Page 50 of Arion
“On it.”
As soon as they were gone, Arion turned and headed for the nursery. The door was closed, which he never allowed. Perhaps she had wanted to block out the meeting in the living room. He might permit that exception.
Arion turned the handle, opened the door, and stepped inside. For a moment, he couldn’t spot her anywhere, but then he found her. She was sitting in the corner behind the rocking chair, leaning against the wall. Her knees were drawn up to her chest where she hugged them tight.
“Bella, I’m so sorry. It’s over, Little one. No one is going to hurt you.” He shuffled as close as he could get, squatted low, and reached out a hand. “Come here. You’re shaking. Are you still scared?”Damn. He should have comforted her sooner.
Jezebel lifted her head and shot him a fierce glare.
His breath hitched. Her expression was off. It wasn’t one of fear. It was fury. Was she mad at him? “I’m sorry I took you out this morning. We should have stayed inside. I thought it was safe. My father had thought it was safe to go out today. I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”
Her eyes narrowed further. “I’m not scared,” she blurted loudly. “For such a big bad Dominant Alpha Protector, you sure are dense.”
Arion was taken aback. He dropped onto his ass and set his palms on his bent knees. He didn’t like her tone, but there was a deeper problem here that needed to be dealt with. Now was not the time to discipline her.
“Enlighten me, Little mate,” he said as calmly as possible. “I realize now you are angry, not scared. Tell me why.”
She threw her arms up, letting go of her knees. When she stretched her legs out straight in front of her and set her palms on her thighs, she leaned forward. “You can’t coddle me, Arion. You spent the past week in secret meetings, hiding things from me. Important things. You knew those other wolves were in the area, didn’t you?”
He nodded, not interrupting her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She didn’t let him answer before she continued. “I know I’m young and naïve, but I’m not an actual baby. You can dominate me and enforce your rules and pamper me and feed me and dress me and all those things, but I’m still your mate, and I want you to include me in things.”
He flinched.
“I’m not asking you to tell me every pack secret, but when you’re stressed, I can feel it coming off you in waves. When you’re nervous, there’s a tick in your jaw. I know you want to protect me, but you’re doing me a disservice if you don’t tell me what you’re protecting me from.”
He drew in a breath. Perhaps she was right. His sweet Little mate was not a delicate flower.
She lowered her face. “I never knew there are other packs out there. I never knew there were bears that could threaten us. There are a lot of things I didn’t know. I’ve been sitting here for the past two hours piecing together what I’ve learned. I suspect most of the pack living in the valley doesn’t know about many of the outside threats. That’s why the Alpha Protectors exist, isn’t it? You really do surround the valley and protect the town.”
Arion nodded. “Yes, Little one. That’s what we do.”
She narrowed her pretty eyes and brushed a stray lock of hair from her face. “If I’m going to live up the mountain with you, that means I’m at more risk than the shifters in town. There are dangers out here that females in town will never know about. Every mate of a protector is at higher risk.”
“Yes, Bella,” he admitted. “We do our best to ensure your safety though. That’s why you can’t open doors or wander around alone. I will never leave you unprotected. When the Alpha Protectors work, we leave our Little mates all in one place under the supervision of one or two of us.”
“And you thought you could just drop me off at some kind of daycare without telling me why, and I would just blindly accept things without question?”
She really had thought this through. And she was right.
“You’re right, Little mate. I’m sorry. I just wanted you to live in blissful happiness for a while.”
“But life isn’t blissfully happy. None of the threats you face on a daily basis took a break just because you and I mated,” she pointed out.
Arion gave her a small smile. “When did you get so smart?”
She smiled in return. “I went to school until you claimed me, Daddy. I know things.”
He chuckled. At least she was back to calling him Daddy.
She sighed. “I’ll be safer if you don’t keep threats from me, Daddy. If I know the possibilities, at least I can be more careful, keep my eyes open, and be on the lookout.”
“You’re absolutely right,” he repeated as he reached out a hand. “Will you crawl out of that corner so I can hold you, Little mate?”
She narrowed her eyes further and held her ground. She was so petite, but she held herself like half the full-grown male wolf shifters he knew. “You promise to stop keeping important secrets from me?”
“Yes, Bella mine. I won’t be able to share every single aspect of pack business, but I can make sure you know about imminent threats and anything that affects your safety.”
