The Monarch ( Fated Series: Book 2 - Completed )

Chapter 3 - House rules

Chapter 3 - House rules

dedicated to @Bamagranna - thank you for following my stories and for your long comments. It really appriciate your feedback!

Picture on the side - Jonathan Graves (aka Mark Salling)

Avery

Avery woke up to discover a pair of blue eyes that were stalking her. She swatted his snout off her pillow and away from her face. It was still dark in her room, confirming her suspicion - it was goddamn too early to deal with him. Surprisingly, his stench had not followed him inside her bedroom. She sniffed the air and smiled as his scent registered in her mind – black bamboo... or something equally manly and grounded. Memories of last night came to her mind – he had indeed taken a shower, which made her feel proud of supplying him secure environment for him to actually shift and tend to his needs. That and outsmarting him to do so without flat out insulting his manly Ego by telling him what to do!

His choice to shift back to his wolf after he had cleaned himself up, gave her more answers than he would have volunteered had he stayed in human form. He felt more in tune with his wolf, which also meant that he was trying to avoid speaking about his past. He must have assumed that her outgoing personality would actually express itself into nudging him to reveal more than he was ready. Little did he know that although Avery could volunteer a lot of the information of what her past had been; she would never poke her nose in someone else's painful past!

The way that people dealt with their past was different and she respected that. She also respected the right to privacy, even if she would gladly give hers away in order to have her mind preoccupied and not reverting back to the horrors of her own past. Talking seemed to be her therapy but she had witnessed how others coped with their past. And then there were some pasts that were so gruesome that forgetting them was the best way to start over.

Start fresh.

But why was he in her room?

The crispy air greeted her and she rolled her eyes, turning to her side. He had not fed the fireplace and just as she had warned him the temperature inside the cottage had fallen drastically. It was more than chilly! It was freezing cold. This was so not the way that she envisioned her morning!

His snout laid on her hip as his massive body was curled close to hers, sharing some of her warmth! At least he had had the decency to stay furry and over the covers! She would have definitely kicked him where the sun doesn't shine if he had tried something funky with her.

"Make yourself useful and go light the fireplace", Avery's sleepy voice suggested. His reply came in the form of a growl that started from deep within his chest. As his head lay over her hip, she could actually feel the vibrations of his throat. "Great. I am stuck with a snarling brat!" she huffed at herself, pretending that she didn't notice the menacing growl that echoed from him. "Didn't your mama teach you to use your words?" Avery questioned him without so much as glancing his way.

His head shot up from her hip and this time the growl came too close to her face for her liking.

"You should know your morning breath is a killer. There's a spare toothbrush and toothpaste in the cabinet in your bathroom", she informed him, gently nudging him to go as she pressed her palm to his snout swatting him away. He snarled at her laying back at his place, resting his head over her blanket covered hip. This time his left paw remained on her leg, in what seemed to be a very possessive and domineering stand. If he thought he was establishing dominance over her by doing so, he was up for a rude awakening. Avery closed her eyes and nestled in her bed sheets, mumbling, "When I wake up, I better not find you sprawled naked on my covers!".