Cody wraps his arms around her and she sighs into his chest as her mate rubs her back. Do you want to go lay down ?
Melissa nods her head and I give her one more hug before they go upstairs to their room. I turn to Joey and give him a small smile. Did you know she was feeling like that ?
Cody just told me that he thought something was off, but he couldn’t figure it out what it exactly was. But I think he’ll feel better now that he knows, he tells me.
We make our way to our room and once we walk in, we notice that Isaac and Oliver are nowhere to be seen and I turn to my mate who looks just as confused as I am. I pull out my phone that has a text from my mom to ask how I’m feeling and when I will be coming home. I ignore it and pull up Isaac’s contact that has a little dog emoji next to it because we all jokingly make fun of him because his wolf is slightly smaller than all of the other ones.
I put the phone up to my ear as the dial tone rings and I don’t have to wait long because he picks up after a few rings. I can hear heavy breathing coming from his side and I immediately know what’s going on. Uh, hey.
Hey, so sorry we didn’t tell you what was going on, but Oliver and I decided that it would be best if we went back to my house, Isaac says as I can hear some unexplainable noises coming through the phone.
Um, okay, that’s fine, just wanted to check in and everything, I tell him, wanting to get off the phone before either he or Oliver decides to finish the deal because that is absolutely not something I would want to hear from my best friends.
Alright, we’ll see you tomorrow, he says before he hangs up.
I stare down at my phone for a few seconds before looking up at Joey. What ?
They were doing something that I don’t really want to speak of, I tell him and he chuckles before walking over to the bed and sitting down on it.
They don’t have sex though, right ? He asks me as I lay down on my side to face him on the bed as he types something on his phone really quick before putting it down on the nightstand to give me his full attention.
Nope, just other stuff, I say as I play with a piece of string that’s sticking out of our comforter. He gives me a small smile as he looks at my position on the bed and lightly kicks my thigh.
I love how happy you are, he whispers.
I’m home, of course I’m happy, I tell him and once my mind registers what I had just said, my eyes widen and I avoid his shocked look. Did I really just call this place home ? I’m only 18 and still in high school, so the only place that’s supposed to be my home is where my parents are, so this is a complete shock to even me.
Did you say ‘home’ ? Joey asks me, sitting up to get a better look at me. I sit up too with a sigh and realize that this talk was going to happen once we graduate anyway because we do need to figure out what’s going to change once we no longer have to worry about school obligations.
I sigh. Well, I spend most of my time here anyways, but I can’t officially move in until once we graduate because my mom would kill me.
I see the cute, little smile on his face as he takes in what I just told him. You’re going to move in here once we graduate ? Like, for real ?
I chuckle, moving forward and swinging my legs on either side of his hips and wrapping my arms around his shoulders. You idiot, of course I was. You’re my mate and I am kinda the alpha as well, so I guess the best idea is to be here instead of 15 minutes away.
His smile widens and he kisses me softly. Only a little bit until you’re officially all mine.
Kade’s POV
I stood staring at the tombstone for a few minutes, resisting the urge to cry as I stared at her name. This was the first time since the funeral that I’ve seen Gigi because I just couldn’t build up the courage to come until right now. I wasn’t even sure I was going to get out of the car until my legs just started moving on their own. I placed the flowers on her grave with shaky hands, hoping that I would just wake up from this terrible nightmare.
I turned around to look at the car and I noticed that Joey was staring down at his phone, probably wanting to give me some privacy at the moment. I kneeled down next to the tombstone, placing my hand on the cold marble, feeling closer to her that way. I don’t know what to say or how to even say it now that you’re gone.
I wiped my eyes with my sleeve, wishing that she could just be here right now. Her smile was always so contagious and she always knew the right thing to say. Seeing her meet Joey was one of the best times in my life because he was so sweet to her and she only ever had nice things to say about him, even with the whole werewolf drama. She started to teach him how to cook and ever since she passed, I noticed the way he was weary of helping his mom in the kitchen.
You’ll never see me get married, have kids, be the leader I was destined to be. I want you to be here, I really do, but I know you’re in a better place. I’ll see you one day and until then, I’ll live my life for you. I promise, I tell her before stepping away from the stone, knowing that I’ll break down if I don’t leave now. I walked through the path until I got to the car where Joey was waiting for me.
When I get in and sit down, I reach over to take my boyfriend’s hand, silently telling him that I needed him. You okay ?
I nod my head, not wanting to open my mouth in case a sob came out of it. I stared down at my feet as he started the car and started to make his way to the quarter house. I decided to shift my mind to think more about the happy things going on at the moment. The elders were closing on where the rogue packs had run off to after we found the warehouse, which means that all of this might be over soon.
I noticed how everyone was acting different around me, along with my own parents. I didn’t know if it had to do with me recovering from being kidnapped, but this was different. It was like they were all hiding something and I was the only one that didn’t know what the secret was. I had tried to ask Joey about it, but he just dismissed it, telling me that everyone’s probably just a bit stressed with everything going on.
We pulled up to the house after the silent car ride and we both got out, going inside to see everyone doing their own thing. Lila was out in her garden while Conner sat at the picnic table with a book, glancing up to look at her every so often. Melissa was painting something at the dining room table while Cody had his laptop in front of him along with a stack of papers.
I followed Joey into our room where he sat down on his desk to start working on some paperwork for the elders. He turned towards me as I sat down on the bed to take off my boots. So Cody and I have a meeting with the guards later and then afterwards, I was hoping we could go to the apartment, just us.
What for ? I ask but excited about the idea of the two of us being alone since the past few weeks, it’s been everyone bombarding me at home and at school to see if I was okay. We had told the school that I had gotten really sick since we couldn’t exactly tell them that some rogues took me and I almost died.
I just thought we could hang out and get away for a bit, he said and I noticed the lying again. This secret, whatever it is, I will be so happy once it’s out in the open because I feel like everyone was walking on eggshells around me and it was starting to get old.
Will you cook for me ? I ask, just to see how he would react.
He looked down at his lap as he ran his fingers together until he gained the courage to look up at me again. I was thinking we could just order in, if that’s alright.
I got up, sitting on his lap because I needed him to know that there are people there for him that wanted to see him do the things he loved. He’s been so focused on helping me grieve my grandmother’s death that I don’t think he ever had the chance to mourn himself. I ran my hand through his hair as he looked up at me. How about we cook together to make you more comfortable ?