Grandma's place isn't in as bad shape as I had thought. The outside is overgrown with flower bushes, vines, and scattered trees all over, while the inside is just a little dusty and stuffy. I open up all the doors and windows to air the cottage and get it to look somewhat decent for when Ashleigh arrives.
It is a cozy cottage. From the front door is the living room to the left is the living room with a medium 3-seater lounge with a wooden coffee table in front of it and an old TV box near the window next to the door. Straight ahead is a path to the kitchen in dark wood and white and to the right is the staircase leading upstairs.
I haven't been here in years, this cottage belonged to my mother's mother. She was one of the last people in her pack, most of whom had already passed away or moved on to new packs.
I remember a few people in our pack who used to belong to my mother's small pack. Mum was the Alpha's only child and already leading the pack. When she found out she was mated to dad, she chose to be with him and merge the two packs.
I tried to bring up the heritage over the years, but dad didn't ever want to talk about it. I only remember snippets that mum told me when I was younger. I wish I remembered what grandma was like, I guess like all things related to mum I buried that long ago.
I wander around the house trying to get a sense of where everything is before Ashleigh arrives. I still have about two hours. Hopefully she wouldn't be early.
I flick the light switch on and off to see if we had any electricity, I only half expected it to work. I doubt that anyone has been paying the bills to run this place considering how overgrown outside was.
As expected, nothing works so I looks around to see if there are any candles to light for the evening. If not I would have to make a list and head to the shops quickly to grab some things.
Thankfully I find a few candles with a lamp so they can be placed in the living room where the coffee table is and I'll light the small fire stove in the kitchen to warm the place up and provide some more light.
Being wolves, we don't need the light or warmth, but it is still nice to have the ambiance. I know we won't be able to go on many dates outside so this would have to be the way to do things for now. I want to make things special for her, to make her see I'm worth it.
Fuck, I don't have any matches. I groan and shake my head. I guess I really have to go to the store. The local store isn't far from here, but I wanted to avoid having to go so that there wouldn’t be more people knowing I'm out here. I make a list in my head. There isn't much around the kitchen either so I'll have to grab some cups, plates, knives, and forks.
I spent about 20 minutes in and out of the shops. I try and think of something simple to cook on the fire stove rather than using the oven or gas cooktops. I need to get the electricity sorted out so this isn't harder later on, and we can be comfortable if this is going to be our regular meeting spot.
After an hour of walking around the cottage, I try to make the place look nice enough with the fire lit and candles burning in the holders. God, I hope she doesn't give me shit about this. I at least hope she knows I'm trying.
Jace chuckles in the back of my mind, snickering about what I put together.
'What, would you rather I go all asshole mode and do nothing? Then she really will reject us,' I mumble.
He grumbles and rolls his eyes at me.
'I didn't think so'.
Tap... tap.. tap.
The knocking at the front door pulls me out of the argument I with Jace. As I move closer to the door the stronger I could sense her. Jace perked up, buzzing around in excitement that she actually came.
I stand at the door for about a second and breath in her mouth-watering scent. I know she wants to take things slowly but fuck this was going to be hard.
I open the door and take in her beautiful figure. I stand there for about a minute, hoping she didn't mind me admiring her fucking sexy body, Ashleigh wore simple tonight, simple but sexy, in tight skinny jeans, a light blue top with a v neckline made its way down to expose some of her boobs, which I appreciate.
I just want to pick her up and devour those pink pouty lips and lick and suck on those beautiful tits of hers. Just thinking about it gave me a semi already.
Her wolf is a spicy one, no wonder Jace likes her. I guess I have to keep my promise to her and go for a run later.
I lead her through the cottage asking about her day and how she’s been. I stop behind her suddenly when I see something glittering in her hair.
"You wore it," I say, half-surprised.
She frowns, cocking her head and looking back at me confused. "Wearing what?"
"The heirloom." I nod to her hair.
"Ohh, of course. I hope that's alright; I wasn't exactly sure where I can and can't wear it but I thought if it was just going to be the two of us tonight, it would be a good start."
I smile and nod and move closer to her to kiss her on the lips but instead, she gasps and moves away from me a little. I move quickly towards her again. She doesn’t flinch but is just a little bit uncertain of what I was planning.
It’s kind of cute, intimidating her considering she was the Beta. Although I guess since we’re my mate I have a different effect on her than others. I chuckle and move past her heading for the stove I had put on earlier. I guess she isn't ready for some things just yet.
"Unfortunately, I was only able to get some soup and bread for dinner tonight. We are only able to use the fire stove because the gas stove and electricity aren't working at the moment. I'll look into it this sometime this weekend and hopefully have something set up for our next visits."
She nods and says, "that's okay. Thanks for getting something. I forgot to eat before coming here."
I had put on the soup beforehand knowing it was going to take some time to warm up, I walk over to the fireplace and look in the pot, it is slowly simmering away almost to the boiling point.
"Probably a couple more minutes then it should be good to eat," I mumble looking back towards where Ashleigh was standing in the living room.
"This is a cute place, how'd you find it?" She asks.
I sigh internally. I suppose she’s going to ask about my family sooner or later. I sort of hoped it would have been a bit later.
'Just take it slow and explain the situation to her. No need to go into the big details tonight but you can at least share things you are comfortable with,' Jace encouraged.