Little Dahlia

Ch. 18 - Past

Harley pulls away after a few moments. Rayna whimpers.

"I don't want you to leave me," she whines. For some reason, her lip starts to tremble and her voice breaks.

"Hey, hey, don't cry, baby. It'll all be okay. I'm right here, aren't I? And I'm not going anywhere. I'm not gonna leave you," he assures her, pulling her into his chest.

"I- I'm s- s- sorry," she mumbles. "I- I don't kn- know why I'm s- s- so emotional," she stutters, pulling away.

"It's probably the mark, baby. It's okay," he explains. She nods, agreeing. "We should get out of bed now."

She shakes her head and pouts.

*~*~*~*

A little after they have lunch, Rayna remembers that book she was reading. The Flower Wolves. She was sitting in the bay window, drawing in her sketchbook, when she zones out.

"What are you thinking about?" Harley asks, not focusing well with his mate sitting just across the room from him.

"When I was in the library, there was this book I was reading . . ." she tells him.

"Oh, yeah. What book was it?"

"The Flower Wolves."

"Right. I can have someone grab it, or there's an audio version."

"C- Could I have the audio version?"

"Of course."

Harley's eyes glaze over with a grey tint, and he stares off into space, showing he was mind-linking someone. It was only a few moments before he was back to normal, typing away on his laptop keyboard. Rayna nods, guessing that that's that, and turns back to her sketch. It was just of a bunch of different kinds of flowers wrapped up in a bouquet.

After a few minutes, there's a knock on the door, slightly startling Rayna, though she realizes she should've expected it. Harley gets up and answers it. With a few words she doesn't care to pick up on and the exchange of an object, Rayna has the audio version of the book and is free to listen to her hearts content.

*~*~*~*

Rayna is tired of drawing and has already listened to at least ten chapters of The Flower Wolves. It is very interesting, but she's tired of it, too. She wonders how Harley can just sit still at a desk all day.

"Harley," she whines, flopping on the bed.

"Yes, baby?" he asks, not looking away from his computer.

"I wanna cuddle."

"I'm still working, baby."

"Can't you take a quick cuddle break?"

"I'm the Alpha King, sweetheart. Breaks, even cuddle breaks, aren't allowed."

She rolls her eyes and gets up, walking over to him.

"You're right. You are the Alpha King. You work all day, so . . . you deserve a break. Besides," she leans down to whisper in his ear, "who's gonna know?"

He shivers, still unsure of how he feels about this new side of Rayna.

"Uhm," he stutters. "No one, I guess, but work is still work . . ."

"Please?" Rayna whines, giving Harley her puppy eyes.

"Okay," he says softly, turning off his laptop. She smiles brightly and crawls back into bed, waiting for him. He smiles softly at her, all of the work he has yet to do plaguing his mind, and walks over. He crawls into bed with her, and she lays on top of him.