“Will you braid my hair before we go play?” she asked softly. I nodded, leading them towards a bench. I sat down as she turned, releasing her aqua and blonde hair, the length falling onto the bench in a pool of shiny hair. I instantly began to run my fingers through it gently.
I heard my brother talking about something, but Lorcan was just humming, the soft, relaxing tune making a contentment I could never fully understand settle in my chest. I loved when she hummed, sang, or played music for us. She’d recently started taking violin lessons. There was just something more special about it than any other music I’d heard.
“Did you know that Mommy is going out of town again soon?” she asked as I began to weave her long hair into two separate, intricate braids that started up at the top of her head and worked all the way down.
I froze slightly and smiled. “Does that mean you are coming over for a sleepover again?”
She flashed a smile and nodded. “I know! I’m so excited! This time Mommy said I could even bring that game I was telling you about.”
“Mario Kart?” I asked seriously. I loved when Lorcan came over for the weekend. Usually my brothers hung out with Cormac, and my dad would lay off being so controlling about my schedule, meaning I got to spend the entire time with Lorcan. Usually we would read outside or sit in the greenhouse while playing games.
“Yep,” she nodded eagerly. I had heard of Mario Kart, but my dad never allowed video games in our house, so the prospect was really exciting.
“Dean!” some kid shouted from where the game had paused. I ignored him. I ignored everyone but my brothers when Lorcan was around. I didn’t even do it on purpose half the time.
Before she could say anything else, a set of footsteps sounded, and I nearly let out a small growl, already knowing who it was by scent. Zeke. I hated this kid.
“What do you want?” I asked sharply as Lorcan laughed slightly, trying to hide it.
I knew I wasn’t a normal fourth-grader. It was partly because my dad treated me like an adult, which I preferred, but it was more than that. It was the fact that the emotions I felt were really intense. Even now, Zeke was way too close to Lorcan, and a rumble broke from my chest in frustration. My lion was very protective of Lorcan.
“Come on man, come play football instead of doing this stupid girl shit—” I shoved him down and punched him in the face before I knew what had happened. I inhaled sharply as he cried out, and I just narrowed my eyes at what a baby he was being. Who did he think he was, calling my Lorcan’s hair stupid? I mean, he had essentially said that.
“Deanie,” Lorcan sang, “can we finish? I want you to play with us before you have to go.”
Immediately, I sat back down and continued braiding her hair. Fury was still in my chest as Zeke stumbled up and ran away, making Lorcan’s lips tilt up slightly. See? She didn’t mind. If she did, I would maybe change… but for now, I wasn’t going to bother with it. After all, Lorcan’s hair braiding was far more important than any of those guys.
I had continued to make her a priority in my life, always.
Lorcan’s voice broke through my reverie. The bleeding from her nose had nearly stopped. "It doesn't surprise me completely. When I turned into a goddamn fish, the pressure and star calls went away almost completely... so this seems about right when it comes to balance."
"You didn't have any headaches? At all?" I asked curiously, trying not to get hard at the thought of her goddamn mermaid tail. I had no good reason to find it as sexy as I did, but I couldn't lie, it was hot. I didn't know why it was hot except for the fact that it was part of Lorcan, and everything she did turned me on.
It was probably why I had never found any other woman attractive. Why I had never slept with anyone before sinking into Lorcan’s tight warmth that felt like goddamn home. Even when she was still gone, even after she’d left us, I hadn’t been able to justify fucking someone else. It had always felt like I was betraying my little minx.
Now that I had been inside Lorcan and marked her in the most primitive way, I was even more fucking glad I’d waited. Nothing could compare to how it felt to be inside of her, emotionally and physically.
It's why I couldn't blame Desmond for his mounting frustration. You would think it would go away after fucking, but nope, it just seemed to get worse. The woman was goddamn addictive as fuck. Lorcan may be getting clean from her addictions, but I was just falling further down the hole of getting high off of everything that the woman was.
"None," she admitted and then shrugged. "Maybe I'll start to shift every day. It did help relieve the pressure for a bit."
I nodded and led her from the room into the master suite. She frowned, seeming to waver. "How the hell did I not realize how massive this bed is?"
I chuckled softly at her realization. "Originally it was going to be normal size… but after you came back I decided to rush order a new one. It seemed that the size wasn't going to be large enough for seven people."
Because I’d all but threatened them.
Lorcan's mouth dropped open. "Dean, this is fucking massive."
It was. It had to be the size of at least two king beds combined, maybe more, but I was glad I'd made the call during our lunch break. I guess I hadn't ever really thought we'd be here. I’d built it, but it had felt like a fantasy. A dream that would be far too good to become reality. In our own house. I was thrilled though. I mean, this was the start of us. Of our life together. It was goddamn perfect, even if everything else was fucked up around us.
I could deal with outside threats as long as she was happy and healthy.
"Wait, Dean," Lorcan turned before going towards the closet. Rhett was already passed out on the bed, and Cash was still shifted, stretched out in front of the balcony’s open french doors. Draven was reading in bed, and Desmond and Adriel were looking over something. The entire scene was far more domestic than I had ever seen in our future. It seemed right though. It was right, because Lorcan was here. I looked down at the woman in question.
"What's up?" I ran my fingers through her hair that was slowly drying.
"Where is Maggie going to live?" she asked confusedly. "I don't want her all alone in that massive estate."
"Don't worry, she's at the guest house with her nanny," I explained, loving how caring Lorcan was. "I figured they could sort of decide which way they wanted to take this, but I made sure that she had a place here."
Lorcan didn’t care about many people, but the people she did love? She gave herself fully. I honestly thank the fucking Maker every day that we were put in her path.
"Good," Lorcan nodded, walking towards the closet. I let out a yawn, stretching my arms above my head, before walking towards the balcony, my brow dipping while thinking about this unknown threat. I didn't like the idea of not knowing or understanding. It made me really fucking uncomfortable.
What I did know? We were finally in grasp of the future that I had always imagined with Lorcan. I would fight tooth and fucking nail to keep it that way. If I had to kill every single person that tried to take that away from us, then there would be a lot of bodies to bury.
It would be one hundred percent worth it.