Chapter 5: No Honeymoon

Rowan POV

The first night Rowan had with Ylana, his mate, had been the most amazing night of his life. He had expected her to just go through the motions, but instead she was enthusiastic and just so responsive to him.

He had been prepared to not have sex that night. After all, they barely knew each other, and she hadn’t been excited about an arranged marriage. But they had gotten along well during the reception. Her smiles had given him the courage to drop his guard for the night, yet he was still shocked that she wanted to sleep with him.

Despite wanting nothing more than to be close to her during the months of their engagement, he thought it best to stay away from her. His feelings for her were so intense that he didn’t think he would be able to control himself. He’d seen how possessive his father would get over his mother or how ready he was to defend her against any threat. If Rowan acted that way, he feared Ylana may think it was too much and start avoiding him.

Rowan also feared he would smother her. Among shifters, it wasn’t thought of as odd for mates to be glued to each other’s sides. Ylana was a human, however. She wouldn’t understand what was going on. He would have been forced to tell her his secret, which he didn’t want to do just yet. She had finally warmed up to his family. All of that would change when she learned the truth.

Rowan was of course worried about how things were going to go now that the wedding night was over.

It had felt so right to wake up with Ylana curled into his side. Rowan wished he could stay there forever, but they were expected back home that morning.

When they arrived back at the mansion, Rowan opened the door of the town car for Ylana. “I’m sorry that there won’t be a honeymoon.”

“That’s fine,” Ylana said. “I never really thought about one during the whole planning process.”

“Maybe we can have it for our one-year anniversary?” He took her hand and walked her through the front door.

Ylana nodded. “That sounds like a decent plan. By that time, we’ll know each other better. It’ll be more fun that way.”

The rest of the day involved movers coming and going. Ylana’s things from her room at Odo’s penthouse were being placed into the suite that was reserved for her. She was going to be living on the third floor right above the bedrooms of the rest of the Garnet family.

Ginger was in the zone, bossing everyone around.

Rowan guided Ylana to the kitchen. “Let’s go get some breakfast. Rebecca always makes too much.”

Harkin was already in there, drinking his coffee. “Hello.”

“Hi, Dad.” Rowan pulled out a chair for Ylana to sit on.

“Did you have an enjoyable night?” Harkin’s eyes were shining with humor.

Ylana was blushing. “It was lovely.”

“Dad, don’t be weird.”

That brought a chuckle out of Harkin. “Can’t promise anything.”

Ylana laughed and started eating the eggs that had been placed in front of her.

Ginger came flying in. “I swear. No one knows how to do a job right.”

“That’s because not everyone is a crazy perfectionist like you,” Rowan teased.

Ginger gave Rowan a nasty look. “Whatever.” She poured herself a coffee before she sat down next to Ylana at the kitchen table.

The kitchen’s redesign had all been Rowan’s mother’s work. The countertops were pink marble and all of the cabinets were painted a light brown. The kitchen table was the same brown color and was circular with yellow cushions on the chairs to match the tablecloth. And large windows bring in the morning light.

“Now that the whole family is here,” Harkin began with a serious and tense tone, “I think it’s time we tell Ylana the house rules.”

Confusion crossed Ylana’s face. “Rules?”

“It’s nothing crazy,” Ginger told her while her eyes shot back and forth between Rowan and Harkin.

It all seemed so rehearsed to Rowan. It actually took a moment for him to catch on, because his father and sister sounded so stiff.

They were creating a reason for Ylana to avoid being outside during the pack’s full moon ritual, which was really just a chance for everyone to run around in their wolf form.

Harkin nodded. “It’s just that our property backs up into the woods. It’s not good to wander the property alone at night. Sometimes we get wolves.”

“Huh.” Ylana frowned. “I thought all the wolves were gone from New York a long time ago.”

Ginger sipped her coffee. “Some sneak their way down. It’s just a precaution. Whenever there is a party like the wedding, there’s no risk, but if you’re alone, you could get hurt.”

Ylana shrugged. “I’ll just stay inside at night then. I don’t know what I’d do outside at night anyway. Is that the only thing?”

Harkin smiled. “It is.” His shoulders sagged with relief. Rowan realized his father must have expected Ylana to fight him on this “rule.”

Just like that, Rowan no longer had to worry about Ylana during the full moon.

*****

Ylana POV

Ylana didn’t have a lot to do on the Garnet estate. She was alone a lot of the time.

Rowan and Harkin were always off doing something related to their business. From what she was hearing, her marriage was the cause of some strife and created the need to shift things around. Ginger was often off running errands and such for her father. Since Ylana didn’t want anything to do with the business, she had a lot of free time.

People were constantly in and out of the house as well. Sometimes it was groups of people, and other times it was whole families. Each time at least one person had an audience with Harkin. He could be in his office for hours with these people, and Rowan was always by his side.

The children of these people would play all over the house and even swim in the pool. Claude, the butler, had told her that all the people come from the nearby gated community. He also told her that the Garnets built and owned that community and Harkin always wanted people to come with him about any problems.

Ylana spent her first few weeks at the house exploring and rarely did so without wearing just sweatpants and a tank – a casual look Odo never allowed in his home. She found that the basement held an in-home theater. She also discovered that there were intercoms all over the house, so if she ever needed anyone, she could find them that way. She mostly used the intercom system to ask where Rowan or Ginger were at.

She started spending the majority of her time in the library. It was filled with works of fiction and Ginger had told her that once a month they receive new books. Older books that started to look a little worse for wear would get donated to public libraries and schools. During the day, she wasn’t alone in the library because of all the guests. In the evenings and nights, she was either in there alone or took some books up to her suite.

Ylana had hoped Rowan would eventually start visiting her at night. She wanted to experience their wedding night again. It had been amazing, and she yearned for his touch.

After a few weeks, she went to his room to try and start something herself. She got turned away with excuses of Rowan being tired.

It was getting to be like how it was before the wedding. She thought they had made so much progress at the reception. Then, after his dad laid down the rules, he became distant again. They would speak during breakfast and dinner, but that was it.

It was all starting to get a little depressing.

Sure, she had Ginger and Harkin to talk to as well, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted to know her husband better. What made him tick? What were his favorite movies, TV shows, and books? If anything, he became more of a mystery as the days went on.

All three of the Garnets seemed rather squirrelly on one particular night during her first month in the mansion. Rowan asked her repeatedly if she was going to sleep early that night. Harkin reminded her to stay inside after the sun went down. Ginger told her about a movie she just had to watch that night too. Then they all checked on her at different times after she retired to her suite for the night.

It all seemed a little excessive.

She even heard several wolves howling that night. Harkin was clearly right about them sneaking onto the property sometimes.

The next morning at breakfast, they were all warily eyeing her. When she asked them what was wrong, they all said it was nothing.

Something strange was going on. Ylana was sure of it.