Of Beasts and Wolves

Chapter Eight: Delight

When Max woke up the next day, she lay in bed for several long minutes, running over the events of the previous evening in her head before finally remembering that Gavin had asked her to go on a date with him into the city today to do some shopping. At the thought of buying new things, she felt her stomach start to do flip-flops and feared for a moment that she might be sick to her stomach.

“It’s a panic or anxiety attack, doll. You just have to breathe. There won’t be anyone to take away your new things, now that we live with Gavin. He’ll take care of us. Just breathe, Max. Breathe.”

Ever the voice of reason, Beryl’s soothing voice and calming words did help Max feel better, and she took several deep breaths through her nose before pushing back the covers and rising for the day. “Thanks, Beryl.”

“Anytime, doll.”

Still feeling slightly nervous, but nowhere near as apprehensive as she had only a few moments ago, Max decided to take a hot shower to relieve her sore, tired muscles. Once she got into the bathroom and really inspected everything, however, her plans immediately changed. She had a garden tub with jets! Squealing in glee, she searched through the cupboards and wasn’t at all surprised to find scented bath salts and jars of delicately scented oils that she could add to the water. Spending several moments pulling the corks out and sniffing all the tantalizing aromas, she finally made her choice and carried the vial of oil over to the bathtub.

As the water ran and filled up the large tub, she sat on the edge of it to marvel over not only the wonder of it, but at how thoughtful Gavin had been in designing this room for her. He’d said he had had this suite added on specifically for her once he realized that she was his mate and the alpha had forbidden him from revealing himself to her. He’d made a concerted effort to make sure she would be comfortable and would have access to any creature comforts that he could possibly provide.

The kindness and thoughtfulness that her mate had shown her in just the past two days was almost overwhelming, and Max had to choke back tears when she remembered that just yesterday, before meeting Gavin, she had wanted to leave the pack and renounce the wolf half of her heritage.

“Aren’t you glad you listened to me?” Beryl teased gently.

“Yeah, yeah, you great big know-it-all,” Max teased back, making her wolf chuckle.

Finally, the water level in the tub was high enough that she couldn’t resist slipping into it, the smells emanating from the water enough to make her close her eyes and inhale deeply before moaning quietly as the warm water immediately began to relax her sore muscles. She hadn’t realized how tense she’d been, but the immediate relief she felt convinced her of it.

Indulging her hedonistic side, Max lounged in the water for several long minutes, loving the time to herself to relax and unwind, and allowing the fragrance of the bath oils to permeate her skin. Once her fingertips began to prune, however, she sat up and reached for the loofah that had been provided. On the shelf facing the tub was an array of bottles, and Max had initially assumed that they were for decoration. However, she didn’t see any shampoo, conditioner, soap, or body wash readily available, so she reached up to the shelf and pulled one of the bottles down to sniff it. She was delighted to find that the bottles were labeled very carefully with not only shampoo, conditioner, or body wash, but also the scent names that matched the bath oils and bath salts she had found in the cupboards earlier.

Choosing the scent that matched what she’d put into her bath, Max took her time washing the long mass of her hair, then conditioned and let it sit, piled up on her head, while she dumped some scented body wash onto the loofah and began to scrub her body. Feeling more girly and pampered than she had even when her parents had been alive, she reveled in the luxury of it all and didn’t get out of the tub until the water had long since lost most of its warmth.

Pulling the plug so the water could drain out, Max pulled one of the towels on the rack to her and quickly dried her body off, pleased that the thick, plush towel quickly absorbed the water. Then she used it to wrap her hair up in so it could dry enough to stop dripping all over the place while she went back into her bedroom to look through her meager selection of clothes.

What she wore had never really been of much concern to her, but now that she had a mate she wanted to look good for, she was sad to realize that she didn’t own anything that actually fit her. Not the way it was supposed to, anyway.

“Chin up, doll. Gavin said we could go out shopping today for clothes. You can get some new things that you like, that actually fit you.”

The reminder from Beryl helped put Max into a better frame of mind, and she pulled out a pair of jeans and an old t-shirt that had definitely seen better days before slipping her feet into her shoes and pulling her long hair up into a messy bun on the top of head before stepping out of her suite and knocking on the front door of Gavin’s. He immediately opened the door for her, though he was frowning when he did.

“This is your home, too. You don’t have to knock,” he told her gently, explaining the frown before she could even ask.

“It was your home first, and I didn’t want to be rude and just barge in if you were in the middle of something.” Max stepped into the house so Gavin could close the door behind her, then squeaked in surprised when he pulled her backwards into a hug.

“There’s nothing you could interrupt that would be more important than you,” he said, pressing a kiss to her temple.

Unaccountably flustered, Max blushed and tried to push her hair behind her ears, already forgetting that she’d piled the heavy mass on top of her head. Her fingers got tangled in the thick strands, and she accidentally pulled half of her hair down before she managed to untangle them. Heaving a flustered sigh, she reached up for the worn out elastic hair tie that she’d been using for… she didn’t even know how long and was dismayed to realize that the tugging on her hair had actually snapped the elastic band. Pulling out what was left of it and throwing it in the garbage bin, she was about to go back to her room for another one when Gavin stopped her.

“Leave it. Please? I like seeing your hair down.”

“It’s such a mess though. I haven’t been able to get it cut or styled, and any shape it had five years ago has long since grown out.”

“It’s beautiful,” Gavin told her, effectively silencing any argument she may have tried to give. Leading her by the hand, he pulled her over to the couch and directed her to sit on the floor while he ran off to another room. He was back a moment later, carrying a brush and another black elastic hair tie. Surprising her yet again, he sat on the couch directly behind her and began to pull the brush through Max’s hair, his fingers gentle on her scalp and sending Beryl into a purring frenzy as he pulled the brush through the long mass. Once he had brushed out any knots or tangles, he pulled the front of Max’s hair back, and then began to French braid it until the top half of her hair was braided and off her face, but the back half was left down to fall in a straight, shining sheet to her waist. Once he was done, Gavin helped her stand, then twirled his finger in a circle, indicating that he wanted to see her do a spin.

Grinning, she indulged him, then flushed with pleasure when he confirmed, “Yep. Absolutely beautiful.”

“You’re going to spoil me if you keep this up.”

“So? What’s wrong with spoiling you? You’re my mate. I’m supposed to spoil you and make sure you’re happy and taken care of. Seems to me like it’s past time someone did.”

“But-” she started, only to be interrupted by her wolf.

“Shut up!” Beryl hissed at her. “He’s our mate! Let him pamper and spoil you to his heart’s content. After everything that’s happened, you deserve it.”

“But what?” Gavin wanted to know.

“Nothing. My wolf, Beryl, told me to shut up and let you spoil me if you wanted to.”

Grinning from ear to ear now, Gavin thanked Beryl out loud, and Max only rolled her eyes when her wolf responded sweetly to him.

“How about some breakfast?” The question had a loud growl coming from Max’s stomach, and she covered it with one hand, her eyes wide with embarrassment when she looked at her mate. Gavin, however, only chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes, then. Come on, let’s get some food into you.”

Heading toward the kitchen, more than ready for a bowl of cereal, she only got a couple of steps in before she felt Gavin’s hand curl around her wrist to stop her from going anywhere.

“I meant let’s go out for breakfast. I want bacon and eggs, and I don’t have any bacon here, unfortunately.”

Max hadn’t gone out for a meal in years. Even when her parents were alive, they usually ate at home or with Jessica’s family. There hadn’t been much room for takeout in their lives, but Adela had loved cooking for her family, and Max and Tomas had loved to eat the food that she made, so it had worked out well for them.

Still speechless over Gavin’s announcement that he wanted to take her out for breakfast, Max followed silently behind him as he left the house. She hadn’t realized it yesterday, but there was a path that led around behind the house and to a separate building. It wasn’t until Gavin opened the door for her that she realized it was a garage, with the garage door built into the other side of the structure and leading off down an actual road. Inside the garage was an old but obviously well-loved truck, the exterior cleaned and polished to a high shine, though the interior could have been a little cleaner. Seeing Max’s wrinkled nose, Gavin chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. “Ah… yeah. Sorry about that. Bachelor and all that.”

Max just laughed with him and climbed up into the passenger seat when he held the door open for her. “It’s good to know that you’re a normal male in at least one aspect of life.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he wanted to know, an affronted look on his face.

“Just that you seem so perfect in every other way, it’s refreshing to realize that you’re not quite perfect. Almost… but not quite.” Gesturing to the interior of his truck, Max indicated the empty candy wrappers, fast food soda cups, and crumpled up bags from various hamburger joints.

“Oh. Well, if that’s your only complaint…” Gavin gave her a cheeky grin and swung himself into the driver’s side of the truck.

“It wasn’t a complaint,” she told him, still laughing, “Just an observation.”

Laughing and talking as they made the trip from their packs’ land, the 45-minute drive seemed to take almost no time at all. As they pulled up in the front of the large, 2-story mall, Max’s jaw hung open wide and she stopped and stared at the massive structure for a long moment. She’d never been to the mall that she could remember, though she knew her parents had taken her several times when she was a toddler. She was shaken from her trance when Gavin wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in close to his side.

“You okay?” he asked again, concerned about her long silence.

Nodding, Max continued to stare up at the large building for another moment before shaking herself out of it and admitting, “I’ve never been to the mall before. I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be so big.”

“You’ve never -?” Gavin cut himself off before he could finish the incredulous question and only shook his head. Of course she hadn’t been the mall…. Who would have taken her? Certainly not William and Melissa. “Have I got a treat for you, then! The whole day is yours. We can go into whichever shops catch your fancy.”

“Really?!”

“Absolutely! This is our first date, and I want you to enjoy yourself.”

“I’m with you,” Max told him with a smile. “That’s all I need.” Beryl purred her agreement, especially when a big, bright smile graced Gavin’s handsome face. Momentarily stunned by it, Max stared for a moment before reaching out to touch his cheek, loving the little dimple that his smile revealed.

“Come on,” he said, tugging on her hand impatiently. “I’m hungry, and I smell bacon!”

Max’s stomach growled its agreement, and they both laughed and began walking toward the mall hand in hand, both enjoying the company and looking forward to whatever the day together would bring.