Everlasting

Chapter 21

Griffin

What was the point of moving out if my whole family was just going to pile into my suite within twenty-four hours of me moving in? Honestly, it was kind of a let-down after years of agonizing over the -idea of living on my own.

The little space was full of enough different conversations that it all faded into the background if I wanted it to, and honestly, I was enjoying a nice sulk at the moment. Tyler and Blair were snuggled into my bed with me, which was making it a little harder to maintain my bad mood. Margo and her mate were being a little too handsy on the wide armchair in the corner of the room nwhile my dads pretended not to notice even though they could definitely see everything.

Dad, Pop, Uncle Magnus, and my Aunt Mel were standing around the little kitchen island, chatting and sipping from mismatched mugs of water, since that was all I had to offer them and no one had bothered to run down to the kitchen. There were two different conversations taking place in their group, with the talking partners periodically switching or with one of them suddenly talking over the others. It was chaos over there, and I was much happier cozied up with my little sibs.

My couch was taken up by my aunt and uncle's mates, Lachlan and Jason. My cousins were thankfully absent, though I would have really liked to see Kitana.

So there I was, in a little suite jammed full of people, mostly wanting to hole up under my blankets even though some distant part of me could admit that my dads had been right to call in the family when Wulfric left me here pouting. But as much as my family both irritated me and somehow made me feel better, there was only one person I really wanted to spend time with right now, and that was my mysteriously-vanishing mate.

Tyler and Blair were having a whispered conversation about some TV show. It would usually be amusing, since they had a strange way of enjoying watching the same things but liking them in such different ways that they still found a way to argue. Blair would like a show despite character X, while that character would by Tyler's favorite. Tyler would find some plotline boring and played out, while Blair would be riveted by it. And so on. I tuned them out until I heard the word "vampire."

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked.

Blair snorted, while Tyler clearly didn't get the joke, whatever it was. Instead, he answered earnestly, "'Buffy the Vampire Slayer!'"

"We started watching it when we found out about your mate. It was sort of a joke at first, but then we realized it's actually really good."

"You did not," I said in disbelief.

"What, do you not like that show?" Tyler asked innocently.

My choices were to explain to him how this might be a little inappropriate, let it go and join in on their discussion of an admittedly good show, or exit the conversation. I chose door number three. "Nah, Tyler, I like it fine," I said, sinking further into the covers.

I pulled out my phone again and checked the time. Wulfric had left almost an hour and a half ago now without any kind of explanation for where he was going, how long he'd be gone, or why he thought this was an appropriate time to leave. Sure, I was fine and I'd told him that... but hadn't he been even a little bit worried about me? Or, failing that, hadn't he wanted to spend some time with me?

I groaned and rolled so my face was pressed into my pillow. I hated how I was feeling. It was too much like how some of my past partners had been the morning after we hooked up, clingy and with expectations that really hadn't been fair of them to put on me. Wulfric and I had never promised each other anything.

"I am happy."

The memory pushed its way to the forefront of my mind, stirring up another confusing wave of emotions. That was what Wulfric had said to me last night after we slept together. Three simple words that most people would throw out like they were meaningless, but somehow, hearing them from my mate had felt really good. There had been this look in his eyes that gave the words weight and made me believe he was being genuine.