Page 26 of Warwick

But after our talk, we’d gone to see the houses in mated enforcer housing and picked one. We decided to move in together and see how things went. Romantic? No. Practical? Yes. Well, sort of. I wasn’t sure I’d ever have romance from Warwick, which was a sad thought, but I wasn’t going to let that get me down. I’d had too much sad in my life already, and I was going to only look forward to all of the positive things I had coming my way.

I’d found my mate. He accepted me as I was. He wasn’t worried that I wouldn’t be able to give him children. He didn’t think less of me for it. That had been a huge worry for a long time. The amount of stress that had left my body had surprised me. I hadn’t realized I had been holding so much anxiety about that, but I obviously had.

Practical we were. After we’d picked our house in mated enforcer housing, Warwick had gone to work at the council, and I’d gone to the omega clinic. Dr. King had raised an eyebrow at me, and after I’d told him we were going to be meeting up later this afternoon, he’d sent me home.

I’d been told that I would have the next several weeks off from work. I tried to protest, but Dr. King had insisted. I wasn’t going to argue just then, so I’d gone home and started packing my clothing. I had more than I’d come to Montana with, but I still managed to get all of my clothes into the suitcases and bags I had. I needed to get boxes for my other things, but that could wait. My stomach was growling, and I needed to eat. I wasn’t going to give my mother a thought with her toxic views about food or how I needed to watch what I ate.

Hungry and wanting to take care of that so I could get back to packing my things up, I left the bedroom to go to the kitchen to find something to eat. A knock on the door surprised me though, and then I let my thoughts run away, and I had to wonder if it was my parents. I knew my father could scent me, and as a polar bear shifter, I had no doubt that most wouldn’t think twice about his scent being on den lands.

Another knock, this one louder, caused me to jump. “Cecil?”

I absolutely did not expect to hear Warwick’s voice on the other side of the door. I hurried across the small room and pulled the door open as quickly as I could. Immediately, my gaze went up to the giant of a man who was my mate. Well, technically, we weren’t mated yet, but that didn’t change the fact that he was my mate.

“Hi. I thought we were going to meet up on the mountain later? Did I remember incorrectly?”

“No. But it was discovered that I had gone back to work, and I was told I had to leave. I apologize for suggesting we meet up later. That was wrong, and I’m sorry. It was insensitive.”

I grinned. I had a feeling that life with Warwick was going to be nothing like I had envisioned my life with a mate would. I already realized I needed to not take what he said or did to upset me seriously. He simply didn’t realize. I wasn’t sure how exactly that could be, but I knew I wanted to know more about hellhounds. Maybe the answer was there?

“Did you want to come in?” I asked as I stepped out of the way so he could enter. Warwick came in, and immediately, the space felt too small. It wasn’t that he took up half of the space, but having someone Warwick’s size in my space put into perspective just how small the cabin was.

“Your place is nice.”

I smiled. “It’s small, but it’s what I needed when I came here. I was looking for somewhere I could call home. Alpha War was willing to let me stay here, and I appreciated his acceptance without too much hesitation. He, of course, has to worry about keeping his den safe, and he asked questions about family and such. I’m sure my family background had everything to do with me being allowed to stay here.” I hadn’t been one to throw my family around to get my way. That was more my mother’s style. To me, they’d always been my great-grandparents, nothing else.

Warwick looked around again. “It’s nice.”

I chuckled. “You can say it, Warwick. It’s small.” Warwick only nodded. “How did you find me, anyway? I didn’t give you the address.” Not that I wouldn’t have. I just didn’t feel the need since I was about to move out.

“Master Edison. He’s also who told me I had to take time off. Last time he forced me to take time off, I managed to find myself in Italy on vacation. That didn’t really turn out well for things since I discovered the local coven there needed to be investigated.”

“Should I ask?” Immediately, I wondered. “Oh, or maybe can I? You probably can’t talk about your work too much, huh?”

“I can tell you most things. There will be certain instances and assignments we can’t really talk about. At least not at first.”

I nodded. I understood that. My family had always been around things of that nature. Our family had spent so many decades, probably longer, going around and trying to rid places of unethical alphas. Well, most of my family. There hadn’t ever been a time that I remembered my own father going out and doing such things.

“What have you been up to?” Warwick asked, glancing around the space again.

“Packing,” I said, pointing over my shoulder. “I was in the bedroom packing my clothes.” My stomach growled, and my cheeks heated when Warwick looked in that direction. “I got hungry and was going to fix some lunch and then go back to packing. I need to get some boxes, though, to pack up most of my things.”

Warwick scowled. “Why would you pack?” he asked. “You’re planning on moving in to the new house still, right?”

I nodded. Warwick mirrored the gesture, and a tingle went over my body, and then I noticed that the picture on the wall behind Warwick was gone. I turned, looking at the room, and could only stare in surprise.

“Where did everything go?”

“I sent it to the house up on the mountain. Was I not supposed to? Did things need to stay here?”

I looked over at Warwick and after a moment started laughing. It took me several seconds to get myself under control before I could answer him.

“The furniture. Well, the TV was mine. As were the end tables. But everything else was here when I moved in. All of the furniture: the bed, the dresser, the chairs, the dining room set, the love seat. All of that came with the cabin. My clothes, obviously, and the blankets and other linens were mine. Everything in the kitchen was mine as well.”

Things suddenly reappeared, and I wondered if I would go up to the mountain and find more things that needed to be returned. It wasn’t that I had intentionally taken things, and I shouldn’t get into any trouble if something was missing, but I needed to make sure I went through things right away.

“So everything is up at the new house?”

“Did you want it all back?”

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