Chapter 4
Oscar
Monroe was definitely hot. He had these eyes that reminded me of chocolate.
I loved chocolate. He’d been so sweet and a perfect gentleman.
I had to admit I was a bit surprised he’d not kissed me in the living room.
I understood that we didn’t really know each other yet though.
I could wait, and we would do things on his timeline.
The main bedroom was huge. Larger than any I’d ever seen.
I was certain that there were others on the mountain that had an equally large main bedroom.
The bed was most likely a king-sized bed.
There were matching nightstands, two dressers, and a chair in the corner by the windows.
The windows had dark shades that were partially closed, and off to the right were two doors.
“Is this real?” Monroe asked.
“Yep. You said you’ve been here for two days. Where have you been staying?”
“With Alpha Forest. I kept the kids in the same room with me though. I didn’t want to take up space when I know he has so many kids of his own.”
“They’re great though. All of their kids are amazing,” I said absently as I walked toward one of the doors.
I pushed it open and found myself inside a massive walk-in closet.
There was a mirror on the wall in front of me, and on either side was a long bar for hanging clothes.
Above it were shelves and cubbies, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
There was absolutely no way I had enough clothes to fill even a quarter of the space on one side.
“Whoa.”
I looked up at Monroe, who had come in behind me. “I hope you have a lot of clothing. What I own will fill about this much space,” I said, holding up my hands on one of the bars.
“Do you really not have much?”
I shook my head. “I have clothes. Most of my stuff goes in a dresser. I don’t know, maybe ten shirts that I hang up. I work in a restaurant and a bar. I don’t have lots of clothing beyond that.”
Monroe narrowed his eyes. “I’m not going to be one of those mates. But you need to quit one of your jobs. There are two of us now, and I can help provide for you and your siblings. Our situations are similar, and it was suggested that we would be a good fit, as we’re mates.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Was suggested?”
Monroe took my hand and led me out of the closet and over to the bed. He sat down on the side, pulling me down beside him.
“Yes. Things are quite different in my realm. I’ve been getting a lot of information for the past two days about how things work here.
Much is the same, but there’s enough of a difference that it needed to be gone over with me before I was just dropped in the store and somehow was supposed to meet you as well. ”
“I’m not sure I can just up and quit my job, Monroe. I have responsibilities, and I’ve been doing it for a while now. I don’t think you realize just how much teenagers cost.”
“I’m sure quite a bit when compared to little kids. But I know I’ll be making more than enough to support all six of us comfortably.”
“What do you consider comfortable?”
“I’m told I’ll be making just at six figures and with provided housing it’s enough for a growing family. The childcare center is no cost. The store up here is very reduced cost because the council is subsidizing it for the council and all of its personnel.”
I was torn. That amount was certainly more than enough to support us, and I would love to be able to not have to work my nighttime job at the bar.
It wasn’t that it was a terrible environment, but it was a human bar, and there were very few paranormals that came into the place.
And now that I thought about it, if—no, when we claimed each other, I was certain that Monroe wouldn’t want me to be around humans that spent all night flirting and trying to take me home with them.
“You seem thoughtful.”
I nodded. “I’ll gladly quit my bartending job today. I don’t care much for it, but the tips were good. I don’t know about my job in the restaurant. I…” I groaned when I thought about it more.
“What’s wrong?”
I looked at Monroe. “The restaurant I work in isn’t a pack restaurant or anything.”
Monroe gave me a confused look.
“If we claim each other, it’s possible I’ll get pregnant.” I shook my head. “I can’t be pregnant around humans. They don’t know about us, and it would be very bad.”
Monroe chuckled. “How did you end up working for two human-run places?”
“I needed money. My sister goes through it like crazy.”
Monroe leaned closer with a serious expression on his face. “I’m not going to be terrible, but it’s time for her to learn about limits and how not everything we want, we get.”
I sighed. He wasn’t wrong. I knew I was overcompensating because I felt terrible that I’d not gotten back to Mississippi in time to get her and Joseph out before the beta got to them.
“I know you’re right. I also think I created a monster, and it’s going to get really ugly when she’s suddenly moved somewhere else away from her friends and suddenly doesn’t get everything she wants.”
Monroe shrugged. “We’ll deal with it together. I have a lot of experience with younger siblings. I’m thirty and am number six of those fifteen.”
“You’re thirty, huh?” Would he be upset I was a few years older than him?
“I am. Is that too old? Too young?”
I snorted. “I’m only thirty-four, Monroe. I’m not ancient or anything like my therapist. He’s a gargoyle, and I’m pretty sure he’s like eight hundred or something. I never asked though.”
Monroe started laughing, and I took that opportunity to give him a playful shove.
He fell back onto the bed but then surprised me by pulling me down with him.
I lay there, staring at my mate and wondering what the fates were thinking pairing us together, but it was supposed to work.
I didn’t know how, but I was going to give it a go because my wolf definitely recognized Monroe as our mate.
“You’re not too old, that’s for sure. Your age doesn’t bother me, and I hope mine isn’t an issue for you.”
“Naw. I honestly expected a much older mate if I ever found mine. But I’m not going to complain.
” I sighed. I started to reach out for Monroe but instead pulled my hand back.
If my mate wanted to touch me, he would.
Instead, I toed off my shoes, letting them drop to the floor with a thud, and moved farther onto the bed.
“So, tell me about fae. I have never met one, and I honestly don’t know much about them, I’m sorry. ”
Monroe gave me a beaming smile, and when he sat up, I thought he was going to leave, but instead, he removed his own shoes before he moved onto the bed and lay beside me. I was on my side staring at him while he was on his back looking at the ceiling.
“I’m not even sure where to begin,” Monroe said.
“Wherever you’re comfortable. You said you have magic. What else about fae should I know?”
Monroe glanced at me before he looked back up at the ceiling.
“Let’s see. Well, we have magical powers that we come into when we hit puberty.
Sometimes they can go wonky when an omega is pregnant, but not always.
Fae get bored easily and can cause mischief, but that’s usually more of an omega thing than a sire thing. ”
“Really?”
“I can think of dozens of instances where it’s been seen in omegas, but not one from a sire, unless it was at a festival and we were all acting out in such a manner.”
“Huh. I mean, I guess I’ve heard about warlocks having issues with their magic while they were learning how to use them all, but I’ve never really been around someone regularly who had magical powers.”
“Everyone learns theirs at different speeds, but for the most part, we’ve mastered our powers by our mid-twenties or early thirties. I’m told that it can take warlocks longer, but I also believe they are more powerful than we are really.”
“I know only a few warlocks and only because of the council. One of the other omegas that I was held captive with ended up with a warlock as a mate. They have twins now.”
“Yeah? That’s amazing. Out of all of my siblings, none are twins.”
I suddenly realized something, and I sat up, a bit freaked out for a moment. Monroe sat up as well and reached for me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I was held with two others. A fox shifter, the one I mentioned who had twins with his warlock mate.”
“Yes, and the other?”
I looked to Monroe with wide eyes. “Chase is a wolf shifter like me. His mate is a dragon, and they have twins.” I took several deep breaths.
“What if they did something to us, Monroe? What if there was something in the food they fed us or something, and now we’re going to all have twins?
” I absolutely did not want twins. It was already difficult enough with Hailey, and if you added in Monroe’s two young siblings, that was a lot.
One baby would be busy enough, but two more? At once?
“Hey, hey, calm down.” Monroe reached out and rubbed up and down my arm. “If we have twins, we’ll have twins. We won’t be alone. We’ll have help.”
I looked at Monroe, confused. “How? Where? I won’t ask my brother to help, and at the moment, I wouldn’t trust Hailey to hold a baby, let alone change or feed one.
“Where are we going to get help? I don’t know anyone. Everyone I know has their own kids. They don’t have time to help us.”
Monroe shook his head. “You are definitely getting ahead of yourself. One, you’re not even pregnant yet. Two, if you have twins, we can hire someone to help. Having four under five years is a lot. I’ve never experienced quite that amount of chaos in a house, but every other year is a lot as well.”
I shook my head. “I don’t get how we’re going to hire someone. Who? Where will they come from?”
Monroe tilted his head to the side. “Have you completely isolated yourself from the pack? From the council?”