Page 35 of An Unending Claim
“Is there anything I can do to convince you that it won’t happen again? That I can be trusted to return to my position as an enforcer?”
I studied him for a minute, then pointed to the couch. “Have a seat.”
He didn’t hesitate to follow my direction and I waited until he was sitting across from me before continuing.
“I set parameters on my abilities as an Alpha before I even stepped into the role. You know what they are, so you know I haven’t breached your mind without permission.”
Ephraim nodded, sensing that my comments were rhetorical.
“I’ve given you plenty of time to work through shit, and though I knew you were still haunted by your demons, I thought you’d found a way to live with them.”
Ephraim’s eyes were shuttered and his expression blank, but he answered honestly with a shake of his head.
“You need help, Ephraim,” I told him firmly. “I’m not going to force you. It needs to be your decision. However, you need to find an outlet for all of this anger, and know that you won’t get a second chance. If I’m going to place my trust in you again, I need to know everything.”
By the time I left his cabin, I understood him a lot more, especially since I’d experienced more of what he told me than he realized. The difference was that not only did my personality cause me to deal with things differently, I’d also had hundreds and thousands of years to work through my issues. Being a “crusader” came with a shit-ton of baggage, and with as many wars, rebellions, uprisings, and other battles as I’d lived through, it would have been easy to lose myself to grief and pain. I hoped Ephraim could find the strength to come to grips with it all. Until he did, I would have to watch him closely. I’d made the decision to reinstate him as an enforcer, but his responsibilities would be chosen carefully.
“Moy malysh.”
My mother’s voice broke into my thoughts and I sauntered over to kiss her cheek. Then I snaked an arm around Peyton’s waist and dragged her up against me for a long, satisfying kiss. When I pulled back, I held her steady while the fog cleared and she found her bearings. A smug grin curved my lips at the dazed expression on her face.
My mother tsked. “None of that now. Peyton asked me to teach her how to make a pie and we need to finish this crust.”
Peyton smiled sassily and patted my cheek as if I were a cute kid, then spun around and joined my mother at the large center island again. I grumbled because I hadn’t wanted to let her go, but it was good-natured because the more she bonded with my mom and other pack members, the more at home she would feel in Silver Lake. Making it harder to leave.
As the time approached for dinner, a group of pack members without family beyond their pack mates arrived. My parents had always given an open invitation to the pack to spend holidays with them. Usually, it was a similar crowd to the one that had shown up for Thanksgiving, but there had been times when we’d filled the pack house and the surrounding area with tables and chairs and still hadn’t had enough seats for all those who showed up. Those were the times when my mother really shined because she was a “more the merrier” type. My father and I had simply enjoyed seeing her so happy.
Peyton tasked me to help my father set the table in the formal dining room. My mother had insisted on the room when my father and I built the house. He’d grumbled about needing it, but after a few gatherings, he’d come to appreciate it. It was a long room in order to accommodate a table that sat at least fourteen people—twenty if we were willing to sit close to each other. The room had a door and huge pass-through window to the kitchen, but it was open to the living room on the other end.
As I rounded the table to set the plates out on the other side, I noticed Peyton standing by the door chatting with Kameron Hale, who managed Highway to Hell, the pack-owned bar in town. They were leaning in toward each other as if sharing a secret and Peyton had a genuine smile on her face. When she threw her head back and laughed, my dad caught my eye and tilted his head in her direction.
“Seems to be fitting in well.”
I glanced at her again, then said dryly, “You think she knows that?”
Peyton had an eidetic memory, natural attention to detail, and was brilliant. And yet she missed things that were right in front of her face. She’d become comfortable here, made friends, and been accepted, but she was still clinging to the part of her that felt restless. She hadn’t stopped to consider whether that part of her had taken a back seat and could be satisfied by traveling for periods of time, rather than picking up her whole life and starting over.
“She’ll come around.” Dad sounded confident, but while I’d been seeing signs that pointed to the same conclusion, I wasn’t entirely convinced.
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
PEYTON
“Fucking hell,” I groaned as I slid off Nathan and fell into a boneless heap beside him. “With the mating instinct riding us so hard, and already being pregnant, I didn’t think the full moon would affect us like this. It’s not like I could getmorepregnant.”
We’d just spent the last two days doing pretty much nothing but fucking and eating. The day after Thanksgiving I’d woken up on the edge of an orgasm from a filthy, delicious dream. Nathan had quickly taken care of it, then made me come four more times before we fell back to sleep.
After a nap, I’d got up to find a snack, and when I was done rummaging in the pantry, I’d seen the calendar on the wall by the garage door. The full moon was in two days. Which explained why Nathan had come barging into the kitchen and taken me on the counter, the floor, and against a wall on our way back to the bedroom. And why I’d practically attacked him in the shower later…
And the reason my whole body now ached deliciously.
Nathan chuckled and scooped an arm underneath me, pulling me close until my body was plastered against his, my head resting on his chest. His hair was under my cheek and it tickled, so I rose up just enough to brush it over his shoulder before lying down again.
“You must be forgetting what it was like the night we met,” he said. “You were partially in heat with the full moon, but I’ve never felt a stronger attraction to another person, no matter the circumstances. It was the true mate bond. Now that you’re carrying my pup, you aren’t in heat, but we are in the second stage of mating, and that has an even stronger pull.”
I hadn’t forgotten. How could I? That night would be burned into my brain for all eternity. Still…
“Maybe you should remind me,” I teased, walking my fingers down his happy trail.