“Oh no!” Dad intervenes. “You won’t! They will just get ideas!”
Annalise laughs and wraps her arms around my waist. “Your secret is safe with us,” she promises.
My father and Jace chat a bit longer until Jace’s phone starts beeping and ringing non-stop. “Jace,” my father sighs. “It’s not going to stop by ignoring it.”
“Just shut up, El, will you?” Jace groans.
My father looks at him tauntingly. “Still ringing.”
“Oh man, fine,” Jace sighs and grabs his phone, going through a bunch of messages. His frown deepens.
“What happened?” dad asks.
“Nothing,” Jace’s frown grows. “It’s Janice.”
“Janice?” Annalise asks quietly.
“His mate,” I tell her.
“And school,” Jace lets out a sigh. “I need to leave, but I’ll be ready for when we attack. I have to deal with some urgent business...”
“Did something happen to the twins?” I want to know.
“Yeah,” he says dryly. “One of them just got expelled for two weeks for indecent behavior while on the school toilet… with a fellow female student. The other bullied a poor Omega boy. And now I have to contemplate whether Janice wants me to act as a father or an Alpha towards them.” He throws his phone into his bag and grabs it. He rolls his eyes. “Why the heck did I ever reproduce!?”
“The joys of fatherhood,” my father states dryly.
“Right,” Jace snorts before waving us goodbye. “Annalise, it was a pleasure. I hope to meet you again soon. Elden, I’ll see your face around soon.” He smiles at me. “Liam, maybe you would like to come to my pack and I can swap you with one of my sons?”
I chuckle at his words. Jace has always been a fun and laid back guy. It’s kinda weird that he is my dad’s best friend because they differ so much.
Once Jace is gone, the relaxing atmosphere is gone too and reality settles in again. I nod towards my father, signaling him that I’ll see him later while I lead Annalise outside. I have an hour to spend with her before I leave. She hides it well, but I can see the fear in her eyes, and I can sense a hint of her anxiety.
It saddens me to see her like this. I take her hand into mine again, leading her to a small park. There is no one around us. “Okay,” I pull her into my arms as we sit down on a bench. “I am sorry we have to wait for your sexy payback until I return.”
She giggles at my words. Her laughter always sounds like music to my ears.
“That’s better,” I smile.
“So, you could feel it?” she groans. “I was trying so hard to pretend everything was all right!”
“You don’t need to pretend,” I tell her.
She looks at me for a while, sighing a bit. “I think I need to. I… I need to think of the pack too. You will be Alpha soon, and I can’t always be selfish when it’s about you.”
I brush my hand over her hair, my heart picking up its speed by how she looks at me. I love her so much it hurts sometimes. I never imagined it to be like that. I knew the mate bond would pull us together, but now she is everything to me. Words can’t describe how I feel about her. I would rip apart the world just to make her happy. “You can be selfish when it’s about me,” I say. “Don’t hide how you feel, please.
Her eyes tear up a bit at my words. For a second, I think I said something wrong, but then she smiles through her tears. “You can be selfish too, you know? At least when we are alone,” she points out sweetly.
She is way too good for you,Fenris grumbles.
I raise my brows at him.You do know she is your mate too, right? Going by your logic, she is too good for you too. By the way, ever heard of privacy?
She is my mate,he repeats my own words.I like hearing her voice!
“What’s going on?” Annalise asks. “Are you talking to Fenris?”
I raise my eyebrows, surprised. “Yes.”