I wake up to the feeling of fingers brushing stray hairs from my face. I'm really comfortable and I don't want to get up, so I snuggle further into the silk pillow beneath me. I sigh in complete comfort when those same fingers from before begin to massage my lower back. This is pure bliss.

It feels like only moments later when a low rumbly voice whispers in my ear.

"Baby, you have to get up now."

I groan and pull the comforter over my head. Gray chuckles and rubs up and down my arms over the comforter. He senses that I'm not planning on waking up anytime soon, so he decides to join me under the covers.

I don't see him, but I feel his closeness. His warmth surrounds me.

"Come on, Thea. It's seven o'clock and I promised your mom that I would bring you home tonight at a reasonable hour."

Shoot. He did promise her. When I called her earlier today, she told me she wanted to watch a movie marathon with me because she had a lot of free time this week. It seems that ever since Mom stopped working as much, my life has become so much crazier. I'm spending most of my time at school or at the pack house, and when I do come home it's mainly just to sleep.

To my Mom, it must seem like I'm just avoiding her and Evie. In reality, I'm trying to stay protected from other supernaturals out to get me- and spend more time with Grayson, of course.

He really weaseled his way into my heart. It didn't take much effort on his part to become a huge part of my life. Just the thought of my life before I met him is depressing.

"Ugh, fine. I'm getting up." I grumble incoherent words as I push the heavenly comforter off of my head and sit up in the large king-sized bed. I can feel the stray hairs on my head standing up proudly, and I can't find the energy to care that it probably looks like a rat's nest.

"You look adorable after you wake up," Gray grins. He wraps his strong arms around me and plants a million small kisses on my cheeks, forehead, nose, and lips. I can't help but giggle like a school girl. I didn't know it was possible to feel this giddy.

When he's satisfied that he's proven his infatuation with me, he helps me get off of the bed. That's when I realize that I'm only in my underwear and one of his hulk-sized t-shirts. I blush as memories of a few hours ago fill my head. After I... helped him, he helped me. Over and over and over again until I couldn't take anymore and fell asleep in seconds.

After my little nap I'm still pretty exhausted, but I feel amazing. Looking over at Grayson- who is without a shirt now, might I add- only reinforces the idea that I'm hopelessly in love with him. I love him with everything I have. I love the way his brown hair curls just slightly at the ends. The way his bright blue-gray eyes never stray from me when I'm in the room. I love his long, dark eyelashes that I've always been slightly jealous of. He's perfect. And he's mine.

We dress quickly. He complains that he wants me to stay in his shirt. I complain that I can't or else I'll face endless teasing from my mother. He pouts. I laugh.

Before we leave, I ask Grayson to mindlink Cooper and Axel so I can say goodbye, but he only clears his throat and says they're busy. I'm going to pretend they're busy doing pack business...

The car ride home is spent jamming to music. When we reach my neighborhood, one of my favorite Billie Eilish songs begins playing. I grin so wide that I'm sure I look like a creepy clown about to murder some children. I begin moving my shoulders to the beat. If Grayson didn't already prove that he's boyfriend material, he did it right now when he took a wrong turn in my neighborhood just so I could finish listening to the song. Three minutes later, he pulls into the driveway.

The sun has already set and the darkness surrounds us when the lights inside the car begin to fade. With the music off, the only sound is our breathing. The silence doesn't bother me. I don't want to get out of the car because that will mean that I have to leave Grayson. It seems that he's thinking the same thing because he leans over the center console of the car and studies my face.

I'm at an unfair advantage because he can probably see me way better in the dark than I can see him. He can use his wolf senses while I can only rely on my human eyesight which is already questionable at times. The other day I found myself squinting just to read the serving size for Froot Loops.

"I don't want to let you out of this car," Grayson says, breaking the silence. His fingers begin tracing my cheek, and I shudder at the light touch.

"I don't want to get out of the car, either," I pout.

He uses his thumb to pull down my bottom lip that's sticking out. He releases it only to kiss me while sucking that same bottom lip into his mouth aggressively. My stomach tingles from the intensity of the kiss, and when our lips separate, I sigh loudly.

"What was that for?" I ask, licking my lips. I liked it much more when he was the one licking them.

"You can't tease me with your beautiful pout and not expect me to kiss you."

Oh. Oh. I'll pout more often if it gets this response with him. Hopefully he can't see the light tinge of pink on my cheeks, but knowing him, he probably does. I begrudgingly turn and reach the door handle. I open the door a few inches before it's closed once again. I think it's obvious who the culprit is.

"Gray," I chuckle. I turn back around to see him leaning over me in the passenger seat. His face is only a few inches away from mine, and the streetlamp illuminates his face enough so I can see the glimmer of his blue-gray eyes. "I have to go inside now, baby."

His eyes light up when I use the endearment. I don't think I've ever called him anything except his full name and Gray, but he seems to like it.

Scratch that. He definitely likes it because now I'm straddling him in the driver's seat. I couldn't even tell you how this happened, but I'm not exactly complaining.

"Now you're definitely not going inside." His lips attack my own and this time I struggle to keep up. He dominates the kiss, leaving me to let him lead. His hands travel up and down my thighs, then up to my butt where he grinds our bodies together. I can't quiet my muffled moans.

I eventually pull away to breathe, but Grayson seems to need me more than oxygen because he continues to kiss down my jaw and right over my mark. When he nips at it and the beginnings of a hickey is forming, I pull away from him.

"Stop distracting me! I love you, but I need to go home. My mom wants to spend time with me tonight." When he pouts, I quickly kiss his pout away. He stares at me for a long time. I try to reach inside our bond for his emotions so I can try to understand what he's thinking, but I don't feel anything except love.

"Why are you staring at me?" He ignores my question and continues looking at me, his eyes traveling across every feature of my face. After ten seconds of silence, I become really self-conscious.

"Grayson? Why are you looking at me? Is something-"

"Move in with me."

Whatever words I was about to say died on my lips as soon as he uttered those words. Move in with him? Were we ready for that? Do I even want to? Of course I want to- that's a dumb question. What about Mom? And Evie? And doesn't moving in mean that I need to start acting like the Luna? Oh my God, what if becoming the Luna means that I need to quit school? I don't want to give up my dreams of being a social worker that helps children in struggling families so that I can be the leader of a werewolf pack! Would I be able to do both? Crap, I don't know anything about werewolf culture and I'm mated to one!

"Come back to me, love. I can feel your panic. Just tell me what you're thinking." He looks concerned, his eyebrows furrowed. His strong and capable hands run up and down my arms in a soothing manner, but I'm still internally freaking out.

"I... I can't move in with you," I whisper while avoiding eye contact. I know that if I look at his perfect eyes, his perfect face, his perfect anything, he'll say something to convince me that it's a good idea. And I so desperately want to move in with him. To live full time at the pack house, to wake up to him beside me everyday- that's too dreamlike to be reality. I have responsibilities here. I can't just move in with him...

"Why not?" His angry tone catches me off-guard, and I find myself lost in his eyes that are battling between blue and black. He grinds his teeth together like he does when he's trying to control himself, and I hate that I'm the reason he's losing control.

"Gray, I'm only eighteen. I'm in my first year of college, and we just met a few months ago. For werewolves it may be different, but in a human relationship it would be highly unusual. Not to mention I have school and my job. And I have Evie to babysit when my mom's working. She needs me around." The entire time I explain my reasoning, my nails run over his scalp.

"Oh," he grumbles, then he hugs me. His face finds the crook of my neck and he breathes in my scent. "I thought you were panicking because you didn't want to. Or maybe the idea sounded horrible to you or something."

"What?" I raise my voice and glare at him. I pull away from him and hit the side of his head. He flinches back and stares at me like he can't believe I would even dare to "hurt" an Alpha. I can't help but feel angry.

"Why the hell would you think that? Grayson, you know how much I love you! Why would you assume that? Do you honestly think that I don't want to spend every moment I have with you? I mean..." I'm speechless. Can't this boy tell that I'm obsessed with him? Sometimes I think he's more insecure than me...

"Sorry," he mumbles, then grins apologetically at me. "I sometimes wonder why the Moon Goddess would pair someone as perfect as you with someone as imperfect as me. I'm too rough, too crass for someone as dainty and beautiful and sweet as you." He grips my hips tightly when his mood shifts to confident Alpha. My Grayson is back.

"I don't care how it happened, but I'm thankful. I'm gonna be the best mate, the mate you deserve. We'll travel the world together- pick a place on the map and we'll go there. As soon as this coven shit is over with, I'll fly us wherever you want to go. We'll ride in gondolas in Venice. I'll take you scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. We'll see the ancient ruins at Machu Picchu. We'll stay in a bungalow in Bora Bora or go to any castle or cathedral in the world. We'll get a shitty snow globe from every single place we visit so that you'll never forget the memories we made there. Anything you want, you can have it."

At this point I'm already crying. The idea of seeing the world with him is an idea too perfect to imagine. The fact that he remembered that I love collecting snow globes is also too sweet to linger on. He wipes the happy tears from my eyes and kisses me with such passion that I'm almost overwhelmed with the love floating between us. I never knew being in love would feel so all-encompassing, so intense.

"As for moving in with me," he continues. "Age doesn't matter. Plenty of people in the human world move in with their boyfriends or girlfriends in college. Even if it seems early for a human relationship, we are soul mates. Werewolves move in with their mates as soon as they meet them. There are a few exceptions, but that's our culture. I've been going at your pace, and we can continue to do that, but I can barely sleep when I'm not with you. I want to wake up to your bedhead every morning."

I shove his shoulders back, but he only grins at me. "I want to wake up to your beautiful hazel eyes, I want to kiss you whenever I please. I want to share a closet with you, and have food fights, and I want to snuggle with you. I want to fuck you at all hours of the day."

Wow, that went from zero to one-hundred real fast.

"As for your mom and Evie, we can deal with that. I can help to pick up Evie from daycare on some days. She can spend time at the pack house. Your mom can come over whenever she wants, and you can still visit her all of the time. You should know by now that I'd do anything for you."

It's like he read a book titled "The Sweetest Things to Tell Your Girlfriend so She Falls Even More in Love with You."

"What about werewolf stuff?" I ask, biting my lip nervously. That was another major reason I said no to moving in with him. I don't know what's going to be expected of me.

"You mean Luna duties?"

I nod my head slowly.

"We'll take it one step at a time. Trust me, everything will seem much easier once this threat has passed. The pack is tense because you're in danger, so everything seems very scary and strict. It's not normally like that. Everyone knows you're human, they're all very understanding. You'll slowly start to take on more responsibilities whenever you're ready."

I let the news sink in. It's true that I don't normally know what the Dark Wood Pack acts like when they're not on high alert. I'm used to pack guards following me around, portaling warlocks and witches, and vampire attacks. Maybe I actually can handle it when someone's not trying to kill me all of the time.

And it would be nice to live at the pack house with Grayson. I'll have to talk to my mom about the logistics, but maybe I could move in with him.

"Maybe," I say, then give him a nervous smile.

"Maybe... What?"

"I'll move in with you, maybe," I say with more confidence.

"Okay, I'll take maybe, baby."

"Oh, what a poet!" I laugh, then I struggle to get out of the car. I was sitting on his lap, so crawling out of the car in such a weird position proved to be a struggle. I manage to safely land on two feet with Grayson's help. He steps out of the car next to me and walks me to the door.

I don't have much a response for all of the romantic things he said in the car. The traveling he mentioned, the buying me anything I want... it's too much. I know he has money, but I don't want him to feel like he has to do these things for me to enjoy myself.

I'll have to talk to him about the gesture later, but he looks so happy right now that I don't want to ruin the moment. Doesn't he understand that we could stay in a shack and I would still be happy?

"Talk to your mom about moving in, but remember that you're an adult who can make your own decisions. Do what you want to do, alright?"

"Yes, Alpha," I joke as I salute him and reach into my pocket for my house key.

"Wait," he says. I push the key into the lock but don't turn it. Instead, I look at Grayson with a questioning stare. I don't even have time to ask him what he needs before he's kissing me again. I will never get bored of his angelic yet sinful lips.

"I love you," he whispers to me in between kisses.

In his arms, the rest of the world falls away and it's just us two. After a minute or two of making out by my front door, he growls and pulls away.

"Sorry, Axel's mind linking me about some pack business. I have to go."

"It's alright. You know, I was supposed to be inside by now, but you're so obsessed with me that you just couldn't let me go," I smirk. He rolls his eyes and kisses the top of my head.

"More than you know," he mumbles.

As he walks towards his car, I can't help but feel like this is the last bit of normal I'll be getting for a while. Tomorrow's only Wednesday, but a lot can happen in 24 hours...