Okay, so he had… but still, he heard Alfie wake up about an hour ago, so why wasn’t he down yet?
Axel elbowed his mate in the side, and Chi couldn’t help chuckling, but then it hit him again—that was all he wanted with his own mate. That easy banter which grew from just getting to know each other, falling in love, and everything in between.
“I think it’s sweet,” Axel said, and gave his mate a warning look before looking up and meeting Malachi’s gaze. “Alfie takes a second before he’s ready to people in the mornings. I’m sure he’ll be down in a bit.”
Malachi smiled gratefully at Axel. Still, he felt a sliver of jealousy crawl down his spine. He wanted to know all that about his mate, not hear it second-hand.
“I’m guessing we won’t be seeing you at the office today,” Malek asked.
Chi shrugged; he honestly had no idea. As much as he wanted to spend the day with his mate, he didn’t want to force Alfie to spend time with him before he was ready—even though his wolf was definitely not on board withthatplan—but this was the time for his human half to take the lead. “I don’t know,” he replied to Malek, but didn’t look him in the eye.
It was bad enough he was leaking his emotions to his siblings. Malek didn’t need to see the fact that he was a confused mess even though he probably already knew.
Malachi looked up when a chair was pushed back. He saw Axel getting up and handing Mason to Malek.
“I’ll just go check on Alfie,” Axel said.
Malachi shot Axel a grateful look. To be honest, Malachi knew he was the reason Axel was going to check on his brother.
He didn’t have to wait long when he heard only one set of footsteps coming down the stairs. He had his answer.
Malachi stood up from the table and walked out of the house through the double doors that led to the garden. He considered shifting and going for another run, but decided against it. Instead, he cut through to his own garden and went into his house. He decided to work from home just in case Alfie changed his mind… or maybe he just couldn’t be too far away from his mate.
Malachi refused to think of a world in which he knew who his mate was, but Alfie rejected him. The goddess would not be cruel enough to do that to him. Right?
Fifteen
Alfie
There was a part of Alfie that had wanted to go downstairs and throw a bunch of questions at Malachi. He’d jumped in the shower and had got ready with an open mind. That was until he’d gone in search of his phone and found a bunch of texts from Rupert.
The asshole had started off all apologetic, while asking for a chance to explain and apologise, but then the texts had grown less conciliatory and more accusatory.
Apparently, Alfie had provoked Rupert into hitting him by showing up like that in front of his family. He’d been taken by surprise and had reacted badly, but Alfie should have known better than to turn up unannounced at someone’s home.
He’d actually said Alfie owedhiman apology.
Since getting all those messages, his mood had been in the pits. Not only that, but it kind of made all the ‘fated mates’ talk seem more fantastical and too good to be true, so when Axel had come up to his room to let him know that they were all waiting for Alfie at breakfast—theyobviously being Malachi especially—Alfie had told his brother he needed some time to think.
Although when he’d seen Malachi in the garden, head bowed and shoulders slumped, his heart had contracted. Alfie had wanted to call the man’s name and go out there and join him, but something had stopped him.
There was a part of him that wanted to run towards everything that Chi could be, but Alfie was terrified. He’d fucked up with Rupert. What if the same thing happened with Malachi? If he fucked it up with someone who believed Alfie was their soulmate, then it was him.Hewas the problem.
Alfie was wallowing in self-pity when Axel walked into the room again. He wasn’t even sure how much time had passed.
“So, are you ready to talk?” Axel asked, coming to sit beside him in bed.
His brother put his son down between them, and Alfie couldn’t help staring at the little guy.
“He’s cute,” Alfie said, smiling up at Axel.
“He is, but he’s been a little clingy and fussy. We thought he had a cold, but apparently he was just teething.” His brother smiled down at his son as he stroked the baby’s chubby cheeks.
They sat together silently, probably because Axel was giving him a chance to speak and share his feelings. Like Alfie even knew what they were. It was all such a jumbled mess.
Alfie couldn’t help glancing at his nephew again, and he couldn’t help wondering what a kid that was half him, half Malachi would look like.
It didn’t escape his notice that he was embracing the possibility that he could become pregnant. Alfie wasn’t sure if he should be worried about the fact he was more terrified of screwing up a relationship than he was about actually carrying a baby—something that had never even crossed his mind. Not that he hadn’t wanted kids. He just never thought he could be the one to birth them. Was that even the right term?
