— Elaeya —

I slept surprisingly well, though I found the landing a little jarring and my ears kept popping. I never expected air travel to be such a strange experience.

I went inside the small bathroom once we landed and tried to straighten out, thinking of what Mariqueen told me.

On the tarmac, there were two cars. Sam drove Kaden and I, and Brandon, Stellan, and Anders got in the other.

The forest was beautiful. The trees had massive trunks, their old age written in their bark. The land was well kept and cared for. There was an energy here than I never felt before. I let it brush against my skin like millions of spiderwebs. I could feel a resonance between Kaden and the land. Certainly, being Alpha gave him a link to his people and land. I didn’t know the extent of this link or its power, but it radiated from him—his aura more defined, stronger, his power palpable.

I closed my eyes, I looked at this world through my inner eyes. I looked at the metaphysical imprint of the land. I looked through my inner senses at the shape of the past. I felt ancestry here. I knew Kaden has had an anchor here for many generations. This was the land of his forefathers.

“We’re nearly here,” Kaden told me, softly. Probably thinking I was sleeping again.

I opened my eyes.

Before me, stood the biggest mansion I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes. It had origins in many different eras but was pieced together with great taste. There was an enormous decorative lake with fountains of water in the center, and the yard was cloaked in a series of beautiful flower beds.

We went pass the house to the backyard, which was equally grand and vast. A few buildings were there. Most similarly luxurious. Furthest from them was a beautiful cottage shrouded in trees. There were old vines growing amongst them and against the walls. The aged stones of the facade, well cared for.

Sam parked in front. He opened my door, and went to the trunk to pick our luggage.

I went to help, but Kaden grabbed my hand before then and dragged me to the door.

“This is my house,” he told me. He opened a very large black wooden door to a beautiful entry hall. There was a massive chandelier above us, and the walls were painted in muted greys. “Many Alphas live inside the packhouse. My family used to live there too, but things were a little hectic there, and I decided to move here.”

“It is beautiful.”

He smiled. We took our footwear off while Sam took our things inside and Kaden gave me a quick tour.

The house was decorated with taste. It was evident that everything was of quality and probably extravagantly priced, but it was not gaudy, and surprisingly subdued. There was a very masculine sophistication to the colour palette—a lot of rich browns, and darker colours, wood, and exposed metals.

There was food already waiting for us on the table, warm and served in two plates, but I couldn’t see who had prepared it.

Sam put our luggage upstairs, bid us farewell, and left.

We went to eat. Steak, asparagus, and celeriac. It was exquisite.

Halfway through dinner, someone knocked at the door.

Kaden raised his hand towards me in a gesture meaning that I didn’t need to get up and went to the door.

“She’s here?” asked a female voice.

“Who’s here?” asked Kaden.

“Your mate, who else?”

“And how do you know about her?”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I should have been the first to know. We could have prepared a proper welcoming party.”

“Mom, we’re tired. It was a long flight. No welcoming party.”

“Maybe tomorrow. I can wipe out something in a jiffy.”

“Mom, mom, stop,” he had to cut her a few times. “She’s a stray. She never saw packland in her life. This is a lot for her and I don’t want you scaring her off.”

“I’m not going to—.”

“She needs time to adapt. I don’t want her running off because you’re making this too overwhelming for her.”

There was a short pause before she answered.

“I just want to welcome her in the family.”

“I know, but we just met. It’s not like we’re married. She left her parents behind. She’s taking a pretty big jump, let’s not make this more than it is. Give her time.”

“Sure, but you can’t keep her away from me forever.”

“That’s not what I’m asking. Just a few days, at least.”

“Days? Are you crazy? Days? Tomorrow is Friday. You come for dinner. You know the rule. Bring her. If you don’t I’ll drag both your asses home, you get me?”

“Mom.”

“Don’t Mom me Kaden Devon. I’m gonna see that girl or I’ll spank your ass.”

“Since when are you into spanking?”

“Don’t ask your mother questions you don’t want to hear the answer of.”

“Urgh! Leave, just leave.”

“Tomorrow,” she threatens, then I heard the door close and lock.

Kaden came back into the dining room pinching the bridge of his nose with a strange sickly expression on his face.

I tried really hard to suppress a smile.

It was difficult, but by the time he sat down and resumed his meal, my expression was back under control.

“Your mother?” I asked.

“Of course you heard,” he muttered.

“Shouldn’t I?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“What rule is about Fridays?” I asked.

“If I’m home, I eat dinner at my parents every Friday. That was the only rule for me to leave home and move here, to begin with. It makes my Mom happy, so the tradition stayed. I’m not often around, but whenever I am, I go there on Friday evening.”

I nodded.

“If you’re not ready for this, you don’t have to come. We can always make sure to not be around tomorrow evening. She cannot do anything about that.”

“But then there would be spanking,” I said hardly restraining a giggle.

He smiled. “She can try.”

“Maybe we should not tempt fate,” I suggested, still smiling.

“Maybe,” he conceded.

We talked a little through the evening. He told me more of the history of this place, his family until well past midnight.

He guided me to what would be my room, and I saw him hesitate by the door. I nodded, he went to change clothes and he came to join me a few minutes later in bed, but this time, he slipped under the covers.

* * * * *

I woke up in heaven.

This was probably the most comfortable mattress in the world. If I kept sleeping on something like this, I would, potentially, never be able to sleep on anything else ever again.

There was a hot furnace next to me, the crisp air of the late summer morning had taken over the room, as a window had been left open all through the night, and I snuggle closer to the heat source.

When I finally opened my eyes, I saw Kaden with his eyes half-closed looking at me with a smile.

“Good morning gorgeous,” he told me.

I faltered at the compliment. “Good morning.”

He wrapped his arms tighter around me, which was even more comfortable.

“Maybe we should get up,” I suggested without much enthusiasm.

“Maybe we should,” he said. But he didn’t move.

It took us maybe half an hour to get the courage to get up, but we did, washed in our respective bathrooms, and prepared for the day.

When I walked down, there was breakfast already prepared and served, and the cook was mysterious in hes absence.

There was a delivery a few hours later and Kaden gave it to me after bringing it in.

I looked at him confused.

“It’s for you,” he said.

“I don’t think—,” I began mystified.

“I ordered it for you.”

I blinked.

“You need this, so just open it and say thank you.”

“Thank you,” I muttered and did as was asked.

Inside there was a brand new cellphone in its box. It was a lot more expensive than the one my family owned.

Kaden helped me put the Sim card inside, and I booted it.

“I thought you might want to have your own phone instead of always borrowing mine,” he told me.

“I can’t pay this back,” was all I found to answer.

“I’m not asking you to.”

I looked down at the phone still unsure.

There were a few cases in the shipping box too, earbuds, and other accessories.

“Thank you,” I mumbled again a few minutes later. “What kind of plan this has?” I asked him.

“You don’t have to worry about plans, or long distances.”

I nodded.

I spent most of my morning setting the phone and putting a few apps in. It was the first time I had one of my own. At noon, I called a few minutes early, so that my parents would not call on Kaden’s phone and I gave them my number.

After lunch, Kaden put a laptop in front of me, opened on a page with a series of women wear.

“Put anything you want in the basket,” he told me.

I bit my lower lip, unsure.

“You need clothes, and all kinds of stuff. You can pick whatever you want, the credit card is already on there.”

“I cannot do that,” I told him.

“I’m already paying my sisters every luxuries they may want, and they want a lot. This is not going to affect my credit score, don’t worry. I can pay a hundred times for what you want.”

“That is not what I mean,” I said.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“That is… I cannot be this dependent,” I tried to explain.

“You can get your own money if you want later, but you still need things to wear.”

I bit my lower lip again.

He gave me a stare and a caved. I spent hours on there but it was a lot harder than I would have thought. I’m used to being more utilitarian in my choice of clothes. A lot of them came from donation boxes, whatever could be found for as little money as possible, if none.

In some way this was not different, I was not paying for it, but those were brand new. I could choose colour, size, design, there were so many choices that I got lost in simply looking at all that was available out there. I’m not even sure I know how to properly shop, how to find the exact size, how to choose which cut would be advantageous to my silhouette. This was a completely alien process to me.

And all the while, I kept thinking that someone that I barely knew was paying for it. He was right that I needed clothes and probably plenty of other things too, but I felt so bad for just mooching off him. And the prices were unusually high too.

I was glad to stop when dinner time came, until I remembered it was to meet his family.