Honey, nuts & lilies

Upset

Matteo's POV

At the family dinner, I paid close attention to my mate. She looked sad. Like she was about to burst into tears. And I hated that. I hated that I didn't know what was troubling her. She talked to Will and Aiden, congratulating them on their recent marking...Oh...

She was still probably not okay with the news that the doctor told her. I knew she wanted to wear my mark around proudly, and I felt the same, but I wouldn't do it if it meant harming her.

Rout was just taking a shower after the whole day, not wanting me there. Which was quite strange. It became a constant in my life – showering or bathing with my mate.

We definitely needed to talk things out. Tomorrow marked the start of a weekend, and I didn't have any work to do, so, I will confront her about that.

-----

"You smell lovely. Is it that new shampoo that Layla gave you?" I asked as Rout cuddled closer to me after joining me in our bed.

"Yeah." Her eyes were barely hanging open.

"Come on, let's sleep." I got up, turning the lights off and losing my t-shirt along the way. When you have a cuddly mate, you get hot really easily during the night.

Rout waited for me to return and once I was there, she lied on top of my chest. Did I have a full face covered with her hair? Yes. But did I mind? No.

-----

When I woke up, Rout was already wide awake, staring at her phone.

"Morning." I muttered and kissed her temple. She smiled at me and greeted me back. I laid my head on her shoulder, looking at the small screen with her. She ruffled my hair and focused on the conversation with Lindsey that she had open.

"Lindsay is asking when she can come over." My mate said, looking at me, expecting me to talk.

"You don't have to ask for permission. She can come over whenever you want." Her smile grew into a big one.

"Okay, then I will tell her to come this afternoon. We haven't seen each other for a long time."

I gave her a nod, and turned my head to her neck, breathing in the sweet scent of lilies.

-----

We had a nice breakfast, munching on the left-over fruits on the way back to our room. I realized I had to hold a meeting with the Moon pack. Surprisingly, Ed was now the head Beta of that pack, slowly but surely working on making the pack a better place with better people. A lot of them died because of Rout's father. Ed thought he had to do something to repay all the others for what he did. After all, he was the one that started this whole fiasco.

But now, that we had few hours to ourselves, I thought it would be the perfect time to talk to Rout about what has been going on.

"Bun?" I started, seeing as she was about to plop down on the sofa.

"Yeah?"

"Can we cuddle?" I asked, knowing very well she couldn't say no to cuddles.

"Okay, bed or sofa?" She asked in return.

"You choose." She motioned to the bed, and it was obvious why. The bed was almost twice the size of the sofa, making it more comfortable to lay down on.

I sat down, waiting for her to come to me. When she did, she sneaked her palms under the hoodie I was wearing, caressing my stomach. It became a habit of hers. She had the need to drag her fingers across my abs, circling them around my belly button. It was some type of calming technique for her.