Page 43 of He Claimed Her Heart

“Here, let mebraid your hair for you. Sit down. I came in to tell you, dinner was ready,” Drake advised as he patted the bed in front of him.

“Why don’t webraid my hair in the living room?” I asked as I moved towards the door.

“It will only take a minuteto braid your hair. Come here,” he ordered as he captured my wrist in his hand.

“I just didn’t want to keep Elias waiting. That’s all,” I said sheepishly as I sat down for him to braid my hair.

“No worries. Elias is setting the table.He knows what we’re doing. It’s alright. Done, now let’s go get dinner. Shall we?” Drake announced as he held out his arm for me to take.

“Yes, let’s go get dinner” I replied as I took his arm and walked with him to the dining room where we met Elias.

“There you are my dear. Feeling refreshed?” Elias asked as he came over and to greet me. He gave me a soft kiss on the lips. He guided me to my chair, and he held it out for me.

“Yes, thank you.Dinner smells good. Thank you for cooking,” I cooed as I looked at the steak in front of me.

“Well,it was a joint effort, but you’re welcome,” Elias replied as he settled in the chair to my left and Drake in the chair to my right.

We ate in a comfortable silence.Drake and Elias kept looking at me as we ate, but I was still trying to figure out how I was going to broach the subject of how I was feeling about today. I shouldn’t be alive.

As we finished our meal,I started to clear the table when I was shooed away. “We’ll clear the table and take care of the dishes. You go sit down and relax. Doctor’s orders, remember?” Drake ordered as he started collecting the plates.

“Yes sir. I remember.Is there anything I can help you with?” I inquired as I stood up and looked at both of them.

“No, we’ve got it. Thank you, baby. Now, go and relax,” Eliasreplied as he gathered the remaining dishes off the table.

I threw my hands up and turned around. Imarched into the living room and plopped onto the couch. I felt useless and not needed. I hide my face in a cushion in a fit of frustration. I heard them talking softly in the kitchen, and how I wanted to be a part of it.

After about 10 minutes, they finally joined me in the living room. Elias sat next to me on the couch and Drake sat in a chair across from us.

“Bree, are you alright? What’s wrong?” Elias asked as he tried to take the cushion from my face.

“Bree, pleaseremove the cushion from your face so we can talk. What’s wrong?” Drake cooed as he too was trying to get the cushion from my face.

“I feel so fucking useless.I wasn’t allowed to help with dinner or the clean-up. I’m not used to sitting on my ass doing nothing,” I wailed as I removed the cushion from my face.

“Um, well … the doctor did say … for you … not to overdo it … and to take it easy riiiigggghhhhtttt????” Drake cautiously replied to her as he looked to Elias for support as he was talking.

“Baby, we want you to you to be back to full strength to enjoy your week with me. I want you to have fun and see what life would be like in my territory and not in the hospital,” Elias reassured me as he rubbed circles in the back of my hand.

“So, you’re not coddling or treating me like I’m fragile?” I mumbled as I looked from one to the other looking for assurances.

“Never, we know that you don’t like that. You are after all a warrior first. You are going to be an awesome Luna.” Drake exclaimed with pride as he approached me and kissed my temple.

“Speaking of Luna, I have some questions. Like how different is it from that of a Beta female? I have assisted Luna Sophia before, but I never really understood what her duties were,” I explained as I looked at them both.

“This isn’t about being Luna, is it? What’s going on Bree?” Elias pleaded as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

“I almost died. I shouldn’t be here.Everyone is acting normal like nothing happened. Lorenzo wanted to kill me just because he couldn’t have me. How messed up is that?” I growled as tears started to form in my eyes.

“Yes, you almost died, but you didn’t. Let’s remember that. You are still here and alive.I, for one, am very happy that you are still alive. Baby, please I know it’s upsetting, but let it go. We will help you move forward. Lorenzo will not bother you ever again. We will protect you. You have my word,” Drake professed as he cupped my cheek and looked into my eyes.

“We will not let anyone hurt you. We will protect you. Once you become mated with an alpha, you get some of their abilities; like strength, speed, or whatever their special ability is through the mate bond,” Elias explained as he continued to rub circles on the back of my hand.

“Really? I didn’t know that. How did you know I was going to visit you first Elias?” I asked him with a sly smirk.

“Well, Bennett mentionedit to us. We were packing our stuff so we could stay the night here with you in your suite instead of being in our rooms on the Alpha floor tonight. Yes, we didn’t ask you if we could stay with you tonight, but rather we are going to do it anyway. We want to make sure you are safe and protected,” Elias cooed as he picked me up and placed me on his lap.

“I was hoping you two would stay with me tonight since Dad and Tom took Alpha Lorenzo away. But I didn’t know how to ask you without sounding … without sounding …” I couldn’t say the word easy or slutty.

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