#Chapter 465 – Home and War
Cora
Roger and I are quiet the next morning as we go through our breakfast routine in the kitchen. It’s not an awkward sort of quiet, just…us thinking our own thoughts while staying very close to one another.
We stayed up late last night, first attending to the baby. Roger was heartbroken, too, that our barely- formed child was already worried about something – and that it’s all our fault. So we spent a good long time passing him comfort and happy thoughts down our bond, letting him feel reassured. When he finally drifted off to what we call sleep even though, honestly, it’s probably not an accurate term Roger and I took a deep breath and finally got back to the real conversation: what the hell we’re going to do.
But, of course, we didn’t come up with any solutions. Because our past experiences in the last, barely-finished war have already made it clear to us that trying to make plans? It never works.
So we eventually fell asleep holding each other close, whispering promises to put each other and our family first, even as the nation and its people ask us for more.
“That’s weird,” Roger murmurs, flicking through his phone as he leans against the counter, a cup of coffee in hand.
“What,” I ask, turning to him and blowing on my tea to cool it, “the fact that you’re actually reading your messages? That you know where your phone is? That it’s charged?”
He flicks his eyes up to me and smirks, but shakes his head. “No,” he murmurs. “Sinclair sent me a message telling me not to come in until this afternoon. Says he needs to sleep.”
My eyebrows go up in surprise. “Wow, slacking on the job, so early in his reign.”
Roger laughs a little and tucks the phone away in his pajama pocket. ” Nah, something’s up,” he says. “He wouldn’t take a sick day unless he needs it. Do you think it has something to do with Ella? That crazy dinner she went to last night?”
My eyes widen as I consider it. ” Maybe,” I say, reaching for my own phone, hoping maybe she texted to fill me in. But I scowl when the screen comes up empty. And then I turn my head to the side a little, curious…
Because it’s not like Ella to not send me ten texts in the morning – general greetings, pictures of Rafe, selfies of her with bed-hair with her gigantic mate walking around in the background of the picture.
“Hmm,” I say, looking up at Roger. ” Sis is being very quiet too.”
“Well,” he says, smirking and putting his coffee down, stepping closer and wrapping a hand around my waist to pull me close. “Either way, it means I have the morning off. What ever shall we do?”
“Oh, I’ve got some chores in mind,” I say, grinning and putting my tea down before standing on my toes so I can wrap my arms around his neck. “Some tile in the shower needs to be regrouted
“That bathroom is brand new, Cora-
“Or the garbage disposal keeps making this really weird noise -”
“You’re imagining that,” he murmurs, pulling me sharply closer. ” Or it’s haunted, which is also something I can’t do anything about.”
I laugh, nudging his nose a little with mine. “Well then, there is a problem with the bed -”
“Oh really?” he says, bending a little and wrapping his hands around the back of my thighs before standing up straight and taking me with him. I grin and wrap my legs around his waist, leaning back a little so I don’t crush the baby between us.
“Mmhmm,” I say, a low and throaty affirmation. “It’s actually a problem with the sheets, underneath the blankets – ”
“Well,” he says, starting out of the kitchen and heading for the stairs. ” This sounds serious – we’ll have to investigate this right away -”
And I laugh as my gorgeous mate carries me upstairs, and into the bedroom, and slams the door shut behind us.
Roger and I thoroughly enjoy our morning off, so much so that we’re still laying in bed chatting hours later, all wrapped up in each other. I slip my fingers through his hair, only half listening as he tells me more about his and Sinclair’s plans to create an Alpha Academy to train young wolves to be officers in the war, staring at the shape of his moving lips and marveling at how good looking he really is
When suddenly, we hear the front door downstairs creek open and then slam shut below us.
Roger is instantly alert, his arm wrapping around me as he pulls me beneath him a bit, his lips peeling back over his teeth as he growls at the door, tense and waiting for more hints about exactly what
“Cora!”
Roger’s body slackens as soon as Ella’s voice rings up the stairs, accompanied by her pounding feet.
I sigh, putting my hands on Roger’s chest and giving him a little shove. ” Come on,” I say, “we’re going to want to get dressed before she -”
“Speak for yourself,” he murmurs, leaning back against the pillows. ” She’s the one bursting into our house it’s her own fault if she sees something she doesn’t want to see – ”
But I just stand up and throw his pajama pants at him before moving to the closet and pulling on a robe. I’m barely covered when Ella bursts into the room, Rafe perched on her hip.
“Cora!” she says, scowling at me, annoyed, one hand still on the door handle. “What’s wrong with you – why didn’t you answer any of my texts!?”
I shrug at her, frowning a bit. “I don’t know the phone was downstairs!”
“I needed you, Cora!” she says, hoisting the baby a little higher and frowning at me as Sinclair appears in the doorway behind her, looking sleepier than Ella does, but equally serious. Still, I ignore him for now, a little annoyed at my sister.
“I’m not at your beck and call, highness,” I say, rolling my eyes and looking around for more clothes. Because even though Roger is just languishing naked in the bed, barely covered with the sheets, I am not wolf enough yet to have that little immodesty. “Would you mind giving me a minute of privacy to get dressed?”
“This is important, Cora!” Ella protests, frowning at me and crossing her arms.
“Five minutes, Ella!” I snap, glaring at her as I turn into the walk-in closet.
“Fine,” she mutters, turning away back towards the stairs, clearly intending to meet me in the kitchen or the living room.
“Hey, Ells!” Roger calls after her retreating form. “Hey, Dominic! So nice to see you and have you acknowledge my presence in my own home!”
“Sorry, Roger!” Ella calls from the stairs. “We love you too! We just need Cora’s magic for a minute!”
Roger frowns at me as I come out of the closet with a set of clothes in my hands and start to get dressed for the day. “Your magic?” he asks. “What, do they need a sudden storm or something?”
“Who knows,” I murmur, shaking my head, and then I glare at him. “Would you please get dressed? This family is weird enough, we don’t need to have chats about magic while one of us is naked.”
“I prefer the term ‘tastefully nude,” he says, smirking at me as he gets up and comes to my side, giving me a sweet, thorough kiss before smacking my ass and heading towards the closet to find some clothes.
