Page 42 of A True Mate Bond

“I never thought I would see you like this. All the time we’ve been friends, you’ve been reserved and tried to run as far from the pack as possible. Now you’re moving back here for a woman. I never even thought you would ever want a family.”

“I never did, Tristan, but she completely changed me.”

Tristan chuckled. “You idiot, you didn’t have a choice.”

Blake couldn’t help but answer with a threatening growl, but he knew Tristan was right. They never would’ve been in this whole situation if he hadn’t had sex with Niev and he also knew if he hadn’t, he probably would’ve lost her for good. Blake led Tristan onto the overgrown clearing that would be his new home very soon.

Tristan followed him inside the house and looked around. “What do you want to start on today?”

“Maybe just clean it up a bit. The bathroom looks like shit.” He looked around and stepped toward the kitchen. “I don’t think we can save this either. I might have to build a new one.”

“Clean up sounds good but maybe before building anything you should ask her what she wants.”

Blake sighed. “I’m not sure if I can keep up with her standards. The apartment she lived in was completely modern. All this is probably prehistoric for her.”

“Does she care for those things?”

“She says she doesn’t but I’m not sure she really means that.”

“Well, we better impress her so she doesn’t run away from you. I’d prefer not to have you in a bad mood anymore.”

They started ripping out the old kitchen and tried to keep everything that could be reused or refurbished. Most of the cabinets weren’t worth keeping, and the pipes needed to be completely redone. It was easy work for Blake. His wolf strength helped with these kinds of tasks, and the pile of trash grew outside the house. About an hour in, they’d completely ripped out the kitchen and cleaned up the living area. His biggest frustration was the flooring. Over the years, some parts had slowly started to rot and now needed to be replaced. Tristan was just pulling up a corner to see what laid beneath it when the front door opened and Seth stepped in. Blake hadn’t seen him, rather trying to avoid him since his father had tried to force Niev and him into helping them with the Skadu Wolves.

Seth looked around and their eyes met. “I thought you might need some help.” He opened the door further revealing Bear, Kai, and Brandon on the porch.

Blake nodded. “We were just going to clean up and see what we need to remodel.”

Seth walked over, the others following, and looked down on the piece of floor that Tristan had revealed. “Might need to redo parts of the floor just to be on the safe side.”

Blake didn’t like that idea. It meant that all of this would take even longer. “Let’s hope it’s not a lot. Otherwise, this will take much longer than I anticipated.”

Bear smacked him on the shoulder. “That’s why you have us. Should we start in the back?”

Blake nodded. “Take a look at the bathroom.”

Kai looked around a little confused. “Where is Niev?”

“At home. I told her to take it easy this morning.”

“I’m sure she took that very well. She’s probably on her way here already,” Seth laughed.

“No, I didn’t tell her I was coming here. I wanted to surprise her.”

“Well, we better get started than.”

Seth walked to the back and took Bear with him to the bathroom while Brandon and Kai walked to the bedrooms. The pile outside grew as the hours flew by, and noon approached quickly. They’d managed to rip out the complete bathroom and expose the parts of the floorboards that needed replacing. Luckily, the floors in the bedrooms looked good.

Blake was sweating and his muscles were aching. He’d tried to work as quickly and efficiently as possible. He wanted Niev to see at least some kind of progress and didn’t want to disappoint her.

“You should head back to her.” Seth had walked up behind him and now stood next to him, looking at their work. “She’s probably waiting for you.”

Most likely very impatiently too, he thought to himself. They’d made good progress, but he’d hoped to see even more.

Kai came walking down the hallway toward them. “We’ll stay and finish up. It’s not much now that the bathroom is clear.”

“Go, Blake. She needs you.” Seth’s voice was stern.

“I’ll pick her up and bring her here. She needs to decide what she wants to do next.”

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