Chapter 14 ~ My House Now!

Ella’s POV ~

This morning, I am wandering the pack.. speaking with as many as I see outside. Matthew came home from the raid last night in such a mood. There are more traitors and there was no consoling him. He was being a prick.. and I.. well.. I have no patience for any of that shit!

I understand he’s upset.. taking it out on me.. ? Never gonna get off the ground! That bird won’t fly!

If he expects me to talk to him, he had better get to apologizing his ass off. Telling me stupid shit like I wouldn’t understand what he’s going through. I never had to worry about anyone but myself.

Yeah? Guess what! I still don’t have to worry about anyone else but me! After two hours of talking to pack members, I realize there is a deeper seeded issue among them. They are worried about Matthew’s gentle nature being too ingrained to make him the Alpha they need.. None of them ever took the time to recognize the steel that lies beneath the kindness. I fear they are in for a rude awakening.

In the kitchen, I overheard two housemaids talking about Matthew.. and something about a rogue named Tyler. They shut up when they saw me.

I linked Maverick and told him he needed to take them both into custody. I stayed with them.. chatting about inane things until Kennedy showed.

Catching a ride into town, with an Omega going grocery shopping.. I decided to go to my house. Still very upset with Matthew, I will clean my anger away. It’s my coping mechanism. Mad? I clean. Sad? Going to catch me scrubbing a toilet.. Excited? You guessed it! Probably dusting the furniture!

I was actually glad I came by. Everything was covered in a thin layer of dust. It smelled stale.. unused. It made me sad to think it felt lonely. An asinine concept.. but that’s how it felt. Lonely.

I cranked the stereo up.. opened all my windows.. and got right to it. I cleaned for several hours.. then decided I would cook me a nice dinner. I took out flour and baking powder. Thawing chicken. I started a garlic infused alfredo sauce with heavy cream.. and left it to simmer.. while I made homemade linguine pasta. I lightly browned my chicken in olive oil before layering it on top of my fresh cooked pasta.

I opened a bottle of wine.. and set the table.. Then, I slathered the chicken and pasta with the alfredo sauce. Sliding it into the oven for twenty minutes before I melted mozzarella all over the top.

I checked my phone.. wanting to let Matthew know where I was..only to see no one had texted me. Looks like it’s not any of my business. That’s fine. I will allow myself a few minutes of self-pity and move on. It’s kind of what my life has always been, anyway.

I start over analyzing everything about my time with Matthew.. Overthinking. I am so guilty of it. Breaking everything down into one syllable at a time. Rethinking the way he treats me.

My age has a lot to do with it. The fact that I lived my life believing I was human.. and only learning about werewolves recently. My parentage.. my association with Fred.. being stalked because some fool thinks he bought me.

All of these factors… I believe has Matthew thinking he absolutely has to put me in a bubble and keep me safe. That means not sharing bad things with me because he doesn’t want to worry me. That results in him feeling momentary resentment that his mateship isn’t as mature and responsible as his parents. Essentially, treating me like a child.

See? Overthinking. Regardless, the fact remains Matthew treats me like a china doll.. a child, almost. We are going to have a serious talk before any Luna ceremony is entertained.

I removed my baked alfredo from the oven and sat down at the table. I had just fixed my plate, when someone pounded on my front door.

Matthew’s POV ~

When I woke up this morning, my head was pounding. I must have had one too many Jameson’s. My tongue felt fuzzy.. and I was dying of thirst.

At breakfast, I asked Maverick where Ella was. He told me he didn’t know, but she had overheard a couple maids talking about a rogue named Tyler. I nodded and told him to have them in my office, immediately.

I looked around for Ella.. still not finding her, I linked Mom.. she hadn’t seen her. It wasn’t like her to not let someone know what she’s up to. I tried linking her, but we figured out she’s the only person who can block my link. Why did she block me?

I checked on her when we got back last night, and she was sleeping. I joined the guys for a few drinks. We were talking about the raid and how someone else is betraying us. I got pissed.. a stupid whiskey pissed.. so there’s no reasoning.. no logic.. in the mind of a pissed off drunk.

Oh no! Ella had woken up.. and came to see why I was shouting. What did I say? Was I mean? Fuck! I linked Maverick asking him what I said to Ella.

He linked back 🐺 Dude! I don’t know. She came in and you snapped ‘’what do you want?’ And she said ‘you want to snarl at me.. fine.. but you do it in private. You do not talk to me like that in public’ then she walked out. You looked at me, curled your lip, and went after her.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This is not good. I have to remember what I did. Right now, I get to talk to two maids, about a rogue named Tyler. Maybe they will piss me off enough, I’ll remember how much of an ass I was last night.

The maids were sitting huddled together on the sofa. I demanded they sit in front of me. I asked “What are your names?” They told me Beth and Allie.. I said “Tell me about Tyler. And before you think about lying, Remember what happened to Melvin last night. I am not above executing a female. A traitor knows no gender.”

Beth said “He’s just a guy we know. He hangs out at the Den.. we meet up with him on Thursdays for karaoke. It’s how we met him.”

I asked “A rogue? In my town? And neither of you thought to bring this to me?” Allie said “We didn’t think you’d mind. You’ve never enforced the rules before, so we all thought it was okay.”

I sneered “Let me get this straight.. You thought I wouldn’t care about a rogue.. on my territory.. at least, once a week.. and I wouldn’t do anything about it? How long? How fucking long has this been going on?”

Beth stuttered out “About three months.” Three months! The same amount of time I have known Ella is my mate.. too much of a coincidence.

Just as I was telling Maverick to lock them up, my mind was broached.. I opened the link and my mate said “My house. Now!”