Midnight Lovers

Chapter Six

Grace's P.O.V

I woke up to the sound of my bedroom door closing. A sense of alarm filled me and I quickly shot  up, ready to scream if someone had broken into my apartment. Except I wasn't in my apartment. It took a couple moments for my half asleep mind to catch up. I wasn't in Oregon, I was at Finnick's home, in a room he had given me.

I rubbed my eyes and heard water rushing through the pipes in the wall. Finnick must've been in the shower. I kicked the covers aside and stood up, stretching my arms above my head, my spine giving a satisfying pop. With a delighted sigh I opened the door and shuffled my way downstairs.

The cute blond from the diner was sitting at the island, looking through some kind of file. He was smartly dressed in black slacks and button down shirt. The top button was undone and his sleeves were half rolled up. His pale blond hair was swept to the side like he was in the habit of running his fingers through it.

His nostrils flared and he looked up "Miss Grace, good morning." he smiled, his eyes wandering as he studied me, his smile growing.

I looked down at myself, suddenly remembered I had asked Finnick if I could borrow clothes to sleep in, he'd given me an old t shit and a pair of boxers, clean. I triple checked. My cheeks grew hot and I looked up at him wide eyed "I... uhm... it's not what it looks like. I didn't have anything to sleep in."

His grin grew to a Cheshire worthy size "Riiiiiiggggghhhhhttttt."

"Leave her alone Cody."

I jumped at the sound of Finnick's voice behind me and quickly scurried to the side to let him pass. He had dark bags under his eyes like he'd stayed up all night, and his expression was set in a scowl, which made me nervous. I had heard Finnick angry, and it was terrifying when it wasn't directed at me, so seeing him cranky meant it was more likely I would do something to anger him, and I didn't want to be on the receiving end of his anger, ever. 

The blond, Cody, frowned "Damn Finn, did you stay up all night?"

Finnick growled at him and pulled the refrigerator door open.

Finnick's P.O.V

I really wasn't in the mood for Cody's bullshit. I was tired, hungry, and beyond cranky. I grabbed the orange juice and a slice of old pizza, giving it a sniff. It had gone bad. Which meant there was nothing to eat. I growled and slammed the fridge closed.

Cody was glaring at me and I glared right back at him, ready to beat the shit out of him if he made any smart ass comments. He jerked his chin in Grace's direction before dropping his gaze back to the file he was reading.

I lifted my gaze to Grace, was standing awkwardly, seeming fascinated by the holes along the hem of my old shirt, that's when I noticed her hands shaking. All my irritation melted away and I felt the need to slap myself. I was scaring her. 

"How did you sleep?" I asked, trying to keep the tone of my voice calm and soothing.

Grace visibly jumped, her hands shaking even worse "Fine!" she squeaked, avoiding my gaze "I-I-I slept fine..."

Silence filled the kitchen. I chewed on my lip trying to think of something else to say. Beta Cody came to my rescue "Miss Grace, I hope you don't mind, but I eye guessed your size and had my mate do some shopping for you since you don't have any clothes here." Cody picked up several large bags and carried them all over to Grace. She took them and peeked inside, checking the tags.

"Most of these should fit..." she said softly, looking up at him.

Cody smiled in the way that he did that got most people to swoon, werewolf or mortal, mated or bachelorette, and handed her recites "If anything doesn't fit you can have Finnick return it." he turned back toward me, picking up the file that he was reading from the island. The smile he gave me was one I was all too familiar with, it was his don't you dare mess this up smile, the one that he gave me when his butt, or the safety of the pack was on the line, as well as my own hide. "Alpha." he gave a nod and as he passed Grace he gave her a respectful smile "Alpha Female." then left.

I sighed and looked at Grace, who was looking through the bags. "I... the fridge is empty, so... how would you like to go out for breakfast?" I asked, trying to give a reassuring smile. 

She gave a half hearted shrug "Sure, I need to shower first." she said, picking up the bags of clothes.

"Sure. Use my bathroom, I'll get you shampoo and stuff later." Grace nodded and went upstairs, going to her room and coming back out with clothes in her arms. She then went to my room and I sat down on the couch, turning the tv on and started watching the first thing that was on.

About twenty minutes later Grace came down stairs. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a button up red plaid shirt and red high top covers. Her hair was up in a pony tail. I flicked the tv off and got to my feet and smiled "You look great, ready to go?"

She half nodded, half shrugged and I offered her my arm. She seemed almost timid as she looped her arm through mine. I smiled softly and grabbed my jacket from it's hanger and studied the entry closet from a moment before I grabbed one of my pull over hoodies for her. She took it and pulled it over her head. It was way to big for her and reached almost down to her mid thigh, which I found to be positively adorable.

I reached down and gently took her hand as I lead her out of the house. The early morning sun was peaking over the horizon, taking the piles of snow glow. Grace looked down at her shoes "I should've worn the snow boots..."

I couldn't help but laugh and wrapped her arm around mine "I'm sure it'll be fine, a lot of the younger wolves take the chance to make a couple bucks and shovel the side walks." We walked down the drive way to the side walk that lead to town.

While most houses were located in town my families home that I inherited along with my title of alpha was located on the edge of town at the top of, as my mother called it a "cute little hill". My mother loved the home, which wasn't surprising, my father had built it for her.

I glanced at Grace, who was studying the surrounding as we walked. Would she like it if I built her a house? No, not a house, a home. She looked up at me and smiled "The town is lovely." she said.

I smiled "I'm glad you think so, my father worked very hard to make this town what it is, I was very honored when he named me his heir, giving me the chance to make it grow and thrive under my care."

Grace looked down at the side walk, likely watching for ice patches "I'm sure you're father's proud of everything that you've done for it."

I shrugged "I haven't done all that much for it. I inherited the town, and the rest of the remaining territory when I was 18, but technically it remains in my fathers charge until I find a mate."

She looked up at me and frowned "why?"

I shrugged again "A lot of the older wolves from my grandparents generation didn't believe a wolf of being capable of being a pack leader until they have children and understand the weight of their responsibility, even though that's a bit on the old fashioned side a some wolves like my father still believe that to be true. So while I was dealing with the werewolf side of things my father still ran the company that serves as our disguise to the human world."

Grace furrowed her brow and nodded, looking deep in thought "That's why it's so important for  you to have a mate, that's why you're beta said 'unfortunately you're the alpha's', if you hadn't been the alpha you would've have left me alone." she said, sounding slightly irritated.

"If I hadn't been the alpha I would have gone rogue and moved to Oregon to pursue you in a human way. I was planning on doing that anyway, moving to Oregon and once you knew the truth moving you here, but Beta Cody and Delta Austin took things into their own hands."

"'Here' 'Oregon' you say it like we're not there anymore, where are we?"

I froze up and had a momentary sense of panic. I shook it away and smiled down at Grace "Don't get upset, I mean, you have to think about it logically, have you ever heard of wolves in Oregon?" I laughed nervously and squirmed under Grace's scowl. "we're in Canada..."

"........WHAT?!"