Chapter 85

Eleanor:

I smiled when I woke up with my mate laying by my side as I lay on his arm.

His chest rose and fell with each breath that he took, and he was laying on his back while I lay on my side, using his bicep as my pillow.

I sat up and kissed his cheek before covering his bare chest as I got out of bed. I knew that making him something for breakfast would be making his day, and the smile that I always saw on his face whenever he knew that I was the one cooking was something that I grew to admire. 

I walked to the dressing room to quickly shower in the bathroom that I had there before getting dressed. My heart ached as I saw a dress that Natasha and I chose together, and the fact that the two of us were not talking despite being as close as we were was something that hurt me. What pained me even more was the fact that I knew that her mother, who raised my mate up alongside his mother, was now in conflict with him despite that being the last thing that I wanted.

I put on the dress and walked out of the room, careful not to wake Killian in the process. And entering the kitchen, I couldn’t help the small smile that formed on my lips when I saw Natasha being the only one there. It was already late and I knew that all the maids were done with their breakfast. 

Natasha looked up at me for a second when she saw me walking inside, and got up, wanting to walk out only for me to grab her arm, stopping her. She frowned, wanting to walk out either way, and I pushed her back, stopping her.

“What do you want, Eleanor?” She asked, shaking her head at me. I didn’t say a word for a few seconds before she looked down at the dress that I was wearing. “I told you that you would look good in it.”

I smiled and wrapped my arms around her, hugging her tightly. She hugged me back, and I couldn’t help but feel my chest aching when I felt her tears on my shoulder. 

“I heard what you went through, and I’m…”

“Don’t be,” I whispered to her. She tightened her arms around me for a second before she pulled away to look me in the eye. 

“Did he hurt you? You know what I…”

“I stopped him before he could finish,” I said, and her eyes welled up with tears before she wrapped her arms around me again. The two of us pulled away again, and I couldn’t help but find my own eyes tearing up.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t come to you, I couldn’t. After our argument, I didn’t know whether or not you would want to talk to…”

“Sisters fight all the time, don’t they?” I asked, and she smiled and nodded. I wiped her tears from her eyes. “What I need to ask is how are you feeling? I wasn’t by your side when you were grieving, and I know that you dealt with the pain by yourself. It was wrong of me to put you under that pressure regardless of anything, I should have been there for you, and for that, I am sorry.”

“I got over worse,” she said, and I smiled before pulling her to sit on the chair in front of the coffee table. She looked down on the table, avoiding my eyes before I sighed and shook my head. “I heard about what happened between you and mom, and…”

“I am still going to go and talk to her. It was wrong of me to treat her that way. No matter what, I know that she was running the house one way, and I shouldn’t have crossed a certain limit with her. If anything, I know her place when it comes to Killian and I shouldn’t have gotten in the middle.” I said, and Natasha’s eyes softened. “I am guessing that things have had their tow on all of us in a very short period of time, and things have just gotten out of hand.”

“Things tend to get out of hand all the time in this house. We just need to watch out for the season,” Natasha said, and I laughed. She smiled and took my hand in hers, gently squeezing it. “Next time we argue, we are going to talk things out like sisters. I don’t want this bullshit to get between us, and I don’t want to lose the one friend that I can fully trust with everything here.”

“I told you, sisters fight all the time. The two of us just had our own experience, I guess, but we are going to need to try and solve things in a smarter way.” Natasha laughed, and I nodded. “So, do you want to start with the gossip of the pack while I start preparing breakfast for Killian?”

“The man is going to get used to you spoiling him so often that he is going to stop waking up for work just for you to give him breakfast in bed, you do realize that?” Natasha asked, teasing me and I laughed as I opened the fridge to get the eggs and bread out.

Natasha got up and started the coffee machine, getting two cups out for the two of us before putting in the capsules. 

“When I heard your voices, I honestly thought that it was my brain playing funny things on me,” Liana said from behind me, taking the two of us off guard. I turned to face the woman, watching as she stood by the door for a second before I approached her. Her eyes met mine and she extended a hand to me. “If I have offended you in any way, then I apologize, Eleanor, it was not in my intention…”

“I should be the one apologizing for the way that I behaved. It was not my place to treat you the way that I did, and you did nothing by asking a question.” I said, and she smiled. The woman has catered to me more than a mother would when I came back with Vladimir. She wouldn’t say anything about it, but I felt her by my side as I slept on the hospital bed after the pack’s doctor insisted that I spend one night there.

Flashback:

Vladimir laid me down on the hospital bed, his eyes softening as they met mine. 

He gently wiped my tears for me, and I had to force myself to take a deep breath to stop more from falling. “You got the after pill, Eleanor, you don’t need to worry about being pregnant.”

“I was screwed by a man who isn’t my mate…”

“You fought back the man who tried taking you against your will, and no matter what you are going to say right now, this is what happened. Being screwed by a man is going to mean that you were willing. You were taken against your will, and you were sure to make the man pay for what he did to you. You just leave the rest of the dirty work for us to handle, and you focus on getting better.” He said, wiping my tears. “Killian is not going to want to wake up to his mate crying. He needs you to be strong for him right now, El.”

“I’m scared,” I said, and he nodded in assurance before hugging me tightly. He kissed the crown of my head and ran his arm over my shoulder as he sat on the edge of bed beside me. My heart ached and my tears fell from my eyes as one sob after the other broke from my lips. The man didn’t say a word nor did he move until my body forced me to doze off. 

I felt him gently laying me on the pillow before covering me gently.

“How is she?” Liana’s voice filled my ears around me, and Vladimir sighed.

“She will be okay, but she is scared right now.” He said, his voice just above a whisper. 

“I’ll spend the night here with her. To say the least, she would wake up finding someone by her side.” She said, her voice softening before I felt her running her hand on my forehead. The door closed, meaning that Vladimir left the room. “Ah, my sweet Luna, what monster would have the heart to hurt an angel like yourself?”

End of Flashback.

“Just like sisters fight, a mother can argue with her daughter. As you may know, my daughter, who is nearly thirty, gets a playful slap with a spatula every once and a while, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t love her. It just means that I am her mother and I tend to want to put her in place.” She said, and I smiled, before kissing her forehead. 

She took my hand in hers and gently kissed my palm, making my eyes widen before I kissed her knuckle and she smiled. 

“So, how about we go back to preparing breakfast for the Alpha?” She asked, making me smile. “That is, of course, unless you plan on making it to dinner at the pace that you two are going at…”