Page 14 of My Pucking Family

“I think I can manage on my own,” she blushes.

I promised her that we would take this slow, and knowing that I won’t be able to keep my hands off her if I stay, I walk downstairs, letting her enjoy the bath on her own. Making my way to the kitchen island—our unofficial meeting place—I catch up with the guys about India, hockey, and Leera.

I knew it was risky admitting who Leera is to me, especially to India, but it had to be done. She can’t keep barging into my life, thinking she can get her way.

Now we have to be prepared for the potential retaliation, and I amnotready to think about how fast this will reach my father. But he will have to face the truth as well.

“As far as Leera's safety is concerned, I'm going to try to convince her to switch to online classes and move in with us,” I say as the men shoot skeptical looks at each other, avoiding eye contact with me. “I know she's going to fight me on this, but she just won't be safe on that campus, and you all know it.”

They collectively nod, and Benny adds, “It could help if you reach out to her favorite professor and let her know that Leera can complete all her assignments surrounding the team this semester, if she needs to.”

“That's not a bad idea at all. If I can get her core class to cooperate with me on this, she would be more likely to go along with it,” I agree, rubbing my jaw in thought.

“She won't be happy about leaving Zoey,” Slate points out.

“You're right, she won't, but she won't be a prisoner here. She can still go do things with someone watching from afar, and Zoey can come over any time she wants,” I grumble, trying to convince myself more than anything.

All I want to do is go to her dorm room right now, pack up all her things, and move her into our home where she’ll be safe, but I already know if I don’t talk to her about it first, she won't take the news very well. We're mates, and she's still making me court her. Not that I mind. I get to learn all about her while making her happy; it's just not how it usually works, and my wolf was on edge before she was kidnapped.

I'll just have to do my best to convince her to move in with me so that I don't have to make an ass of myself and do it anyway.

Will she want to stay with me in my room?Ourroom. If not, we still have plenty of space. She can have her own room to do whatever she wants with. Until I've convinced her to stay with me anyway.

Bringing the conversation back to getting everything taken care of, I say, “Okay, so we took care of that one away game, we have a home game tomorrow and the rescheduled away game on Thursday…” I pause, tapping my fingers to the counter, elongating one claw to tap as well.

Andrei is the first to break the silence when he says, “If she agrees to take her classes online, I don't think we'll have a problem getting her to agree to travel with us for games.”

“And why the hell would I be taking my classes online?” she snaps from the hallway.

Shit.

I cross the space to go to her, but she's already in a battle stance. She rips the weird pink things off from under her eyes,plants her fuzzy-pink-socked feet apart, locks her hands on her hips, and presses her lips in a thin line.

At least she seems to have enjoyed the things I laid out for her. I wonder which underwear she chose…nope, not the time.

I turn to my men for help, but Benny just smiles and shakes his head, the twins look to be taking bets, Slate's just smirking, and Andrei looks like a kid who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Hey, Sweetheart, did you have a good bath?” I ask calmly.

“Don't Sweetheart me, Roman. I asked you a question.”

Shit.

“I was waiting for you to finish your bath to talk to you, but we wanted to discuss some safety options for you moving forward.”

“Don't drag us into this just because you're in trouble,” Benny pipes up with that stupid shit-eating grin on his face. It pisses me off even more when I catch Leera trying not to smile at him, and I’m not able to catch the small growl that escapes me.

Benny places his hands up in surrender and backs away.

Leera's icy-blue eyes sharpen and return to me. “Let's hear it then,” she says as she crosses her arms over her chest, not realizing she's only made it harder for me to focus with her breasts shoved up like that.

Groaning and scrubbing my hands on my face, I take a step back to sit on one of the barstools, hoping to make myself less demanding. “Leera, baby, you are my number one priority. Now and for the rest of my life. Do you understand that?”

She narrows her eyes and nods, not speaking.

“You were kidnapped, and I couldn't protect you,” I add. “I can't…” I choke on my words, and my men filter out of the room.

“I can't lose you. I can't do it again. I won't survive it.” My voice drops along with my head. “Without you, I will burn every world to the ground before following you to the afterlife, Leera.”

---