Page 13

Chapter Ten

Molly was exhausted. She could tell by the look on her mate’s face that whatever she was experiencing was not normal. All she had the energy to internalize, though, was that his headset blocked out everything and allowed her to breathe.

He lifted her off the bed, stood her on her feet, and proceeded to change the sheets on the bed. She was still running hotter than normal, so she wasn’t cold, but her knees were quickly threatening to give out from exhaustion.

Finally, he was done, and he grabbed a diaper from the nightstand. He held it up before pointing at it and then the bathroom. He was giving her a choice. Toilet or diaper.

She swallowed hard as she made the strangest choice she’d ever made, lifting her finger to point at the diaper.

Her primary thought was that she was about to sleep ten hours, and she was afraid she would sleep so hard that she might wet the bed.

That would be far more embarrassing than letting him diaper her.

Gavin lifted her up to gently settle her on her back on the bed.

He kissed her tummy before he lifted her heels to slide the diaper under her.

Self-consciousness washed over her when he spread her legs wide, and the moment he turned to open the drawer on the nightstand, she pulled her knees together.

When he resumed facing her, he narrowed his gaze and gave her a stern look, saying nothing. She wouldn’t have been able to hear him, but also he didn’t need to say a word. She understood his reprimand fine.

Her cheeks flushed as she parted her thighs, and they heated further when he made no move to continue. It took a second for it to dawn on her that she hadn’t spread wide enough. She whimpered as she pressed her knees into the mattress, opening her pussy up completely.

“Good girl,” he mouthed as he opened the tube he was holding.

She didn’t dare argue or move an inch while he squeezed some kind of ointment on his finger and then carefully spread it on her pussy.

Her lips trembled the entire time. Nerve endings she’d never been aware of before today were no longer dormant.

He’d awakened something in her that would forever be present.

A need that was now growing as he stroked her folds.

She whimpered when he put the lid back on the tube and pulled the front of the diaper up around her hips. Breathing heavily, she was aware that her nipples were hard and her pussy was swollen and wet. How often would this happen?

He surely knew. Nothing would ever get by him. His shaft was fully erect, though she had no idea what it would look like when it wasn’t because she’d yet to see it in any other state.

Daddy moved around the room, turning off lights before returning to the bed. He’d left a nightlight on in the bathroom. It illuminated the room enough to keep her from getting scared if she woke up in the night.

The bed dipped as he joined her, and he easily moved her right where he wanted her before pulling the covers over them, arranging her back against his chest, and wrapping his arms around her.

He kissed her neck before lifting the edge of the headset just enough to whisper, “You’re safe, Little one.

Sleep. I’ll be right with you all the time. ”

“Thank you, Daddy,” she responded as he settled the earpiece back into place. She took deep breaths. The silence was welcome. Her mind wouldn’t relax, though. She had too many questions.

Why was it so loud in his house? She thought it was even louder outside. It hadn’t been loud when she’d first arrived. That sensation hadn’t started until they’d had sex.

Molly was soothed by his touch. He had to know she wasn’t sleeping, and he continued to stroke her skin, up and down her arm. Eventually, he threaded his fingers with hers between her breasts but his thumb still moved back and forth across her knuckles, sometimes bumping against her nipple.

Every once in a while, he kissed her shoulder, acknowledging neither of them was asleep. She felt bad that she couldn’t talk to him. It seemed like he was reassuring her it was okay. He understood. He would figure this out.

His heart beat in sync with hers. That must be a mate thing. She hadn’t known about it, but it made sense. She’d been aware of their hearts aligning since she’d first met his gaze. Perhaps even sooner. The moment he’d set his palm on top of her head during the ceremony.

He gave her peace. She felt reassured he would always do so for the rest of their lives.

What’s wrong with me?

Daddy lifted the edge of the headset again. “Nothing is wrong with you, precious girl. Settle. Rest. Daddy will figure this out tomorrow.”

She must have spoken out loud. She squeezed his hand between her breasts, so grateful to Fate that she’d been matched with the most amazing Alpha Protector, a man who very calmly accepted her strange behavior and promised to slay her demons.

So tired …

Molly drifted off, her sleep so deep that she was only marginally aware when her Daddy later fed her a bottle and changed her. He gave her a pacifier and stroked her cheek as she went back into a deep sleep.

She was fairly certain he fed and changed her several times after that.

She sucked hard on the pacifier and her bottles.

She didn’t have the energy to open her eyes, so she didn’t try.

He didn’t require her to. He simply took care of her, tucked her back in, kissed her temple, and let her go back into the deep sleep she apparently needed.

Finally she came more fully awake. She blinked open her eyes to discover the sun was setting, the dim light cast across the room.

She pushed to sitting, surprised to discover she was wearing a soft nightgown.

It was nothing like any nightgown she’d ever worn since it covered barely more than her chest, but it was soft and pretty.

She felt rested. When she attempted to lift the earpieces from her head, she winced, disappointed to find out the noises persisted. Nevertheless, she removed the headset, trying to focus on the particular sounds that seemed to be inside the house.

She determined she could separate those from anything else. Her Daddy was in the other room. His voice was one. There were three other voices belonging to other men.

Suddenly he appeared in the doorway and rushed toward her. “Hey, Baby girl.” He scooped her up and held her against his chest. “How do you feel?”

“Better. I was so tired. I guess I slept all day.” She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

He chuckled. “You slept two days, Little one.”

She gasped. “I did?”

“Yes, but that’s not too strange. Your body needed sleep after your first shift. How are the noises?”

“Still there. Who’s here?”

“Felix, Damon, and my father, Ezra. They’re building something for you. It’s almost done. Want to see it?”

She cocked her head to one side, confused. “For me?”

“Yes, Baby girl.” He grabbed a soft blanket from the end of the bed and wrapped it all around her before carrying her out of the room and into the living room.

Sure enough, three giant Alpha Protectors filled the space. They all looked up, stopped what they were doing, and grew very silent.

She recognized Gavin’s father from the ceremony. She hadn’t looked him in the eye that day, but she knew it was him by his age and his voice when he spoke softly. “Sorry, Little one. Did we wake you?”

She shook her head. “No, Sir.” It took everything in her not to cover her ears. Instead she leaned one of them against her Daddy’s neck and pressed tight to cut down on some of the noise.

Tears came to her eyes, though. She couldn’t stop them. “Why is it so loud, Daddy?” she whispered.

He rubbed her back. “I don’t know, Little one, but I think we found a way to fix it.” He turned her to face the other side of the room.

The living room was now half the size it had been two days ago. There was a wall running down the middle of the room, cutting it into two sections. The new wall wasn’t painted. “What is it, Daddy?” she asked.

He carried her through the strange heavy door.

Everyone else followed, and Ezra shut the door.

Molly jerked upright and gasped. Her eyes went wide as she looked around. “How’d you do that?”

Daddy blew out a relieved breath. “Thank fuck. It worked? Are the noises gone?”

“Yes! How?”

“We’ve worked around the clock to build this insulated room, Little one.

The walls are thick and filled with a material that blocks out all sound.

I was awake half the night thinking after the headset helped you settle, trying to figure out a way to make it so you wouldn’t have to wear the headset all the time. ”

She couldn’t stop grinning. The relief was tremendous.

Daddy turned her to face the two men she didn’t know. He pointed toward the first one. “This is Damon. His mate is Olivia. She’s the one I told you about whose human side is blind, but her wolf can see.”

Damon smiled at her.

“And this is my brother, Felix. His mate is Khloe. She’s the one I told you whose wolf is large. She and Olivia both have unusual attributes like you do.”

Molly shifted her attention back to her Daddy. “You think I have unusual attributes?”

He chuckled. “I’m sure of it. We just don’t know what it means yet.”

“What is it that you hear, Little one?” Ezra asked.

“I’m not sure. It seems like everything.”

“And you never experienced this before your mating?” he asked.

“No, sir.” Molly was so relieved that she was shaking.

Daddy rubbed her back, still holding her. She hoped he wouldn’t put her down. She was only wearing the nightgown and a diaper. She didn’t want anyone to see either of those.

Daddy kissed her cheek. “You panicked when I carried you outside. Was it louder out there?”

“So loud, Daddy. Like ten thousand people screaming.”

“People?” Damon asked.

She shrugged. “And twigs and every animal in the forest. And everyone nearby who was talking.”

The men all glanced at each other. “No one was nearby talking, Baby girl,” Daddy told her. “Some other Alpha Protectors were keeping watch over us, but they weren’t talking.”

She frowned. “I’m sure they were.”

He patted her bottom. “Okay. Well, you can’t hear any of the noises in here, right?”

She smiled. “No. It’s so nice.”

“I’d like to step back out of the room. Do you think you can focus on what you hear so you can tell us, Little one?”

“I’ll try.”

“I’m going to take you outside for a minute, too, so you can compare. Then we’ll come back in here, okay?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“Does it hurt?” he asked before opening the door.

She thought for a moment. “I guess it sort of hurts. It’s more like annoying.

I can’t focus or hear what I need to hear because of all the other noise.

Imagine if you were in a building and the fire alarm went off beside your head.

You would feel a sort of pain and cover your ears.

People around you might be shouting over it, but you would only see their lips moving. Annoying.”

Daddy listened closely, his brows furrowed. “Okay, you squeeze my hand tightly if it’s too overwhelming and you want me to bring you back in here.”

She nodded and braced herself for the onslaught of noises that were about to assault her.

The moment Ezra opened the door, she winced, but she took a deep breath and tried to focus.

Think. Listen. She knew this wasn’t normal.

She’d never heard of something like this happening to anyone before, and it would seem neither had anyone among the Alpha Protectors.

She looked around the room and thought about what she was hearing, itemizing as many individual things as possible. It was so hard to separate them because all the noises were on top of each other.

When Gavin moved to the front door and glanced at her, she nodded. She could do this. It wasn’t going to kill her. It was just so weird.

The second he opened the door, her breath hitched. It was so much worse outside. For a moment, she thought perhaps she was hearing every single sound on Earth at once.

She gripped her Daddy’s hand where he held it against her front, but she nodded toward the clearing in front of his house. Again she tried to itemize the sounds and voices. She closed her eyes. It was much harder outside because nothing was muffled.

When she was ready, she squeezed her Daddy’s hand, and he turned to hurry back into the house and through to the special room.