Caleb’s P.O.V
I took a deep breath as I stood outside Aurora’s door, an almost surreal feeling in my gut as I raised my hands to knock on the door.
It was two days after…err…the incident, where I had marked Aurora as my mate and I could feel the bond pulsating between us, a golden thread that was as alive as the bond slowly growing between Aurora and me.
I didn’t like how the Rut had made me vulnerable and caused me to ultimately mark Aurora, but in the end, fate played its hand and now, there was no denying what we meant for each other.
“I’m coming! Hold on!” Aurora’s voice sounded from the other side of the door, before she opened it with a huge smile…that dropped as soon as she saw me, and her face contorted into a look of concern. “Caleb?”
“Hi…umm…were you expecting someone else?” I asked, knowing full well that she had actually been expecting Caroline.
“Yes…umm…nevermind…” she gave me a small smile, before moving away from the door. “How are you feeling? Is it okay for you to move around already?”
Actually…it was okay for me to move around since the day I marked Aurora, but I had chosen to stay away from her because my wolf had been acting a bit erratically, wanting to complete the mating now that I had already marked her.
But not only was Aurora underaged, our bond was yet to develop to the point where we would want to be intimate with each other in such a way as mates did. I felt guilty about rushing the marking, so I wanted to wait as long as possible for Aurora to be fully ready to accept me, knowing how she had been upset about her first kiss.
Yes, I knew there were girls, women, out there who didn’t mind how their first kiss or first time was like or who it was with, but Aurora was more conservative and I liked that about her, the way she wanted everything to be special. And I would do anything to respect her decision.
However, as I entered the room, my eyes fell on her form standing in front of me…in short jean shorts and an oversized T-shirt with a Kpop band member’s face on it…I couldn’t help but swallow hard as I looked away immediately, my heart thundering inside my chest as I tried to reign in my wolf that was urging me to do more than just some lip on lip action.
“I…um…I’m fine now.” I cleared my throat when my voice sounded huskier than intended. “The healer told me I could move around, and I have a game coming up, so I need to be on my feet as soon as possible. The team is depending on me.”
“I see.” An almost nostalgic smile spread on her lips as I mentioned school and the game, but she shook her head as if to drive that thought away. “Would you like to…stay a while? Since Caroline seems to be late…”
“I heard you guys were going to have a sleepover.” I grinned as I held up the bag of snacks and drinks that I had gotten her. “So I prepared some things for you. Actually, Care told me to make dumplings, but it turns out, I’m not a very productive cook and nearly burned down the kitchen twice.”
“What?” Her eyes widened as she looked at me up and down. “Are you alright? You didn’t hurt yourself, did you?”
I was tempted to say that I did, just so Aurora would gush over me some more, but then my eyes landed on Riley, who was sitting on the bed, looking at us with interest in his eyes, I cleared my throat once again, and shook my head.
Little brat was here to put a dent in my date, but I couldn’t really be mad that that adorable munchkin. Everyone in the pack was starting to dote on him and for good reason. He was one of the most well-behaved five year old I’ve seen in my life.
“I’m fine…banned from entering the kitchen ever again, but fine.” I motioned for the pack of snacks. “Here. For you…and Riley.”
“Thank you,” Aurora held the pack to her chest, biting her lower lip as she looked around. She was probably debating whether or not to let me stay, but the gesture made me focus on her lips more than once.
Fucking hormones!I cursed myself. I couldn’t afford to have her scared and run in the opposite direction just because I was having a hard time looking away from her. Ever since that kiss on my bed…I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her for a second. I had taken time off school these couple days and I would be going back tomorrow to practice for the upcoming match, but that would mean that I’d miss Aurora the entire day.
Just then, Aurora’s phone beeped with an incoming message, and she frowned, before heading to her night stand to check on it. After a few seconds, a sigh left her lips. “Looks like Caroline will be running a bit late.”
“Oh…?”
“Yeah,” Aurora shrugged before she pointed towards her bed. “Wanna join us for a bit? Share the snacks?”
‘Thank you, Caroline!’I told her mentally. ‘I owe you one.’
‘You better remember that, brat!’Came her snapped reply.
Okay…so I may or may not have indicated to Care that I wanted to spend some time alone with Aurora, and I did own her a big one for this.
“Sure.” I grinned at her before jumping onto the bed and turning to face Riley. “Hey buddy, what are you up to?”
Riley looked up at me with a big smile. “Naming colors! I just learned to spell scarlet.”
“Wow.” I blinked a couple times. “Why not just go with red?”
“Our teacher told us to learn synonyms.” He shrugged before going back to scribble on his notebook.
“You can call it a day now, Riles,” she took the books from him and placed them aside while bringing out the snacks. “Let’s all have a snack.”
“Yayy!” Riley attacked the snacks almost immediately, making both of us smile.
It was only after we were at the end of our ‘snack time’, that I told Aurora what had been on my mind for the longest time.
“Aura…before you freak out, I want you to listen to something that I want to talk about. Just…hear me out before you make a decision, alright?” I spoke a bit hesitantly, remembering how she had reacted to the scholarship scenario. “I was wondering…if you would like to go back to sc-”
Aurora shook her head suddenly, and then motioned towards Riley. I understood almost immediately that Aurora hasn’t told Riley about her decision yet. So I stayed quiet, not finishing the sentence, even though I saw Riley give us weird looks.
After about half an hour, Riley was already tired and wanted to get to bed, so Aurora gladly let him go to his room. The little guy gave me a surprise hug before he left and I couldn’t help but smile at the gesture.
It was only once Riley was out of sight that I resumed our earlier conversation once again.
“Aurora…I really want you to rethink your decision.” I told her sincerely. “You’ve made it this far already…why not finish your high school education and then decide what to do about your future?”
“Caleb, we’d had this conversation before and my answer remains the same.” Aurora sighed, rubbing at her temples. “Riley’s school is a public school, but he would require supplies soon too. We’re already living off of you and your family, and I don’t want to add to it anymore. If anything, I should be going back to work at the vest least. So if you have something that I can do, let me know. Even washing dishes is fine, since I can’t go back to the diner after…”
“Shane’s little trick.” I nodded, trying to find a way out of the situation. “But that doesn’t mean you’re going to be cleaning dishes here either, Aurora. You’re my mate, you’re the future Luna. And you don’t need to repay us for anything.”
Caroline was right about Aurora being a hard-worker and fiercely independent. But that didn’t mean I was letting her go back out in the open and work for a minimum wage job in a diner that could barely keep itself open. But how do I convince her that she doesn’t have to think about finances anymore? She was my mate, the future Luna of the pack…everything that I owned belonged to her now.
And that was when an idea came to my head.
“How about this. And hear me out first before you protest.” I held out my hand before she could speak. “I’ll pay for your school fees and I’ll transfer Riley to our pack’s school for our children. He’ll be safer there and you won’t have to worry about your father coming to find him either.”
Aurora’s eyes widened on a gasp, probably from the realization that her father was still out there and Riley could be his next target. But I couldn’t let her dwell on that fear either.
“Riley’s been protected all this while, don’t worry.” I told her immediately. “One of the guards at his Kindergarten as well as one of the teachers are wolves and they had been keeping a close eye on him. Not to mention he’s being picked up and dropped to school by one of our guards as well.”
“Thank you.” Aurora told me gratefully. “For taking care of Riley. I don’t know how I forgot about our father still being out there…seriously, Caleb! Thank you so much.”
“Well, if you really feel that indebted...” I gave her a smirk. “Come back to school and complete your studies. That’s the least you can do to pay me back…aside from going to college with me as well…”