Page 47 of Broken Chains

When I heard Kenneth come home from school, I took a deep breath. I knew I needed to tell my brothers what had happened, but I wasn’t ready to return to the real world. I watched as Peyton lay next to me, Eve between us as she kicked her chubby legs in the air and squealed in excitement. It was almost as if my daughter knew something major had just occurred.

I think I was still in shock, yet my wolf had never felt so calm and content. Peyton blushed and smiled every time our eyes met, and I knew I would never forget this day for as long as I lived.

“What time is it?” Peyton asked.

“Almost five,” I said.

She frowned. “And Kenneth’s just now getting home?”

“He told me this morning he was going to put in some work at the greenhouse after school.”

“Oh, okay. I should probably get dinner ready, but I really don’t want to leave this bed,” she confessed.

I leaned over and kissed the top of her head, simply because I could. Peyton was mine now. I would do anything to protect her and make sure she knew she was loved and cared for. I still believed she could have done much better than me as a mate, but she’d made her choice and our bond was made. There was no turning back.

I knew I needed to let Luke know. It was protocol for any mated pair to alert the Alpha. Jedidiah had been big on encouraging the mating challenges, a system of weeding out the weak and keeping the pack strong. It put Peyton in danger, and I thought maybe we should have discussed it before bonding. Too late now.

“Peyton, did your pack prepare you for the mating challenges?” I asked.

“Yeah, but it’s not necessary anymore,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“Thomas has a petition in to the Grand Council to do away with the old archaic system, particularly for true mates. They have yet to address it but were notified that Collier Pack would not participate in the challenges until they did.”

“But as far as I know, Larken Pack still follows the old ways. So where does that leave us?” I asked.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to discuss that with Thomas and Luke. I don’t think either of them will force us to choose a pack, but you know Thomas will accept you into Collier anytime, right?”

“I can’t do that when my brothers would remain in Larken, Pey. Maybe when Kenneth is of age, that could be an option, but I can’t just leave them like that.”

“I know. I’d never ask you to either. I just want you to know it is an option.”

“Luke will take you into Larken as well, but I don’t want you to do that and give up your pack rank in Collier,” I told her honestly.

“My sister Lizzy and her mate Cole agreed not to choose packs. She still has full allegiance to Collier, while he stayed with Westin Pack. They’ve made it work for them. I don’t see why we can’t, too. I mean, they’re juggling distance and still manage it. We just have to turn left or right out of our driveway. It’ll work, you’ll see.”

I wasn’t quite as optimistic as Peyton. It was normal for a male to bring his female into the pack, expected even, but it would be a disappointing fall to the bottom of the pack, when my princess was used to living life at the top. If she was right and we could keep both packs, that would be our best solution.

I was stronger than my own pack gave me credit for, and I knew that no one would keep me from my mate. I grinned.Mate.I had a mate and she was more than I’d ever dreamed.

The front door opened again. I listened and sniffed the air. Tim was home. I was just waiting on Brady and then I needed to sit my brothers down and have a talk. I knew after how disappointed they’d been when I denied Peyton and made her cry, that they were all going to be thrilled with this change. There really was no doubt in my mind, but I still felt I needed to tell them myself.

Peyton crawled out of bed and put on a pair of shorts. She didn’t seem in any hurry to change out of my shirt though.

“Where are you going?”

“Dinner,” she reminded me. “The boys are always starving when they get home.”

I knew that was because they always skipped lunch. Pride amongst us Smith boys was a tough pill to swallow. I’m not sure Kenneth or Tim had touched lunch at school ever since they were put on free lunch. It didn’t even matter that no one knew they could eat for free. That was probably my fault. I’d told them since they were toddlers, Smith boys don’t take handouts.

Everything we’d ever had we’d bargained and traded for, but we didn’t take things for free . . . until Peyton, and she always seemed to negotiate in a way that it didn’t feel like a handout.

Peyton gave Eve a quick kiss, then she kissed me before walking downstairs. It felt like the most natural thing in the world. I got up and got dressed, minus a shirt that she was still wearing. I scooped Evie up and walked across the hall to my room for a clean shirt.

The boys were in their rooms and I figured I wouldn’t alert them to anything until Brady got home. I carried Eve down the stairs and headed for the playroom for a little quality time with my daughter. It took a lot of effort not to turn right at the bottom of the stairs and make my way into the kitchen instead.

I thought mating her would get her out of my system some, or at least calm down my desire to always be near her, but nope, I feared it only made it that much worse.

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