Page 12 of Delivered to My Beasts (Mail-Order Matings #22)

Imogen

I didn’t care who had what on the chore board today. We’d spent a few days together, me and the three bears, and I had begun to feel a little safer. At least one of them was in the house with me at all times, and if we went for a run, usually it was all of us.

Amazing how quickly we’d fallen into a routine, although I knew it wasn’t enough.

They had me come to visit as a possible mate, but I was living with them as one more friend.

A friend who had no money or way to support themselves.

Not really a great thing for them, and the tension between us was building.

I just wasn’t sure where we could go with it yet.

Part of me, a big part, wanted to throw myself in their arms and beg them to mate and mark me. Not something I’d ever felt toward Mateo, but how much of this was because they were keeping me safe? How fair was it to them to offer what might not be genuine?

My wolf was confident that they were our fateds. She was crazy about them in both two and four-legged forms and grew increasingly frustrated by what she saw as an unnecessary delay in starting our life with our mates.

This particular day was the first time any of them had gone into town.

Duke had some errands to run that he’d already put off, and grocery shopping was one of them.

Probably my fault because I was eating them out of house and home.

I’d been hungry for a very long time, and they encouraged me to have seconds at every meal. If this kept up, I’d need bigger jeans.

Somehow I didn’t mind. It was such a pleasure to have enough in my stomach that it wasn’t growling all the time.

And since most of what we served was healthful food and not much junk, it built me up and made me stronger as well.

I hadn’t realized how the limited calorie consumption cost me in strength.

I didn’t require as much rest as I had, and I generally felt better.

But not today. The town Duke traveled to was the very same one where the pack did business.

It was very likely that there would be some members around when he was shopping. He might even see Mateo.

The whole thing had me in such an uproar that I was wiping chores off the board one by one.

After washing the breakfast dishes, I polished the stove and scrubbed the counters, not that they needed it.

Then I swept and mopped the kitchen floor, dusted the living room, and vacuumed any rug I could find, baked cookies, and got a slow cooker started for dinner, but nothing helped to ease the anxiety.

What if he did run into Mateo? What would he say about me?

He’d never held a very high opinion of me considering he wanted to be my mate.

As I scrubbed the powder room toilet, I wondered how that would go, the taking over as alpha without me.

The younger member of the pack had been cruel to me, but the elders had been reluctant to support Mateo until my father set up the mating.

I sprayed the mirror with vinegar and water and wiped it with a square of toweling.

All those preparations for the wedding. A wedding!

Not a shifter event. And not one that had been my idea, but Mateo had been all in for the whole thing with all the details.

A multitiered cake and favors and all sorts of weirdness like that.

And that fluffy marshmallow-meringue dress he picked out for me.

I knew exactly how I would want to celebrate a mating.

First of all, unless it involved pack royalty, there was no need for anything big and showy.

I’d been to some parties to celebrate a new pairing where everyone got together to share a barbecue and a run.

That allowed the animals to share in the whole thing as well.

Looking around the bathroom, I saw nothing left to do there. Tired, I probably should stop, maybe have a cold drink, but I couldn’t do it. Duke was in town, outnumbered by pack. What if they had figured out where I was and saw him there. He was a big guy, but they didn’t play fair.

The chore board was finished. I’d done everyone’s jobs, and the house glowed with cleanliness. What could I do?

I was carrying a ladder and a bucket around the side of the house when Crew and Jax caught up with me.

“Female, what are you doing?”

“Windows. I’m going to wash the windows.”

“Do you really think they need it?” Jax asked. “We did them just before you came.”

“I need to keep busy until Duke gets back.” My voice cracked. “I can’t…”

They exchanged a look. Then Crew sighed. “We’ll wash, you supervise.”

“But how is that keeping busy?”

“Be a boss babe.” Jax took the ladder from me. “You get the bucket, bro. The lady wants clean windows.”

My heard swelled at their recognition of my needs and how they were meeting them without making me feel needy or small.

Even putting me in charge of the project.

It was a beautiful, crisp fall day, blue skies dotted with white clouds and the mountain foliage beginning to turn in earnest. As the two males washed the windows, they kept checking with me to make sure I approved of their performance.

In fact, as they worked, they began to clown around and be silly until finally they had me laughing and telling them they were going to have their pay docked if they didn’t get serious about the task.

But when they finished the last window, I sobered again. “Shouldn’t Duke be back by now?”

Jax hefted the ladder over his shoulder. “Pretty soon. An hour each way, a few errands in town. I’m not worried, are you, Crew?”

“Nope.” He reached for my hand. “Duke can handle a little grocery shopping on his own. You come in with me and we’ll have some hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks.”

He’d taken my hand so casually and naturally, but the contact was electric, and I let him lead me inside and seat me at the counter.

I chatted with Crew and then Jax when he came in while we drank cider and nibbled sugar cookies, but I kept one eye on the driveway where I wanted to see Duke park.

My car, the pack vehicle, had been moved into the garage, out of sight, but it was going to have to be gotten rid of at some point.

Maybe I’d just ask the guys to leave it on the opposite side of town one day.

But not yet. I didn’t want them going there if they didn’t need to.

Finally, as I tipped the mug up to drink the last of the cider, I heard the car pulling in. I flew out the door to meet Duke, the others following me at a slower pace.

I’d never been so glad to see anyone.