Page 60 of Cardinal House

Wolf’s hand squeezes comfortingly in mine, both of us staring up at the small, romantic looking building, baskets of bright flowers hanging on either side of the door, a red and white striped awning over the entrance. It’s lovely, but I don’t want to go inside. But then Wolf’s stepping in front of me, his back to the restaurant, towering over me so he’s all that I can see.

“You’re missing something here,” he tells me quietly, tracing the fingers of his hand not holding mine across the hollow of my throat.

“What?” I frown up at him, but I’m blinking hard just once and I’m unsure if the frown even shows, but he only smiles at me.

“This,” he says, reaching into his black, suit jacket, and pulling out a long, emerald green, velvet box.

“Wolf,” I breathe, staring down at the diamonds as he pops it open one handedly.

“There’s studs in there too,” he says casually, releasing my hand and picking one of them out. “Put these in.”

I take the small, diamond, stud earring braced in gold from his fingers and push it into my lobe, doing the same with the next. Then he turns me around slowly, my back to his front, and slips the necklace, a line of diamonds from one end of the gold chain to the other and secures it at my nape. It sits in the hollow of my throat, casting rainbows across the polished black paint of the car as the evening sun lowers and hits the clear rocks.

“Thank you,” I whisper as he turns me back to face him, his big hands wrapped around my biceps.

“Almost as beautiful as you,” he smiles, kissing the tip of my nose, and stepping back.

My cheeks heat and my heart swims, and I forget all about my anxiety as Wolf leads me into the restaurant.

A man dressed in a black suit greets us politely and leads us to Wolf’s family. He weaves us through empty tables and chairs, no cutlery or napkins or menus laid out, making me stare out across the large space with confusion.

“Wolf,” I start, but he’s already smiling when I look up at him, his pretty honey eyes focussed forward. “It’s closed isn’t it?”

“Yes, Little Moon, it’s closed,” he chuckles, glancing down at me with a wink, leaning down to whisper into my ear. “You think I’d let you come to dinner with my cum running down your thighs with strangers around?”

“Yes,” I state simply, and he’s jerking his head away with a barked laugh and a soft shake of his head.

“Fuck, you’re perfect for me,” he beams down at me as we reach the table full of the Blackwells.

After being re-introduced to Wolf’s father and brothers, except for his youngest brothers, Arrow and Raine, who are noticeably absent. Meeting his sister-in-law, Grace, along with her and Hunter’s three children, Atlas, River and Roscoe. Thorne and Haisley’s engagement dinner goes well.

The table is surprisingly calm.

The three young boys are well behaved. Even Roscoe, who is sitting in a wooden highchair beside his father, is patient and smiley as he plays with a pink spoon and feeds himself his food. Atlas is quiet, one hand always in Grace’s, and River, who is apparently also lovingly nicknamed Trouble, sits himself in his father’s lap and shreds the colouring sheets the waiter laid out for him instead of colouring them in, he stabs them with a metal fork too like he’s trying to murder the paper. Not that anyone looks concerned by it, so I decide not to worry either.

Archer sits beside Stryder, who sits opposite me, but despite his polite smile, he doesn’t seem to really want to be here. He has hushed conversation with his father, picks at his food, and downs pints of beer between courses without taking a full breath between gulps.

Haisley sits on one side of me, Thorne at the head of the table beside her. Her conversation is light and quiet, polite, kind. I wish I hadn’t upset her with the dead rabbit, even though it wasn’t entirely my intent, and when I tell her so, Wolf’s father, Stryder’s forkful of food pauses midair, hovering halfway to his open mouth, as Haisley chuckles lightly with a shake of her head.

“I’m used to worse things being a member of this family,” she tells me lovingly with a bright smile, “I’m not worried about sick bunnies having their necks snapped.”

I offer her a small smile in return, thinking of the bones breaking, the way it felt like a rushing vibration up my arm, and then hurry to pop a bite of creamy pasta into my mouth to smother the inappropriate curl of my lips.

Wolf’s hand is on my upper thigh, his fingers splayed possessively over the entirety of my upper leg, and I feel relaxed, falling into what feels like easy conversation with Stryder, as Wolf converses with Hunter.

I can’t help but keep glancing at Grace though. Her pretty eyes are unusual, both of them different colours, but it’s the icy-blue one, that I can’t help peering up at every now and then. It’s so much like my own, it makes me feel a little warm inside. Maybe I’ll find a kindred spirit in her.

Her hand rests over the large bump of her belly, a pretty white dress sculpted to it. I think about the baby in there. A girl, she said with a warm smile, who will be born into this family. A doting mother and father, three older brothers, who, from the way Atlas, the oldest of their three boys, keeps stroking his mother’s tummy, will be fiercely protective of her.

I’m not sure if I grew up with siblings, but the organ in my chest feels tight with want for one. Suddenly, I feel incredibly lonely, realising that the world really is a very big place, and I am, in fact, a very small part of it.

There’s a very strange feeling in my throat, a tightness that makes my skin itch and my heart flutter, and I’m pushing up from the table, clanging glasses together as they slosh with wine and water.

Blinking hard, I keep my head lowered, “I’m sorry,” and I realise with horror, that I’m waiting for something in return for my rudeness.

A punishment.

Wolf stands with me, his hand coming to mine, “We’ll be right back,” he tells his family calmly, without making a fuss, pulling out my chair quietly, so I can move away from the table.

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