Chapter 22: Chapter Twenty-Two

Axel laid in the bed across the hallway from Claire well into the night with no sleep on the horizon. After hearing about Cash going missing, he couldn’t stop the feeling that Claire would be next.

He knew she was a target just because she made it out, but he also knew that she was protected at the pack house, more so than anywhere else. Axel turned onto his side and stared at the closed bedroom door. A slight chill from the air conditioner slid over his bare torso, but he didn’t mind the coolness. He ran on the warm side, anyway.

His nightstand clock read 5 AM, which was really too early to get up, but he didn't have a choice because sleep was not coming to him. Shoving the covers from his legs, he stood up and stalked out of the room and into the quiet hallway.

Axel pressed his ear against her bedroom door and listened to the soft sound of her breathing before making his way into the kitchen. The moonlight shone through the kitchen window, brightening the island and the silhouette of his father.

"Can't sleep?" Axel asked.

His dad chuckled softly. "Morning snack. You'll learn an alpha's job never really ends, and the day starts early."

Axel walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the premade bacon biscuits his mother always had ready for him every morning and popped three into the microwave. "What's got you up so early?" his dad asked, ruffling his graying hair.

Axel stared at the microwave as it spun his food in circles. "I have a lot on my mind with the missing quarterback."

"Did you know him?" he asked.

Axel pulled his food out and sat across from his dad. "Yes. He has a thing for Claire, and to be honest, he's kind of an ass. But that doesn’t mean I want him to get hurt by a lycan or turned."

"Of course not," he answered. "What else has you up? Are you scared for Claire?"

Axel took a bite. "Yes," he said over his food. "She's escaped the lycan twice, and you know how vengeful they are. I'm afraid they followed me here with her. I'm afraid for her to go back to class."

"How much damage can he do in a public classroom without revealing himself?" he asked, taking his last bite. "She'll be fine in class; you just need to be sure she's safe going to and from class. And didn't you mention a job?"

Axel slid his palm down his face. "Yeah, I'm not sure how I'm going to deal with that and football."

"We can ask Kerry to help out with security—"

Axel mumbled beneath his breath. "Seriously? Doesn't your Beta have something better to do?"

His dad gave him a look. "More important than protecting my son's mate? Do you not like Kerry? Since when?"

"I don't like the way he acts around Claire—"

"He's only kidding around. I'll have a talk with him. I trust him out of all of the wolves in the pack. I know he can take care of our future luna. Give the guy a break. He's lost his mate and still has a smile on his face every day."

Axel hadn't forgotten that his mate died in battle with a lycan years before, and he did feel sorry for him, but his wolf didn't like his flirting.

"I know, Dad. It's my wolf—"

His dad laughed and stood up, dropping his plate in the dishwasher. "I know, son. Believe me, I've been there. Just let me talk to him, and we'll figure something out, okay?"

Axel nodded. "Sure thing, Dad."

He nodded. "Your mother told me you were meeting her family today?"

Axel felt a little twinge of nerves in his stomach. He was meeting the father of his mate. Even if he didn't realize they'd be together forever, they would be.

"Yeah, looks like it. She'd already made plans to meet with her aunt and dad, so looks like I'm meeting them, too. I'm sure he'll be skeptical. It's the third week of school. To a normal person, that's kind of obsessive and soon."

He nodded and walked toward his back door. "Be polite, it'll be fine."

Axel resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his dad's inability to give decent advice. "What a way with words," he mumbled, before shoving the last of his food into his mouth and putting away his dirty plate.

He walked back up the stairs to grab a shower before Claire woke up.

Go wake her up, his wolf said. Ask her to take a shower with you.

Here we go. Axel scoffed. "I’m not asking her to take a shower with me, idiot. I'm just now in her good graces."

Exactly, he replied.

Axel ignored his ten thousandth attempt at getting her naked and took a hot shower to release his nerves. The smell of breakfast filtered into his room when he walked out into the hallway. Claire's room door was opened; her scent lingered in the air, covering his bed and making his wolf happy.

He followed the scent down the staircase and into the kitchen where Claire sat with his mother. Her blonde hair was tied into a high ponytail; she wore a pair of black high waisted jeans, and a red midriff that made his fingers twitch in anticipation of their drive alone together.

"Good morning," his mother said. "I saw you ate some of the biscuits, but I figured that I'd make you some more. Boys and their bottomless pits of a stomach," she said, scraping scrambled eggs onto a plate, while leaning in to whisper in Claire's ear. "You'll get used to it, dear. I'll send you some of his favorite recipes, and you two can take turns. She's a working college girl, so she can't be up cooking every morning for you—"

"Mom," Axel said exasperatedly.

She put her palms up, waving her spatula around. "Sorry. Sorry. Too fast. You two eat up. I want you both to be well-fed for your adventure today." She turned toward the sink and swooped back around, pointing at Axel. "And you be nice. This is your future father-in-law, Axel Davers, you better respect your elders, soon-to-be alpha or not—"

"Mom!" Axel said, heat crawling up his cheeks. "Do you really think I'm going to be a dick to him? Jeez—"

She tossed a potholder at his head. "Language!"

Axel sighed and hid his face in his palms until his laughing mother left the kitchen.

"Is it safe to breathe now?" he asked.

Claire chuckled. "She's gone. I really like her."

Axel took a seat across from her and looked down at his plate. He'd already worked up another appetite; being a wolf, eating a lot came with the territory. "She seems to like you, too," he said, taking a bite of bacon. "How did you sleep?"

"Good," she said finishing her plate. "Your bed is comfortable," she said, her gaze lifting to his own.

He smirked. "That it is. Maybe one night we can lay together before my mother sniffs us out."

Claire's cheeks turned bright red, and she bit the corner of her bottom lip. "Maybe. I don't want to disrespect any of her rules."

Axel chuckled. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her," he whispered.

"You're a bad influence," she said, jumping down to put her plate in the sink.

Axel's gaze lowered to the narrowed curve of her waist and the rounded globes of her ass. When she turned, he did little to hide his observation. She tilted her head to the side. "Were you checking me out?"

Axel shoveled in the last of his plate and stood up; walking over, he dumped his plate and stopped an inch from her. "Absolutely. And I'm dying to get you alone," he said, his breath fanning over her mouth.

She smiled, becoming more brazen with each minute. "You might want to take advantage of it now because my dad is going to watch your hands the entire time you are there."

Axel smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist, dragging her flush with his chest. "I'm going to take you up on that offer," he said in a hushed tone.

Claire spanned her fingers across his chest and moved them up his deltoids and into the hair on the nape of his neck. "By all means—"

Axel hushed her with a kiss that seared his insides, twisting his self-control into a ball of vapor floating inside of him. His wandering hands palmed the curve of her ass and tightened against the belt loops of her jeans.

When he pulled back, Claire's eyes were dilated, her chest heaving in deep breaths. "Are you sure you're up to meeting my aunt?" she asked against his mouth.

He sighed and pulled the end of her ponytail. "Claire. It's fine. You're seriously more worried about your aunt than your dad?"

She frowned. "She's just—she knows things."

Axel lifted a brow. "Like the weather?" he asked. "Or the population of random states—"

"No," Claire said. "She senses things, and it freaks me out. I'm afraid she'll sense something is different about you."

Axel furrowed his brow but pushed his thumb down the dip in her own forehead. "Claire. It'll be fine, I promise. Are you ready to go?"

She cringed. "If you are."

Axel dug his keys from his pockets and walked out of the kitchen and onto the front porch. He couldn’t understand her anxiety, but he felt it.

How bad could her aunt be?