on.”
“I want to build a life with you, and we’ve done that in many ways with the bond, and the baby, but we need a home as well.”
Her hand lifted to her belly, palm cradling though there was no noticeable bump yet.
“There’s room for us here,” I continued, “but not a nursery, and no space for guests, either. If we had a house, we could expand.”
Her warm brown eyes consumed me. “A house sounds lovely. Did you have something specific in mind?”
“Oh, yes.” I pulled out my phone and tapped on the listing. “This one has everything I could think of that we might need.”
She took the phone from me, scrolling through the images, her excitement bubbling up in the bond. “Alve, this place is beautiful. Oh my god. It’s so expensive, though. I can’t help with this.”
“You don’t have to help with it financially.
The pack is coming together for our shared home, and it will be placed in your name as part of your omega trust.” I kissed her forehead when her bottom lip wobbled.
“You will never have to worry about having a home, regardless of your relationship with us.”
“Alve…” She trailed off with a sniffle. “No, I want us to share our home. You won’t let anything happen to me if something changes. I know that. I trust that, now. The house has to belong to all of us.”
“If you would prefer that, I can certainly ensure everyone’s name is on it.”
She nodded decisively. “I can’t promise I won’t ever struggle, but I want to invest in our future. I want a home that we can stay in, where our children can grow up. Can we go see it?”
“We have an appointment to view it this morning.”
Madison blinked. “You already booked us one?”
“An act of radical optimism when you were avoiding us last night. I expressed our needs to my real estate agent when we were at the cookout, and this one just came on the market. I would hate for us to lose the opportunity, so the pack told me to keep the appointment.”
“I’m glad they did.” She reached for Poppy, the tabby tipping her face into Madison’s hand. “They’ll have so much room to run around.”
“That was one of my hopes.”
While we waited for the pack to wake up, Madison tried her hand at making the tamagoyaki. The first few were rough, but she was stubborn, improving each time until she had mastered the Japanese rolled egg well enough to be served.
Nathan emerged first, his hair adorably sticking out in every direction.
He moved to kiss Madison, our omega rising on her toes to meet him.
Then he leaned to kiss me, too. Heat rushed over my cheeks.
We hadn’t exactly moved past our time during spin the bottle yet, and I appreciated him taking that step for me so I couldn’t twist myself into an anxious knot about whether that part of things was meant to stay within a game or not.
My hand moved automatically to his cheek, and I laid an additional kiss on his bare one. “Good morning.”
Nathan grinned. “It smells fucking awesome in here.”
“Alve is teaching me how to do tamagoyaki!” Madison held up the plate of the first roll we had sliced.
Jude and Leo joined us, our beta plastering himself around Madison to huff her scent. Leo wordlessly gathered plates and Nathan fetched the cutlery, the two of them seamlessly setting the table while I loaded the various breakfast items onto plates for everyone to serve themselves.
Madison was wrapped up and giggling in Jude’s arms, so I took it upon myself to make her habitual morning hot chocolate.
She sipped it from his lap, accommodating the demands of a fresh bond, and allowed me to feed her.
Poppy poked her head up from where she had curled up on my lap, Pepper staring at us from the ground below.
I snuck them tiny bits of salmon, Pepper standing on her back feet and holding my hand in her paws so she could lick every ounce of flavor from my fingertips.
Once we finished eating, everyone briefly parted ways to get ready for the day, then we headed to our appointment together.
“We’ll have to get a seven seater to fit a car seat,” Nathan commented, peering back at the others.
“Madison needs a new car anyway,” I reminded him. “We can upgrade to something larger, and make sure everyone is on the insurance for all of the pack vehicles.”
While Nathan looked up vehicles, I got us safely to the listing. My real estate agent, Tanya, was waiting in the driveway, stepping out of her car to wave at us with a smile.
Anticipation simmered through me. At this point, I wasn’t sure if it was mine or Madison’s, or one of our packmates. Maybe we were all equally excited.
Madison gasped in the entryway. She had seen the photos, but it was much more striking in person, with warm, dark wood polished to a shine on the curving stairwell, bright walls, ornate plaster designs around the lights above us, and smooth tile floor beneath our feet.
It opened immediately into an expansive kitchen, flowing through into the living spaces with the option for French-style doors to close off each area. We peeked into the garage, one side of it featuring built-in storage and enough room for all of us to have a vehicle.
The second floor featured a multitude of bedrooms, far more than we would need, even with guest rooms. I imagined a few of them would be converted into offices.
Madison and I would be able to work from home for portions of our job, perhaps Nathan as well.
Jude and Leo were more bound by their location, but this house was equidistant to each of their jobs and let them avoid the worst of Las Vegas traffic.
With each new area we looked at, Madison’s excitement in the bond grew, spilling over onto everyone else.
The top floor held the omega suite, complete with a kitchenette and enormous bathroom. The house itself was too large for the omega suite to take up the entirety of the top floor, so Tanya showed off rooms that would work perfectly for nurseries and storage for Madison’s design work.
“How am I supposed to carry all of my stock up here?” our omega asked. “My legs will fall off.”
Tanya beamed, leading us to a thick mahogany door.
“I was saving this for last. For some reason they didn’t include photos of it in the listing, but I suspect that’s because it doesn’t match the aesthetic of the rest of the house.
” She opened it to reveal elevator doors, their stark brushed steel indeed at odds with the rest of the home.
Madison bounced on her toes. “This is perfect!”
“Also great for later in your pregnancy when stairs become a bitch and a half,” Nathan pointed out.
Madison turned delighted eyes on me, briefly staring at each packmate in turn. “I love it!”
Tanya was even more excited than Madison at that declaration.
“Could we have a moment to discuss?” I asked.
“Of course. I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re ready.” Tanya excused herself, closing the door behind her.
“What do you guys think?” Madison asked, continuing her happy bounce. She was entirely too precious, and I followed the compulsion to wrap her in my arms.
“It’s a hell of a gorgeous house,” Nathan began. “I’ve never lived in anything this fancy, but I could get used to this level of luxury.”
“The only thing it’s missing is a pool,” Leo said with a laugh.
Nathan shrugged. “That’s just a good excuse to visit Ava and use hers. She won’t mind if we’re bringing the kids over.”
Madison honed in on Jude. He was content in the bond, but evidently, she wanted his verbal confirmation as well.
“I think it’s beautiful, Maddie.” His eyes got misty, but it wasn’t sadness in the bond I detected.
“I can’t believe this could be our home, that our baby gets to grow up here.
If you think it’s perfect, then it’s perfect.
It won’t be hard to be happy in a house like this, but all I really need is you and our pack. ”
“Should I put in an offer?” I searched all of them for any sign of hesitation and found none.
“Could we really have this?” Madison asked, perhaps convinced she was dreaming.
“We could.”
“Go tell her we want it.” She locked her arms around one of mine, already nudging me toward the door.
We took the elevator down, Madison’s delight like giddy bubbles in the bond.
Tanya knew our answer before I opened my mouth, her smile bright. “Let’s get you this house.”