Chapter 6: Playing House

Ivy

I woke surprisingly refreshed despite everything that had occurred the day before. Between leaving my home, making nearly the three-hour drive from Mission Pointe to Wolf’s Cove, and meeting the Triplets and their father, I’d never had such an eventful day.

The master bedroom - my bedroom now, was a bit run down and filled with gaudy velvet curtains and quilt, and an ancient vanity. I wondered who had lived here before my father purchased it.

The walls were painted a soft dusty rose and paintings of the ocean littered the walls - I loved it and I was excited to make it my own.

Rolling out of bed, I glanced out of the large window to the left of my bed at my view of the island. I could see the beach that apparently sat behind our home - it was glorious! It dawned on me that I had never lived in my own place before.

I had lived with my parents in our pack’s home. Yes, I had my own room and own space within the house but none of it actually belonged to me. this house was mine, this property was mine to do with whatever I wanted.

And the first thing that I wanted to do was grab a shower. But my suitcases were still in my car. I opened the door to my room and was surprised to find that all of my luggage had been brought upstairs and lay in front of my door, along with my keys.

A door one door down opened and Damien stepped out of it, clad only in a towel. My eyes widened at the sight of his chiseled chest and the tattoos that littered his form.

There were so many, more than I ever imagined someone could have on their body. Of all of them, the large crow across his chest and the crescent moon that sat on his lower abdomen drew my eyes the most. They were beautiful.

Damien smirked. “You’re starting to drool.”

My gaze finally moved from his body to his face. I blushed and without a word, grabbed my suitcases and slammed the door. His laughter echoed down the hallway.

Living with three men was not going to be as easy as I thought it would be.

***

After cooling myself down in the shower, I braided my hair and got dressed for the day. I chose a simple olive green sundress, thigh-high socks, boots, and my father’s leather jacket.

It was his jacket from his time in high school and bore his graduating year embroidered on the back. It was much too big for me but I had always found it comforting.

The smell of eggs and simmering meat filled the air downstairs as I made my way down the steps. Someone was in the kitchen cooking. I padded into the kitchen and found Liam standing over the stove, his back to me.

“Good morning,” he said politely.

“Good morning,” I replied. I was surprised to see a shifter male in the kitchen, most of them usually designated cooking as a woman’s work. It was refreshing.

“I am assuming that you slept well enough in your room?” he asked, turning to me. The sun wasn’t even fully in the sky yet and Liam looked as though he just stepped out of a meeting.

I wondered what it was he did for work that had him looking so refined all the time. “Have a seat, breakfast is almost done.”

“Yeah, the bed is actually really comfortable. I was expecting it to be old and kind of stuffy,” I admitted as I sat down at the table.

The kitchen table sat in the middle of a small breakfast nook, with circular windows wrapping around it. From here I could almost see the entire property. “It felt new.”

“It is. I had it brought here yesterday,” he stated.

“You bought it?” I repeated. I glanced at the cookware on the stove and the two plates that were resting on the counter.

I realized that he must have bought all of this stuff, clearly more prepared than I was. I couldn’t see beyond my sadness to think to buy anything suitable for a new house.

“Yes. Along with…a few other things,” he continued. “I didn’t bring any sheets or covers as I wasn’t sure what your style was so I used what was on the old mattress. Sorry about that. We can go into town later and find a bed set more to your taste if you’d like.”

I blinked. Was he offering to buy more things? He had to have spent a few thousand on the mattress alone. “You don’t have to do that-”

“Are you worried about the cost?” Liam asked me.

“Yes, well, no. I mean. You already spent a decent amount on the mattress didn’t you? It’s not like I can’t afford to-”

“Ivy,” Liam began. “Money is not something you need to worry about with me. So, if you’d like something, tell me and I will get it for you. Very simple process.”

I glanced him over again - the Rolex on his wrist, fine clothes that were tailored to him perfectly, and I believed him. Liam Anderson did not look like the type of man who worried about spending money.

I wondered if his brothers could claim the same. Was it family money?

“Okay.”

“Good,” Liam turned back to the stove and shoveled an omelet with onions, spinach, and red peppers onto my plate along with sausage and two pieces of toast. I found the toast perfectly buttered with strawberry preserves over it.

I blinked, looking down at the plate he placed before me. How had he known?

“This is my favorite thing to eat for breakfast,” I stated, looking down at it and then back up at him.

“I know, that’s why I made it,” he chuckled as he moved back to the stove and, fixed his own plate with two omelets and a small pile of sausage.

“Yes, but how did you know that?”

“Your mother,” he stated as he sat across from me at the table.

“Why were you talking to her?”

Liam was silent for a few moments, picking at his omelet and swallowing a couple of mouthfuls of it. Just as I was sure that he wasn’t going to answer me, he spoke.

“I wanted to know about you, about the type of woman you were, what you enjoyed and disliked. You were going to be my mate after all.”

What the hell? My mother had to have known that Liam was one of my intended mates then and she hadn’t said anything to me. She hadn’t even warned me that I was going to have to choose between three men!

“I still might be,” I add, more to myself than him.

Then Liam smiled at me, actually smiled and I felt my heart catapult to my throat. As beautiful as he was in general, nothing could compare to the beauty of Liam’s smile. I nearly dropped my fork at the sight.

“Count on it,” he said.

I returned to my food to distract myself from the beautiful man across from me. I forked some of the omelets into my mouth. My hand flew to my mouth as I swallow.

“Liam. This is delicious. You’re a really good cook.”

He smirked. “Thank you.”

“Are you a chef?” I asked

“No. But I do own a few restaurants,” he answered.

“So what exactly do you do?”

“Investment. Real estate.”

“How long have you been doing that?”

Liam was still a stranger to me albeit a handsome one and if we were going to be living together from now on, I wanted to know as much about him as I could. Especially since he seemed to know so much about me.

“Is this what you’ve always wanted to do?”

Liam stiffened a bit, his back straightening. “This line of questioning is irrelevant.”

“Irrelevant?” I asked, swallowing another forkful of food. “But I don’t know anything about you.”

Liam seemed to consider my words for a moment. “I suppose that is fair. But I will only offer information that is relevant to us both,” he said. “I am financially stable. I am intelligent and excel in everything that I set out to do. Statistics and numbers are my forte.”

Listening to him speak sounded as though I was interviewing him for a job, not trying to get to know him as a person. “I appreciate the information but why is that relevant for me to know?”

“I imagine that you have criteria in which you expect your choice for Alpha to possess?” he said, cocking his head to the side.

I didn’t, actually. I was looking for a partner that I loved and that wanted to help me in creating our pack. What did I want in a mate?

I never really gave it much thought before - at twenty-three years old I had never even been in a relationship.

“I don’t have a list,” I admitted to him. “But I do have one requirement.”

“And that would be?”

“I have to be in love with him,” I stated. “And I want him to be in love with me as well.”

Liam looked at me as though I had just started speaking another language, as though a second head had just sprouted from my neck. “Love?” he blanched. “That’s what you want to build a pack on?”

Hearing him say this out loud suddenly made me feel…childish. But I wasn’t a child. This was my choice and I was going to make it my way. “Yes,” I said stubbornly, straightening up. “That is the basis for my choice.”

“I see. And what will you do if that love evades you?” Liam asked me. The intensity of his gaze set a rock in my stomach as I realized that I had never thought about that.

When I didn’t answer him, we fell into an uncomfortable silence as we finished our food.

Heavy, booted footfalls sounded above us as Damien came down the stairs. His jet-black hair was pulled back into a small ponytail and he wore a black turtle neck and grey sweatpants.

He winked at me as he entered the kitchen and I looked away, heat rushing to my cheeks as I thought about our earlier interaction. “Morning,” he said grinning now.

“Morning,” I shot back quickly.

“Your food is in the microwave,” Liam said without looking at his brother. “Save some for Garrett.”

“Okay, Mom,” Damien chuckled. “I’ll be sure to do that.”

Liam ignored him and turned to me. “I’ll take your plate for you,” he said, standing from the table and taking my plate before I could say anything in response.

“Oh, thank you, Liam.”

Liam was definitely different from any shifter man I’d ever met before. I stood from the table and stretched. “I think I’m going to head into town. I was going to go grocery shopping but I think you handled that Liam.”

The brothers shared a quick with each other before Liam asked, “You’re going into town by yourself?”

“Yeah. I didn’t really get to see anything of it yesterday since I got in so late,” I said. “I want to see as much as I can, figure out all the shops, and just see what Wolf’s Cove has to offer.”

Liam looked deeply displeased with this and Damien worried his bottom lip with his teeth before shrugging. “Just be careful.”

“I will! I’ll be back in an hour or two!” I called over my shoulder as I skipped to the door. I swung open the front door and nearly stumbled over the packages there. There were two blue flat boxes, a large square box, and one smaller box.

“Hey, Liam did you order more stuff?”

“No-why?” he asked, walking into the living room. “What’s that?” I picked up the two flat boxes and read the label across them.

‘Welcome to Wolf’s Cove, neighbor! Starlight Bakery’ I peeked into the box and saw an assortment of two dozen doughnuts. I squealed in delight - I loved doughnuts.

“Someone left us doughnuts!” I said and turned the box to Liam but found him staring at me. His gaze left me flushed.

“Sweet!” Damien slipped behind me to grab the rest of the boxes. “Woah, this one’s heavy. It feels like a brick!”

I stepped into the kitchen to put two boxes of doughnuts down on the kitchen table. I heard the sound of one of the boxes being opened, Damien swore and I peeked into the living room.

Damien was holding two railroad spikes that had been tied together with a red thread, making an ‘X’ shape.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“I have no clue. Maybe it’s art or something. I kind of like it.”

Liam’s brow furrowed and his arms slid over his chest.

Well. I knew where my first stop was going to be when I went to town. Starlight Bakery.