Morning came as the house began to stir. Xael had remained cuddled next to her new found Mate for the rest of the night, her pups plastered against her on the other side. Shado was awake but had been enjoying watching her sleep. Having her so close to him was everything at that moment. But nature was calling and he had to use the bathroom. Slowly, he untangled her long muscular limbs from his and slipped out of the bed.
Bladder emptied and hands washed, Shado was relieved that she was still fast asleep when he returned. He stood next to the bed and enjoyed the view of his Mate sleeping, her pups were still stuck beside her, passed out. He smiled then headed towards the kitchen. He had smelt the aroma of coffee and heard voices for the past 30 minutes.
Ms. Emma was getting started on breakfast and already had coffee made. Skylar and her were just chatting away when the Sheriff noticed Shado dragging himself into the kitchen.
"Hey Shado, how's our sleeping beauty doing?"
After a huge yawn, he answered. "Still sleeping with her pups."
"Good. Em, have you ever seen Xael this bad before?" Skylar was glancing over the newspaper.
"No, I think talking about everything last night aggravated things for her."
"Mn."
"Breakfast will be ready in a bit Adam!" Ms. Emma brought him a cup of coffee and returned to the stove to finish cooking.
"Thank you ma'am."
There was the sound of the front door closing, Xael was up after sensing that Shado was gone. She let her pups out to run for a while. She had on sweats and a hoody with the hood up. Her long hair flowed out from under it and down the front of her chest. Dragging herself into the kitchen, she made her way over to Shado and moved a chair right next to him. She sat down and curled up to him again, her head resting on his shoulder, as she hugged her knees to her chest. He turned and kissed her on the head.
"How's the head Pup?" Skylar peeked at her over his paper
"...mnn."
Skylar laughed at the half asleep, half awake reply.
"You want some breakfast hun?" Xael shook her head no.
She was pretty much asleep again. Shado moved the hood back to check the gash on her forehead. It was surprisingly healed over and she had removed the bandages.
"So Shado what are you two lovebirds going to do today?" Skylar was on his second cup of coffee and just finished reading the paper.
"I need to go by my place for some clothes and I was thinking of going into the city today."
"Oh! What time? I need to pick up some things."
"Whenever you're ready Ms. Emma."
"Let's all go! I'll treat you ladies to lunch for all the help with the lodge, you to Shado." Skylar was glad to have a day off and wanted to make the most of it.
Shado turned to Xael who was still resting on his shoulder. "You okay with going into the city today." She wrapped herself around his arm tighter and shook her head yes. But no one was convinced that she was. She was acting strange.
Xael looked up, her piercing grey eyes were brighter than normal, almost white, with a stark black ring around them. If you didn't know any better, you could definitely tell she was Wolfen. They followed her grandmother around the kitchen with sharp precision. Ms. Emma felt eyes boring into her back and turned.
"Xael, honey? Why are your eyes like that?"
She hid her face into Shado's shoulder. "I don't know, I woke up and they were like this."
Shado just realized he hadn't seen her eyes either, he turned to her "Let me see your eyes babe." Xael slowly raised her head and gazed into her Mate's eyes.
"Whoa..."
"Pupkins let me look." Skylar was getting a little worried.
She peeked over at him from under the hoody. He didn't know what to make of it either. He looked at Ms. Emma and shrugged his shoulders in confusion.
"How do feel Pupkins?"
"Fine." Which Xael had said through a huge yawn.
Everyone laughed as the plates of food were placed in front of them. Even though Xael said she wasn't hungry, that didn't stop her from taking a strip of bacon off of Shado's plate.
"I thought you weren't hungry babe?"
"I'm not, I just wanted some of your food."
Shado shook his head. His Mate was a handful and then some, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
Xael jolted up and frantically looked around, frowns all over her face.
"What?" Everyone was in unison with the question when Xael groaned loudly and sighed in what could only be disgust.
"What is it Pupkins?" Skylar had stopped eating.
"I smell a skunk..." Xael got up and went to the front door and out on the front porch were 'Fric-n- Frac', sitting with the guiltiest looks ever. During their morning run they had cornered a skunk and lost terribly. She couldn't help but laugh as she led them around the house, to the back deck. Making the two sit, she headed into the house.
"What happened, hun?"
"Oh, those two hooligans got skunked!" Everyone laughed, which helped lighten the morning.
"Poor babies."
"Grams do you still have that scent stuff?" Xael made grabby hands at her grams.
"In the back room."
Xael found what she needed and went back out to treat the pups. They were not happy and groaned the entire time as she bathed them in the cold outdoor shower. Moose even tried to run off but didn't get very far. Luckily the towels the guys used for lodge were inside the back door so she grabbed a handful and dried them off. She let them run some more to air dry as they would be inside until they got back from town.
With that all done, she went in to pick out something to wear and to shower. In the time it took her to bathe and dry the pups, everyone else had gotten ready and was sitting in the living room chatting again. After a quick shower, she decided to wear her hair down, something she rarely did. She dressed in cargo capris and a long dressy t-shirt with a cardigan over that. The t-shirt was pretty form fitting with a v-neck which showed her scars, but she didn't care. She wore the cardigan to keep herself covered up. The shiny dog tags she wore rested in her ample cleavage, which was something else she rarely showed. She walked out into the living room with her hairbrush. She felt Shado staring at her again as she hadn't put the cardigan on yet.
"Your staring again Adam."
"We all are Xael...you're built like a brick house babe."
"Good grief!" She looked up and rolled her eyes at everyone, causing them to laugh at her. Xael turned to Shado who was still staring at her. Again she rolled her eyes. "Will you brush out my hair real quick?"
"Sure babe!"
He was gentle as he brushed her long hair. This was his first time seeing it down as it was usually braided. It was almost to her waist and thick; it wasn't bone straight as it had some texture to it.
Hair brushed, pups inside the house, cardigan on, everyone was set to go. Xael rode with Shado while the Sheriff and Ms. Emma drove Xael's Jeep. They would drive that into the city.
Xael sat next to her Mate in his bronco, her head resting on his shoulder. This was quickly becoming their usual position. The ride to Shado's place was a quiet one as the two enjoyed simply being together. Shado was thrilled at the fact that the tall, gorgeous woman he met on the road that night not only warmed up to him, but ended up being his Mate.
"So what are we going to do in the city?" She looked over at him, her eyes hadn't changed back to their normal grey.
"God, you're beautiful!"
Xael smiled at him.
"I wanted to stop by and see some of the guys from the force. Today is my ex-boss's birthday. Other than that, I had nothing planned." Hearing the word birthday, Xael perked up.
"Birthday! Oh let's stop by the diner, I made a cake we can take him!"
"You don't have to do that Xael, you don't even know him."
"So! You have to have cake on your birthday!"
He kissed her on the head again. The Deputy was falling hard and fast for the dark-skinned beauty even more.
They reached his apartment, which was above the local bank and parked out front. Sheriff and Ms. Emma pulled up next to them to coordinate what was going on. Sheriff wanted to check on the guys that were covering for them while Ms. Emma wanted to stop by the diner. Xael asked her to box up the strawberry chocolate cake she had made to give as a gift, which she was happy to do. They would meet at the diner when they were done.
Shado led her up the stairs to his apartment. Inside, Xael saw the wall of dust covered windows that were filled with plants. She made a beeline for them, but not before taking off her sneakers as she entered the main living area.
"Oh wow! Your plants are gorgeous!" She had to touch every plant, leaf and stem it seems, like a little kid. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her midsection and pulled her against him. He wished he could smell her wonderful scent again as he nuzzled into her neck.
She tried to look around his apartment but with him plastered against her; it was proving difficult. She turned to face him, as he tightened his grip. Her piercing eyes were searching his as if looking for something. He brought their lips together, her hands coming up to hold his face, he deepened the kiss.
Being in his apartment, the air was thick with his scent and it started triggering her and her wolf. As the kiss continued, she growled. She knew it was time to stop. She pulled away and gave him a quick peck.
"You should shower and change." She moved her hands from his face to his arms.
Shado brought their foreheads together and sighed. "You driving me crazy Xael."
"Well, I better put a stop to that, Deputy Shado." She rubbed their noses together and pulled away from him. He huffed and made his way to his bathroom, grabbing clothes along the way. She took this time to look around his apartment. Walking past a mirror, she noticed her eyes had grown in intensity. Xael quickly put two and two together and figured out that it was the Deputy's scent as her Mate that caused the change in eye color. She continued her tour around the small apartment.
The Deputy had a nice and bright studio apartment that he had tastefully sectioned off to have a sleeping area and office space. She still couldn't get over all the plants he had. On his desk there were pictures she assumed were of his family. One with him and another woman. They looked happy together, so she thought it must be his previous Mate.
She took her cardigan off as the sunlight coming through the windows was warming up the apartment. Standing in front of them, she enjoyed the view of the city street below. The window ledge was large enough that she could sit on it, which she did. Sitting sideways, her long hair cascaded over her shoulder and framed the side of her face. Suddenly she heard a camera shutter. She turned to see Shado taking a picture of her with his phone. Xael was so engrossed in the view that she didn't pay attention to him.
"You like nice."
The Deputy was easy on the eyes also. He had on black pants and a maroon t-shirt; the color looked wonderful against his complexion. The shirt fit him very nicely and showed off his muscular frame perfectly. Everything about him screamed Alpha. From a distance, the Deputy was an imposing figure. At 6'2" with broad shoulders, high cheekbones and a crooked chiseled jaw, Xael could see why women would flirt with him.
"Xael will you braid my hair for me?"
"Sure dear heart"
"Dear heart?"
"Yeah, my mom used to call me that."
She walked over to him as he sat at his desk. He reached for his brush and hair tie. "How do you want it braided?"
"French braid the top half and the rest you can leave down."
Xael gently brushed through the semi-wet hair. Pulling it back, she braided it down the middle. She stopped a little past halfway and wrapped the braided portion with the leather ponytail cover. Taking care of the feathers that were woven into it. Once the braid was tied, she brushed the rest of it out, his hair falling to the middle of his back.
"Was your hair this long when you lived in the city?"
"Yeah, I had a special exemption. I just kept it bound and out of the way."
"I see. I'm done."
He swiveled the chair around to her and placed his hands on her waist; he saw her looking at the photos. He went to turn down the one with the young woman in it, but she stopped him.
"Don't. Was that your Mate?"
"Yeah, her name was Veronica."
"She was pretty." He looked back at her and smiled. "Are you ready? I think Grams and the Sheriff are waiting on us."
He stood up, not taking his hands off of her, and kissed her again before they had to leave. Xael stepped closer to him, her lips parting. He deepened the kiss by slowly sliding his tongue between her full lips. Surrounded by the Alpha's scent, Xael unintentionally let her scent escape, but only briefly. Catching a whiff of it, Shado buried his face into her neck and inhaled. A low growl coming from his chest.
"Mmm... Thank you." Xael pulled away from him. "God your eyes are something else!"
"I... I didn't mean to do that."
"I'm glad you did." Shado returned to nuzzle her again even though her scent just about gone, but still lingering in her clothing.
"We should go." Xael went to grab her sweater to put back on.