Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 36656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 147(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“How do the cuffs work?” Dan asked.
He smiled. “They don’t.”
Penelope and Dan both frowned.
“They’re standard cuffs that cops use,” Marcel said. “If they truly wish to be free from one another, all they have to do is tug and they will come apart.”
“How is that going to help?” Penelope asked.
“Because we believe that Alexa and Landon do have feelings for one another,” Gertie said. “Our son seeks out Alexa. He watches her give swimming lessons. He’s never too far from where she is, and when he thinks no one is watching, his gaze is always on her. It doesn’t matter where they are. The same goes for Alexa. She finds a way to be near him. Watches him. Of course, she is better at hiding it than most, and she tries to keep herself busy.”
“They want to be mates, but they hold themselves back,” Marcel said. “This is our chance to bring them together.”
“What if it doesn’t work?” Dan asked.
“Then we will come to that problem when we get to it. For now, we can only hope that it works, for all of our sakes.”
The truth was, if Landon and Alexa didn’t figure things out, they would suffer the consequences. Cheryl’s attack showed him they were on borrowed time. He couldn’t allow anything to hurt his son. Not a damn thing.
Chapter Four
Alexa had never lived with another person. Not only was she now bound to Landon with cuffs, but they had also been told to occupy one of the rental homes near the edge of the forest. It was a secluded house, often used for honeymoon couples who were too close to the full moon to leave the pack.
She loved the house and had often come to sit and look at it because it was so beautiful, but now, with her clothes already in the main bedroom closet, she didn’t particularly like it all that much.
The house had one bedroom. One large bed.
With the cuffs, they had no choice but to share it. Right now, they stood in the bathroom, looking at the large shower, and of course the bathtub that didn’t offer any privacy.
This place wasn’t good for privacy. It wasn’t good for anything.
There were also many mirrors.
“So, er, I don’t know how we’re going to do this,” he said.
She nibbled on her lip and looked at him. “You can go first, and I will close my eyes. I do not need to see anything. Trust me.” She closed her eyes, just wanting this over with. Tonight’s announcement was not what she anticipated, and if she was honest, she was quite worried.
Spending time alone with Landon terrified her. They hadn’t spent any time together in a very long time. Not since they were kids and their parents got tired of all the arguing, fighting, and of course the tears. As a boy, Landon was a real crybaby.
Not that she couldn’t deny her own shared tears.
“I’m not going first. I’m a gentleman. I’m not going to be accused of taking all of the hot water. You go.”
She opened her eyes and saw he’d closed his eyes. When he attempted to cross his arms, he nearly pulled her with him. “Shit, sorry. This is going to take some getting used to.”
“Agreed.” She looked at the shower, and then Landon held his arm out. “You’re not allowed to look,” she said. When it came to her clothes, she frowned. “Er, I don’t think your dad thought this through.”
“Shit, er, okay, this isn’t, I don’t know …” There was a sudden knock on the door, and they both looked at each other with a frown.
They had no choice but to make their way downstairs, which was a lot harder, seeing as they nearly fell down them. If it wasn’t for Landon suddenly wrapping an arm around her waist, they would’ve fallen.
She thanked him, even though it was the last thing she wanted to do.
Together, they made it to the front door. Opening it up, they found Gertie, Landon’s mother, waiting. “Hi, this is good. You haven’t, you know, killed each other. This is progress.”
“Look, I get that the alpha is doing this for a reason, and I really appreciate it, I do, but we can’t … shower, or you know, change.”
Gertie held up a finger and presented a key.
“Every night, one of us, me, Marcel, Penelope, or Dan, will help you with this problem. Let me have those wrists,” Gertie said, unlocking the chain. “When you are done in the shower, and you’re changed, you will come down and be chained up again.”
“Don’t you think this is a little … extreme?” Alexa asked.
It was good to be free of the cuff, but the thought of her parents, or even Gertie and Marcel, being there every night and morning to lock their wrists together, it just seemed … well, like they were treating them like children.