Chapter 4: Family

Cyra

Yorick kisses me the way I’ve always wanted to be kissed, like he’s a drowning man and I’m the air that he needs to breathe to survive. Even his gentle kiss is dominant, demanding that I give in to him. And how can I not? He’s perfect. He’s so incredibly perfect for me.

“You know this is a terrible idea, right?” I ask when he pulls back, leaning his forehead against mine again.

“Not nearly as terrible as you rejecting me and leaving me. I’ll think of something, Cyra. The Moon Goddess gifted you to me and I intend to accept that gift,” he says.

I chuckle and pull back.

“So, where’s your room?” I ask him.

“Right next door to yours,” he says, waggling his eyebrows at me and making me laugh.

I wipe away my tears and finally look around my room. “This isn’t terrible,” I say.

“Believe me when I tell you that it just got a whole lot better,” he says. When I look at him, his heated gaze is on me. The intensity of it makes my heart stutter.

“Look here, Alpha. I’m here to learn and to become the best possible ...” I yip as he pulls me to him, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist. The heat of his body immediately begins to soak into mine.

“We’re both here for the same reason, Cyra. I have no intention of ruining that for either of us. I’m the second son of an Alpha. I refused to accept my brother’s offer to take a role in the pack. I won't take his handout. I want to make my way in this world too. I need to. I have to, even more now that I’ve found you. But, that doesn’t mean that this year isn’t going to be a lot more enjoyable with you in it,” he says.

“Are you always this charming?” I ask him.

He shrugs. “Do you find me charming?” he asks. His grey-green eyes are making it hard for me to breathe. The man is ridiculously attractive. Where Stellan has the good looks that his Alpha genes offer him, Yorick is utterly gorgeous. He exudes confidence and strength and pure masculinity.

He smiles and I realize that I’ve been staring at him.

“You’re welcome to kiss me any time the urge strikes you,” he murmurs, his deep voice sending shock waves of heat straight to my core. “I would love it if you’d offer the same to me.”

I shake my head and pull out of his arms, poking my finger into his chest. “If I made that same offer to you, you’d probably be glued to my face like a suckerfish, so no. I will not be making the same offer.”

“You seemed to like my kisses,” he purrs. Damn the man.

“I need to unpack and I need to look over the course schedule, get my books, look around the campus, and find the cafeteria so I can get some food.”

“Did you know, that I need to do all of those things as well? Well, except for the unpacking. I already did that. Or at least I started to until I smelled your intoxicating scent,” he says. “I say we work together and discover every little secret this Academy has for us.”

“I doubt there are any secrets here,” I tell him.

“Depends on what you consider a secret. We could call it a quest. A quest for knowledge,” he says excitedly.

His excitement is contagious, and I find myself wanting to go on whatever quest Yorick wants to take me on.

“Fine. Let me unpack and we’ll go on a quest,” I tell him.

When I begin to unpack, he plops on my bed, laying on his side with his head propped in his hand. “So, tell me about yourself, about your family. You have an evil father, what about your mother?”

“She died in childbirth when I was very young,” I tell him.

“I’m so sorry. I thought this would be an easy opening.”

“It’s okay. Tell me about your family,” I say.

“Well, for starters, my parents have seven children,” he says.

“SEVEN!” I say.

“But, four of them are twins. They started with twins, my older brother and my older sister, and then they ended with twins. In between is me and my two sisters.”

“That’s a LOT of kids.”

“Oh, that’s nothing. My sister, my older sister, had quads during her first pregnancy. I thought Quirin, that’s her mate, I thought he was going to die. I was sure of it when my mother told them they were all girls.”

“Four girls? Did he freak out?”

“Oh yeah, but not because they were girls. Mostly it was because he went from just having him and my sister, Kennedy, to having a family of six in one day.”

He smiles, chuckling as he remembers something. “Then, Kennedy got pregnant with twins and guess what?” he looks at me, his eyes twinkling.

“Girls again?” I ask.

He laughs. The sound is so rich, so happy, that it makes me desperate to hear more of it.

“Girls again. Then, FINALLY, Kennedy had one child. A boy.”

“I’m sure he was happy to finally have a son, an heir,” I say.

“Yeah, but honestly, and he’d probably punch me if he heard me say this, but he’s a great girl dad. I would never have thought so in all the years that we knew him before he mated to my sister, but he’s really great with them. He’s the strongest fighter I know, which is saying something since my family is well known for their strength. It’s a long story, but Quirin lost his father in his early teen years. He was adopted by a neighboring Alpha, but lost his mother a few years later, leaving him alone. He had to take over the pack his father left him which had basically become a wasteland and rebuild it from the ground up. He was the only one who really understood my need to come here and make my own way.”

“He sounds very interesting,” I tell him.

“He is. I can’t wait for you to meet him. I can’t wait for you to meet all of them,” he says.

“Yorick ...” I warn.

“You live with your fantasy, and I’ll plan our reality. I wasn’t kidding about the strength of my brother’s pack, Quirin’s, or even Henry’s. He’s our other ally. I may not be willing to accept a handout from my brother, but I’d be happy to accept his help if it meant keeping you safe and in my arms. I know that all of them would agree.”

I sigh. But rather than argue, I finish putting my things away and look at him.

“Tell me about your family,” he says.

“There isn’t much to tell. My mother and father were in an alliance bond ...”

“That explains a lot,” he says and I nod.

“So, I’d hoped that one day I would gain my freedom and could live my life, but my father had other plans for me.”

“What about your brother? Has he found his mate, does his have kids?”

“No,” I say, keeping my answer simple. “Ready for our quest?”

He leaps off the bed and takes my hand.

“I was born ready,” he says, stealing a kiss and grinning like the damn Cheshire Cat before leading me out of my room.