All mine, sweetheart

Third Person’s POV

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“I am not blowing off this candle.”, Zayden controlled himself from roaring in anger. As long as Grace’s family wanted to celebrate his birthday, he was okay with it because her family was like his after the marriage but that didn’t mean he would obey everything like a good son.

“Was this your idea to put the candles on it?”, he asked Grace. Grace looked at her mother who signaled toward Allison.

“Aaa…”, Grace started thinking about what she should answer but Zayden had already seen the silent conversation between her and her mother.

“Allison, remove them.”, he ordered.

“What? But why? I placed them with so much love”, She said.

“I said REMOVE THEM.”, he used his alpha tone, making everyone feel his strength. “I am not a child to blow the candles and celebrate my birthday like an idiot.”, He said. Grace mentally thanked herself that she had already shared about Zayden’s temper issue to her family members otherwise they would have got scared of him.

Sarah immediately removed the candles from the cakes as she felt him getting angry. Grace wondered why she did it when he specifically asked Allison to do so!

***

“You should not be so hard on Allison in front of others.”, Grace said, after returning back to their room after the cake cutting. Since Grace's house was small and had limited room to have everyone at the same time, Allison and Sarah left for their home just after the cake cutting.

“She has started crossing the lines.”

“There are no lines between siblings.”

“But still, something is called respect and discipline. She should keep this in her mind that I am her elder brother.”

Grace sighed, knowing there was no point in arguing with Zayden. “You know, you had scared everyone when you had raised your voice.”

“I know. It is fun to watch everyone get scared.”, he replied casually, making Grace freeze. How could he think that other's fear would be fun to watch?

“It means you used to enjoy when I used to tremble in fear because of you? It means you used to enjoy my fear before our marriage?”, Grace asked. It was his chance to freeze at her question.

Zayden instantly cupped her face in his hands.

“You have no idea how much I hate it when you cry or get scared. The only thing that I want on your lips is your smile.”, he said truthfully.

Grace surprised him by rising and kissing him on the cheek. “Let go now. I am feeling sleepy.”

“Okay! But I was expecting it here.”, he said as he motioned his finger on his lips.

Instead of blushing, she shook her head and walked toward the bed. Zayden followed her and got on the bed too.

***

“Master, what are you doing?”, James asked as he saw him packing a gift. Wyatt chuckled.

“Today is my bastard’s brother's birthday. How bad it would be if I won’t give him something.”, He said. “Also I have planned a surprise for him.”

“Oh! What’s inside it?”, Another man asked curiously.

Wyatt looked at James with raised brows.

“If I tell you then I will have to kill you.”, Wyatt grinned. It should have sounded like a joke but with Wyatt, nothing was a joke. His man looked at the ground to avoid Wyatt’s intense look. “Don’t be afraid my friend! I won’t kill you. After all, it’s you who gives me all the information about my dear brother.”, Wyatt said and started resuming the gift packing.

“Done. Now, Theo, it’s your job to take it to the packhouse. Make sure you hand this to my sweet sister-in-law when she will ask for ingredients. Okay?”, Wyatt ordered. Theo nodded furiously as he knew what would happen if he wouldn’t do the work properly. “And….do share with me what will happen with my sister-in-law after everything!”, he added.

Theo nodded and left the room. He hated the way Wyatt spoke about Grace. But he had no choice but to obey him and betray Zayden.

***

At Packhouse

“Theo, did you bring the ingredients which I had asked you too?”, Grace asked him, with a small smile on her face.

“Yes, Luna!”, he replied and handed over the same gift packet which Wyatt had given him.

“Why have you wrapped it like a gift?”, she asked in confusion.

“I...I thought you would gift to the Alpha, that’s why.”, he lied and thanked the Moon Goddess that Grace was not a werewolf otherwise she would have caught his lies.

Grace laughed and shook her head. “I am not going to gift this to your Alpha but going to prepare a cake for his birthday with it. Anyways, thank you.”

***

From the moment Zayden had arrived with Grace at the packhouse, everyone had kept him busy. He wanted to go and see what his mate was doing but he was not getting a single minute of time. He used his smelling power to check where his mate was and finally found her at her favorite place, the kitchen.

“Excuse me! I will be back in a while.”, he excused himself from the meeting and looked for his beta who was nowhere to be found. ‘Where the hell is Eric? He should have handled the meeting instead of me.’, he cursed before walking inside the packhouse.

“Evening Alpha, Evening Alpha…”, some of the pack members greeted him in which he hummed in response. He walked towards the kitchen and saw his mate keenly doing something on the counter. He wrapped his hands around her waist from behind. Grace already knew who it was even though she was in the house of more than thousands of people.

“I missed you, sweetheart.”

“Let me do my work, Zayden!”

“Oh! What are you doing by the way?”, he asked. Before she could reply. Allison answered his question as she entered the kitchen with Eric.

“She is baking cake for all the pack members.”, She said happily.

“Cake?”, Zayden faced his sister in confusion.

“Yup! It’s your birthday, so she decided to treat everyone with cake.”, Allison said.

“That’s great news! But why are you treating everyone? You should make a cake for only me!”, he asked Grace.

“But why?”

“Because you are my wife and it’s my birthday. So, only I get the treat!”, he said as if stating a fact.

“Don’t be jealous, Brother! We all want to eat cake. It’s been so many days!”, Allison said.

“Then buy from the bakery from the city. Grace will make a cake for only me.”, he said, finality in his voice.

“Grace!”, Allison whined, looking at Grace.

“Zayden, what’s the problem with giving everyone a piece of cake?”, She said.

“As I said, you will bake only for me”, He insisted like a child.

“Don’t behave like a baby, Zayden. Fine...you will get the biggest piece of cake, okay?”, she proposed.

“No.”

“Zayden! I gave my word to everybody! What will they think of their Luna if I break the promise?”, Grace said with a sad face, which she knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid.

“Fine. But I will get the biggest piece.”, he demanded.

Grace couldn’t help but chuckle at his childishness and jealous behavior. She nodded. “And everybody else will get this much.”, he added, showing a two-inch space between his fingers.

“No way. We are not going to eat just that much!”, Allison complained.

“Zayden!!”, Grace almost scolded him.

“Fine! Do whatever you want.”, he said and started to leave the kitchen. “What are you doing here? Isn’t it a beta duty to stay with Alpha all the time?”, he asked Eric, who was leaning over the refrigerator.

Eric quickly straightened. “Yes, Alpha”, he said and followed Zayden.

When they both left, Grace turned toward Allison to ask why he was behaving like that.

“He was just jealous, Grace. Forget about him.”

***

“What the hell? Where is the cake which you had baked?”, Allison gasped when she couldn’t find the cake which Grace had baked a few hours before.

Grace sighed and knew that the thief had stolen her cake. Thankfully, she had prepared two cakes without anyone’s knowledge.

“I know where it is.”, She said and brought the cake which she had kept hidden. She observed how her husband was looking at the cake. Grace asked one of Omega's to cut the cake into equal slices and give it to everyone.

“That’s not fair.”, He whispered in Grace’s ears, indicating the trick she played.

“What’s not fair, Bro?”, Allison asked.

“Nothing, Ally.”, Grace replied on behalf of Zayden. “I will bake another cake for you again. But don’t behave like that.”

“Promise?”, he asked to which she nodded.

“Zayden, if you want, you can have mine.”, Sarah pushed her plate of cake towards him.

“No. Thank you.”, he bluntly denied. Sarah nodded and they all started eating their piece of cake. All thanks to Grace’s experience of cooking for a larger number of people.

“It’s awesome, Luna!”, Eric said, when he had his share.

“Yeah! One can leave their mate to have a mate like Grace who cooks such a tasty cake.”, Allison joked.

“That is possible only when that mate is not marked.”, Eric added. The food got stuck in Grace’s throat as she heard him.

Grace looked around to find Zayden. He was near the stairs and seemed lost.

‘Might be talking with someone in his mind.’

“Is it possible to mark anyone who is not a mate?”, Grace asked.

“Yes, if our wolf allows it. Generally, all the wolves are loyal to their mate so it rarely happens.”, Allison explained.

Grace’s face fell. She now looked around to find Sarah, even she was nowhere to be found. She then checked the place where Zayden was standing a few minutes before, unfortunately, he wasn’t there. Allison and Eric thought Grace would have asked this question out of curiosity but they didn’t know she would get hurt as she did.

Grace quickly excused herself from there. She was feeling sad and her heartfelt heavy. She was sure that Zayden’s wolf would surely mark Sarah as his mate and then leave her. After all, what special quality do I have, other than cooking food! Moreover, I am his chosen mate. So, isn’t it obvious that his wolf would mark someone else, and then I would have to share my husband, or worst I would be kicked out of my husband’s place!

“What happened, sweetheart? You smelt sad?”, Zayden asked when he saw her in their room but it seemed like she was lost in her own little world. He was having a headache for no reason. That's why he came into his room and after a while, Grace came inside but she didn’t look like she was in her senses. Because he was sure that his voice could be easily heard from the bed, while she was standing near the door.

Grace, who was in deep thought of what her life would become if her husband’s wolf mark someone else as his mate

“Sweetheart? What happened?”, he asked as he caught her hand and turned her toward him to gain her attention.

Grace didn’t meet his eyes. She just looked at his shirt. She didn’t know what to say. Everything was fine until a few moments before!

“What’s the matter?”, he asked with concern.

“Nothing.”

“No. Something is up. You have been behaving differently right now.”

“It’s really nothing.”

“Tell me. Did anyone say anything to you?”

“No”

“Tell me, sweetheart or I will personally go and ask everyone.”, He threatened. His patience melted when Grace didn’t say anything for a while. But when he felt him moving out of her space, he stopped him by holding his hand. “I am waiting.”

“Will your wolf mark someone else as his mate?”, she asked directly.

“What?”, there came the voice of Dominic.

“Glad you are here. Now, I can ask you directly, ‘Will you mark someone else as your mate?’”,

“Why on the earth I will do that?”, Dominic asked, getting confused and not at all understanding her point of view. She sighed.

“Allison said that One can leave their mate if that mate is not marked. Is that true? Will your wolf leave me to mark someone else?”, She asked.

“Sweetheart, I can leave my mate even after marking her.”, Dominic replied.

For the first time in her life, Grace realized the feeling of jealousy-jealousy over a man! Her throat hurt due to the pain her heart was in. But she didn’t say anything. She couldn’t say anything. She looked at Dominic golden’s eyes with no expression and nodded.

Dominic, who was watching her expressions very intently, was stunned to smell and see that his mate actually felt jealous! He was happy beyond imagination but hid it.

They both stood in front of each other, both confused over what to say. Well, she was confused while he was waiting for her next step. It was weird, but he wanted her to shout at him for saying something like that so that he could kiss her senselessly and tell her that she would always be the only woman in his life. But she remained silent-silent like the morning breeze even though her heart and her mind were in trouble.

She had enough and she couldn’t control the tears that were about to come to the surface. So, she made an excuse to leave. Right now, she didn’t even want to look at him!

But before she could even take a step, Dominic held her wrist. Grace sighed as she didn’t want to listen to his excuses of why he would mark anyone else!

“Don’t you want to know the name of the woman whom I want to mark?”, he whispered in her right ear as he held her from behind.

Hearing him, Grace wanted to punch him straight on his nose. Here she was having a hard time controlling her tears and he was asking her to guess his mate’s name.

She remained silent and still.

Dominic audibly sighed and turned her around so that she could face him.

“I can leave my fated mate even after marking her just to have you as my mate.”, he said. “So, this is the answer to your insecurities, sweetheart. I will never ever think of anyone else except you.”

Grace looked at him with surprise. Was he serious? Did he mean he would never leave her for anyone? Surprisingly, she became happy and a small smile came upon her lips.

“Umm...Can an alpha keep two mates?”, She asked, to confirm again.

“Yes, they can as many as they want but I am content with just one. It’s already difficult to handle one. I don’t want t get another headache.”, he said sarcastically.

Grace, who was happy with the Dominics words, ignored his last comment. Before she knew it, she had laid her head on his chest. She didn’t know why but she wanted comfort now, and she wanted it from her husband. Her nostrils filled with his manly odor, which she has become accustomed to. Her hands held his arms strongly as she laid her head on his chest.

Dominic comforted her and kissed her forehead as she went back to her original position.

“I thought I would have to live my whole life without my husband if you would have left me or by seeing you with another woman! The thought alone scared me.”, she said truthfully.

He chuckled at her words. “Were you jealous?”, he asked in a mocking tone.

Grace huffed and shook her head. “No! Why would I be jealous?”, she lied.

“I can smell your lies and jealousy, sweetheart.”, he teased.

“Then your nose has a serious defect, Dom.”, she joked back and before she could have understood what happened to her, his lips crashed into her. She wasted no time in responding. After a while, they parted away for oxygen and his lips moved down her jaw toward her neck.

He continued to suck, nibbled, and kissed her neck. He placed one more kiss on her neck before lifting his gaze to meet her. There were so many emotions floating in his eyes that it was hard to tell them apart. Her fingers continued to rake through his hair as he leaned his forehead against her.

“You are the only one I will ever want, Grace. YOU. ARE. MINE.”, She hardly registered his words when she felt a sharp pain in her neck.

Grace’s eyes flew open and she struggled against him for a second before an unbelievable warmth flooded through her. His warm tongue traced over where his teeth were just in her skin and the moan that resulted startled her.

“All mine, sweetheart.”, he whispered huskily as his nose skimmed her neck.

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#TBC