My Fated Mate Can Have Her-Chapter 233: The Alpha’s Lodge

Violet

I stepped out of the bathing room, still wrapped in a towel, and froze.

Rowan was sprawled across the bed in a loose robe, and he was fast asleep.

His large frame took up most of the bed. One arm flung across the space where I was meant to sleep, and his head was turned to the side.

I stood there, water still dripping from my hair, staring at him.

When we had arrived at the pack Alpha’s lodge earlier that evening, the chaos had been immediate. The Alpha, a broad-shouldered man with greying temples and kind eyes, had opened the door expecting ordinary travellers. The look on his face when he recognized Rowan had been almost comical, a rapid shift from polite welcome to stunned disbelief to barely concealed panic.

His wife had nearly dropped whatever she was holding.

And then there were the children.

Seven of them.

They had appeared from every corner of the house like summoned spirits, ranging from a toddler clutching a wooden toy to a lanky teenager who had frozen mid-step on the stairs. All of them staring at Rowan with wide eyes, then at me with even wider ones.

The Alpha had insisted on giving us a room, which meant one of his children had been displaced for the night. I had tried to protest, but Rowan had accepted graciously, and before I knew it, we were being ushered into a modest bedroom with a single bed that had clearly been designed for a child, not two grown adults.

And now here I was.

In a towel.

With Rowan taking up the entire bed.

I moved quietly to where my bag sat against the wall, pulling out a simple sleeping shirt and loose pants. I dressed quickly, hyper-aware of the sleeping man behind me, even though he hadn’t stirred once.

When I turned back to face the bed, the problem remained unchanged.

There was no space.

I considered my options. I could wake him and ask him to move or sleep on the floor.

Or I could try to fit in.

Shaking my head for thinking up silly scenarios, I decided to wake Rowan up. Because that would be the best way to get him to move.

A few nudges later, he didn’t wake up. He was fast asleep, and it surprised me compared to the last few nights.

Then again, maybe it was because he had eaten a ton of food for nearly an hour straight just like he had done at Mira’s house...

I approached the bed carefully, studying the small space along the edge. I eased myself onto the bed. It dipped slightly under our combined weight.

I exhaled slowly and shifted further in, pushing him a bit to the side while also trying to create some distance between us as I laid down. But the bed was small, and he was large, and no matter how I positioned myself, some part of me was touching some part of him.

His arm.

His shoulder.

The solid warmth of his back.

I lay on my side, facing away from him, when he moved.

A low sound rumbled from his chest, something between a sigh and a murmur, and his arm shifted. It draped over my waist and pulled me backward.

I collided with his chest with a soft thump.

My eyes went wide.

His breathing remained deep and even. He was still asleep.

But now I was pressed flush against him, his arm a warm weight across my stomach, and his breath stirring the hair at the nape of my neck.

I tried to pry his arm away, but he only tightened his hold on me more.

’Oh no...’

After a few futile attempts to wrench myself free, along with him not even responding or waking up whenever I called his name, I gave up.

I told myself I would wait a few minutes. Just until his grip loosened. Then I would carefully extract myself and reclaim my small space.

I was asleep within seconds.

[ - ]

I woke up and found my face planted straight against Rowan’s forehead. His face was right in front of mine.

Panic shot through me, and I reacted on pure instinct.

My legs jerked, my knee connected with something solid, and suddenly there was a grunt, a thud, and the warmth of his frame vanished entirely.

I gasped and scrambled to the edge of the bed to find Rowan on the floor and blinking up at the ceiling with a dazed look. His robe had twisted around him, and his hair was a dishevelled mess.

"I am so sorry!" The words tumbled out of me. "I didn’t mean—I was asleep and when I woke up I—"

He groaned softly, rubbing his hip where it had connected with the floor.

"It’s okay. I’m fine. It’s alright," he managed, his voice still rough with sleep.

My face burned.

[ - ]

The breakfast was a bit of an ordeal.

The Alpha’s wife had prepared an elaborate spread, far more food than a normal morning meal would warrant. Some of the wolves from the pack had helped with preparing it, but when they had gone, the woman hovered anxiously, refilling cups and adjusting plates and generally looking like she might faint at any moment until Rowan gently instructed her to sit down.

The Alpha sat at the head of the table, his posture rigid, and his eyes carefully fixed on his food. Every few seconds, his gaze would dart to Rowan, then away, like he couldn’t quite believe this was happening in his home.

The seven children had no such reservations.

They stared openly, forgetting their meals and fixing their attention on Rowan and I with the unabashed curiosity that only children possessed.

Only the first-born eyed Rowan with awe and the second looked nervous.

The toddler, seated in a raised chair beside her mother, pointed a chubby finger directly at Rowan.

"Big," she announced.

I swallowed the laugh that was threatening to tear out of me and I did my best to appear serious.

Her mother flushed crimson. "Lila, eat your food."

"Big man," Lila continued, undeterred. "Why is he so big?"

One of the older boys snickered, and his father shot him a sharp look that silenced him immediately.

Rowan just chuckled. "Well, she isn’t wrong."

The mood at the table grew lighter and he ate his food. The children’s increasingly bold questions kept on coming and he continued to answer them calmly.