Mated

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Chapter Six "Home"

As much as he tried, Kieran just could not get a decent amount of rest in the car. Every single time Max took a curve or got on a highway exit, he jolted awake and checked to make sure that Lyric was still all right. The fact that he was mated hadn't quite sunk in yet. Every time he woke up, he expected to be alone in the backseat, and everything would have been a dream. He woke Lyric at the first two rest stops so she could use to restroom and get a drink, but when he tried to wake her at the last, she growled sleepily and turned away from him. He figured that it would be best to just leave her alone.

Somehow, he managed to doze for the last two hours of the trip. As soon as Max swung the car onto the familiar dirt road that led to the house, Kieran sat bolt upright and was almost fully alert. They were home. That content feeling of finally being in the familiar place where he grew up settled over him and he took a long moment to soak it in while Max pulled up in front of the house.

"You gonna risk wakin' her?" Max asked. He was grinning when he turned around in the seat. "She damn near took your head off at that last stop."

"I'll risk it," he chuckled. "I'd rather have her a little grumpy but awake to walk to my room than have her wake up in my arms part way there and literally take my head off."

"Good point," he laughed. "You wake her and I'll grab her bag for ya."

Kieran nodded a thanks and undid his seat belt. Lyric hadn't stirred at all and he wasn't too crazy about waking her up. He carefully unfastened her seat belt and took a breath.

"Lyric, we're home," he said in a gentle voice.

"Huh?" she drawled. Her eyes were slow to flutter open, but once his words seemed to sink in, she shot up in the seat—fully awake. Kieran's heart sank a little when the look of relief on her face faded to confusion and then to realization.

"Home," she sighed. "Right."

She fumbled with her door handle and spilled herself out into the early morning light. His mate let out a soft hiss as her bare feet landed on the rough gravel that made up the driveway, but she made no move for her shoes. He scooped the up and slid out behind her.

"This is your house?" she asked, gaping up at the stone building. "The entire thing?"

"No," he chuckled. "That whole wing is more or less mine," he said, gesturing the right side of the building. "Honestly, most of it goes unused."

"So . . .who uses the other half of the . . .it's a damn mansion."

"Mom, Dad, and Gram," he said. Max silently handed Kieran the duffel bag and got into the Sedan. "Jett has a guest house behind the main house, but he really only sleeps there. He spends most of his time with us." She nodded, but he wasn't sure how much she was hearing. Lyric's eyes were focused on the house before her. He could feel the awe rolling off of her and for the first time in his whole life, he felt a little self conscious about his Pack's wealth. It had never been a big deal in the Pack. Everyone had a fair amount of money, with the Alpha and Beta family having quite a bit more. Yet, no one ever flaunted it.

"How . . .is it rude to ask how much land you own?" she exhaled. She finally tore her eyes away from the house and looked around.

"Well, when the Pack settled here, married couples got 640 acres of land. So the Alpha and the Beta pairs at the time each got land contracts that were joined. So 1,280 acres. We never really needed to expand."