It was over an hour since Adam and I said goodnight and I was still counting sheep. I couldn't even say the stings, or new scratches at my neck were being painful enough to keep me awake. I just couldn't get comfortable. I tossed and turned and even played some game apps on my phone trying to get tired. I found the Shakespeare book in the nightstand drawer and read that some, but still no use another hour later. I just kept finding my mind wandering into Adam's arms. He was only twenty paces away and my legs tingled with need to take myself through that lousy door.

But I wanted to treat him right too.

Exhaling, I got up and opened the blinds. I sat at the small table watching the trees. There was still a good deal of light from the waning moon, so I could see well enough. But it was too late for any teenagers to be outside partying and any wolves patrolling would probably run faster than I could catch with untrained eyes. So there was really nothing to look at, but my vision still wandered over the lovely forest. The evergreens thick and strong, shooting up the mountain, the beautiful moonlight silhouetting about them.

After a good thirty minutes of staring off into the forested space, I paced the room for a time. Maybe the problem was restless legs. If I just moved around a bit, I could tire myself out. But soon I was bored of strolling back and forth and put on a silky robe from the bathroom and quietly opened the door to the hallway.

The hallway was lit, but quiet. I held the top of my robe closed and stepped barefoot onto the plush carpet of the hall. I wandered down the hallway aimlessly and ended up in front of the Luna door at the other side of the wing. I touched at the moon decoration and wondered if you could be nostalgic for something you only had for a day.

But then I continued down the hall a few more steps until I got to the very end. A decorative letter A branded the door. It must have been the alpha's room. Nate's room. I looked back to the Luna's room, it seemed further off than the beta's quarters so Nate must have a nice large suite of a room. I guess the alpha would need it. He had so much to do, so much weight on his shoulders, he probably was deserving of a castle.

I turned to go and sighed at the Luna's door.

I hoped Nate could find someone to be that for him. I was happy where I was but wish I could have helped his loneliness too.

I turned back down the hallway and watched doors with Celtic pictures or runes lining the sides. I remembered Nate once saying there were formal guest rooms on level three, so that must be what they were. One door was slightly ajar, and I peeked in to see a beautifully tiled bathroom.

The chime of a clock sang from somewhere, so I figured it was time to get back to my room. So I headed back and made a bounce on my bed. I hoped the person that lived in the apartment below wouldn't be too irritated by that.

A few minutes later I turned to the side and noticed the light on the wall of the playhouse filtering in from the moonlight outside. I put my hand up to watch the shadows dance. Then I started into a whole bunch of shadow puppet stories. I bounced a bunny around and made it stick out its tongue like my grandma used to do and smiled remembering the silly memory. Then my bunny turned into a dog, but I imagined a wolf and started making it play against the playhouse wall, until my other hand turned into a swan and bit it. Next the wolf dramatically died, while the swan held its head high with victory.

But then there was a second wolf shadow on the wall. "A wolf wouldn't be taken down by a duck, Elise," came Adam's deep voice from behind me.

I screamed and twisted in the blankets, falling to the floor, my head hitting the corner of the nightstand.

"Oh shoot!" He ran around the bed and pulled a laughing me from the ground.

I touched tenderly at the back of my head. "Ow," I laughed. Then I hit on his chest. "Don't do that! You scared the daylights out of me."

He grinned in the moonlight and massaged over the newly forming bruise. "Sorry. Thought you heard me come in."

"I definitely did not. What are you doing here? Thought we were being appropriate?" But I giggled, realizing he was shirtless. "You're flashing me some shoulder now."

"You can mark me all you want. But if your teeth are more to the human side, you'll probably hurt yourself before you break the skin though," he smirked.

I let my fingers softly sway over the new bandage at his shoulder.

"I promised your dad I would take care of you." He then threw me up into his arms bridal style and started walking to his room. "I realized that includes making sure you can sleep well."

I grabbed around his neck and grinned as he toppled us down to his bed.

"So, if the only way you're going to sleep well is to be by me, I better have you in my bed after all. I'm just doing what your dad wanted."

I twisted around so I could lay up on his chest. "I like your thinking." And almost immediately I started to relax.

His arms came around me protectively. "Plus I was getting worried you really were going for Nate's room."

"Oh, I wasn't!" I looked up nervously. He didn't need to feel concerned about that.

"I looked out when I heard someone in the hall, and you were gone. You were walking that way."

I shook my head against his chest. "No, I wasn't going there. Sorry, just trying to walk around and make myself tired."

"I believe you. Can you sleep now?"

"Yeah, this is nice," I said hushed.

"Very nice," he agreed. "Go to sleep Elise."

I yawned and finally started to drift.

The next morning, I woke to a tingling sensation teasing up and down my arm.

I groaned, eyes still shut, and hit Adam's hand away. "Don't. I'm sleeping."

He gave a soft laugh and then his arms curled around me and pulled me into his chest. "Morning my Elise."

I cuddled up into his chest. "Your Elise?"

His arms tightened around me. "Yes, mine."

I smiled amused and sank into his heat. "Possessive beast."

After a few minutes of silence and I was almost back asleep, his thumb made its way under the bottom of my sleep shirt, and he started drawing circles on the skin of my hip.

I smacked his chest. "That tickles. And I'm still sleeping."

"But it's breakfast time, my Elise. And I can smell Deb's homemade cinnamon rolls. If we don't go soon there won't be any left."

I grinned and moved tighter against him, eyes still closed. "I don't care about cinnamon rolls. I care about sleep."

"You don't care about cinnamon rolls!?" He faux outraged. "Lone Raine's homemade cinnamon rolls are the best!"

"Cinnamon rolls suck."

He play gasped and rolled me clear on top of him. "Elise! How dare you say that! Those are fighting words!"

I giggled and held to his sides. "What are you going to do? Punish me? Ban me from kisses all day? You'll just be punishing yourself, Buddy."

He laughed and started tickling my sides. "How about this kind of punishment?"

I gasped, my eyes flying open, and I cowered away from the touch laughing. "No Adam! Stop!"

I tried to squirm away, but he held me tight. "What were you saying about cinnamon rolls?"

I laughed and tried to breathe. "They're the best! I'm going to eat every roll you ever get and leave none for you I love them so much!"

"Wrong answer again!" He rolled us again, so I was under him.

He tried tickling me again, but my hands were now free, so I reached up and twirled my fingertips at his bare sides. He gasped and sat back on his knees.

I leaned up after him, a new sparkle in my eye. "Oh, is Mr. Adam ticklish too?"

"No," he bounced back.

I followed. "Let me see." I put my hand out to his side again.

He caught both my hands and held them tight between his. "Truce?"

"No truce. I want to see again."

He exhaled and twisted to lay back on the bed, legs over the side and arms behind his head.

I took it as a win and gently touched at his obliques. His face tightened and his stomach bounced in tenderness, though he made no sound. I giggled and moved down to kiss his side when he rolled out of the way.

"Where you going? I wasn't done."

He laughed and stood up. "Yes. Yes, you were."

I huffed jokingly. "Fine."

He grinned and went to his dresser. "Why don't you go get dressed and we'll head down to breakfast."

"Sure," I stood off the bed and yawned.

I went for my room and picked out some outfit in my dresser I didn't recognize. It was a heart print tshirt and black shorts but fit perfectly. I did up my hair and makeup, knowing I had to meet the insurance agent in a couple hours, then put on new dressings at my neck and took my meds.

A knock came from the already open connecting door as I was putting on my shoes.

"Come in Adam," I laughed.

"You ready?" He stepped into my room. Dark green shirt, camo pants and his boots made him ready for some army drill.

"I thought we were going to breakfast? Not war?" I teased.

He looked down to his outfit and shrugged. "You made it sound like I'd have to fight you for my breakfast."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed his hand with a chuckle. "Come on."

We hit breakfast, sitting with Nate, Palmer, and Johnathan and his mate. Johnathan talking about funeral arrangements for Sid. I apologized for Milo's actions, but he waved me off saying dying in battle was the best way for Sid to go. I still gave him a hug much to the annoyance of his mate.

And okay, the cinnamon rolls were pretty good too.

We cleared our dishes and then Adam and I headed to my truck to meet the insurance agent. The agent needed me to sign some forms and go over paperwork.

Later that afternoon, I hopped back in the truck and grumbled. "Sorry. That took longer than I expected."

He climbed in the driver's side and squeezed my thigh. "That's okay. I'm just here to be support."

I smiled and clutched his hand. "Thanks. I don't mean to take you from all your pack duties."

"I've got some time off. Usually when a pack member finds their mate, they get a few days off business. Palmer has been taking a lot of my work."

"That's nice."

"Gives the new mates a little bit of time to get to know each other. Sort of a honeymoon, but not really."

"I guess that makes sense."

"It's lunchtime. Are you hungry? We could go to your diner."

"I could eat," I checked the time on my phone. "Maybe we should find a takeout though," I laughed. "Marjorie would be all over you."

He grinned. "Why else would I suggest there?"

"You want to be attacked?"

"I want to show off that I got the beautiful girl in the end."

I bent my head bashful.

He continued delicately, "and maybe..."

My eyes popped up. "And maybe what?"

He took a deep breath and caught my gaze with his stunning blue eyes. "And maybe you want to give your two weeks' notice? You could stay and work with me in the packhouse and I won't have to worry about you out here all the time."

"Really?" I asked softly. "You want me to quit the diner?"

He sagged and turned to look over the steering wheel. "You don't have to. I'll just miss you away from the pack so long."

I smiled and touched at his hand. "Of course I want to stay with you. It's just hard to process. I've been with the diner so long, it's strange to want to say goodbye."

His fingers curled around my thumb. "You don't have to right away. I just wanted to give you that option for when you were ready."

I slid to the middle seat and pressed myself into Adam's arm, hugging around his bicep. "I want to." Then I leaned up and giggled. "Does that mean we can be boyfriend and girlfriend now?"

He looked at me uncomprehendingly.

"We went on a date to your river, admittingly I fell asleep during it—terrible first date etiquette, but it was somewhere we went together. You bought me presents, now we can meet the parent-ish person and fall in love."

He let out a breath of a laugh and leaned for a kiss. "You can fall anyway. I fell years ago."

"That's not fair," I complained. "You couldn't love me that far back, especially after I made you skip training after falling out of a tree."

He laughed and started the truck. "How can you not love someone you are connected with for so long, even if they do stupid stuff like try to make pie without a ladder?"

I smacked his arm. "It would have been a good pie." I paused considering. "If there wasn't blood all over all the apples I had collected. And I guess if I could have moved well enough afterwards to bake it."

He started the drive over to the diner. "Let's not talk about that anymore."

"Alright. Are you my boyfriend then?"

He laughed. "Yes. Are you my girlfriend?"

I beamed, "I'm your mate. That's even better."

He kissed the top of my head and continued driving. "That you are, my Elise."

"My Beta Hunter."