Chapter 22 #2
“You’ve been asleep forever, which means you have to eat at least one plate for every eight hours of sleep…or something like that,” Damian murmured at the end, and I nearly shook my head wondering, where on earth he’d read that.
“Saint,” I prompted. He was still glaring at the Class B terror, who was standing silently, watching our interaction in shock.
“This nightmare,” Saint hissed, “was asking about you.”
“It’s true,” Blackwell said in support. “He asked if you were okay. Apparently his team was wondering.”
I followed the Class B terror’s gaze, which darted over to a large table of both female and male nightmares watching in concern. I sighed and looked back at Saint.
“Can you believe that?” Saint growled. “Ridiculous.”
“Thank you for asking,” I said with a small smile directed towards the terror. “You can tell your team I’m good.”
“Thanks for everything, Arabella—”
“Do not say precious’s name,” Amun growled, appearing next to me. The man jumped and put up his hands defensively before literally running away. Saint nodded, satisfied with both Amun’s assertion and the nightmare’s response.
I gave both of them an indulgent smile while shaking my head. “Ridiculous.” Rounding the table, I sat between Cy and Ashur. The first wrapped his hand around my thigh and pressed a kiss to the top of my ear, whispering a simple ‘good morning’ that had my entire chest lighting up.
Ashur slid a plate in front of me, running a hand up my back. “How are you feeling, my moon?”
“Much better,” I assured before I looked around in confusion. “Wait, Razar, didn’t you say the kids were down here?”
“They went to go play outside,” Zain said. “Stopped raining for a little bit, so figured it was a good chance for them to get some fresh air—plus, Mykia shifted back into her hellfox form for now, so I think she wanted to go out too.”
“They’re doing okay though?” I asked, analyzing all of their expressions and seeing no level of concern there. I figured they would be okay, but it still was a big relief to see it in my men’s expressions.
“Yes,” Damian said, his answer comforting me, “but you may be able to see for yourself. We want to show you something.”
“Yeah?” I perked up. “I thought you’d said something about that before I fell asleep, but I couldn’t remember completely.”
“We can go see it—once you eat,” Blackwell reminded me. I nearly pouted but instead decided to dig in. Until the first few bites, I hadn’t realized just how hungry I was. I finished nearly two plates as they talked aimlessly before I finally groaned, far too full to be comfortable.
“Okay, I literally can’t eat anymore,” I said. Blackwell and Ashur looked at my plates with scrutiny, but neither said anything, apparently happy enough. When Cy lifted me from the bench, I winced, my stomach gurgling uncomfortably.
“Did you eat too much?” Cy asked quietly, looking concerned.
“Maybe,” I murmured before shaking myself. “Let’s get some fresh air and see this little surprise.”
“Not very little,” Amun pointed out, only making me more excited.
The next five minutes—which seemed like forever, for the record—consisted of a walk in the drizzly weather as we went south towards the back of the institute’s property.
A river created a natural border on one side, and on the other, hilly, rocky terrain went on for miles and miles.
It was a beautiful area and wasn’t used very often.
“This is beautiful,” I said as we walked into a large clearing, a natural split in the trees revealing a grassy area that led straight to the riverbank.
“Beautiful enough to live in?” Razar asked, his voice warm.
“Live in?” I asked in surprise.
“We would have to build a house, of course,” Damian clarified.
“It’s far enough away to give us some privacy but still close enough that we won’t leave our home, not fully,” Zain said, and my smile only grew as he explained the thought they’d put into this.
“Wait, you’re serious? Like we would just build a house here? Just right in the middle of this clearing?”
“If you like it,” Blackwell rumbled, having walked further into the clearing, making me notice just how large it really was. I could imagine it, of course—easily. I mean, seriously, it was a perfect location, big enough that we would be able to make the space to fit us…and any future kids.
“I absolutely love it!” I squeaked. “Seriously, guys, I can imagine it—and it’s right by the river!”
“Which I admit is not as good as a garden…” Saint sighed dramatically. “But I can find a new place for the bodies.”
I flashed him a smile and shook my head, leaning into Amun, who’d appeared behind me. I looked at both him and Ashur, then all the others. “What about you guys? Do all of you like it? I want to make sure that if we build a home here, it’s somewhere we want to live…well, forever.”
“I love it,” Ashur said, his eyes sparkling. “I think there is enough space to be able to shift, and I can still feel connected to the earth here.”
“If you love it, then it’s what I want,” Cy agreed.
“Amun?” I asked curiously.
His eyes moved down to mine and warmed. “I’m just trying to figure out how fast we can build it.”
“We should start right away!” I spun out of Amun’s arms and walked into the clearing, spinning as I approached the center. I froze, tilting my head. “Wait…do any of us know how to build a house?”
Because I totally didn’t.
“Can’t be that hard, right?”
I honestly had no idea, but Zain’s comment spurred a massive conversation about what exactly we wanted to build, and man did I have some ideas.
I hadn’t even realized how many thoughts I had about what I wanted in a house until we were talking seriously about building one.
Of course, it helped that there were other thoughts and considerations in my head, especially now that we were finally done with War.
While I didn’t know for sure, and wouldn’t for a little bit…I had a feeling this home would hold more than just the nine of us very soon.