by Maggie Walsh
“So when is Papa Angel coming back?” Bailey asked.
“He should be back in a few days. He and Ash went back to Montana to help Fallon and Trevor get the alpha house all fixed up and the lands back in order,” Jesse explained.
“So are they moving here?” Rory asked.
“Yes. Now that Fallon has taken over and the Montana Angel Pack is getting back on its feet, Papa Angel doesn’t want there to be any confusion with the remaining pack members. He wants them all to know that Fallon is their Alpha now and that he stands behind him and supports him, but now that they have found each other again, he wants to be here with Micah and Raith, as well as Maddy,” Jesse answered as he pulled four pies from the oven.
“And Ash?” Raffy asked.
“He wants to stay with Papa Angel. He has too many bad memories back in the old pack and he wants a new start.”
“I like him. He’s a really sweet guy,” Bailey added as he tossed a salad.
“Who’s a sweet guy?” Lexi growled as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed Bailey around the waist. “And why is my mate even noticing other guys?” Lexi leaned down and nipped the side of Bailey’s neck, causing him to laugh.
“We were just saying how Ash was a nice guy and it will be nice to have him and Papa Angel here,” Bailey explained.
“Oh. Yeah, Ash is a nice guy. I like him,” Lexi said and hugged Bailey tighter.
“It smells amazing in here. What’s for dinner?” Raith asked as he and Laylen walked in from the back door.
“Pot roast,” Jesse answered.
“Oh yes, Jesse and Bailey’s pot roast. Yum,” Laylen added and walked over to the pot. He grabbed a spoon and dug into the pot, taking out a spoonful and tasting it. “Mmmm. How long until dinner?”
“Stop that,” Jesse admonished as he slapped Laylen’s hand away. “Dinner is in an hour. Surely you can wait until then.”
“I don’t know, Jess-man. Your dad may call me away at any minute. The commander has been driving all of us crazy looking for Minos.”
“Well, then I will save you some for when you get home.”
“Ugh. Just a little bowl before I go. You know all these vultures won’t save me any,” Laylen whined.
“Awe. Is my big, strong mate whining?” Crew asked as he walked into the kitchen with Micah.
“I’m not whining,” Laylen protested with a pout as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Crew laughed and walked to his mate, wrapped his arms around Laylen’s waist and pulled him close. Crew kissed Laylen and pulled back, but Laylen had other ideas. He wrapped his arms around Crew and pulled him against his hard chest, then devoured his mouth in a heated kiss.
“Not by food, you two. Take that to your room,” Jesse said and pushed the two of them away from the stove.
“When’s dinner, baby?” Micah asked and grabbed a slice of cucumber from the salad bowl.
Jesse huffed and rolled his eyes. “Dinner is the same time as it is every night. Seven o’clock,” he said in annoyance and turned back to the stove.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and raised their brows at Jesse’s reaction, then looked to Micah. He shrugged his shoulders and walked to Jesse. Micah placed his hands on Jesse’s hips and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “What’s wrong, baby?”
Jesse pulled from Micah’s embrace and stepped away. “Nothing. Why doesn’t everyone go do something instead of getting in our way, so we can finish?”
Raith looked to Micah in question, but Micah’s eyes were glued to Jesse’s back, watching him begin to set the table. Micah walked over to the table and grabbed the plates from Jesse’s hands. “Stop, Micah. I have a lot to do. Go check on the recruits or something. I’ll call you when dinner's ready.”
“No. You will go up to our room and lay down. You look exhausted, baby. I will finish setting the table and the boys will finish making dinner,” Micah said and pointed Jesse toward the door.
“I can’t do that, Micah. There are a lot of mouths to feed around here and I have a lot to do. I still need to get your father’s room ready for him to move in, as well as Ash’s room. Then I need to head over to the club. Frank hired a new dancer and Sage is not happy about it. He thinks Frank is giving away his spot.”
“Slow down, Jesse. You need to rest. Go upstairs and take a nap. I’ll call you when dinner's ready.”
“Micah―” Jesse began but was cut off when Nicco and Shelby appeared in the kitchen.
“Nic, what is it?” Raith asked in concern.
“The coven house is under attack. Dante, Vik, Dare, and the fae guards are fighting them off. Dante wanted me to bring Shelby here to keep him safe. I need to get back,” Nicco explained.
“Who’s attacking?” Micah asked.
“My family,” Shelby answered in a whisper.
“Enforcers to the kitchen, now,” Micah ordered, using the pack link.
Suddenly all the members of the house came running into the kitchen. “All enforcers, Taylor, and Laylen to Dante’s. They’re under attack.”
“Who’s going to protect the mates and Shelby?” Laylen asked.
“Jesse and Raffy are here. Jesse, can you call Ryland and Phenex and have them come watch over the pack house?”
“Dad! Ada!” Jesse called out, his voice showing his annoyance.
Suddenly, Phenex and Ryland walked through the wall. “What is it, son?”
“Go, Micah. I’ll explain to them. Go help Dante,” Jesse offered.
Micah cupped Jesse’s cheek and gave him a soft kiss. “We’ll be right back, baby.”
“I know. Just go. Dante needs you.”
Micah stood there staring at Jesse for a moment before nodding and stepping away to face the others. “Let’s go.”
Laylen placed his hand on the wall and all the enforcers and Taylor walked through. Laylen followed.
“So, Jesse, what’s up?” Phenex asked. Jesse sighed heavily and turned toward the table, grabbing the back of a chair. His head dropped to his chest as a tear ran down his cheek.
Chapter 4
“What is wrong with my son?” Ryland asked angrily when Micah and the others stepped back into the kitchen.
“Hello to you, too, Ryland,” Micah grumbled. He and the others moved farther into the room. Some sat at the center island and others sat at the table. “Where is Jesse?”
“He took Shelby to one of the guest rooms. He and Rory are keeping him company as they watch over him,” Bailey explained.
“Why don’t you all come and sit. Have something to eat,” Aaron offered.
“I’ll go get the others and tell them we’re ready for dinner,” Raffy offered.
“No, Raf. Stay here. I’ll go get them,” Micah said and headed for the door. He stopped and turned back. “Oh, and can you set a few more places? Dante, Vik, and their mates are coming, as well as Nicco.”
“Sure thing, Micah,” Bailey answered.
Micah left the room and headed for the guest suites. He arrived at the door he heard Rory talking behind and knocked. “It’s me, may I come in?”
“Of course, Micah,” Rory said as he opened the door.
“Dinner is ready. Everyone is sitting now and Dante and the others will be here shortly to join us.”
“Great. I’m starving. Come on, Shelby,” Rory said and motioned for Shelby to follow him.
The two headed out in the direction of the kitchen and Micah stood in front of Jesse, blocking him, as he tried to leave. “Not you.”
“I’m hungry, too, Micah. Let’s just go and have dinner and see what other catastrophe has found its way to our doorstep,” Jesse said as he tried to step around Micah.
“No. I’ll have one of the others make us a tray and bring it up to our room. We need to talk.”
“It can wait, Micah. Shelby needs our help. We can talk later when I get back from the club,” Jesse said, and ducked around Micah and headed toward the kitchen. Just as he made it to the doorway, Lexi was walking out with a tray.
“Oh, I thought you wanted this brought to your room?” he asked Micah.
“I do. Thanks, Lex,” Micah answered.
“We don’t have time for this, Micah. We have more important things to take care of,” Jesse said in a huff.
“No, we don’t. This is most important,” he said, and lifted Jesse up off his feet, and over his shoulder.
“Micah!” Jesse yelled.
But Micah ignored him, turned from the kitchen, and headed toward the stairs with Lexi following them.
* * * *
“So where are our fearless leaders?” Dare asked as everyone sat to eat. Not everyone fit at the main table anymore, so they dragged the table from the breakfast nook over and placed it next the big table.
“Jesse’s not feeling too well, so Micah made him go upstairs for some rest,” Ryland explained.
“What do you mean Jesse isn’t feeling well? What’s wrong?” Dante asked in concern.
“We’re not sure. He seems...very...agitated, let’s say,” Phenex answered.
“I’m sure Micah will be able to handle whatever it is,” Raith offered. “Why don’t we all eat this amazing meal that was made for us, and hopefully Micah and Jesse can join you after for your meeting.” Everyone began to dig in and talk about the events at Dante’s house.
After the pack showed up, Shelby’s siblings took off quickly and the fight was over. They stayed to help Dante clean up as the fae guards used their magic to fix the damage to the building. Shelby was shocked to hear that his brothers had given up so easily and wondered why. Usually they would fight until they got what they came for or died trying. Their father wouldn’t accept anything less.
* * * *
Micah and Jesse sat in silence as they ate at the table in their room. Once Jesse was finished with his meal, Micah pulled his plate from in front of him and looked at his mate expectantly. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“Everything is fine, Micah. It’s like you said, I’m just tired.”
“You know you can’t lie to me, mate.”
“I’m not lying to you, Micah,” Jesse said in frustration and stood, walking away and going into the en suite bathroom.
Micah ran his hands down his face and sighed. He heard the shower go on and stood up. Micah stripped his clothes off and headed to the bathroom. He grabbed the knob and tried to turn it, but was shocked to find that it was locked. They never had locked doors between them and he wasn’t going to let it start now. Micah tightened his grip on the knob and forced it to turn. He heard the lock pop and the latch give. The door opened and Micah stepped in. He looked to the large walk-in shower and found Jesse leaning against the tile wall while the water rained down his sexy body, but what made Micah worry was that he could see that his love was crying.
Micah went to the shower and gently opened the door. Stepping in, he closed the door behind him and moved closer to Jesse, wrapping his arms around him. Jesse jumped slightly, but then melted into Micah’s embrace as he let the tears flow. Micah held Jesse close as he caressed his stomach and waited for Jesse to get it all out. After fifteen minutes, Jesse’s tears stopped and he turned to face Micah, wrapped his arms around Micah’s waist, and held him tight as he buried his face in Micah’s strong chest.
“Whatever it is, baby, we’ll take care of it together, like we have always done since day one, but you need to let me know what’s wrong so that we can take care of it and you don’t get so stressed,” Micah said soothingly.
“I know, love. There’s just so much going on all the time and you have so many obligations that I don’t want to burden you with my insignificant shit,” Jesse said as tears began to fall again.
Micah pulled back and cupped Jesse’s cheek, lifting his face up so their eyes met. “First of all, if it’s important to you, even a little, then it’s important to me and it’s not insignificant. You can never burden me, with anything. I want to know what is going on with you. I want to help you in any way that I can. I hate seeing you get so stressed and tired. We both have a lot of obligations, baby, but we need to handle all of them together. We need to help each other and hold each other up. It’s the only way we are going to get through all of this.”
“I know, Micah. I just…” Jesse cut himself off and buried his face in Micah’s chest again.
“What, baby? Please tell me so that I can make it better for you. Please let me help you bear the load,” Micah pleaded.
“I feel like a horrible person for how I feel. I’m afraid I’ll hurt you if I tell you. I don’t want to hurt you, Micah,” Jesse cried.
“As long as you’re honest with me, Jesse, then you won’t hurt me.”
“Yes it will.”
“Have you done something that will betray me or our love?” Micah asked hesitantly.
Jesse pulled back and looked at Micah in horror. “Never! I would never do anything to betray you. I would never do anything that would risk losing you. I love you more than I love anything else in this world. You are my world, Micah. You are my everything.”
“I know that you would never betray me or intentionally hurt me. I didn’t want to ask that question. I knew the answer before I asked it, but I wanted to shake you up a little in hopes you would tell me what’s really going on. Please, Jesse.”
“I...do you know how many people live in this house now? I know it’s big enough for everyone and more, but do you realize how many people actually live in this house now, including Zane, Demetrius, Papa Angel, and Ash?” Jesse asked.
“A lot,” Micah answered with a snicker.
“If we include Shelby now, which I’m sure we will. We don’t know exactly what’s going on yet, but I just know he’s moving in. So with Shelby, it’s now twenty-four, Micah. Twenty-four men live in this house, plus the fae warriors that are assigned to guard the house and the lands, and most of these men are big, strong shifters who need a lot of calories to keep them sustained. It’s not that I don’t want everyone here. I love having everyone live here. I love our family and wouldn’t change it for anything, but it’s getting really hard to keep up and feed everyone.
“You know I love to cook. I love to do that for you and our family. It makes me happy to take care of everyone, even in a small way, but I spend most of my days in the kitchen. When I’m not in the kitchen, then I am with you and the council going over whatever new thing has come up. Then I have to run back to the kitchen and double time it to make up for the lost time. Then after dinner I have to get to the club and do things there. When I get home at two, three, in the morning, I stop in the kitchen first and work on getting things ready for breakfast. I finally come up to bed and crash for two hours before I have to get up and start everything again.
“Then there is taking care of you and your needs, as well as my needs. Some nights when I pour myself into bed, you want to make love. I’m so exhausted that I just want to sleep, but I don’t want to hurt you, and I need you, too, love. I need to be with you. I need to feel you and love on you. I miss those nights where we are intimate, but I’m just so damn tired, Micah,” Jesse said as tears ran down his face. “Then there’s Christmas in three weeks, and I have to finish shopping and planning all the meals for that day. Plus the party on Christmas Eve, nd I haven’t even started decorating yet. I’m sorry, love. I’m sorry I’m complaining. You have enough to worry about than this happy homemaker shit.”
“Oh, baby. You are not complaining,” Micah said as his own tears begin to fall. “You’re just letting out your frustrations. I’m the one who should be apologizing to you. I hadn’t realized it was getting to be too much for you and I should have. I have just accepted that our family is ever growing and happy as hell that they are all here. I never stopped to think about all of this. I never gave a thought to how everyone was getting fed and the house was being kept. All I know is that I have the most wonderful mate in the world who takes very good care of me and our family. I never stopped to think of just how many mouths there are. I’m
so sorry, baby. I promise you that we will fix this.
“Right now I’m going to call Dante and tell him that we’ll have our meeting in the morning. Until then, we’ll put Shelby in a guest room with guards. Then I am going to call Frank and tell him to deal with whatever comes up tonight at the club. He ran everything by himself before, he can do it again. Then I am going to take my incredible mate and put him to bed. You are going to sleep for as long as you wish. Then when you get up I want you to take a nice long, relaxing bath. Read or listen to music, whatever makes you happy. Then when you are ready to come down, I’ll call the council and we’ll have our meeting. After that, we will have a mandatory house meeting. We’ll come up with a plan so that everyone chips in and takes the pressure off of you.”
“And Bailey. There are a lot of days he is at the café, but when he’s not, he’s with me in the kitchen.”
“And Bailey. We’ll take this burden off both your backs so that the two of you can start having some down time and time to yourselves, as well as time with your mates.” Micah leaned down and kissed Jesse softly.
“Thank you, love. It’s not that I don’t want to cook anymore, I just…”
“You just want help so that you don’t have to spend all day doing it. I understand, baby, and we’ll take care of it. First, let’s get you cleaned up and tucked into bed.” Jesse gave Micah a big, grateful smile and hugged him tight.
* * * *
Jesse stretched as he opened his eyes. The room was still dark, but he could make out a soft glow through the small opening in the curtains. “What time is it?” He turned his head and looked to his alarm clock, and his eyes opened wide in shock. “Eight o’clock. Holy shit.”
Jesse looked to Micah’s side and saw that his mate was gone. He threw the covers back and slid out of bed. Just then, the bedroom door opened and Micah walked in carrying a tray. “Good morning, beautiful,” he said with a bright smile.
“Good morning, love. How did you know I was awake?” Jesse asked.
“I heard you in your head. You were making the cutest noises and I pictured you stretching out that gorgeous body of yours. I had everything ready already. I just had to pull the pancakes from the warmer and place it on the tray. So get that cute little ass of yours back in that bed,” Micah explained with a chuckle.
