Page 51 of Claiming Xan
As wolves howled and yipped to the moon, I stalked after my giggly mate, and we showed our gratitude to the full moon our own way—naked and sweaty.
29
XAN
Riverand I sat at the table, a pot of maple and brown sugar oatmeal, scooped into bowls, and two glasses of 2% milk in front of us. Breakfast of champions—but something was wrong.
River had woken up early, leaving me alone in bed. When I finally did get up, he’d been quiet all morning, pacing the floors when he thought I wasn’t paying attention, but I was, and I was worried. About him. About us. The past couple of weeks had been so good.
Too good? Was he having second thoughts?
Even now, he just stared down into his bowl of oatmeal, his brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed, lost somewhere in his thoughts. My heart knocked heavy in my chest as I took a bite of my breakfast, but it tasted like sawdust and not the sweet, sugary porridge that it was.
Finally, I reached over and laid a hand on his arm. “River? Is everything okay?” I hesitated, then asked, “Did I do something wrong?”
Immediately, his expression tightened into one of concern. “What? No. It’s… It’s nothing,” he said, shaking his head.
Why, then, was his jaw so tight that it could’ve been wired shut? Why did his forehead scrunch when he looked at me?
It was my turn to frown. “Talk to me? What’s going on? You’re acting weird today and I’m worried…”
He blew out a sharp exhalation. “You don’t have anything to be worried about, Xan. I’ll take care of it,” he promised. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Figurewhatout?” I repeated, damn near a plea. I gripped his hand and rolled my lips together, staring up at him, into the depths of his two-toned eyes. “Please? Let me in? Maybe I can help.”
After a moment, his shoulders slumped in defeat. He dropped his forehead into the butt of his palm and rubbed at his temples with two fingers. “I’ve been thinking about money. A lot.”
He sighed. “I’m going to be a dad—not only that, but I’m an Alpha who can’t provide for his kid. Not without a job. I’m honestly kind of kicking myself for turning your mom’s offer down, because I could be banking money right now, but I didn’t feel comfortable working for her anymore. But in order to get a job, I need to be able to drive.”
All the tightness that had wound up in my body like a tightly-coiled spring slowly began to ease. River wasn’t leaving me. He wasn’t about to cut me and the baby loose and skip town. He was worried about how he was going toprovidefor us.
“Oh, River,” I murmured. “You don’t have to worry about that. Sure, babies are expensive, but Mom won’t let us?—”
“No,” he barked, turning sharp eyes on me. “I don’t want to rely on Gracie for this. She already considers me unfit to be your mate! Who knows what she’ll think when the baby’s born. She’ll probably walk on eggshells anytime I hold it.” He growled under his breath, his lip curling.
My heart ached for him.
I squeezed his arm. “Hey, we still have months. There’s plenty of time for me to teach you how to drive.” Then I flashed him a teasing smirk. “But you actually have totrythis time, big guy.”
River rolled his eyes with a huff. “Driving is hard, and besides, last time, your heat was driving me batshit insane. Being stuck in the car with you was torture.”
Oh. Right. I ducked my head, a smile still playing over my lips. “Sorry. Well, you could start applying for jobs and I could drive you if our schedules don’t conflict? And if they do, I’m sure Nevin would be more than happy to take you. He just recently learned to drive himself.”
“The blind leading the blind.” River made a face. It was obvious he didn’t like the idea, but he didn’t argue. “It could work.” His voice was soft, but a bit rough. “Just until I get my license though, and buy a working vehicle. It doesn’t have to be a Mercedes. Hell, I don’t even care if it has air conditioning, so long as it’s dependable.”
“It’ll work out,” I promised him, already feeling ten-times lighter now that we’d cleared the air. River must’ve felt the same, because the tension in the hard lines of his shoulders eased.
He began to eat.
I stuck my spoon into my oatmeal. “So, what kind of jobs are you thinking about trying? Have you started looking?”
We chatted about possibilities over breakfast, but all too soon, it was time to go to work. I didn’t want to leave, but I had to. We both couldn’t be out a job, after all.
“See you soon,” I promised, kissing River goodbye before heading out the door and driving to the mall.
It wasn’t a long drive, by any means, but it was the dead of summer, so you could bet your sweet ass I had the AC cranked to high and the tunes blaring all the way to work. River was crazy to consider a vehicle without a working air conditioner.
By the time I waltzed through the front entrance of The Candy Jar, humming Shania Twain’s “Honey I’m Home”, I was feeling pretty good.
