An English Rogue

Making up for lost time.

POV: Anna

I woke up this morning to the sound of Rose purring in the back of my mind. It almost felt like a dream and then I blushed as more intimate details filtered into my mind. Thank goodness for Rose.

“Morning cariad” came a deep and already familiar voice from beside me. I opened my eyes and shyly rolled over to face Geraint. The look he gave me was ravenous and this time I didn’t need Roses help to interpret the look in his eyes!

“We don’t have time for that I’m sorry!” I answered honestly. There’s only one thing that could pull me away from this man in bed and that was thinking of everyone at home. It was still early, but I know the morning routine would be starting and they would be wondering where I was.

“I want you to meet the family”, I said quickly but with a slight hesitation in my voice. “It might be a bit of a surprise for them though. I’m worried how they’ll take it. I know they’ll love you once they get to know you, but they’ve all been through such a lot!”.

“It’s ok, I’m happy for baby steps” it’s going to be a big adjustment for all of us, we don’t have to rush anything. As long as you know I’m not going anywhere!” He said stroking my cheek lovingly. I could tell though our link that he was calm and collected about the situation and his steady easy really help me feel more confident.

“Right we have to get up!” I said taking the initiative. “If we don’t do it now we’ll never get moving!”

We packed up what little things we had with us, and checked out of the hotel. We walked hand in hand to the tube and as we walked me mind linked back and forth, I told him about our pups and what they were all like. I loved talking about them, they were each so important to me.

“Goddess I hope they take this well” I prayed silently to Moon Goddess.

“They will, the bond between us is already strong” Rose reassured me.

“Do you think it would be ok, if I went home first and talked to everyone and then you came round after?” I asked as we walked. “I’m so worried it’s going to be a shock for them, and I want it to go well”.

“That’s a great idea” Geraint replied to my surprise, I was worried he’d be offended. This was all so new to both of us. “I have a couple of errands to run anyway so how about we say a time, and I’ll be there?” He asked waiting for my reply.

“Ok that’ll work well then, come over for lunch? About 1ish?” We could all eat together” I suggested happy that we’d managed to come to a compromise so quickly.

Parting ways was harder than I anticipated. I confirmed our meet up time twice more and we kissed each other goodbye before starting the whole process again, not wanting to part!

I headed back to the flat alone, and nervous. It had been so long since we’d had anyone over, the flats had become our own little sanctuary and I felt nervous about letting anyone, even our mate, into our secret hideaway. I was also nervous to see Lena, we hadn’t exactly been on good terms last time we’d seen each other. It felt like so long ago, even though it was only hours really.

“Hi guys I’m home!” I called as I entered the flat from the central doorway.

“We’re in here” called Mia from the living room.

I walked in to see all of my beautiful pups sitting on the sofa excitedly practically lined up in age order! As I came in they got up and rushed to meet me, even Mia carrying little Juno, before suddenly looking disappointed!

“Guys, what’s up, you’re not pleased to see me after all?” I asked confused by the sudden change.

“Sorry Anna, I think I got the wrong end of the stick” Mia apologised, the disappointment clear in her voice. “We got the impression that you might be bringing a friend home with you, and I think I got a bit carried away.” She explained looking crestfallen.

“Well as a matter of fact I do have something to talk to you all about.” I said honestly, surprised that it had come up in conversation. “Sit back down and we’ll have a chat. Is Lena here?” I asked hopefully.

“No she left early this morning, she said she had a meeting” Mia explained rolling her eyes at the flimsy lie.

“Everyone on the sofa” I said sad that neither of my sisters were here for this. “So last night with the blessing of Moon Goddess I did meet my mate.” I said getting straight to the point, even though I was slightly drowned out by Mia’s squeals of approval.

“Tell us about him! Where is he!” She demanded excitedly.

“His name is Geraint. He’s 35, and I’m very much looking forward to you all meeting him”. I took a deep breath. “I know this is going to be a big change for us all, and it might take a bit of getting used too, but I want to tell you all how much I love you. You’re my family, and Geraint has promised to work really hard to fit into our busy lives. I also want to reassure you all that it won’t change how much I love you all. You are my family, and I am yours. You are my little ones, you are my little loves no matter how big you’re all getting. The day we came into each other’s lives I already loved you like I had know you for ever, and nothing will ever change that.” I felt comforted repeating the feelings I had shared with them all so many times over the years, as they were sad or scared or had a nightmare, or cried for the lives they’d lift behind. I looked at all of there faces trying to see how they were all feeling.

“Does he like footy” interrupted Jack, unfazed but all of the talk of love.

“Umm I’m not sure, he’ll be coming over soon though, he’s very excited to meet you all. You’ll have to ask him” I smiled. “Trust Jack” both Rose and I thought to each other.

“Does anyone else have any questions?” I asked trying to put out the feelers.

“Anna we talked it through this morning, we all think it’s great!” Jody answered nonchalantly.

“Ok then if everyone’s happy I’ll go and make a coffee and start lunch” I suggested. I smiled to myself, maybe this wasn’t as big a deal as I’d thought.

“What time is he coming?” Called Mia from the living room.

“About 1pm love” I called back. Glad to be having my first coffee of the morning.

A little while later

There was a ring at the buzzer, which was unusual all in itself. We didn’t get visitors, but still had a quality camera system just incase. I knew it was him before I even looked at the screen. I had felt through our bond as he had got further away from me throughout the morning, it had been such a strange feeling and Rose and I were overjoyed as we could feel him getting closer again.

I buzzed him in, and was so nervous to see him again, I had proper big butterflies romping around in my tummy.

“Hello Cariad” he said as I waited for him at the top of the stairs, “are you ok? I can feel how nervous you are!” He said chuckling to to break the tension of all of these new emotions.

“I’m just glad to see you” I admitted,

“Yeh, I could feel it too” he confessed, “unfortunately it means I won’t be able to leave your side again ever!” He laughed “iI already can’t cope without you!” Dropping everything he was carrying, he kissed me gently but passionately and I wrapped myself into his embrace like it was all the air I needed.

Mia casually cleared her throat from inside the flat, and we both chuckle quietly remembering we weren’t alone. “This could be a problem after all” Rose thought as we realised how quickly we’d become aroused. We broke off the intimate hug and he quickly scrabbled to pick up all of his belongings.

“What exactly have you brought with you?” I asked curiously.

“Ooh you’ll see” he said mysteriously as he made his own way inside, already confident in the new surroundings.

We found the pups back in their arranged places, sitting neatly to attention.

“Hi everyone, I’m Geraint” he smiled at them all happily. Although my stomach was going flips inside me. “Now I can tell Anna is very nervous”, he paused, “but I’m not, I just want to tell you all that I love her, and that means I love you all too! Now I know it might be weird having me just appear in your lives, and I know it might not always be easy, but I want you to know you can trust me, and I’m not here to take her away from you, or replace any of you. If we work together we can have have a great time.” He grinned at them all as he stopped to catch his breath.

“Not nervous at all my ass” Rose chuckle as she picked up his wavering emotions though the bond.

“So, anyway as a gesture of new starts, I realised I’ve missed out on a lot of birthdays and Christmases so I thought it might be good to make up for lost time.” Now he’d got their attention.

He opened the bags and fished though passing presents to the pups one by one. Rose beamed as we realised he had remembered all of their names, and was happily passing things out to the right pup. Soon the air filled with paper and giggles as each pup excitedly opened their gifts. Jack whooped as he opened a PlayStation and little Oliver’s eyes were wide with excitement as he took in his new pirate ship. Mia helped little Juno open hers, it was a beautiful soft toy grey wolf and she hugged it to herself instantly. Mia passed me little Juno and went to put the kettle on, escaping from all of the c*****e in the room. After a few minutes Geraint followed her in.

“I didn’t think toys would be your thing, and I must admit it’s been a few years since I was a teenager, but I thought you might like these” he said holding out some wrapped gifts to Mia, who blushed as she took them.

“Thank you, that’s really thoughtful” she said opening the wrapper to find a new MacBook and other gadgets.

“I got gift receipts” he admitted, “in case you didn’t like them, you could take them back and swap them for what you need. Anna said how hard you work at college.”

“No these are great!” She said excitedly, “thank you! I’ve been saving for a new laptop, this is perfect!”

“Well at least now you can spend your money how ever you like” he added relief washing over him as he felt he’d slightly won over his toughest critic in the family. “Do you want to see what I got Anna?” He asked quietly. And Mia’s eyes widened as he gave her a peek of the tiny but expensively sparkly present.

Heading back into the living room together, Mia and Geraint looked as thick as thrives. He sat down next to me and I caught my breath as sparks ignited where our bodies met.

“I have a couple of things for you too” he said quietly and Mia appeared with a mysteriously heavy box, which I opened slowly glancing at my mate nervously. Inside were five beautiful wooden picture frames. “I thought maybe the pups could all choose their favourite family photo to put in them.” He explained. “Maybe we could even take some new photos, when we are altogether” he suggested.

“I don’t know how I’d gotten so lucky I truly don’t”, I thought to Rose as I looked at my mate speechlessly.

“It’s ok, you can thank my later” he mind linked and I couldn’t stop the blush that reached my cheeks.

“One last thing” he said, leaving the chair by my side and getting down on one knee. “Anna will you marry me?” He opened the ring box that seemed to have appeared from nowhere and held it out to me.

“Yes” I said quietly as he took the simple but elegant sapphire ring and slipped it onto my ring finger.