No Escape

Chapter Fifty-Three

Lily woke up entangled with Jackson. Their legs entwined and arms around each other's waists. She admired how at peace her mate looked as he snored softly. There wasn't an ounce of stress or worry on his face. She quickly detached herself from him, trying her hardest not to wake him up. However, she wasn't successful. As she got up from their bed, Jackson rolled over with a small groan and mumbled a good morning though his eyes remained closed.

Jackson didn't want to get out of bed yet. He was enjoying the peace being so connected with his mate brought him. It had been months since they first completed the mating bond, but he would never get used to the feeling. He heard her giggle and a soft "good morning grumpy" before, what he assumed was, the bathroom door closed. He smirked and reached around for his phone to check the time. 9:26 am. It felt too early, even though both he and his mate had been getting up daily as the sun began rising. He laid there for a while longer until he eventually decided he had to get up and start getting ready for the day ahead of him.

The two and Charlotte had finally moved into the newly renovated  Alpha "wing" the previous week. It was basically their own two-bedroom apartment in the packhouse. Lily was glad that Charlotte was able to have her own space, even though she wanted to stay as close to her as possible when she could, she knew that it was best for Charlie to have her own bedroom. There were a couple nights she fell asleep on the floor of her room, but she ended up back in her bed. They had their own living area and kitchen. Lily had never had somewhere to live in like that before, she was so appreciative of the space.

Jackson brushed by Lily who was brushing her teeth and made his way into the shower. "Nice of you to join the living." She teased him, checking him out through the mirror. His muscular back alone sent warmth through her body. And that ass, ugh! She thought to herself.

Jackson smirked and shook his head at her, "you know if you join me, we can save water."

She laughed at the cheesy line, "so original," she replied but followed him anyway. It was another couple of hours before the two made it out of his room.

As the months passed, the two of them got used to the routines of being Silvercrest's pack leaders. They almost finished correcting the corrupt systems that had been in place for who knew how long. Through all of that, they spent as much time with each other and Charlotte as they could. It was difficult, but they didn't want to have to sneak moments away and have most of their time that they spent together be when they were sleeping.

Normally, the two of them spent their early mornings training. Then one of them went to wake Charlotte up and get her ready for the day, and the other took a shower before switching off. Then the three of them ate breakfast together before they dropped Charlotte off at daycare or the foster home the one day a month she had to be there. Then the two of them went to work for the day. The office that was once just the Alpha's office, they shared. One might have thought that they wouldn't be able to get anything done while being together in one room for hours on end, but they knew that they worked better together, and it worked for them... even if there were times when they did get distracted. But none of those things had happened that morning.

The previous day, they dropped Charlie off at the foster home. When they did that, she usually spent the night there, as long as Cindy still had room. Lily loved the extra time with Jackson, but she hated being away from Charlie for so long. It made her feel like a bad mom to her, even though it was something she needed to do. It often took Jackson a couple hours to pull her out of that slump.

When the two of them finally emerged, they left to pick up Charlotte and grab pizza and ice cream with her. On normal days when she was at daycare, they joined Charlie at the daycare for lunch. Lily loved that time they spent together. Some of her happiest moments came from that time each day.