The Descendent Protectors

Chapter Thirty-Eight

He hummed in response, his eyes studying my motions as I shifted on my seat and began standing up. I moved towards my dresser, pulling the drawers and sneaking quick glances inside.

"Will you keep your apartment?" Xavier asked me after a few moments of comfortable silence.

I exhaled a breath, thinking over the decision I'd made earlier during our flight. If I were to pay rent for the new place Ariel and I are thinking of moving to, there's no way I could also keep this one; I'm already running on a tight budget. "No, I can't afford to pay two rents."

I glanced over to gauge his reaction, and I found a slight frown creeping up his features. Xavier's confused silver gaze stared at me, as the wheels continued to turn in the back of his mind.

"I thought you were moving into our home."

I took a sharp intake of breath, his words tightening my stomach. I shouldn't have been surprised that Xavier expected me to move in, after everything that's happened between us; but for some reason the thought hadn't crossed my mind.

When I couldn't form any proper response to his invitation, Xavier spoke up once again, the words rolling off his tongue slowly as he emphasized every word. "You're our-" he hesitated for a second, then continued, "my Luna, Nora. I want you to move in to our home, and be beside me."

My heart clenched and unclenched tightly in my chest, I feared I might have a heart attack. Was I ready to do that?

I had come to accept, and even believe, that Xavier and I might actually be soulmates. The stories he spoke to me of went hand-in-hand with the indescribable feelings that were harbored in my chest; and I couldn't make any other sense of it. And after everything that we had gone through, a voice deep within my heart spoke in loud volumes that I would, in fact, go above and beyond for him and his pack.

His pack, our pack, fought to come and rescue me when I needed them the most. They didn't hesitate one second when they had to risk their own lives in order to save mine, in order to avenge me and the pain and suffering that was induced by Darius and his men.

All while I was still a stranger to them.

If that didn't speak volumes of the length they were willing to go to in order to protect me, and how much they cared for me, I don't know what will. And even though I still felt like a stranger to them, somehow, they had already found a place in the deepest parts of my heart. They are my new family, and I know that I would fight for them with just the same amount of ferocity as their undying loyalty to their home, Alpha, and now - their Luna.

My thoughts were interrupted when loud, impatient knocks came from down the hall. Eyes shifting to the front door, I excused myself from Xavier's watchful gaze and headed down the hall towards the front door.

Ariel stood on the other side of the door with a frown on her face, balancing a tray with two drinks in one hand while sipping from her own drink in her other. "Where have you been? I've been knocking for nearly an hour."

I rolled my eyes at her exaggeration and stepped to the side to allow her in.

"How far in are you? With the packing and all?" She spoke in rushed sentences. Once inside my apartment, Ariel twirled to look at me with gleaming eyes. Her excitement was so prominent on her features that it could be noted from a block away.

"I'd say halfway," I shrugged, not entirely sure with my answer.

If I accepted Xavier's offer of moving into his family home, and was free of paying rent for the new place I'll be staying at, I might actually keep this apartment. And if so, then I wouldn't really need to pack everything up.