Fated From the Start

Moving On Up

Harlow POV

"SPILL IT, b***h!" Will finally yelled from her spot on the couch.

I plopped down next to her and launched into telling her everything from the last 24 hours. Cedar sat in his chair playing on his phone like us gossiping five feet away mattered none to him. When I was done she sprang to her feet. 

"What are you doing?" I asked quizzically. 

"Packing." She stated.

"Packing?" My inquiry was thick with my blatant confusion.

"Your god of a boyfriend wants BOTH of us to move to the land where the water makes everyone look like him." She flailed her arms in Cedar's direction. "I'm packing." She was practically yelling now. 

"Just like that you want to move in with wolves?" I lifted my eyebrow at her. 

"You said the closets are bigger than our bedrooms, they have a house staff, we don't have to pay rent; and did I mention that everyone looks like him?" She was pointing at Cedar again who at this point was doubled over in his chair in hysterics.

"We have a lease Willow, we can't just move." I reminded her.

"And you have a rich boyfriend that will pay to break our lease, it's fine!" She yelled back, already headed to her room with a box I don't even know where she got. 

"I'm not using Ash for his money!" I scolded her.

"Then use my money, it makes my job a hell of a lot easier if you don't live half an hour away." Cedar piped up from his chair.

"Shove it Cedar, I don't want any of your guys' money." I scolded him next.

"You honestly fail to understand how much money there is Totty. We own an extremely successful international corporation and that's just our fun money. Cypress is extremely good at his job and has invested the pack's legacy money to the point that the interest pays everyone's bills. The fees to break your lease wouldn't even be a drop in the bucket for any of us. If you want to come home, come home." Cedar explained reassuringly. 

Come home. The words were so simple yet struck within the depths of my soul. Somehow the pack house really did feel more like home than anything else had in my entire life. I needed to talk to Ash.

Ash POV

"You look much better today Embers, glad to see whatever's been plaguing you has passed." I was finishing up the fifth business meeting of the day. I'd slacked off way too much in Harlow's absence so I had a lot of catching up to do, both at work and with the pack. Thankfully Brice and Cal had stepped in and kept things fairly on track, but there was still plenty that needed my attention directly. 

"Hoping to be back on my A game for everyone's sake sir" I stated as I shook his hand and retreated back to my office to tackle another mountain of paperwork before I could go pick up Harlow.

Cedar had given me a heads up that things had taken an interesting turn throughout the day, but wouldn't give me anymore to go on than that. I hoped Harlow hadn't started to have second thoughts again about moving forward with our relationship. Waking up with her tiny body puzzled perfectly against mine was easily the most blissful thing I'd ever experienced. I couldn't wait to wake up to her every morning for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, for her night owl self, she'd probably never wake up to find me next to her since pack training started at 5am and she regularly slept in till 10. 

By the time I'd sent her good morning text this morning I'd already ran ten miles, done an entire work out, had two sparring matches, showered, driven to the city, and had the morning staff meeting. This would be our normal I'm sure; her watching movies or working on projects long after I was unconscious at night and me knocking out an entire todo list before she even stirred in bed in the morning. And it would somehow work perfectly for us. 

At 5:40, I dropped my pen and shut off my office light. I finally had my girl back and no amount of work was going to stop me from showering her with the love she deserved. At exactly 5:59 I rolled up in front of Harlow's apartment, her and Cedar were standing out front laughing about something. It was a good thing I knew that Cedar's draw to Harlow stemmed from an undying devotion to her as his Luna and my mate or I'd probably get a little jealous about how close they had become. Ultimately, I was grateful for their friendship because I was certain it was helping ease Harlow's hesitations about our world. 

Harlow's attention turned to me as I put the truck in park, she was beaming and seemed genuinely excited to see me. Hopefully, that was a good sign that whatever Cedar had been talking about earlier was a positive thing. 

"How many awe striking vehicles do you own?" Harlow squealed as Cedar opened the door for her. I was driving the fully restored 1970 Ford Bronco in Robin's Egg Blue. It was lifted and Harlow's head was barely peeking over the seat as she yelled into the cab. 

"Exactly as many as you would expect an 18 year old boy that just came into an unfathomable amount of money to buy, plus the two I've bought since then." I chuckled. 

Cedar lifted Harlow's petite frame into the truck and she thanked him with a kiss on the cheek, a small growl bubbled from my lips without my knowledge and Harlow shot me daggers. Cedar burst into laughter at my wolf's entirely unnecessary primal response. "I believe in the sanctity of fated mates too dude. All this is saved specifically for the lady the Moon Goddess made for me."  said, picking on me playfully. "And all of that," he gestured grandly at Harlow "is just for you." He winked and closed the door. Cy had followed me straight from the office and was waiting in the car behind me to give Cedar a ride home. Harlow and I on the other hand were headed to her favorite restaurant. 

"Cedar said something interesting happened today?" I eyed Harlow inquisitively, wondering what was important enough for Cedar to give me a heads up but to also felt the full story needed to come straight from Harlow. 

"Yeah, Will started packing." She responded with a chuckle. 

"She what now?" I stammered.

"I told her you said she could move into the pack house, she started packing." She explained further. 

"Are you coming with her or am I just acquiring a pet Will?"

"Haven't decided yet," she shrugged, playfulness thick in her voice.

"Don't toy with me Harlow Eslynn Day." I playfully scolded her. 

"Well, there's a lot of figuring that goes into that decision from what you told me last night. Not sure if Will's going to give us time to actually figure it out or if she's just gonna follow you home one day." 

"Guess we better get figuring then, huh?" I told her with a smirk, knowing full well we were quickly condensing our relationship to fit a timeline I vastly favored. "I'm going to need to introduce you to my mom ASAP, she's been asking about you for awhile now."

"Your mom?!" She exclaimed, looking a bit terrified. 

"Love, you just told me you and your best friend are going to move in with me. You're going to have to meet the entire pack soon, but we should specifically start with my mom so that I can keep my ass out of trouble. She's going to love you, don't worry." I tried to comfort her, but she still looked distraught. "We could jump straight to the marking if that seems easier?" I joked with her, hoping to ease her tension. 

"It does honestly," she replied. 

"You'd rather get bit by a werewolf than meet your boyfriend's mother?" I raised an eyebrow at her. 

"If I've correctly understood everything you guys have thrown at me the last two days, if you mark me it no longer matters if your mom likes me." She shrugged like she'd found some glorious loophole. 

"Totty, I don't know how horrifying human mothers are, but you absolutely do not have to worry about meeting my mother. She's going to be completely overjoyed that you merely exist and be beside herself that you've taken all the things you've learned about our world so well. She's been dying for the day I would bring home a woman for her to pass all of her Luna knowledge down too, she's basically going to try and become your new best friend."

"Why does every person that you introduce to me try to be my new best friend?" She finally said with a smirk, her stress fading. 

"I'm really not trying to force anything on you Harlow, you still call the shots here." I reassured her once more.