“It’s a three-day journey to Exalos,” Maddox said. “So there and back will take roughly a week. Add two weeks for the time you’ll be there supervising and helping with the opening. A month sounds like a reasonable estimate.”
His expression didn’t change, but I heard the minute change in his tone. The gravelly edge to some of the words. Was that why he’d been so quiet earlier? He’d been calculating the time he wouldn’t be by my side.
I rested in my favorite little nook between his arm and shoulder and closed my eyes.
A whole month without seeing Maddox. Without seeing Briar, too, since I doubted he’d be able to travel with me either. Their roles in the kingdom were too important. It would be the longest I’d been away from them since coming to Bremloc.
Lake nuzzled me again. Did he sense me fretting?
“I don’t have to do it,” I said. “The timing is kinda crappy anyway. I’ll go see Walter in the morning and tell him I’ve decided not to—”
“No.” Maddox grabbed my chin and tilted my face up to his. “You’ll tell him yes. I see how much you want to go.”
“I agree with the captain,” Briar said. “Opportunities such as this don’t come along very often. You’ve worked hard, love, and deserve this.”
“Okay.” I yawned and wiggled in place, loving the feel of them all around me. It was an indescribable comfort that never failed to bring me peace, even when my mind was sort of a mess.
The rain hadn’t let up since starting earlier, but wedged between the three of them as the fire crackled in the hearth, I wasn’t afraid of the storm.
Morning brought with it a burst of golden light as the sun rose, chasing away the dark clouds from the previous day. I dressed and went downstairs to start breakfast. I had a house of hungry men to feed.
Soon, those men swarmed the kitchen, pouring coffee and piling food onto their plates, their voices boisterous in the early dawn hours. I loved it. When time came for them to leave for the castle, Baden and Duke ruffled my hair as they passed by, stealing a muffin for the road. Quincy playfully bumped my arm and followed after them.
“Thanks for letting us sleep over,” Callum said, standing beside me at the counter. A sweet fragrance came off him, like maybe he really was an ooey gooey cinnamon roll. Was that how he always smelled in the morning?
“Anytime.”
Smiling, he lightly bopped the top of my head with his fist and dashed off after the others.
Maddox watched after him with a slight wrinkle to his brow. He then came over and kissed me deeply before drawing back. His thumb traced the line of my jaw. “Behave.”
“I always do.” I hugged him. “And you be safe.”
“Always am.”
Briar kissed my temple before the two of them left.
“The house is so quiet now,” Lake said, staring toward the doorway they’d all passed beneath. His tail drooped behind him.
“Do you miss the noise?”
His purple eyes moved to me. “Not necessarily. But I do miss… them.” He touched the base of his sternum. “I feel a strange ache right here when they leave.”
“Me too.” I stepped into his arms and rested my head over his chest. “But we’ll see them later. When they come home.”
“Home.” Lake emitted a soft sound. “The one we’ve built together. All four of us.”
Four of us. He really had grown over the months. The lone wolf who feared others and isolated himself had evolved into the beautiful male in front of me.
“Yeah.” I focused on the steady beats of his heart as my own heart swelled with my love for him.
For all of them.
