The sunlight finally became too bright to ignore as I groan, not wanting to get up and go to meetings today. A giggle burst out of my mate as she lays on my chest. I open an eye and arch a brow at her questionly.
"You're so cute when you're grumpy in the morning." She says sweetly before turning her head to lay a soft kiss above my heart. I squeeze my arm, pulling her closer.
"I prefer to stay in bed with you all day to meetings with egotistical Alphas." I explain.
"I should hope so." She says with another giggle. A smile tugs at my lips as I listen to her tease me.
"Come on you two, you need to get ready for the day." Tyler says as he exits the bathroom with a towel around his waist. I roll my eyes and Rachel slaps my chest lightly. I look at her and she mouths 'be nice' to me. I nod and get up to get showered and dressed for the day. She walks over and kisses Tyler good morning before following me into the bathroom. I pull her into the shower and taste her sweet lips before helping her wash.
Once we finish, we dress and Tyler in his always Alpha dominance says, "Let's go get breakfast." He holds his hand out for her and she grabs it before following him out of the room. I follow and was shocked to see two men standing guard outside of our room.
"You've got to be kidding me." Rachel grumbles as she gets to the elevator. The two men follow and give Rachel a nice smile, which she just glares back at them.
I ignore them as they come in the elevator with us, I put an arm around Rachel's shoulders as she stands between Tyler and I. Once the doors open to the lobby we step out and see many of the Alpha couples in the restaurant.
We lead her in and have breakfast while we ignore the couples around us that were obviously talking about us and the security detail assigned to her by Alexander. After breakfast we walked out to the lobby and before I could ask my mate what she was going to do today while we were in meetings, a piercing scream breaks through the lobby, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
Tyler and I push Rachel behind us as we turn to face where the scream came from to see a group of women making too much noise coming towards us very quickly.
"Rachellllll OMG you're here!!!" A smaller woman yells as they surround us in the lobby.
"Melanie?" Rachel questions as she tries to peek around my back. I move to allow her access and my mate was quickly yanked from behind me by an older woman in her fifties with salt and pepper hair.
"Sweetheart, I have been trying to reach you! Where on Earth have you been?" The older woman admonishes her as she hugs her closely. Rachel wraps her arms around the women in a bone crushing hug.
"Elle, I am so sorry. I blocked everyone on my phone. I needed space." She says quickly trying to explain.
"Shhhh- I will kill that son of mine, mark my words. I am so happy to see you sweetheart." She says as she pulls back to look her in the eyes. Alexander walks into the lobby and smiles at the women accosting my mate, while the women snarl and growl at him.
He walks over and bends down to kiss the older woman on the cheek before greeting her, "Mother." Then he smiles brightly at my mate before grabbing her hand and gently brushing his lips against her knuckles, Tyler and I both growl at him. "Sugar, you look beautiful today." He says ignoring our obvious displeasure.
Smack! Stunned I look at the tall dark haired woman as she pulled her arm back to hit Alexander again, frozen in shock he quickly recovered to turn around and pull her hand down, "Savannah, stop that."
"Don't touch her you asshole!" She growled out, "You lost that right." They stared at each other intensely before they both agreed to look away at the same time. He released her wrist.
He turns to us and nods before looking back towards the conference room where many of the Alphas lingered watching the exchange. "It's time for the meeting. Let's go." He directs us. Tyler glares at him before moving to stand in front of our mate.
His hand cups her cheek before he leans in and kisses her lips softly, he pulls away and leans in to whisper in her ear, "I'll see you later darling. Call me if you need anything." She nods and smiles at him.
She turns toward me and nervously glances at the people around us. I give her a smile before I open my arms for her. The force of her body colliding with mine almost knocked the wind out of me. I chuckle as I wrap one arm around her shoulders and another around her head. I took a deep breath while letting my nose rest on the crown of her head so I could inhale her sweet scent.
I pressed a kiss to her head before murmuring, "I'll miss you today baby." She squeezes me tightly before letting me go and stepping back. I gave her another smile before I followed Tyler and Alexander to the conference room.
Rachel POV
"They are pretty cute." Melanie says as she wraps an arm around my neck. I laugh as I watch my mates walk into the meeting.
"Yes they are." I say. I turn and look at the four women surrounding me. Elle, Xander's mom, was dressed in a vintage house dress like always, with her salt and pepper hair styled to perfection. She was from Louisiana and all of her kids were as beautiful as her and they all had a touch of her southern accent.
Melanie was beautiful with her massive baby blue eyes and petite frame, just like her sister Daisy. Savannah and Xander favored each other with their impressive height, dark hair, and striking features.
These girls were the sisters I never had. We were practically inseparable when I lived in St. Louis. I forgot how much I missed them. "What are you guys doing here?" I question them.
They give me a duh look before Daisy says, "You really thought that we wouldn't hunt you down and find you? Oh darling, are you stupider than we thought?" I laugh at her and shake my head no. "Good, now we have a full day of fun planned with you." She says as she wraps an arm around my waist, they lead me out the front of the lobby and Daisy rests her head on my shoulder in the SUV and whispers, "I missed my favorite sister."
I let me head rest on her head, as I try to swallow all of the emotion building up in my chest. God, I had missed them. They drove me all over the city as we did all our usual outings, lunch on the Hill, shopping in the Central West End, and we were finally back at Elle's West End home hanging out in the kitchen.
"Ok, I'm dying to know how is it?" Mel asks me with a mischievous look. I arch a brow at her as Savannah and Daisy giggle and Elle smacks her butt with a whisk. "C'mon." Mel whines.
I bite my lip and say, "It's good. I love Tyler and Julian. They are very complementary to each other and we make it work."
"Ughhh, fine don't tell me how amazing the sex is." She grumbles, before squeaking as Elle smacks her a little harder with the whisk.
"Melanie, stop harassing her." Elle says before smiling at me as she begins to whisk the flour mixture in front of her. "Rachel, are you happy?" She says in only a voice a mother could make as they ask their child.
"Yes, I am." I say as I look down.
"What's wrong?" Daisy asks me. Her hand touches my shoulder.
"I just still don't understand Xander." I explain. They all share a look before Savannah rolls her eyes and sighs.
"Neither do we." She pauses and looks at her mom before continuing, "What that asshole did was inexcusable and he has not fully explained to us, other than crying over how heartbroken he is."
"He loves you, that much we can tell you is real and true, the other crap is him being paranoid about many different things. He was so scared to tell you we were wolves, to let you know about the protection detail, and so much more." Daisy tells me.
I nod and move to help Elle make her dessert for dinner tonight. The girls changed the subject and pretty soon we are all smiling and laughing about old stories. The girls quiet down as Xander walks into the kitchen. He smiles down at me as he makes his way over to me.
I keep my guard up as he leans down and kisses my cheek before grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the exit of the kitchen, "Come with me."
"You could go fuck yourself instead?" Savannah suggested.
"Or just leave her the hell alone?" Melanie adds in helpfully.
"It's fine. I need some answers." I say as I pull my hand out of his grip and walk to his office in the house. I take my seat in the high back chair in the corner of the room.
He walks in and leans against his desk, with his arms folded over his broad chest. "What would you like to know about Sugar?"
"Why?" I ask point blank. I let my eyes meet his and I don't blink. He closes his eyes and hangs his head.
"I can't tell you that answer yet sweetheart. I will, I promise I will but not yet."
I scoff at his pathetic answer. "Why did you never tell me you were a wolf?" I ask, letting my aggravation show in my voice.
"I was scared of your response. I didn't know if you would be ok with it. Obviously, you were fine with it. All those times I left, all those calls, it was all being a pack leader. I had to take care of my pack, but I hated every minute of it. I tried to quit but my family wouldn't let me."
I watch him with understanding eyes. I could understand being an Alpha after being mated to two now. I know how demanding it is, and Xanders pack is the largest in the state.
"You could've told me." I whisper. His eyes shoot to mine. In two steps he is in front of me tilting my face up to meet his gaze.
"I see that now. I was so scared you would leave. I struggled balancing my pack and our life. I know I failed you. I will always hate myself for that Sugar. Please know, I wish I could go back and fix all of this. God, I missed having you here. Seeing you laughing with my family. How easy it was for you to become one of us. I miss waking up next to you and falling asleep with you in my arms. I know damn well I fucked everything up, but it doesn't stop my heart from breaking every time I look at your side of the bed or your coffee mug sitting next to the sink because I still can't wash it. I can't wash you away." His fingers tangle in my hair as he pulls me closer.
"Your scent is still everywhere, I hate myself. I can't do this. Tell me, I'm not crazy. Tell me you felt everything too, because when I see those two get to hold your hand or kiss your lips, I'm ready to murder them. I can't stand this. The distance between us, fuck I know, okay? I know it's all my fault, but please, please tell me you felt it too?" He rests his forehead to mine. His breathing ragged and his eyes were wild.
I closed my eyes as every heartbreak, every emotion came right back to the surface. I pushed his chest for space.
"Are you kidding me? Did I feel it? Yes, I felt it! I felt every spark, every kiss, every caress, every single thing with you. You think that I am doing ok because I found my mates? Fuck no Xander. Meeting them didn't magically fix my heart that you shattered. They love me and I love them but fuck you, Xander, because I loved you. I would have done anything for you and every time you make these declarations it's like you rip my chest open again." I say as my breathing becomes labored from screaming at him.
His eyes watch me intensely and they flare when I say I loved him. "You felt sparks too?" He questions. He had asked this question millions of times when we were dating and the answer has never varied. I always feel sparks with him when he touches me.
"Yes you dumbass. I've always told you yes!" I say exasperatedly. He grins and rushes forward to pull me into a bone crushing hug.
"Sugar, I promise you. I will fix all of this. I promise baby girl everything will work out. Please don't lose faith in me. I love you, God, I love you so much Sugar." He says as he kisses the top of my head.
I push him away and growl at him, "Leave me alone. I mean it Xander." I rush past him out of the house and I see my goons waiting for me. I walk up to the most familiar one and say, "Take me home now."
He nods his head and opens a car door, "Yes Luna." I get in and sink down in my seat. As the car rolls away, tears roll down my cheeks. I sat in the passenger seat and cried my eyes out as they drove me back to the hotel. Once they are parked one leans forward and hands me a tissue.
I grab it and dry my face before I get out and walk back to my room. I open the door and both of my mates were in the bed watching TV waiting for me. Their eyes meet mine and I start crying all over again.
Tyler rushes over and pulls me into his chest as I cry, body racking sobs. "Shhhhhh, it's ok sweetheart, I've got you." He murmurs over and over in my ear.