Page 21 of Dante
I walked toward the kitchen, which was behind a half wall. The table came into view first, and the kitchen was to the right. I guess you could say I had a dining room. But really, it was one big space with a table on one side.
“You have such a tiny table.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I could…” I used magic, and suddenly, the tiny square table for two was a larger round table. It fit the space well, and our food was sitting there waiting. “What would you like to drink?”
Banner smiled up at me. “Anything. I like colas or water. Coffee is good,” he said.
I wrinkled my nose. I loved coffee, but not with Chinese food. I had a pair of colas on the table with a thought and then moved out the chair for Banner. He gave me another smile, and I could quickly become addicted to them. First things first though. It was time to share a meal and get to know one another a bit more. Hopefully, I didn’t screw it up.
Chapter 8
Banner
It had been weeks since Dante had shown up at the bakery and asked to talk. Weeks that we spent time together when we could. He’d been out on an assignment, but this time, he’d let me know before he was leaving, and he’d texted me while he was gone. I didn’t think I was broken in that way, and I’d been back to the omega clinic for a checkup, and even Dr. King had said that he couldn’t understand why I’d not gone into heat yet. Everything about me was healthy and seemed fine.
So why hadn’t I been thrown into heat? I saw Dante several times a week, and although he could still be a bit frustrating, I was sure I understood him a bit better now. Dr. Braun helped with all of that as well, and although I was starting to question things with my mate, I had to trust that everything was happening how it should. I might not agree with it, and for the first time in years, I was sexually frustrated, but I was trusting things would happen eventually.
“I can’t believe Dante is on assignment,” Lewis said, pulling my mind away from wondering what my mate would look like naked.
I shrugged. “That’s how things work. He’s an enforcer. He goes out on assignments.” I gave Lewis half a smile. “He left almost a week ago. He’s messaged me every evening though.”
“Yeah, but tonight is the winter solstice festival. They’re already getting things moved over, and people are actually starting to show up for it.”
I sighed. “Yeah, I know. And I’m planning on going. I just won’t get to be there with my mate. But maybe I’ll get lucky and see Todd and his new babies.” I was so incredibly happy for him. He deserved to have all of the happiness he could find. I hadn’t wanted to interrupt Todd, especially since he was a new daddy, and beyond sending a quick congratulations text once I’d heard that Todd had given birth, I’d not reached out since. Maybe I should have, but again, he had just given birth to twins. That was a whole lot happening in his life. There would, of course, be time for us to catch up later.
“Well, I’ll be there. Maybe we can grab some cocoa or something,” Lewis said. I looked at my boss and grinned while nodding. “Beau is going to be there, but he’s going to be with Roman and Cooper.”
I understood completely. “Yeah, but you’re fae. You’re from the same village as Beau and Evan. And aren’t a few of the other enforcers from the same village?”
Lewis nodded. “Not all of them are here. It seems like a lot of the enforcers are out on assignments.”
“I wonder if there’s something happening that we don’t know about.” Dante hadn’t said anything, but we weren’t exactly “together-together.” We were mates, but we were probably one of the few that were “taking things slow.” Painfully so.
“You mean to tell me that your enforcer mate hasn’t told you why he and half of the others are out on assignment right now?” I shook my head. Lewis sighed. “I would love to have a sexy enforcer for a mate. Seriously. A tall one.”
I chuckled. “They all seem to be fairly tall.”
Lewis gave me a look. “Nope. I saw a fox alpha the other day at the store. He was sexy and all, but he was barely over six foot. I want a tall mate.” Lewis looked up at the ceiling. “You hear me, you fates? I want atallalpha.”
I started laughing, and it didn’t take long for Lewis to join me. We were still laughing when Sean came through the door. He looked behind him, then back at us, confusion on his face.
“It wasn’t you,” Lewis said. “How was class?”
Sean’s confusion seemed to grow. I sobered and looked over at Lewis. “He’s been out of class for close to two weeks.”
“He has?” Lewis asked.
“Yeah. I’ve been helping my dads. They’re getting ready to take a couple of weeks to go back home.” Sean sighed. “Three of my siblings are either pregnant or have just given birth, and they’re going back to Canada to visit everyone because it’s easier than having them come down to us.”
“Oh,” Lewis said. “I guess I didn’t realize you were going to be gone.”
Sean snorted. “I’m not going with them. I’ve been given permission to stay with Alpha Sergei. Longwei and I are making plans to go to St. Louis once they leave. Dad and Papa don’t know yet, so please don’t say anything.”
“Umm…I’m not going to, but are you going to get into trouble?” I asked.
Sean shook his head. “Naw. Alpha Mate Chin is going to take us and leave us with Nikolai and Julian. Nikolai said he’d bring us back when we were ready.”
“So you are going to be gone,” Lewis said.
