Chains

Bonus Chapter 1 - Part IV

Rafael

"You're so beautiful," I whispered into my mate's ear, as she stood in the doorway of our daughter's bedroom, silently watching the three children sleeping soundly in the queen bed. They could have slept in the spare bedroom in their own beds, but Scarlett was adamant that they sleep with her in her room. Oliver and Grace had been so excited to sleep in a real bed; I had to wonder when the last time they had slept in a real bed had been.

For children who had been living on the streets for Goddess knows how long, they were polite, and very well behaved. I had had a chance to talk to them briefly after I got home from work; they'd already eaten and were ready for bed by then. Grace fell asleep on the couch while I was talking to Oliver; it had been a long and eventful day for them. Adjusting to their new circumstances was not going to be an easy thing to do, and there were bound to be snags along the way. When Lucy announced that it was time for bed, none of the children had complained, not even Scarlett who usually argued to say up 'just five more minutes, please'.

I reached around my mate and turned off the lights. We stepped back, leaving the door open a crack in case any of the children were to wake up and need something during the night.

I leaned over and kissed her neck softly. "Shall we take this to the bedroom?"

Lucy smiled up at me, "I would like that very much, mate", taking my hand in hers. We hastened to our room, both of us needing time together with the other. Since our arrival in London, we haven't had a lot of time alone together. Somehow, tonight feels like it was the perfect night to make up for that lost time. I inhale her intoxicating scent as she leads me to our room; I doubt that we're going to be getting a lot of sleep tonight.

---

"Did I tell you that you're beautiful?" I asked, slipping my arm around my lovely mate's waist as she made breakfast.

"You always do," she chuckled, swatting my hand away as I reached for a piece of bacon directly from the pan and giving me a disapproving look.

"That's because it's always true," I assured her, loving the way she blushed at the honest compliment. I quickly snatch a piece of sizzling bacon while she's momentarily distracted, at which she gives me an exasperated tsk. She can't hide the slight upturn at the corner of her lips though; amused at my antics even though she won't admit it.

"I spoke with Alpha Cedric again this morning." I told her. "He and Luna Violet will be coming to the office today at 11. They want to meet Oliver and Grace and speak with you about what you saw when you found them. He said that they've managed to track down some information about the family, and their old pack. After the meeting, we'll all go down to the station to meet with the local authorities about Nadine. Cedric's already contacted the chief inspector who was in charge of her case and informed him that we have information about her murder. He'll want to take Oliver's statement; it appears that there was also an old homeless woman who was also killed that same night - for bread and peanut butter. She killed Nadine for food and was then killed herself by another homeless person for the food she'd stolen. The man who killed that woman is already in police custody, so the information Oliver provided will allow them to shut the case."

After eating breakfast, I kissed Lucy before heading to the office. I'd sent an email to Dolores as soon as I'd heard from Cedric; my schedule needs to be adjusted and all my meetings for the second half of the day need to be rescheduled. These sorts of things happen all the time, so it isn't going to cause any problems. This situation is important, and the meetings can wait one more day.

Lucy and the children arrived a little before 11 and the women in the office swarmed them, oohing and aahing over how cute they were. Both of them soaked up the attention, loving every minute of it. When Cedric and Violet arrived, everyone was shown into my office; we felt that a conference room would be too intimidating for the children. Even though the office was much cozier than a conference room, there was still plenty of room for everyone, and no one felt too crowded.