Althena Book 2

7. 10-Second Nap

I sit beside Mike for dinner. I miss all my boys. Conner sits on the other side of me and I don't even know who to cuddle with.

Granny smiles at me. "So, how was your first week back at school?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Not so good. Conner had to get passes out of all his classes, so I couldn't escape. Drogon got called in once cause I was trying to escape when Conner wasn't there."

"You made it through though. That's what counts."

"I got an A on my science project."

"That's some good news. What was it about?"

"We had to separate an iron, sand, and salt mixture."

She nods. "I can see why that took a week."

Phira shakes her head. "Did you tell it to separate?"

"I didn't think about using magic."

"How in the world did you get it apart?"

"A magnet. Then the salt dissolves. We boiled the water later to make it salt again."

"That was smart."

Mary nods. "I would never have thought of that. I would have had the help separating it with their fingers."

Drogon laughs. "Where there's a will, there's a way."

Out of nowhere, I wish my dad was here. I wonder what he would have said or if he would have said anything at all.

Conner puts his arm around me and kisses my head. "We made it through 1 week. Only 19 more to go."

Clayton sits back. "When do hockey games start? I want to go to those."

"The first one is in two weeks. It's a home game."

"You going to watch me cheer?"

"Yea. I guess you'll be there too." I give him a dirty look and he cracks up laughing. "People go to watch the game. Not the cheerleaders."

"Well, you ain't seen us yet."

Mary pushes her plate back. "That is true. You are a very talented group."

Monte laughs. "We know it's Mike's coaching."

"It really is. You should have seen them standing in the backyard staring at each other." Drogon sits back and laughs.

"I couldn't have done it without Drogon's random meltdowns."

"That poor girl almost landed on her head."

I try to laugh with everyone, but I feel like s**t. My boys are ready to be leaders and kings. I have them coaching cheerleading because that's what I wanted to do. I need to stop holding them back. I shouldn't be asking for stupid things. Maybe me going back to school was stupid. I should have let it go.

They get up to start a tour of the house and I sneak off to the living room.

Monte sits beside me. "What's going on in your head?"

"Aren't you gonna take the tour?"

"I've had 3 now. What's in your head?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie."

"I don't know. Everything. Do I ask for too much out of people?"

"You don't ask for anything."

"All I ever care about is what I want. I wanted to be alone for the holiday. I wanted to go to school. I finally got there, and I want to do extra stuff. Now I've pulled everyone else in. You are all recording us in the backyard and going to events. I shouldn't have said anything about school. Everyone is so busy, and now you're trying to fit my stuff in too."

"I know some people in your past made it seem like what you wanted didn't matter. But it does matter. You're allowed to want things. We all are. I wanted to be the lead warrior for Mystical Moon. I worked hard and did it. Then I wanted to make the training group in the morning. It was slow at first, but I'm happy with it now. You wanted to go to school." He shakes his head. "You shouldn't have had to. That should have been given freely to you. What you wanted more than anything is what most others have."

"I always felt stupid."

"How do you feel now?"

"More stupid. I make stupid mistakes. I wanted to give up so many times this week."

"Are you in hard classes?"

"I only have 3 real classes. The rest of my day is tutoring."

"This is a big change for you. You need to give yourself some more time. Remember when you first came to Darkburn? You told your granny you would stay for 30 days. Then you never left."

"It wasn't that I didn't want to go back. I couldn't." I plop my head on his shoulder.

"What's so great there?"

"My coffee shop. My life."

"Your life is here. If you went back, that shop would be empty." He lays his head on mine. "You'd miss everyone here because this is your life."

"Would anyone miss me?"

"Why would you even ask that?"

"Everyone is so busy. I doubt if they'd notice I was gone."

"I would notice."

I smile and close my eyes. "I'll try to want less."

"Don't do that. Try to want more. We'll figure it out. You have all of us."

"No. They're in here." Cyrus comes in and sits in the chair.

"What are they doing?"

"Sleeping."

Mike comes in. "I'm not even surprised."

Conner laughs and plops down beside me. "Don't tell Drogon."

"Don't tell me what?"

I stretch and blink a few times. "We fell asleep again."

"It's only been like 15 minutes."

"Yea, that wasn't a long enough nap."

Monte laughs and rubs his face. "I didn't know I was tired."

Drogon crosses his arms. "Why did you run off anyway?"

"Neither of us need another tour." I stand up and stretch. "Maybe the furniture is too comfortable."

"Yea, blame it on the furniture, babygirl." Mike tickles me. "What do you want to do?"

All I can think of doing is finishing our nap. I burst out laughing. I can't say that. I shrug my shoulders instead.

Monte puts his head down and rubs his eyes while Drogon gives him a dirty look.

Then Cyrus's chair falls over backwards. He's going towards Monte. "DON'T EVEN FUCKING..."

Mike grabs him and spins him around. "Sit back down."

Conner pulls me back down so he can see better.

An omega pokes her head in the door. "Sir, Lila is here."

"I'M HERE." She runs over and sits between me and Conner. "What are we doing?"

Drogon rubs his face. "Thank you."

I stretch again. "I took a 10-second nap. I can't seem to wake up."

"Well, you need to get up. This couch puts people to sleep." She pulls me up.

I smirk at Mike. "I told you it was the couch."

He gives me a kiss. "Of course. I should have known."

We laugh and Lila spins in a circle. "Who are you dating for real?"

I pull Drogon against me and kiss him. He grabs my ass and doesn't let go. He holds me so tight and takes my breath away with his kiss.

Not to be outdone, Conner scoops me away as soon as I open my eyes. He nibbles my lip and I let him in.

"You could have said you had multiple mates."

"I'm surprised you guessed it. No one else does." I give Conner one more little kiss and hug him tight. "I don't want to turn them all on though. I don't know what I would do then."

The boys laugh.

"I don't know either. Let's go shopping."

"I can't. I have family here."

"Where are they?"

I crack up laughing. "I have no idea."

Mike nods. "Mary's giving the tour."

Clayton comes in and plops into a chair. "Can I live here?"

"I don't think your mom will let you, man." Conner grabs the remote.

"It's so boring there. Let me at least stay the night."

Mike nods. "Yea, that's fine. We can have a big breakfast in the morning."

Lila grabs my arm. She gets close and whispers, "He's the prince." I nod. She giggles and bats her eyelashes at him while she moves her hair around.

Clayton looks her up and down, then winks at her.

Drogon rubs his face.

She steps closer to me. "Do you think he would go to the dance with me?"

"There's a dance?" I stare at her.

She steps back. "It's in 3 weeks. I was going to sign you up for the decorating committee."

"I need a date to the dance too."

"There's actually 2 more dances this year. One is later. I forget you're new."

Drogon smiles. "I'm your date to the prom, woman."

Mike bursts out laughing. "Conner, we know you didn't fall asleep that fast. You can take her to a dance."

"I hate those things. You take her."

"I'm too damn old. You are in high school."

I put my hands on my hips. "CONNER."

"FINE. I will take you to the dance. But wear a sexy dress, so I can stare at you all night."

Monte laughs. "You're gonna do that anyway."

Lila nods. "He does stare at you a lot."

"He likes my ass."

"I like your everything, woman." He winks at me.

I turn to Mike. "You shouldn't have said you were too old. That's exactly what he's going to say next year, and you're going to be stuck taking me."

"You'll have another mate by then. I'm sure he'll like dances."

Drogon glares at him. "Are you hoping for another teenager?"

Conner and Mike crack up laughing.

"ANYWAY." Lila puts her eyebrows up at me.

"Clayton, Lila needs a date to the dance in 3 weeks. What are you doing?"

"Going to the dance with Lila."

She jumps up and down, squealing.

I stare at him. I'm a little shocked. "Perfect answer. But I better not find you feeling up her sister."

She grabs my arm. "I don't even have a sister. Let's go shopping."

"I can't leave yet."

"I NEED A DRESS."

"ME TOO." We stare at Mike.

He shakes his head. "You have 3 weeks. That's plenty of time. Your grandma, Mary, and Phira are still here."

"UGH." We plop down between Monte and Conner.

Both of them complain and move over when we land on them.

She throws her hands up. "Might as well take a nap."

I nod. "Give in to the couch and let it win."

Granny comes in. "We're going home, Thena. It was nice seeing you cheer. We'll watch a few of Conner's games this year so we can see again. You girls do have talent."

"Thank you." Lila smiles at her.

I run over and give her a hug. "Thank you, Granny. I'll see you then."

Mary comes in as Granny leaves. "Come on, Clayton. We need to get home too."

"They said I could stay."

She looks from Lila to Mike. "Is anyone else staying?"

"No. Those 2 are talking about going shopping. He'll be stuck here with us."

"That's fine. You can have a boys night. Make sure you keep your phone on you."

"I will. Thanks, mom."

She motions to Mike. "Walk me out."

Mike chuckles and Cyrus goes with him.

"Go change and we'll go shopping."

I put on some jeans and a tank top. When I get back to the living room, Lila has all 6 of them watching our cheer video. She's pointing out her parts. I grab her arm. "Let's go."

"Stay with your guards, baby." Mike kisses my head and we run out.