Chapter 10
Braun
“Shh. Don’t wake him up.” I was exhausted enough that Dorian’s quiet whisper would’ve done the trick, but Emeric ran through the house like he was an elephant. “We’re going to let the Alpha sleep in while we go get things done.”
Somehow he made Alpha sound like wimp or drama queen, but I just focused on sleep. Dorian would take care of the rest.
“We’ll bring him back breakfast.” Emeric’s excited tone would’ve made me smile if I weren’t pretending to be asleep. “He likes apple pie. We can bring him that for breakfast.”
Oh.
“No.” I could almost picture Dorian’s wince as the mattress shifted and he climbed out of bed. “But we’ll look and see what they’ve got. That would be fun for dessert tonight.”
“Yes.” Emeric bounced right back to happy and ready to drag Dorian off to the grocery store, but I was just wondering how he’d remembered the pie thing.
It’d literally been a couple of compliments at one meal, and I only remembered it because the woman who’d made it hung around me for weeks after until she’d thankfully met her mate at the next solstice festival. “He’ll like that. It’s his favorite.”
The pup’s memory was frighteningly good.
“We’ll remember that then, but we’re going to be focused on filling up the pantry and making sure he has stuff for meals this week.
It’s going to take us a few trips to do that so this one needs to be focused on necessities.
” Dorian was going to need all his teaching tricks to keep the pup focused on that.
“Okay, have you brushed your teeth? Are you ready to go?”
“Yes. There were extras in the bathroom.” The pride in his voice at having figured that out had me fighting off a smile again. “I knew he wouldn’t be mad at me for getting one. Alpha Braun isn’t like that.”
Good fucking grief.
“You’re right and very smart for realizing that.” Dorian was moving around the room but I couldn’t tell what he’d done until Emeric sighed happily.
A hug of some sort…maybe stroking his head?
“You go wait for me downstairs. I won’t be long.
” Dorian must have thought Emeric needed a purpose because he made an exaggerated thinking sound.
“There’s a notepad in the drawer by the fridge.
Why don’t you get that out and start writing down any meals you think the Alpha would like or any food you know we need. ”
“I can do that.” He didn’t wait for any other instructions because I could hear the elephant thundering through the house again.
We were going to have to teach him to run more quietly.
“Goodness.” Taking a deep breath, Dorian let it out slowly as he walked closer to the bed again. I wasn’t sure what he’d do but finally smiled and almost purred like the pup as Dorian stroked my head too. “Did it sound like he thought he was going to get punished for getting a new toothbrush?”
So he knew I wasn’t asleep?
“Yes.” It’d sounded like he’d have gotten more than punished in his last pack, but my worrying mate didn’t need to hear that. He was already using me as a comfort object, and I didn’t want to add to his stress. “We’ll get answers, don’t worry.”
“I won’t.” Taking another breath to steady himself, he felt calmer as he moved his hand away and started moving around the room again. “We’ll be back in a couple of hours. You need more sleep, though.”
He was so bossy.
It was cute.
“Yes, Wolfchen. Take the blue card in my wallet. Four-five-six-seven.” That got a huff from my mate, but he didn’t call me out or even ask what it meant, which was telling in itself.
It made me smile and somewhere between hearing him grumble to himself about drama queen morons and brushing his teeth, I fell back asleep.
“Braun!”
For fuck’s sake.
She spoke like Emeric walked.
“Yes, mother?”
If anyone needed to fear their Alpha a little more in our pack, it was her.
“Why are you lazing about?” She was not that stupid, so I ignored her as I sat up and reached my phone.
Fuck.
It was late enough I couldn’t complain.
“Where’s your mate?” My mother was smart enough to stay at the bottom of the stairs but ridiculous enough to wake me up because while curiosity might’ve killed the cat, it got the wolf in trouble too. “His car is gone. Where’s the pup?”
“At the grocery store.” Hopefully buying real food and not a thousand things Emeric thought was fascinating but wouldn’t actually make a real meal.
I did that enough on my own and we didn’t need another person making a mess of grocery shopping.
“I’ll be right down, but if you want me to give you anything to gossip about you’re going to make me coffee. ”
She snickered, sounding pleased with herself. “Deal.”
She’d already made me coffee.
I should’ve smelled it right away, but in my defense, I’d just woken up and the only thing I could smell was the scent of Dorian on my sheets.
The crazy woman had woken me up from a damned good dream.
But she was a crazy woman who I was related to and sometimes liked, so I quickly traded pajamas for sweats and a T-shirt and made my way downstairs.
She let me get to the kitchen but couldn’t wait to start pestering until after I’d gotten caffeine.
“So? Tell me about him? Emeric said he’s a math teacher and smart and manages you very well. ”
Emeric probably had said all of that and more, but I waited until I’d poured myself a cup and took my first sip to react.
“He’s human, mother. So you’re going to take your time and keep the mate word out of your mouth until he’s had a chance to get to know me more.” When she rolled her eyes, I glared at her. “I’ve known him less than twenty-four hours. He’s human.”
He felt the connection…I didn’t doubt that, but he also didn’t seem to be ready for the whole you’re my mate and we’re meant for each other conversation.
No matter how many romance novels the man had to have read.
“Fine.” Her grudging agreement meant she’d already realized that and was just fucking with me.
I needed more coffee before I could deal with her.
“Dorian and Emeric went to the grocery store because I didn’t have anything to feed either of them.” Or me. “I’ve got questions about that.”
She huffed and rolled her eyes…probably pissed she didn’t get more information about Dorian out of me. “Someone is feeling entitled.”
Really?
“Someone is feeling exhausted because he was up for nearly three days between council meetings, driving, and then having to work at the station because no one else was sober enough to do it.” I didn’t feel bad when she winced dramatically, but I did silently celebrate my win.
“I’m also going to start looking at the schedule around here because I’m not going to tell my mate I’m the only one working. ”
Dorian wasn’t going to like how long my days had been lately.
Going silent for a moment, she stood up to get herself a cup of coffee. “We’ll look at that. You’ve been doing more than I think I realized.”
Bullshit.
“What’s important now is making sure your mate feels welcome.” Her tone was warm until she opened my fridge. “What the fuck? Where is your creamer?”
Had she been listening to me at all?
“I don’t have milk, sugar, creamer or anything.
Hell, I don’t even have cereal.” I hadn’t been just randomly complaining.
“It’s been like this for weeks. I get a bag of random bits and that’s it.
I’d have been more pissed if I was paying and not getting any food but the pack account isn’t showing any charges for groceries and everyone keeps claiming not it. ”
They were all playing hot potato with the fucking job.
“I take more shifts than anyone else in exchange for help and so they can be with their families. I’m not getting help and my mate thinks I’m incompetent.
” When it came to feeding myself at least…
and having boundaries. “That was not a good first impression but he was distracted enough with Emeric turning up that he wasn’t too frustrated. ”
And her head cocked.
“Didn’t he bring Emeric?” When I just groaned and closed my eyes, she frowned. “Emeric said Dorian helped him come to the pack…or something like that. His mouth was full of chocolate and pineapple at the time.”
Great.
My quiet morning had just gotten shot to hell.
Forty minutes and another cup of coffee later, she was completely up to date and dead set on volunteering at the animal shelter.
I just ignored that part and focused on the things I could control.
“If I don’t hear back from Macy by midafternoon, I’m calling the council.
I’ve given her as much space as I can. She’s not in danger but that’s all I know. ”
She might’ve been pissed but that just registered as a background noise. The bond between the pack and their Alpha was designed as a warning system, not a way to stalk everyone. It’d have driven me nuts otherwise.
“I agree.” Buzzing around the kitchen, she sighed. “I know a few people in that area…old friends…I could make up an excuse about thinking of them and calling to catch up. Nothing confrontational or obvious.”
I might not have trusted her about a lot of things, but pack business was something she wouldn’t fuck with.
Unlike me.
“I think that’s a good idea. At the very least we need to know more about what’s going on down there…any rumors…that kind of thing.” Someone had to know more even if they didn’t realize it. “I’m hoping Emeric will open up more today, but Dorian and I haven’t wanted to push.”
She paused as she turned toward the back door. “I haven’t seen enough trauma in children to know what to tell you, but I think that’s what I’ve seen people advise.”
So we were both operating on TV and rumors.
Great.
“We’re going to need a therapist he can talk to at some point.” Her head cocked and she slowly nodded. “I figured the Bigfoot community has to have one even if they’re just doing online appointments.”
We usually needed to smell someone to be comfortable with them, though, so I wasn’t sure if that would work or not.
Her wince said she was thinking something along the same lines. “We’ll figure it out.”
When she left without telling me what to do, I knew she had no idea either. I just couldn’t decide if that made me feel better or not…and coffee wasn’t giving me the answer either.
It was making me hungry, though, so I grabbed two of the brownies Emeric had found and headed upstairs, hoping Dorian wouldn’t notice when he got back.
Leaving an even number in the package seemed like a smarter plan than having one missing, but I was pretty sure Emeric could’ve helped me design a better plan.
The kid was smart but all thoughts of him faded as I went back to my room and let myself drown in Dorian’s scent. I wasn’t sure he’d ever understand but after him sleeping in the room, it was like having him wrapped all around me.
My mate.
Grabbing his pillow off the bed, I headed into the bathroom again and set it on the counter. Dorian was probably going to have a heart attack, but the thought of him made me smile as I locked the door and turned on the shower.
As steam filled the room, I stripped and couldn’t resist taking another deep breath of the musky, breakfasty scent that was all Dorian.
Most humans had a faint grassy smell to me that always felt unfinished, but Dorian was like walking through the woods after a rain or the kitchen after the best breakfast in the world.
Climbing in the shower, as I let the spray pound over me, I couldn’t help imagining how he’d smell as he raced through the woods. Adrenalin pumping. Desire radiating from him. Just enough fear to make his scent spicy and warm.
He looked so buttoned up and proper, but as I wrapped my hand around my cock and started pumping, I couldn’t help imagining how he’d look naked in the woods.
Running.
Trying to hide.
Crying out when I finally caught him.
Begging when I finally knotted him.
Taking in his scent, I held it in as my cock throbbed and my knot started to pulse. Squeezing it wasn’t enough, but it was all I had as my orgasm burst out of me and cum shot out into the hot spray of the shower.
It wasn’t anywhere near as good as it was going to be with Dorian, but my wonderfully bossy mate was human, and I had no idea how that was going to change our mating. But no matter what, I had a sexy mate, a strong right hand, and unlimited hot water.