Chapter 22 CLAIM ME PLEASE
Kyle and Luka seem more than happy to accompany us into town. Today Kyle is being his usual funny, laid back self and it is a refreshing change from the past couple of days. I liked the funny Kyle much better than a serious Kyle.
After an hour of torturing the guys with girly songs on the radio that Laura and I have chosen to listen to, we finally arrive at town.
We all pile out of the vehicle one by one and make our way into the huge store. I already feel lost and I haven't even began looking for what I need. Kyle sees my overwhelmed look and offers to lead the way. Thankfully he knows his way around much better than I do.
In my town we only had a small hardware store off Main Street and the selection there was very limited. Anything that wasn't used on an everyday basis had to be specially ordered. It took days or sometimes weeks to get what you needed. Being in a big city like this one really makes me realize how limited my hometown was.
Here, I am like a fish out of water. This is definitely going to take me some getting used to if I am going to fit in here.
"So, what color are you going for? Kyle asks as we view the paint section laid out in front of us. The overwhelming feeling quickly makes its way back over me when I see all the different variations of colors.
"Um..." is all I am able to get out. I have no idea where to start.
Kyle, trying to be the comedian he is, pulls out a few color swatches from the display and holds them out one at a time in front of me."Let me take a wild guess, hot pink?"
I feel nauseous just looking at the unusually bright color of paper he holds in front of us and I cringe.
"Definitely not," I say, shaking my head.
"Okay then." He places the colored swatch behind the other and moves on to the next. "How about this one?"
Again I shake my head at his color choice. "I don't do pink at all."
He looks genuinely surprised by my response and acts like I am some kind of foreign creature. I can't help but giggle. "You are completely stereotyping me in an unfair way."
"No I'm not. I just assumed all girls like pink," he says, switching the swatches.
I shake my head at him in disbelief and cross my arms. "Exactly, that is such a stereotype."
I reach towards him and grab the swatches from his hands and turn to look at my friends behind me as I speak.
"You are such a guy. Just go do whatever it is you guys do and leave this to...." I pause when I see only Luka standing silently with us and frown. "What happened to Laura and James?"
Luka smirks. "They disappeared together the minute we entered the store. He's nothing if not persistent. He's trying too hard."
I sigh. "Well I suppose you two will have to suffice. I want three buckets of this color," I say, picking a fresh swatch from the color choices.
"Deep purple, I suppose it could be worse." Kyle notes. "But if you are painting the whole room you're gonna need double the amount of paint. It will take several layers."
"Nope," I disagree. "This will do. I'm only painting half the room. The bottom panels will remain white."
"It's still a girl color," he teases. I just smile at him and laugh. "Well it's a good thing I'm a girl then."
While the associate that is helping us mixes up the paint, Laura finally shows up with James behind her pushing a shopping cart. I smile brightly when I realize what they have collected.
"You found the brushes," I say.
She nods. "They were in the next isle over there. I didn't know what you needed so we just got a bunch of stuff."
"Well that is a lot of stuff," I note, looking inside the cart. "I don't think myself alone will need so many brushes and paint rollers."
"No, but a few people will. You can count on me and James to help you," she adds.
James looks like he hasn't even heard of the idea before and quickly protests. "Hey, I never agreed to anything."
"She's your cousin," Laura states."Family helps, family."
"Yeah," I nod. "And don't forget I saved you last night. You owe me." I tease.
Laura is the only one here that hasn't heard what happened yet. I am kind of keeping it on the down low. I'd hate for the pack to know how much trouble he would have caused.
"Sorry, I'm leaving for Upland territory today," he says thankfully.
Kyle rolls his eyes at him while Luka acts as if he isn't even there. He seems too distracted with his phone to pay him any attention.
"No worries," Kyle pipes up. "I have the next twenty four hours off from pack duties after we get back and I'll help you. Beside's I'd hate for you to get paint everywhere."
"Please," I scoff playfully. "I've painted a room before. I helped paint the cafe at my previous job and it looked quite nice, if I do say so myself."
"Of course you would. You painted it," he laughs, placing the buckets of paint inside the buggy. Luka quickly helps him before steering the shopping cart out of the isle and to one of the many open registers.
After a brief argument over who is paying, Kyle wins. Apparently Samuel had insisted on buying the supplies since I was doing all the work and warned the guys, before I left, not let me pay. I am not at all happy about this since I feel I should be contributing more.
Once everything is loaded up in the vehicle Laura and I have Felix swing us by the mall for a couple of hours so we can do some light shopping. Well, I do some light shopping. Laura, on the other hand, does anything but piles the SUV down with shopping bags while James, Kyle, Luka and I only have a couple of bags each. I wonder to myself if maybe they are regretting bringing us yet. Not that they had much of a choice in the matter anyway. Nearing the latter part of the evening, James has taken it upon himself to choose our dining location, which also happens to be where the few guys from my old pack are eating. They are the ones who were traveling with James when he left them to find me.
Kyle and Luka are not happy about this and consider calling Samuel to tell him about our dinner/lunch plans, but after some serious begging, and convincing, they decide not to say anything until we get back home. They don't like to keep things from Samuel anymore than he likes keeping things from them. Like I have learned from the very beginning, they have total disclosure.
"You look good Grace. Your new pack really looks good on you," Bon states with a smile.
"Yeah, it's as if the last two weeks didn't even happen," another one adds thoughtfully. I shrug and smile. "That's just Samuel. He's helped me a lot."
"You like him don't you?" Bon asks, watching me carefully.
Before answering their question, my eyes flicker between Kyle, Luka and Laura who are sitting next to me in the large booth. I blush. They all watch me with curious eyes as they await my answer. It only serves to make me more nervous than I already am. I am not used to answering questions about Samuel and I yet, mainly because no one had ever asked.
The people in my new pack are kind of, 'in the know', unlike my old pack. I am not sure what we are telling people yet, so with that I decide to be vague.
"Yes. He's a really good person and he treats me well. I can't ask for a better mate." I don't like the pain that shoots through me when I say that. I am still not over Logan yet and I know it, but I will never let anyone else know that. I am ashamed of the feeling I still have for him.
Things would have been so much easier if he would have just accepted us. Now everything different, it's more complicated.
Why wasn't I Samuel's mate from the beginning? That's the question I keep asking myself again and again. Why did fate have to screw us over? We were the innocent victims in all of this.
"Well, I'm glad to hear it," Bon says sincerely. "Everyone was worried about you. I couldn't even imagine rejecting my mate. It's just not right."
"Yeah, and if I were rejected I don't know how I would deal with that," his companion adds. "How do you deal with the pain?"
"You just do," I say bluntly.
As nice as it is to have them sympathize with me, the whole mate rejection story is getting a little old and I am growing tired of having to be constantly reminded of it. I just want it to be over already. And there is one way I know that could actually make it happen; to let Samuel claim me as his. And now, more than ever, I think I am actually ready for it.
I am tired of being labeled as the poor girl who got rejected. I just want to move on and be happy. And most importantly, be a Luna.
After we leave the diner, James decides to stay behind with his friends and travel with them to The Upland Pack after we have left. I am actually excited to have seen some of my pack members close again.
The ride back is quicker than the ride into town earlier today. Perhaps it's because I am tired and ready to go home. I smile at how comfortable I am actually becoming in my new place, even calling it home.
"You two can go in. We'll carry everything inside," Kyle offers.
Neither Laura and or I mind that and we waste no time accepting his offer. We are both worn out from all the shopping today anyway. Once inside the house we both part ways and agreed we'd see each other at dinner, even though we've eaten so late that neither of us would probably be hungry.
Upstairs in our room, Samuel is getting dressed. From the smell of things, I can tell he has just gotten a shower, something I very much longed to do before our visitors arrive.
My breath gets caught in my throat when he steps out of the giant closet with nothing but a pair of low hanging dress pants. His abs would be mocking any other male in the room. No one's could quite compare to his. That would be hard."Had fun today?" he asks when he notices me standing in the middle of the room observing him.
I decide to just nod along not trusting my voice in that very moment. I hate gawking at him, but most of the time, I just can't help it. It is hard not to stare.
The sound of the closet door breaks me from my thoughts and I shake my head of him. Thankfully he is putting on a shirt now and I can properly concentrate.
"David and his mate will be here in an hour. Will you be ready?" he asks, coming to stand in front of me.
"I believe so, but I kind of wanted to talk to you about a couple of things first," I say nervously. I place my pocket book on the foldout sofa at the bottom of the bed and sit down on it too.
"What's on your mind?"
"Well first, you have to promise you won't get mad at me." I say. His expression turns grave at my request. That doesn't make me feel any better about telling him. "I can't promise that, but I'll try."
After some thought, I realize that was better than nothing and sigh. Okay, here it goes.
"Today I had a late lunch with James and a few other guys from my old pack, the same ones that are joining Upland Pack today. I considered not telling you, but Kyle and Luka insisted I do. If we're going to be mate's than I shouldn't be keeping things from you."
He looks a bit irritated. "You were alone with a bunch of rogues?"
"They're not rogues, and no, I wasn't alone. Kyle, Luka and Laura were with me the entire time. I didn't leave their sight once. I did just as you asked."
"Except not telling me about your friends," he finishes crossing his arms.
I sigh tiredly and run my hand through my blonde hair. "Can we not dwell on that? Yes, I should have told you before I did it, but you can lecture me later. There are much bigger things to discuss right now. I've come to a decision about us."
He looks like he is about to come back with another retort but the last of my words catches him by surprise and he closes his mouth. His serious expression morphs into one of curiosity. He nods for me to continue.
I take in a deep breath. "I've decided to let you claim me."
"You have?" he asks.
"Yeah, I've decided I have to completely move on. And these dreams....I don't think I can handle them any longer. They're becoming too much for me. You were right. I do need you. We need each other. I'm just sorry it's taken me so long to completely accept that."
His face holds interest at my words."Why do you think that is?"
"I don't know," I shrug. "I guess I just never liked to admit I needed help. When you offered me that, I accepted it, but then after I got here, I thought there was just enough space and distance between Logan and I that I could make it by myself. It's only now that I'm realizing how wrong I was."
He doesn't reply, but his eyes hold some sort of insight and he slowly begins to smile at me.
"So..." I continue, "If the offer still stands, I'd like it if you'd claim me as yours."
"That's all you had to say," he says.
He bends down in front of me and becomes level with my height. He tucks some loose strands of hair behind my ear, his cool breath fanning my face from our close proximity. I swallow not knowing what he is planning to do next and I notice my breathing picking up.
I don't move when his hand cups my face and brings me closer to him. "Tonight, after our guests leave, you, Grace, will be mine."
And without any kind of warning, he leans in, presses his warm lips to mine and consumes my every thought.