Everly POV
Two weeks later
“Everly wake up. You‘re late again,” Valen says, shaking me out of my deep sleep. A growl escapes, andI tug my pillow over my head. He growls, ripping the heavy drapes open and flooding the room with lightthat seared my eyeballs from their sockets..
“Everly up!” Valen growls, ripping the blanket off me. My eyes felt like sandpaper, and I was so damnexhausted. No matter how early I went to bed, I always woke up feeling like crap, and it didn‘t help thathe watched me like a damn hawk. And wouldn‘t allow me any coffee, making me question if that was anaddiction. I usually had two before I even did the school run, and now no caffeine has resulted in mebecoming a zombie.
“No, leave me,” I whined.
“Valarian was ten minutes late yesterday and today. The tantrum I just dealt with was insane! Now up!You were supposed to do the school runs the last two days, and on both days, he couldn’t wake you, andI had to come home!”
“I‘m tired,” I told him, reaching blindly for the blanket that he tugged away.
“Up!” he says slapping my backside and earning a growl.
“Why,” I whined.
“Because it is time to get up!” he snaps.
“Time for you to get up. I don‘t have to be anywhere,” I growl. It was my day off. I wanted to sleep!
Valen growls and storms out of the room, and I snuggle beneath my blanket when I wrinkle my nose atthe smell of coffee. The smell I couldn‘t stand sent me running for the bathroom, but damn, did I miss thetaste and the energy buzz. The scent grew more potent, and I growled as his scent wafted in frombehind me and the pungent aroma of caffeine goodness.
“I swear if you made that just to make me get up to puke, I would provide the damn vasectomy myself,” Isnarl before I gasp, my throat burning. It was such an odd reaction to the one thing I loved. Once I threwup, I was good to drink it. Just the initial smell always got to me.
Flushing the toilet, I quickly rinsed my mouth while glaring at him in the mirror as I watched him take asip. He was pushing my limits. I snarled as I stood up while he smiled tauntingly.
“Ah, be nice, I may let you drink it,” he says.
“Hand the coffee over, hun, or I feel this miningdeal may not go through,”
I tell him, “I hear the owner is a real bitch without her morning coffee,” and his smile falls.
Maybe him knowing now would play to my advantage. When I brought it, I knew if the packs knew, theywould hunt me down and probably kill me, but with Valen and my Dad behind me, no one would daretouch me now.
“You can‘t blackmail me, and that was my land you brought,” Valen tells me.
“No claims, therefore, no–man‘s–land and now my land,” I tell him, putting my hands on my hips.
“I still can‘t believe you did that, and you nearly started a war between me and slasher pack Alpha.”
I reach for the mug, but he pulls his hand away. “That land would make a nice protected reserve,” Imuse, folding my arms across my chest. He glares at me before co*cking his eyebrow at me and nottaking his eyes from mine while sipping the coffee. I purse my lips.
“Maybe I might sell the land right out the back of your territory. Slater, I heard, was looking to extend. Iam sure he would offer a good amount for the spot right at the back. Do you know where I am talkingabout? Where your packhouse is,” I told him.
“You wouldn‘t dare, then you would get yourself in trouble!” he says and smirks.
“It was kind of the intention when I brought it, you know, to cause trouble, and I hear it was quite theheadache for the Blood Alpha,” I tell him, and he clicks his tongue.
“Fine, one coffee, one Everly. And once that jar is gone now more, it should last you a while,” hesays.
“The whole jar?” I ask excitedly, and he nods.
“Deal?” he asks, holding out his hand.
“Two a day?” I retort.
“One!” he says.
“Three!”
“One!”
“Three, and you have a deal,” I tell him, and he growls.
“Two then,” he says, and I smile, shake his hand, and he gives me the cup. I take it excitedly and have asip before it comes spraying out my mouth as I spit it back in the cup. Valen laughs.
“What the f*ck, Valen! That is not coffee,” I snarl.
“We had a deal,” he laughs. “And you shook on it,”
“Yes, a deal for coffee! Not whatever the heck that is!”
“Decaf!” he says, and I growl. “Well, I know never to let you go over a contract. Always verify what you‘remaking a deal on, Luna,” Valen laughs. I pull a face at him and flip him the finger behind his back as hewalks out. I get dressed, pouting about my coffee fix that was not coffee.
Once dressed, I texted Zoe and Macey to see what they were doing since the hotel was underrenovations. We had so much spare time on our hands, and it was like the moment we stopped working,all of us crashed and burned.
Working seven days a week for months on end, you don‘t realize how tired you become until you haveone day off. The girls agreed to meet up with me for lunch, and before I knew it, I was driving over to thehotel to check everything was remaining on schedule while Valen told me he was going to see his father,who was meeting him at the homeless shelter.
Everything seemed to be happening so fast but it was a drama free day which I liked.
Valen took care of most of the debts while I waited for my accountant and some agents to sell off someof the land, selling off everything besides the land behind our pack and my father‘s old pack, and out ofspite, I was also keeping the land behind Nixon‘s it might come in handy later on.
Valen seemed rather shocked about everything, as one would be, but mostly, I knew I had it but neveractually thought of doing anything with it. I brought it out of spite, but it may just be what saves us fromgoing under. Valarian‘s money was locked in a trust until he came of age. I could get it out, but the hoopsto jump through would be a pain in the ass. Plus, the thought of touching it sickened me.
The day slipped by slowly, and the girls and I went to lunch in the city center. It felt odd being served andnot doing the serving. We all looked and felt out of place. People stared and muttered mainly at Maceybecause she smelled rogue still.
The waiter places our food down in front of us and a tea. Glancing at the waitress. “I think you gave methe wrong one?” I ask her. She smiles apologetically.
“I‘m sorry, Luna, but,”
“Valen!” I growled and she whisked away quickly. I knew that must be Valen‘s doing, seeing as it was oneof his pack cafes we were sitting at. Macey glances around before sliding her cappuccino in front of meand sends me a wink.
“I saw nothing, and I think he is being ridiculous over the caffeine thing,” she declares.
“And cheese,” I tell them, glaring at my salad.
“Cheese?” Zoe asks.
“Yep, listeria, oh and fish, apparently mercury levels and since he can‘t be bothered looking up which fishbest to steer clear of, he has banned all fish, oh and mayonnaise. I will kill him by the end of thispregnancy. Every night he has his nose in a baby book,” I say with a roll of the eyes.
“Yeah, f*ck that,” Macey says, and Zoe glances around like she is waiting for him to pounce on me overthe coffee Macey gave me.
“Have you told Tatum yet?” I asked Macey, she kept avoiding it. Although, she had admitted that he hadbeen hounding her since Tatum found out about my pregnancy, especially now that they had officiallymoved in with each other.
“I will,” she sighs, picking at her caesar salad. Zoe smiles at her sadly. And I felt terrible because I waspregnant with not one baby but three, and Macey couldn‘t have one.
“What about you? What‘s going on with you and Valen?” Macey asks, spearing a piece of lettuce andpopping it in her mouth. I knew she was trying to change the subject away from her not telling Tatum, butI would let it slide this once.
“Fine, he is super annoying and clingy now, but I was thinking,”
“Thinking about what?” Zoe asks, biting into her wrap and watching me. Yet it had been nagging at me,and even though we had marked each other and I was Luna of his pack. When I signed the titles theother day, it bothered me that I was using my last name because, technically, the pack on the paperworkwere separate packs.
“Do you think it would be strange if I proposed to Valen? I know it is usually the other way around,but-“my cheeks flush. Macey stops mid-chew to stare at me, her eyes narrow.
“Wait, you want to get married? I thought you were against the whole thing, and it’s just a piece of paperand blah blah blah,” Macey says.
“Well, I was, but Valen is handling Dad’s pack for me, but he has to run everything past me becausetechnically, I am Alpha.” I tell her.
Zoe snickers, “And Valen is your Luna,” she laughs. I nudge her, but technically whoever held the titleswas Alpha, so I was his Luna, and he was mine.
“And Valarian has his name now and“.
“Oh my gosh, Everly, if you want to marry him, marry him, damn, you don‘t need to give us a list ofreasons why you should; it ain‘t a business deal. Just admit you want to marry him!” Macey says.
“So, when are you going to do it?” Zoe asks, and I shrug.
“I don‘t know, I would have to get him a ring first….just saying that sounds so backward.” I shake myhead.
“Why?” Zoe asks and I shrug. It just did, and my face fell.
“What?” Macey says.
“What if he says no?” That would be mortifying, yet they both looked at me like I was absurd.
“He is your mate, nothing more permanent than the mark on your neck, but you think he won‘t marryyou?” Zoe says, shaking her head.
“I told you, ladies, we can become nonsexual lesbians if necessary. I will gladly marry you both. If Valensays no. And the same goes for you,” she says, nodding to Zoe, and I laugh.
“But I ain‘t eating puss*. I don‘t even like the look of my own vagin*, let alone getting close and personalwith either of yours. Valen says no. I‘ll ditch Tatum and marry ya. I gotcha, baby girl,” she says and winksat me. I laughed. It did sound rather silly that he would say no.
“I say do it. Besides, you got options! Macey is your backup plan if he says no,” Zoey says, snickeringbefore going back to eating her food. We all ate and made small talk before deciding to check out someof the jewelers when we came across one hidden up some side alley.
“I did not even know this place was here,” Zoe says, glancing up at the sign. ‘Dion‘s Jewelers‘ I shrug,opening the door and stepping inside to find some rough–looking biker man sitting behind a glasscabinet, glasses perched on the end of his nose as he read something. Tattoos covered his arms, chest,and neck from what I could see poking out from his button–down shirt.
He glances at us while we look around. “Luna, ladies, ah, what a surprise. What can I do for you today?”he asks.
“She is looking for an engagement ring for her mate,” Zoe answers him, peering into the glass displays.He nods, sipping his can of co*ke and stepping into the main area where we were before turning to lookat Macey.
“Oh, not me, her. She is going to propose to Alpha Valen,” Macey tells him, and my cheeks heat. Theman coughs on his drink before punching his chest.
My eyes widen as he chokes on his drink, and I move to pat him on the back while he gasps. “Are youalright?” Macey asks him.
“Went down the wrong hole,” Dion gasps, sucking in a breath. I stepped away from him as he cleared histhroat. The man was a giant and not what I expected the jeweler to look like.
“How about I show you a few things, then?,” he says awkwardly.
