Neither of us was an expert in that but I was going to fix that going forward because there had to be online classes I could take.
“I’m pretty sure he’ll start over at the beginning at some point.” I remembered hearing that people would jump around between the different stages, so it was likely Emeric would too. “We’ll be there for him when it happens.”
Whatever Braun was going to say was lost in a yawn and disappeared completely as he finally fell asleep, but I wasn’t so lucky and lay there stuck against his warm body and rolling over everything that had happened in my head until at some point I must’ve followed him.
Chapter 10
Braun
“Shh. Don’t wake him up.” I was exhausted enough that Dorian’s quiet whisper would’ve done the trick, but Emeric ran through the house like he was an elephant. “We’re going to let the Alpha sleep in while we go get things done.”
Somehow he made Alpha sound like wimp or drama queen, but I just focused on sleep. Dorian would take care of the rest.
“We’ll bring him back breakfast.” Emeric’s excited tone would’ve made me smile if I weren’t pretending to be asleep. “He likes apple pie. We can bring him that for breakfast.”
Oh.
“No.” I could almost picture Dorian’s wince as the mattress shifted and he climbed out of bed. “But we’ll look and see what they’ve got. That would be fun for dessert tonight.”
“Yes.” Emeric bounced right back to happy and ready to drag Dorian off to the grocery store, but I was just wondering how he’d remembered the pie thing. It’d literally been a couple of compliments at one meal, and I only remembered it because the woman who’d made it hung around me for weeks after until she’d thankfully met her mate at the next solstice festival. “He’ll like that. It’s his favorite.”
The pup’s memory was frighteningly good.
“We’ll remember that then, but we’re going to be focused on filling up the pantry and making sure he has stuff for meals this week. It’s going to take us a few trips to do that so this one needs to be focused on necessities.” Dorian was going to need all his teaching tricks to keep the pup focused on that. “Okay, have you brushed your teeth? Are you ready to go?”
“Yes. There were extras in the bathroom.” The pride in his voice at having figured that out had me fighting off a smile again. “I knew he wouldn’t be mad at me for getting one. Alpha Braun isn’t like that.”
Good fucking grief.
“You’re right and very smart for realizing that.” Dorian was moving around the room but I couldn’t tell what he’d done until Emeric sighed happily.
A hug of some sort…maybe stroking his head?
“You go wait for me downstairs. I won’t be long.” Dorian must have thought Emeric needed a purpose because he made an exaggerated thinking sound. “There’s a notepad in the drawer by the fridge. Why don’t you get that out and start writing down any meals you think the Alpha would like or any food you know we need.”
“I can do that.” He didn’t wait for any other instructions because I could hear the elephant thundering through the house again.
We were going to have to teach him to run more quietly.
“Goodness.” Taking a deep breath, Dorian let it out slowly as he walked closer to the bed again. I wasn’t sure what he’d do but finally smiled and almost purred like the pup as Dorian strokedmy head too. “Did it sound like he thought he was going to get punished for getting a new toothbrush?”
So he knew I wasn’t asleep?
“Yes.” It’d sounded like he’d have gotten more than punished in his last pack, but my worrying mate didn’t need to hear that. He was already using me as a comfort object, and I didn’t want to add to his stress. “We’ll get answers, don’t worry.”
“I won’t.” Taking another breath to steady himself, he felt calmer as he moved his hand away and started moving around the room again. “We’ll be back in a couple of hours. You need more sleep, though.”
He was so bossy.
It was cute.
“Yes, Wölfchen. Take the blue card in my wallet. Four-five-six-seven.” That got a huff from my mate, but he didn’t call me out or even ask what it meant, which was telling in itself. It made me smile and somewhere between hearing him grumble to himself about drama queen morons and brushing his teeth, I fell back asleep.
“Braun!”
For fuck’s sake.
She spoke like Emeric walked.
