Chapter 40
Everly POV
Yesterday was rough, last night even tougher. I didn’t get any sleep; my entire body was aching from tossing and turning. The mate bond grew stronger each time I saw him, and the pain of denying it was getting harder to ignore. I rolled out of bed and to the sound of soft murmurs. That meant Zoe was awake as I heard her trying to wake Casey in the room beside mine. Getting to my feet, I quickly opened my door to see her in all her bedhead glory. She yawns and smiles at me.
“Morning,” she says, turning her attention back to Casey’s open door before she does a double take. She steps away from me, and Casey goes to step out of her room when Zoe shoves her back inside the door and quickly shut it. Casey bangs on the door.
“Just a minute, sweetie,” Zoe says before gripping my arm.
“What happened? Did that bastard hurt you? I will fucking kill him,” she whispers with venom in her voice.
“Swear Jar,” Casey calls through the closed door while I try to figure out what had got into her.
“Huh?”
0.00%
x+
4*
O
O
<
Chapter 40
1288 (Vouchers Zoe ushers me into the bathroom, turning me to look in the mirror, and I gasp at what I see. There’s blood smeared my face, and the dark rings under my eyes look like I got into a fight… no, lost a fight. I reach for a washcloth and quickly wash my face, but there is no bruising or sign of physical injuries.
“Must be a nosebleed,” I tell her, which was something that was becoming more frequent. Whenever I saw him, it seemed to me that something would get worse, headaches nosebleeds. I blink at my reflection before leaning in when I notice the discoloration of the whites around my eyes, no longer white but blood red.
“What the fuck?” I whisper.
“You need to figure out something soon, Everly.”
“It’s fine; I will go see a doctor,” I tell her, though I knew it was pointless.
“No, you need to see your mate. Or mark someone,” Zoe gasps, and I stare at her in the mirror. Her eyes were watery, and as she watched me, concerned.
“It’s been four and half years, Everly, and you are already deteriorating. What will it be like in another five years? How much worse?”
I shrug. I had no idea, but clearly, that wasn’t the answer she
10.21%
x+
|||
O
<
Chapter 40
18 288 Vouchers was after because she stalked off down the hall. The moment I step out of the bathroom; I hear a shriek before her voice reaches my ears.
“The bodyguard right, geez, you scared the crap out me.”
Walking into the living room, I find Tatum sitting up. “You get many breaks–in to sleep on your uncomfortable sofa?” he groans, and I hear his back crack. He tosses the blanket aside before making his way to the kitchen and flicking the kettle
- on.
“Coffee?” he asks, giving Zoe the once over. She is wearing her silky pajamas with kittens on them and rainbow toe socks.
“Nice socks,” Tatum smirks, and she glares at him. He was barking up the wrong tree if he was going to mock her socks, she had an entire collection of those toe socks, and in the wintertime, she even liked to wear them with her flip flops. She called them her winter editions flip flops. She growls at him, and he purrs back at her, which shuts her up quickly before she pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him.
“Uncle Tatum,” Valarian screams, rushing out. Anything would think they knew each other all their lives with Valarian’s excitement. At the same time, Tatum scooped him up, there was a knock on the door. I hadn’t seen Valarian look so alive in
ages.
“That would be your father, kiddo,” Tatum says, placing him down. Valarian moves to the door and swings it open before
21.55%
|||
O
Chapter 40
bouncing on the balls of his little feet.
“You came back; you came back!!” he squeals eagerly.
11 788 4wkes
“I pinky promised, didn’t I?” Valen tells him, picking him up. He steps into the apartment, and the apartment suddenly feels smaller, with two bulky men taking up space.
“Coffee, boss,” Valen nods to Tatum before Tatum turns to
- me.
“Coffee, what happened to your eyes?” he says, shoving past the table and knocking a chair over.
“Allergies,” I state as he grips my face with his huge sausage fingers. Zoe scoffs beside me, and he glances at her before raising an eyebrow at me when I swat his hands away. Valen comes over and grips my face, and I jerk away from his tingling touch.
“Allergies?” he questions when Valarian suddenly speaks against me.
“Mom gets them all the time, and her nose bleeds. She gets a lot of nosebleeds,” Valarian says, and I press my lips in a line. Valen looks at me, and his lips part before he nods and looks at Valarian.
“Well, mommy needs to see a doctor. I will take her,” he tells Valarian, and I go to object when Zoe adds her two cents
34.99%
x+
||| O <
Chapter 40
worth.
19 288 Nouchers
“Good idea, she sees doctor Mary at the rogue center,” Zoe says, folding her arms across her chest, and I notice Tatum’s eyes dart to her cleavage. I glare at her.
“My mate is not going to a rogue center,” Valen states before realizing what he said to Zoe, who is also a rogue.
“And why is that?” she says, dropping her hands to her waist and popping her hip. Oh, careful, Valen, you may just get into an argument you can’t win with her.
“Good enough for rogues. It should be good enough for everybody, or are you admitting that this city is discriminative?” she says with a glare.
Valen says nothing, just turns away from her, choosing not to answer. Good thing, too, because Zoe was a firecracker before her morning coffee. Never cross paths with Zoe if she is in a bad mood and hasn’t had her morning coffee yet. She may be small, but damn she got a good right hook. You only have to ask the pool boy to know that or Macey’s brother.
“Okay, how about we get you ready for school Valarian?” asks Valen while walking off into his room down the small hall. Tatum hands me a coffee giving me a worried look before handing me an extra cup.
“For the boss.”
45.70%
||| O
<
Chapter 40
288 Vouchers
“Your boss. Not mine,” I tell him stalking off down the hall to find my mate and Valarian. Stepping into the room, Valarian pulls his clothes out of the wardrobe while Valen looks
around. Stopping beside him, he takes his mug from my hand and sips it.
“Does not look like a kid’s room,” he mumbles to me.
“Valarian doesn’t like a mess,” I whisper back.
“You know I can hear you, right?” Valarian asks as he laid his clothes on the bed neatly.
Valen chuckles and turns around and Valarian eyes his father’s cup before going over to his little desk, pulling out two coasters, and sitting them on his bedside table.
Valen exhales just like I had seen his son do many times when he found something relaxing. Apparently, coasters are relaxing. Placing mine on the coaster, I move to his wardrobe, retrieving his shoes from the bottom and placing them beside his perfectly made bed. It was one of the first things he did.
The moment he got up, he made his bed. I had even caught him making Casey’s or remaking mine. That’s one of the reasons I made sure to shut my door every morning.
Sometimes his compulsions became a little much. I was more a roll–out of the bed every morning and made the bed before I climbed back in it sort of person.
57.32%
K+
||| O
<
Chapter 40
12
We help him get ready, and Valen watches everything like he was learning something new. It made me nervous while I gel my son’s hair and flatten his collar when Valen suddenly started unbuttoning his shirt. I just buttoned because Valarian whined about the collar not being completely wrinkle–free. How either of them could spot the tiny crease was beyond
- me.
“It isn’t necessary I ironed it the other day,”
“I can feel it, I can feel it, I know it’s there,” Valarian cries as Valen undid the last button.
“I will do it,” Valen tells him, giving him a worried look as Valarian’s tone threatened a meltdown
“Breathe, buddy. It isn’t the end of the world; it can be fixed,” Valen states, walking out before stopping in the hall. He scratched his head before looking back at me.
“Where do you keep your ironing board and iron?” he asks.
“Ah, the laundry where else?”
“Well, mine is in my linen closet,” he says with a shrug.
“See, I told you and Zoe it belongs in there,” Valarian huffs.
“Yes, the dryer puts lint on…”
69.68%
||| O <
Chapter 40
1288 Vouchers
“The ironing board,” they both say at the same time, and I fold my arms and raise an eyebrow. Valen chuckles and shakes his head.
“Definitely, my kid,” he chuckles, walking off to find the laundry.
While the kids ate breakfast, I am onto my second cup of coffee when Valen glances up at me briefly while he cut Valarian’s pancakes.
“I will be by at one to pick you up,” Valen states. Now, what did he want? It was bad enough I had spent my early waking hours with him this morning.
“And why is that? Valarian doesn’t finish school until three.”
“I am taking you to see the doctor,”
“No, I will go myself. You don’t need to come to the doctor with me; I am fine.”
“I will pick you up at one.”
“Valen!” I spit at him, and he pins me with a glare, his aura slipping out, and my grip on my mug tightens.
“I will pick you up at one; it isn’t up for discussion.”
79.94%
III O <
Chapter 40
1288 (Vouchers
Valarian glances between us. The tension in the room is so thick you could cut it with a knife.
Tatum clears his throat, and I feel thankful when he changes the subject.
Valen ended up taking Valarian and Casey to school much to Casey’s amusement. She happily kept asking if being Alpha meant he could kill people and get away with it before asking if she could banish her teacher because she and Valarian said she looked like a poodle.
I shake my head at that, but Valen politely answers all her questions before offering to take her to school. Zoe ends up giving in when she gets a call from Casey’s father, who she had been trying to avoid since his parents found out about Casey.
Walking through the hotel, I head for my office. I wave and smile at my secretary as I pass her before escaping into my office. Turning the lock, I move toward my desk only to freeze. Alpha Kalen is there, sitting behind my desk. His leg crosses over the other in a reclined position.
“Good morning, Everly. I thought it was a good idea that I stop by for a little chat.”
I purse my lips, folding my arms across my chest.
“Is that so?” I ask.
88.67%
(+
a
|||
O
く
Chapter 41
