SOLD TO THE RUTHLESS ALPHA:The White Wolf's Price

Chapter 10: Breakfast

I woke up to warmth and quiet.

No howling anymore. Just birds outside the balcony, and a soft breathing next to my ear.

I was still on the floor. Still leaning against Kade. His suit jacket was still over us, and his arm had fallen around my shoulders in his sleep. My head was on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

He was asleep. That was new.

Ruthless Alphas don't sleep like this — mouth slightly open, eyebrows relaxed, looking younger without the angry Alpha mask. In sleep, he looked like the eighteen-year-old boy who waited outside my school.

I didn't want to move. If I moved, he would wake up and be Alpha again. Formal. Afraid to touch me.

So I stayed still and studied him. The scar on his jaw. The black ink of the wolf tattoo peeking from his collar. The way his hand, even in sleep, was still holding mine tightly, like I might disappear.

His mother's bracelet was still on my wrist. It hadn't stopped glowing all night. Soft, like moonlight under my skin.

I lifted my free hand, slowly, slowly, and before I could think about how brave I was being, I touched his cheek.

Just a brush. My fingertips against his stubble.

His eyes opened instantly.

Gold. Wide awake. No grogginess. Wolves wake up fast.

He didn't move. He just looked at me, at my hand on his face, his breath catching.

"You touched me first," he whispered, like it was something holy.

I blushed and tried to pull my hand away, but he caught it, gently, and pressed it back to his cheek.

"Don't," he said. "Please. Keep it."

So I did. My small hand on his big face.

"I had a dream," I whispered.

"What dream?"

"That you left. And I woke up back in the Thompson house. On the floor in the pantry."

His golden eyes went dark. His grip on my hand tightened.

"That will never happen," he said. Every word slow and serious, like a vow. "This mountain is yours now. This room is yours. I am yours. No one will ever make you sleep on a floor again."

"But we are on the floor," I giggled a little, despite myself.

He looked around, like he just remembered where we were, and then he laughed too. A real laugh, not the low Alpha rumble. A surprised, boyish laugh that made his whole face change.

"Goddess, we are. My Luna's first night as accepted mate and I make her sleep on the floor."

"Our floor," I corrected softly.

His laugh stopped. He stared at me.

"Our floor," he repeated. "Yes. Our floor."

He didn't get up right away. He just kept looking at me, my hand still on his cheek.

"Ashira, can I... ask something?"

I nodded.

"Can I mark you? Not... not the mating mark. Not yet. You are too young and you haven't had your second shift. But here." He touched my forehead, right between my eyebrows, with his thumb. "A Luna mark. Just a small one. So when you walk downstairs, every wolf knows you are under my protection. No one will dare look at you wrong."

I bit my lip. "Will it hurt?"

"No. It will feel warm. Like the bracelet. And it will fade if you want it to fade. It's just... my scent. On your skin. So everyone knows to keep their distance."

He was asking so carefully, like he was asking to borrow something precious.

"Will it make me smell like you?" I asked.

"Yes. Like pine and moon."

"I like how you smell."

His eyes flared gold again. He took a deep breath, trying to control himself.

"Okay," I whispered. "You can."

He sat up properly, still on the floor, and turned me to face him. He cupped my face with both hands, so gentle, like I was made of glass.

"Close your eyes, little wolf."

I closed them.

I felt his thumb brush my forehead, then his lips. Just his lips, soft, warm, pressing against the skin between my eyebrows. Not a kiss-kiss. A longer one. A blessing.

Warmth spread from that spot, down my nose, my cheeks, like sunlight. The moonstone necklace pulsed once, bright, and the bracelet hummed.

It didn't hurt. It felt like being wrapped in his jacket all over again.

When I opened my eyes, he was staring at my forehead, satisfied, proud.

"There," he whispered. "Now everyone will know."

I touched the spot. It felt warm.

"What does it look like?" I asked.

He pulled out his phone and opened the front camera.

On my forehead, faint silver, was a tiny crescent moon — matching the one on my wrist, but facing the other way.

His mark. His moon.

"It's beautiful," I whispered.

"It's you," he said.

Just then, there was a loud, deliberate knock and Elena's voice: "Alpha! Luna! Breakfast is getting cold! And Fred ate all the bacon!"

Kade sighed, forehead dropping to mine, our marks almost touching.

"Five more minutes," he yelled at the door.

"No! Pack meeting in ten minutes! And you have been on the floor all night, your suit is ruined!" Elena yelled back.

I giggled against his forehead.

He pulled back, reluctantly, and stood up, pulling me up with him. My white dress was completely wrinkled.

He looked at my wrinkled dress, at his ruined suit, at the destroyed blanket fort, and smiled that small, private smile only I had ever seen.

"Come," he said, lacing his fingers through mine. "Let's go eat breakfast. Our breakfast. And you can sit wherever you want. Even on the table, if you want."

"I want to sit next to you," I said quietly.

His hand squeezed mine so tight I thought my bones would crack, but I didn't mind.

"Then you will always sit next to me."

We walked out of the bedroom together, hand in hand, my new silver mark glowing faintly on my forehead, his mother's bracelet glowing on my wrist, both of us barefoot and wrinkled and completely in love on the floor.

And down the hallway, Fred was waiting with two plates of bacon, saying, "Finally! I was about to die of hunger protecting you guys!"

Behind him, the whole pack house smelled like breakfast, and like home.