Don't lose HOPE [COMPLETED]

Chapter 22

ZEKE

What the hell is going on with Hope? I can feel her being tenser than ever, like she's freaking out. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to let her go with them today when she's just found out.

Chris takes over training while I mind-link mom, "What's going on? Why the hell is Hope freaking out?"

"Calm down. She just asked some questions. We've got it. Go back to training."

I huff. There's something that she's not telling me. She better when they get home.

"They better come home soon," Chris says. "I'm getting some vibes from Evelyn, if you know what I mean," he says, wiggling his eyebrows.

I roll my eyes at him. I'm glad that all the bedrooms are soundproof in our house.

After training, I shower and wait impatiently for them to come home. I walk back and forth on the driveway until I finally hear the car. Mom and Evelyn step out first.

"Speak!" I order with my arms crossed over my chest, feeling more than annoyed.

Mom rolls her eyes, but Evelyn has to follow my order, so she does. "We didn't know that you hadn't told her about the mating process," she says, looking down. "We told her that it was better if you did it, but she demanded that we would tell her, so we kind of did."

Fuck! No wonder she's freaking out.

"There is a reason why I wanted to wait to tell her."

Hope and Mira step out and Mira gives me an apologetic look. Hope looks at me for a second, then looks down and blushes. My annoyance completely disappears and I feel worried about her instead. I need to talk to her about this.

I walk up to her and grab both of her hands. "Hope, please come with me to our room. We need to talk about this."

She nods and follows me, holding my hand.

I close the door and sit down on the bed. I pull her closer to me so she's standing between my legs, but she still looks down.

"There's a reason why I didn't tell you about this...yet. All of this is a lot to take in and I didn't want you to freak out. Now, that's too late," I say, scoffing, still a bit annoyed. "You know that I would never hurt you or make you feel uncomfortable in any way. I would never force myself on you. You will set the pace and I'm not going to push you. I don't care if it takes a year before you let me mark you. You're my mate, and you feeling comfortable is most important."

She looks up at me and nods.

"Please tell me that you're okay," I say, rubbing her nose gently with mine.

She smiles and feels calmer.

"I'm okay," she says, letting out a breath. "Can you wait for a year, though?" she asks shyly.

"I'll probably go crazy since our bond will get stronger after your birthday, but I'll do it for you," I say, smiling.

She gives me a big smile back.

"Remind me to never let you go shopping with the girls without me again," I say, sighing and fall down on the bed with her on top of me. "They will give both you and me a heart attack, making you freak out like that."

She chuckles at me.

"See, if I had told you, you would've been calm as a cucumber," I say, and we both laugh. "I don't want you to stress about this for your birthday. I know that you haven't celebrated your birthdays, but we will start now and I want you to enjoy it, not thinking about this, okay?"