Falling For My Cruel Mate novel Chapter 73

"Wow, Lola, it's beautiful. Thank you."

Her chubby cheeks become a baby pink and I could feel my heart swell in my chest. I place a small kiss on the crown of her head, grateful for this little girl and the way she uplifted my mood. Wasting no time I begin reading her the story that she adores so much. Soon enough im reading the story for the third time. Other children have gathered around and sat on the floor just by my feet to listen to the story as well.

I would've read it twenty more times for them but they had to go to their lessons in just a few minutes.

"Luna, please don't go." Lola begged with her big bright eyes. I give her a sad smile and promised that I'll be back again to read her the story another time.

I place her down at a table with the other children who were playing with a wide variety of toys. Her tiny cheeks puffed out in disappointment as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I will see you soon Lola." I smile at her one last time before saying goodbye to everyone else and exiting the small building.

I had a sad feeling that would be the best part of my day. I haven't seen Ajax, Cipher or Sam all morning. Yesterday at dinner Christina warned me not to go into the pack house, she wanted the decor to be a surprise. But it can't hurt to just stroll by right?

Oh goodness if Christina catches me, she'll kill me for sure. I walk up to the pack house creepily and trying my best to make as little noise as possible. Feeling like an undercover spy or ninja, I tuck and roll over to the side of the house and press my back up against the building. I groan slightly and dust off the dirt that I got all over my pants. Gosh, why did I do that? Why can't I just be normal?

Peeking around the corner I notice five SUVs all lined up in front of the Pack house. Why are there so many? I shrink back into the shadows once I see my mate walk around the front of the first SUV to talk to the driver. He was dressed handsomely in one of his many suits that he despises. Sam lingered behind him a he scoped out their surroundings. They've been gone all morning, but where were they?

I watch carefully as Ajax makes his way back over to Sam. The driver gets in the truck and soon enough all of the black SUV's take off in the same direction.

"Go inside and watch over everything. I'll let you know when its time."

"You got it." Sam nods his head and disappears into the pack house.

What does Sam have to watch over in the pack house? They're only decorating... right? Ajax turns around swiftly his nose pointing up into the air just as the wind picks up. His eyes narrow as he looks over in my direction. Oh shit! I lean back further into the shadows and take a step back. Crap, crap, crap.

"Snooping isn't polite, Octavia." His voice travels clearly along with the howling wind. The days are only getting colder and I'm sure the winter is going to bring us plenty of snow.

The corner of his lips turn up slightly exposing a small smile. I bite my lip trying to hide mine. It made me happy that he was happy. I don't know if that was because of the mate bond or because...

I shake away my thoughts and bring myself back to the current situation at hand.

"You didn't have to get me anything." Hell, I kind of expected him not too. It was sweet though. A few months ago if someone told me this would be happening I would've called them crazy. Heck, I would've thrown them in the loonie bin.

"Of course I did." He stops and turns to face me. I look around at the flowers. Some of them were beginning to wilt, I'm surprised they even lasted this long. The gardeners must have really green thumbs.

He releases my hand and I suddenly felt cold. I wanted nothing more than to grab it again and never let it go. Resisting the urge to hold onto his hand forever, I watch as he digs around inside his suit jacket for something.

When he pulls out a small black velvet box it takes everything in me not to squeal. How cliche is it for a girl to love jewelry? I don't know and I don't care. You could have on the simplest outfit ever and with the right jewelry it can make it seem like you really spent hours putting together a look.

Biting my lip even harder to stop my smile from exposing myself, I look up him. His crystal like eyes were trained on me, moving all around my face and finally landing on my lips. His free hand comes up to my face, his thumb tugs my bottom lip from the grasp of my teeth. "You're going to hurt yourself."