Page 38 of Malek

In the hotel foyer, Axel spotted his brother immediately, mainly because he still had his scrubs on. Also, his brother was pretty and lanky. Of the four Baines brothers, Rowan was the prettiest. His features were almost feminine.

Axel left his mate’s side when he was close to Rowan and walked into his brother's open arms.

“I shoulda come along camping with ya, if I knew you’d find one of those lying about. He’s well fit.” Rowan whispered.

Axel tried to hold in his laughter, not because of what his brother said, but because even though Rowan had whispered, Axel knew Malek could hear every word.

When he stepped out of their hug and looked at his mate, he saw Malek’s lips twitching.

“Malek, this is my older brother, well, one of them, Rowan.” Then he looked at his brother, “Ro, meet Malek, my fiancé.” Axel knew the pride in his voice when he said fiancé was unmistakable.

His brother looked his mate up and down, before taking his hand, “You don’t waste any time do you?”

Malek looked down at Axel, and their gazes met and held, “Why waste time when you know what you want?”

“Oh, do one you two,” Rowan teased, “both of you are making me feel well single.”

Malek and Axel laughed at his brother's words, but Axel knew that Rowan approved of Malek. If he hadn’t, his brother would have gone silent, or done his posh voice as they called it.

“Seriously let's go, I’m starving, I need some scran,” Rowan looked at Malek, “You can tell me all about how you stole my little brother away. Never thought I’d see the day Axel moved to a different city. He wouldn’t even apply outside Manchester for uni.”

“Shut up,” Axel said, shoving his brother playfully.

“Guess he was waiting for me,” Malek said simply, then placed a sweet kiss on Axel’s lip.

“Does he have a brother or a sister?” Rowan swooned.

Axel met Malek’s eyes, his mind racing… That would be…

“There are three more where he came from,” Axel said, “You’ll have to come visiting soon.”

Twenty-One

Malek

After some wonderful, supremely hot hotel sex, and a good night’s sleep they got on the road pretty early— after his mate vacated the contents of his stomach.

Malek hated seeing Axel suffer, but knowing what caused it had him and his wolf puffed up with pride.

They were going to have a pup, a child, and Malek couldn’t wait.

Now he just had to get his parents back in town, so that Papa could give Axel a checkup. He had been willing to wait on his parents meeting Axel, because he knew that their holiday would end soon, and Axel would still be there, but now everything had to do with his mate and the safety of their unborn child, and Malek was willing to interrupt their holiday for that.

Rowan had given Malek more of a third-degree than their mother, grilling him about what he did, his family, his background and everything in between.

Malek happily answered every question. He didn’t mind. He would probably do the same in Rowan’s position.

After Rowan was finally out of questions, he started telling stories from when he and Axel were young until before Malek met his mate.

The only thing that Malek hadn’t specified was where he lived, and he’d followed Axel’s lead. He knew his mate wanted his family to come to Whitfell one day, but Malek respected that Axel wasn’t ready yet, and he had a feeling it had everything to do with the fact that Axel was pregnant. That was a bit more difficult to explain, he figured.

It took a little longer to get back home, mainly because they got into traffic on the motorway, but not even that could spoil his mood.

Malek glanced at his sleeping mate and smiled. He realised, he’d been doing that a lot. Smiling for no bloody reason. He probably looked a bit of a loon, but he didn’t care.

When he got into Whitfell, he followed the road to his house. His brother must have been looking out for him, because as he drove past Malachi's to get to his house, his brother came out and followed. Malek parked at the side of their house, instead of the main parking lot, so that he could unload Axel’s stuff easily.

He opened the door, and came out making sure to be quiet. He figured he could lift Axel out of the car and into the house, since his mate seemed to be enjoying his nap.