Chapter 19 #2
I smiled through my tears and tried to enjoy the ride more. It didn’t work. I hated the bumps. I hated getting thrown around like I was trying to ride a mechanical bull. It was better now, but better didn’t mean good.
“You know what happened the first time Rhett and Levi rode one of these things?” Gray asked conversationally.
“What happened?”
Gray chuckled, and his raspy, dry laugh sounded tinny through the microphone, but it still made my pulse ease up.
“Rhett had to tie Levi to him. With rope.”
I laughed. “What?”
Gray chuckled. “It’s really not a fun story, but the picture of him having to cut his mate loose before he could dismount the ATV was hilarious.
And since it all ended up being okay, I feel like it’s okay for me to laugh about that particular image.
And honestly, teasing Rhett about trying bondage before he’d even had a real conversation with his mate is always fun. ”
I giggled. “You do remember that the first thing you did when you first saw me was throw me in a cell? Does he tease you about that?”
Gray cringed, and I wanted to beat myself for reminding him of that. He didn’t deserve to be reminded about his mistake. Not today. Not after he’d freed me from the wolves who’d hunted me for so long.
“I apologize,” I said into the helmet. “That was uncalled for.”
Gray sighed. “It’s the truth. I fucked up.
I need to own that. And no, Rhett hasn’t teased me about that.
Yet. He will, though, once he can be sure it’s not a sore topic for us—as in you and me—anymore.
Just like I waited for him and Levi to be mated before I teased him about pretending to be a normal wolf for three days to gain Levi’s trust.”
“Wait… what?”
“Didn’t Levi tell you the story about how he and Rhett met?”
I thought back. “He told me pieces. About how he was abandoned and how Rhett found him. But… I think he skipped a few details.”
Gray snorted.
“Ask him about it. And make sure to ask him about the nickname he had for Rhett’s wolf.”
Oh, I definitely would. It sounded like a story I needed to hear. Maybe tomorrow, after our next magic lesson, we could—
“We’re here,” Gray said, slowing the ATV until we came to a full stop in front of a small house in the middle of nowhere.
It took me a couple of seconds until I got my fingers to unclench and let go of Gray’s hoodie. Then I jumped off the ATV. However, my legs didn’t want to work and… Gray’s hand wrapped around my biceps like a vise, holding me upright.
“Careful, now,” he said gently, but he definitely had to suppress a laugh.
I rolled my eyes at him when in reality I was grateful he’d caught me.
When my legs didn’t feel like jelly anymore, I took a tentative step toward the small house, my eyes doing a first sweep of the outside while my fingers worked to get the helmet off my head. Why did these things have to be so complicated?
“Here, let me.” Gray smiled down at me, then swiftly pulled the helmet off.
Oof. My head felt so much lighter now. I cranked it to the left, then to the right, and rolled my shoulders for good measure.
“You done?” Gray grinned at me.
“Yeah.”
And even if I wasn’t, I was too curious about his place.
The outside looked cute but didn’t match what I’d expected an Alpha’s house to look like.
I’d visited many packs ever since I’d turned eighteen and was rented out by the coven.
Most of the residences had looked like mansions.
Big homes, some with marble pillars, some with golden door knockers, all of them designed to show status.
Gray’s house didn’t look like that. It looked just… like a regular house. A small one at that. Cute. Well taken care of, but nothing special—and that fact alone made it special to me.
“Are you disappointed?” he asked, scratching the back of his neck as he watched me studying his home. “I know you probably expected more, but it’s just me and…”
“I love it,” I told him and turned to him.
“My father was the coven leader, so I grew up in the coven house. It was huge and regal, and I wasn’t allowed to touch anything.
It always made me feel small. I fucking hated it.
This…” I looked at the small house with the warm, inviting lights shining through the windows, and smoke coiling out of the brick chimney. “This is actually perfect.”
I wasn’t lying.
If the inside was as homey and cozy as the outside, it really was perfect.
“Really?” Gray raised his eyebrows.
“Yeah,” I reassured him.
Gray let out a breath of relief, then grabbed my hand, interlacing our fingers and squeezing lightly.
“In that case, follow me. Though I’m not sure what’s waiting for us.
My mom came here when the alarm first went off.
I asked her to start a fire so we’d arrive to a warm home if we decided to come here, but I don’t know if she did anything else. ”
I snorted, but my heart ached.
I’d never had that. A mother to rely on. Hell, a mother in general. Just a dad who’d resented me for being a mage instead of a wizard.
Meanwhile, Gray’s parents had dropped everything, flown across the ocean to get here as soon as possible to meet his mate.
“Are you crying?” Gray asked, panic in his voice.
“No?” My voice wobbled, eyes stinging. “Okay, yeah, maybe. It’s just… it was really kind of her to get the fire started.”
Gray sighed and pulled me into his arms.
“It was nice of her. But it’s not a big deal. If you look to your right, what do you see?”
I raised my eyebrows and stared at… trees.
“The forest?”
Gray laughed. “Okay, yeah, maybe it’s a little far to see it, but my parents live just a couple of minutes that way. And Rhett actually lives close by too. Just in the other direction, further down the road.”
I nodded, wiping at my eyes. “It was still nice of her.”
“Yes. You can thank her when we see her again. But wait until we’ve seen the inside, just in case she decided to set up candles or cover my bed in rose petals.”
I laughed. “You think she’d do that?”
Gray shook his head, his hair swishing through the air. “On the one hand, not really. She’s good about boundaries. But she likes you a lot, so if she thought she’d be doing us a favour…”
He didn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t need to. I got what he was saying. If she thought she was doing us a favour, all bets were off.
But when Gray opened the door, there was no trail of rose petals waiting for us, nor were there candles covering every surface. Okay, yeah, we were standing in a small mudroom filled with shoe racks and coat hangers, so maybe not the right room for candles.
We quickly stripped out of our shoes and coats, then walked farther into Gray’s home. A small, open hallway led us to the living space. It was all very warm, with exposed wooden walls, a big brick fireplace with a fire roaring in it, and a huge, slightly worn couch that looked like heaven.
“I always wanted a couch like that,” I said, and stepped into the living room. “But my apartment was basically a shoebox.”