Page 18 of The Predator's Wolf Mate

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Ryan; I just didn’t want to put any extra burden on him. He already had so much on his young shoulders.

“I missed you,” my mate said, intertwining our fingers under the table and giving mine a squeeze.

“I missed you a lot.” I leaned my head on his shoulder briefly. “I know it wasn’t that long, but…”

“I know.” He rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand. “But it felt that way.”

“Yeah, it did.”

“I have dish duty today.” He gave my hand one last squeeze. “Will you be around?”

“Nope.” I sat up straight. “I’m going to be by your side.”

“I’d like that.” He stood up and collected the plates from our table.

I did the same for one of the other tables and slowly but surely, we got the room cleared. We had a system where everyone stacked their dishes, but the people on duty would come around and collect them until our fancy dish conveyor belt was installed. Most days, it felt like added steps to clear before washing, but today, it meant extra time with my mate. Who knew him sensing me could make dishes fun?

Chapter Fourteen

Aziz

“I wonder if I could do that one day,” Ryan murmured to himself while he looked over Tyrus’ shoulder. The bear was at the new omega house, setting up security and showing everyone how to use it.

Mav was in the backyard, teaching some of the older omegas how to defend themselves. We would be their security but in case someone got past us, we wanted them all to be prepared and empowered. The new security system also had a lockdown method that would lock all the doors and pull down metal bars over the windows. We had messed up before, sending the omegas to a place that wasn’t really safe, but this was our method of correcting those mistakes.

“Do what?” I asked and put my hand on Ryan’s shoulder.

“All that computer stuff. I don’t even know how to get on the internet.”

“Tyrus would be willing to show you, I bet.”

Tyrus turned and pulled up a chair next to him. “Lessons start now.”

The smile on Ryan’s face was priceless.

I walked to the kitchen where Jack was peeling potatoes while balancing Bryant on his knee, away from the peeler. He could’ve put him on the floor, but he preferred the little one as near him as possible. I chalked it up to his trauma, but he claimed he simply loved him that much.

“Should I take Bryant or the peeler?” I asked, chuckling.

Jack sighed and looked up at me. “Bryant, please. He’s a squirmer today. I swear, he hasn’t stopped kicking since he grew legs in my womb.”

“A strong little cub, if you ask me.”

Bryant looked up at me with his big blue eyes and extended his arms up, his hands pumping in and out of fists. Grabby hands. For me. I’d only ever seen him do that for his father and Uncle Tyrus. “He…he reached for me, Jack.”

Jack turned those lovely eyes to me and nodded. “It’s not the first time, Aziz.”

I pulled the little one into my arms and gave him a potato peel to play with. He put it right into his mouth but then realized it didn’t taste very nice. “What do you mean?” My chest sank.

“He has reached for you before.”

My temples pulsed while my heart squeezed inside my chest. “When?” I asked, believing him. My omega was honest to a fault.

“It was a while ago. We walked into the kitchen for breakfast. Your back was turned to him, so there was no way you could’ve known, but Bryant reached for you.”

I hugged Bryant close to me. “I’m sorry, little one. I didn’t know.”

The pup, who I already thought of as mine, laid his head on my chest. My hyena pulled at his tiny wolf, bonding with him already. There would be a time when our son shifted into a wolf and I would run with him and teach him to hunt.

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