Our beautiful, but broken, Luca.
Our troubled and traumatised Beta.
After he told us how the Hearts used threats against his family to keep him in line, Caleb and Jorge —together with Derrick and some others from Mathew’s organisation— immediately went over to Luca’s parents’ house and are now bringing his parents and siblings here. So they’re out of harm’s way and we can protect them, keep them safe.
I’ve not seen my family in six years, not since Caleb stole me out of the car that was supposed to take me to my wedding to a local pack’s Alpha. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t try to protect them at any cost, if they ever were in danger and we could keep them safe. I might not like them, I might not want to talk to them, but that doesn’t mean I want them to be harmed.
So, I fully understand why the first thing that Luca worried about once he realised the Hearts really had no control over him anymore, was to make sure his family was safe. That he had to be sure that the Hearts couldn’t hurt them either, couldn’t punish them for him getting away.
Mathew lets out a soft groan, his arms tightening around me as he leans against me more.
“You should eat something small. It will settle your stomach.” I don’t really want to get up, but staying here isn’t going to make things any better either.
He slowly shakes his head. “Everyone’s too busy. I can wait until things settle down.” His pulls me into his lap, wrapping himself fully around me. “And as long as I stay here, close to your pheromones, everything will be fine.”
I let out a soft laugh, turning my head so I can kiss his jaw. “I can get you something. And you really should eat and get some fluids in you. This isn’t just about you, it’s about the baby inside you too. Tonight has been stressful enough, we don’t need to add any more to it.”
He grumbles, but then his grip on me lessens. “I guess you’re right. And I can’t stay in here for hours either. I’ve got too much to do for that.” He’s about to get up but I hold onto him, making sure he stays seated.
“Work can wait ten minutes. You need to take care of yourself first. You’re not allowed to leave this room until you’ve had food.” I stand up, running my fingers through his hair, enjoying how soft his long hair feels against my skin. “Unless you want to join me in the kitchen? That’s the only other place you’re allowed to go right now.”
He looks up at me with that soft smile that makes my insides melt. “I guess I’ll join you in the kitchen, if my stomach allows me to.”
Well, we won’t know until we try.
But I have the feeling that the moment I take my eyes off him, he’ll go back to work and he’ll forget the whole ‘resting for a few minutes and get something in his stomach to replenish his energy’ until halfway through the day, at which time, he’ll feel even worse.
Not on my watch!
The kitchen is quiet, as expected. It’s too late for any of the other kitchen staff to be here and Eli is upstairs with the kids we rescued from the Hearts.
I sit Mathew down at the small table on the far end of the kitchen as I put four pieces of bread into the toaster and go through the fridge for some peanut butter. We both need to eat something that’s not going to upset our stomachs but will still give us energy.
The others should eat too, but I can only do one thing at a time and making sure Mathew and I have food in us is the priority, especially since he’ll get really busy as soon as he steps out of here.
I’m quite comfortable in the kitchen. I tend to go here for midnight snacks and sometimes help Eli with baking. Eli doesn’t just let anyone into here, not even his own pack is allowed to do more than sit at the table, not allowed to touch anything. But I’ve apparently ‘proved’ myself that I can be trusted in here on my own.
To be fair, the commercial kitchen is very impressive and with all the different tools, many of them really expensive, I probably wouldn’t just let anyone in here either.
With the toast and the peanut butter ready, I go back over to the table and put everything between us.
“Your stomach still doing okay?” I eye Mathew.
His morning sickness has been getting better lately, but that doesn’t mean that it’s really gone, as what happened just now made clear. It’s simply better than it was a few weeks ago.
He nods, picking up a piece of toast and starting to nibble on it. He seems to finally relax, his shoulders no longer pulled up so tight, his eyes slowly starting to unfocus, the line between his eyebrows disappearing.
If I —or anyone else from the pack— doesn’t step in from time to time, Mathew would work himself to exhaustion. And while he might have gotten away with that in the past, it’s not good to keep going like that now, especially not since he’s pregnant.
We’ve got a lot of things to do tonight, way too much, really, but it’s better to do that on at least some energy from food. Running on adrenaline alone isn’t going to make us last for very long and while that could be doable for a single day, I feel like dealing with everything that happened tonight is going to be a multi-day thing.
“We’re on our way back.” Jorge’s voice comes over the earpiece. “We’ll be home in about an hour.”
My heart jumps and I can’t help my smile. Next to me, Mathew is smiling too, his eyes bright.
At least something went right tonight. It might not have been something we’d planned on doing, but at least something went right.
Mathew pulls me into his lap, his arm around my waist as he leans his chin on my shoulder. “We’re going to have a full house.”
