Chapter Thirty-Nine – Hayden
Walking into the house, Kayla and I are greeted by the smell of something delicious.
Kayla immediately gives me a questioning look, but all I do is let my nose lead the way for us both, and soon enough we come into the kitchen, where Bradford is busy cooking what looks to be a three-course dinner, complete with bread rolls, all the sides anyone could ask for, and a nice, thick roast.
He told me he was going to do something special and try cooking dinner for us, but I honestly didn’t believe him.
This? This is nice, though. I could definitely get used to it.
“What’s all this?” Kayla asks as she moves closer to Bradford near the stove.
“Tonight’s a special night,” Bradford says, and then he leans his tall frame down to place a kiss on her lips.
Only when that kiss is over does he add, “I wanted to make it even more special. Why don’t you go shower?
The roast still has a bit of time left in the oven.
Hayden can help me get everything ready. ”
Kayla and I spent the last few weekends moving everything we’d need over to this house, so all of her clothes, toiletries, and her favorite blankets were already here.
Same with my stuff and Bradford’s things.
Have to say, after living by myself for so many years, it’s still a change to me to be living with two other people.
My pack.
Crazy, huh? Now, I’m not one of those brooding lone wolf types, not like Pax was before he met Raeka and Gideon, but it just never happened for me. I focused on my work and thought things would work out however they were supposed to—and they did. I found my pack during a job. Who would’ve thought?
Kayla glances between me and Bradford before she walks off, and both of us watch her go. Anytime she leaves the room, our eyes are glued onto her like magnets.
She’s much healthier now than she was before. Before, she was still beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but now… now her body isn’t just skin and bones. Let’s just say I really like the smooth curves of her backside.
I let out a sigh when she’s no longer in sight, and then I have to wrestle my focus back to reality as I ask Bradford, “What do you need help with?”
“You can help me set up the dining room.” His dark eyes narrow in my direction as he asks, “You do know how to correctly set up a table for dinner, don’t you?”
“Are you going to ask me what the difference is between a salad fork and a regular fork again? Sorry I wasn’t raised to know the differences between utensils like you.” Though I’m mocking him, it’s all in good nature, and I can’t fight the grin that spreads on my face right then.
Bradford groans. “Must you wear that goofy look?” He might still act like I bother him, but if he wanted to keep his enigmatic aloofness, well… it’s too late for that. He might not have ever said it aloud, but he doesn’t have to. I know the guy likes me.
“Actually, yes, I must,” I quip. “But don’t worry, I’ll get the table set up to your standards.” I go to the drawer with the utensils.
“Napkins and plates first, utensils last.”
“So bossy,” I mutter, though I’m still grinning ear to ear. “One of these days I’m going to boss you around and see how you like it.”
“Go ahead and try.”
As I grab some plates from an upper cabinet, I can’t help but chuckle softly. Kayla’s not the only one who’s changed. Bradford has, too. It’s weird to see him here; it’s been just Kayla and me visiting and getting things ready for him to officially move in, but that’s not all of it.
No, Bradford is fundamentally different.
He’s lighter, and not in a physical weight sense.
Without his father being alive, without the pressure of Alpha Life’s success weighing him down, he holds himself better.
Where he used to be a quiet, sullen, semi-angry über alpha all the time, he’s now come into himself.
Our pack leader. Still feels weird calling him that, but that’s what he is.
The dining room is adjacent to the kitchen in a cozy nook surrounded on three sides by windows.
From it, you can see into the backyard, at the stamped concrete patio where we’ll probably have a lot of cookouts come summertime.
My family is dying to come see the house, but I told them we’d like some time to ourselves once Bradford officially moves in.
I take my time in setting up the table—and I do have to search the internet to see the correct placement of the silverware, just to make Bradford happy.
If you really want to irk the guy, all you have to do is talk with food in your mouth, or chew food with your mouth open.
Those two things bother him something fierce.
By the time Kayla joins us, wearing a fresh set of clothes and sporting some damp hair, the table is set and all the food is spread. Bradford and I lead her into the dining nook, and her green eyes rake over the table and the plentiful food on it.
“Wow,” she whispers. “Everything looks so good.” To Bradford, she says, “I still can’t believe you did all of this.”
“I got the monitor off at nine this morning, so I had time,” he tells her. “I wanted to make tonight special.”
She stands between us, the omega in this alpha sandwich, and she looks at each of us before she says, “It is special. It’s our first night together in our new home.
It still feels weird. A part of me never thought this day would come.
” She bites her bottom lip and looks down to her feet.
“I’m just happy to be here with you guys. ”
I set a hand on her lower back. “We’re happy, too.”
Bradford nods along with me, and then he steps forward and pulls out the chair she stands in front of: the one at the head of the table. “Your spot, Kayla,” he says, earning him an immediate confused expression from our omega.
“Shouldn’t you sit there?” she asks.
The table itself is plenty long. It can seat ten people easily; four on each side and two at either end.
Typically, the person who sits at the head of the table is the head of the pack, the one in charge, but I think both Bradford and I know that, while he’s our official pack leader, he’s not so much the one in charge.
No, that honor belongs to the five-foot-nothing woman standing next to us.
Without her, where would we be? Certainly not here. Truly, the only person who deserves that spot at the table is Kayla.
“No,” he says. “This spot is reserved for you.”
Kayla blushes, and she doesn’t say another word as she accepts the seat at the head of the table.
Bradford and I take the chairs on either side of her, and then we dig in.
We have to help her fill her plate since she can’t reach everything on the table, and we probably load her up a little too much, but what is tonight if it’s not about excess?
Tonight’s the night we finally make our bond official.
Once she wears the scars of our bites, the entire world will know she’s taken, even when she’s not with us.
Her scent will be forever mixed with ours, and any unmatched alpha who comes across her will know she’s unavailable.
She’ll be safer. We’ll always be able to feel her, even when we’re not with her.
It’s crazy, isn’t it? Like magic, only it’s real. These mate marks, these bonding bites… they’re as good as permanent. I’ve heard some stories of people breaking through their bonds, but I personally can’t imagine doing something like that.
For the next few minutes, everyone is busy eating—until Kayla says what we’re all thinking: “This is all really good, Bradford. I didn’t know you were such an amazing cook.”
“Yeah,” I agree with her, “maybe we don’t have to order so much takeout.”
Bradford ignores my comment, choosing to instead focus on what our omega said. “Thank you. I made dessert, too—but I figure we could save that for later tonight.” Though he doesn’t outright say it, both Kayla and I know what he means.
Dessert is for tonight, when we have something to celebrate, such as two new marks on her neck, when we can feel her in our very souls.
Kayla, in the year we’ve gotten to know, love, and cherish her, has an obvious thing for sweets. Donuts, cake, candy; she’ll devour it all. The moment Bradford says something about dessert, she perks right up.
What starts out as a sweet dinner turns into something else.
Other things are clearly on our minds, because somewhere along the way, it turns into an unspoken contest of who can eat the fastest. Our Kayla, as small as her stature still is, can pack food away like no problem now, to the point where she can almost keep up with how fast I eat.
It’s only when we’re all staring at empty plates that Bradford suggests, “Why don’t you two go upstairs and… get started on things? I’ll clean this up and join you after.”
Hey, he doesn’t have to say it twice. The moment he suggests it, I’m jerking to my feet and grabbing Kayla’s hand.
I’m tempted to say something smart as Kayla and I walk away, but my mind is too excited over what’s going to happen.
Anything I could’ve said wouldn’t have landed well. The anticipation is simply too much.
For good reason, too. This is something we’ve all been waiting for for what feels like forever.
When Kayla mentioned she wanted to wait until we were out of that house, I agreed; too many awful memories there, even if we made some of our own good ones.
Can’t forget that’s not only the house Bradford experienced all of his abuse in, but it’s where her brother shot me and where she, in turn, shot and killed him.
Yeah, not exactly the kind of place you want to remember as the start of your forever.