Page 25 of Arion
“How about if you pretend there are dozens of huge, angry, gruff monsters roaming the mountain just waiting for naughty Little girls to go outside so they can snatch them and eat them.”
She gasped and then laughed. “Daddy! That’s not the sort of thing anyone should tell someoneever. Don’t you know anything?”
“Yep. I know you aren’t going to open the doors.” He gave her a pointed look with his brows lifted.
She sighed. “Fine, but what’s the real reason?”
“The most important one is that we are high on the mountain. The terrain is unpredictable. There are cliffs and giant rocks and all sorts of things that make it unsafe to climb around outside. Daddy knows the area. You do not. If you wandered off, you might fall from an embankment, and I would never find you.”
“Oh.” She looked out the window again. “It looks so peaceful and pretty.”
“It is peaceful and pretty, and you may go on the deck with Daddy when I take you myself. After you’ve mastered shifting, you may also go with Daddy. I’ll take you to explore. We can visit other cabins. But never alone.”
“Okay. I promise.”
He stirred the eggs in the pan and turned it off before stepping toward her. Tipping her chin back, he held her gaze. “You have no idea how important you are to me. The single most important person I will ever know in my life. I would be devastated if anything ever happened to you. That’s why this rule is the most important. It’s also why your bottom will be so hot you won’t be able to sit down for days if you break it.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
He wasn’t going to tell her the other reason why she couldn’t go outside. He’d save that for later. One scary story at a time.
Arion returned to the stove, filled a plate high with fluffy scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, and headed for the table with it and a steaming cup of coffee. He set the cup and plate down, dragged her highchair close to his knees, and sat facing her.
“My father drinks coffee,” she said, staring at his cup. She curled up her nose. “It smells funny. Why would you want to drink it? What does it taste like?”
Arion took a sip as he gathered his thoughts. There were several things he wanted to unpack. “Did you ever ask your father?”
She shook her head, her hair swinging around behind her.
“Why not?”
“That’s not how things were in my house. We didn’t question our father. We did as we were told and accepted what seemed normal.”
“Mmm.” Arion scooped up a bite of eggs and held it out for her to take a bite.
She leaned forward and accepted it, but after she swallowed, she said, “Are you always going to feed me?”
“Most of the time.”
“But that’s a lot of work.”
“It’s a pleasure for me. I want to see to all your needs, Little one. Taking care of you makes me happy.”
“I can take care of some things too,” she pointed out, sitting up straighter.
“Yeah?” He grinned. “What things?”
She chewed on her bottom lip. He suspected she didn’t have a lot of skills. She’d been raised for this one purpose—to mate an Alpha Protector and obey him. It was the way of their pack. It was how things had been for centuries.
“I always kept my room clean and helped my mom clean around the house.”
“I bet she appreciated that, and I’ll expect you to put your toys away in our home too, Little one.”
She glanced at the stove. “My mother cooked, but she didn’t teach me to cook. I thought it was because I was the youngest and she never had time. My sisters know how to cook.”
Arion gave her another bite and stroked her cheek while she chewed. “Neither of your parents know much about the ways of the Alpha Protectors. We keep our lifestyle choices up here in the mountains. But they did know that as a marked child, you would live in a very different world as soon as you were mated. They couldn’t know the specifics, but they knew you would not be cooking or cleaning, Bella.”
“Oh.” She glanced around. “What will I be doing?”
