It had been five days since the girls had gone on a break.
Without arguing, Princess agreed to give Faye some space. Just six months. It was a massive pill to swallow, but the talpha had simply nodded her head, controlled sigh that she forced out through her nose to keep from letting her inner beast flare up.
She didn’t react in the forceful way most Alphas would. She didn’t shout, she didn’t lock the doors, and she didn’t use her dominant aura to force the omega to stay by her side.
And Faye got the room to herself. Kaye had to share a room with Dina. It was his own sacrifice to let the mother and kids stay together, and Dina wasn’t in the cottage during the weekdays. But Kaye wasn’t happy about what was happening... He had the impression that his aunty was returned.
That Sunday night, when Malo arrived at the cottage to pick up his baby sister, he brought some things with him. The pups’ clothes and other toys.
Princess packed most of the pups’ things and their spare cribs so they would be comfortable. If she could fit every single one of their belongings into the cottage, she would.
She just wanted to make sure the kids were okay. Every small rattle, every pacifier, and every extra diaper bag was loaded into the back of the vehicle with absolute care, her heart pumping a heavy, serious beat.
She also left her car keys so Faye could drive around with the kids.
On Monday, Faye was able to wake up on time. She had set an alarm so she could get ready before going to school.
She prepared breakfast, packed the pups’ school lunches and nursing bags, woke up her nephew and the pups, and got everyone ready for the day.
Then Faye drove all five of them to school.
She would drop the pups off at their classroom before heading to her own class.
During lunchtime, she didn’t go there like she used to because Princess was having lunch with them. Faye simply gave Princess that privilege and didn’t want to create an awkward situation.
After school, it was Princess who took the pups home while Faye stayed at the gym.
Malo had successfully obtained the Blue Spark Fish.
He did brag that it wasn’t an easy job because of Peamah’s lack of control, but in the end, he got the fish. He waved his hands wildly as he spoke, his voice echoing off the high ceiling of the training area.
He didn’t steal it from the aquarium. Instead, the owner happened to be the tour guide for the newlywed couples staying at the hotel, so She created a challenge where the winner would get whatever they wanted.
It was a couples’ love-game adventure, and Malo and Peamah did their best despite not liking each other. They had to stand shoulder to shoulder, their muscles locking up as they forced themselves to play the part of a happy, married couple.
In some of the challenges, Malo was a bit mischievous and cunning. During a tug-of-war, he made the floor slippery on the opposing team’s side. He even created misunderstandings just to eliminate other couples. He had let out a quiet, wicked chuckle to himself every time another pair stumbled and fell, his breathing fast and excited as they crawled closer to the top spot.
At the end of the competition, he won during the final challenge, where he and his partner had to kiss, and the couple with the longest kiss would win.
Malo and Peamah won.
That kiss was Malone Griffin’s first kiss.
At the gym, they discussed contacting their first buyer and preparing to track down the creatures they had previously sold to him.
It was just Sasha, Malo, and Faye.
Haley happened to be at the hospital taking care of her big sister because of a certain incident. Her absence left a small gap in their group, but they had to keep moving forward.
They planned to carry out their plan on Friday so they would have the weekend and school wouldn’t be affected.
After that, Malo became the middleman, picking up and dropping off the kids.
Before Friday, Faye and Princess bumped into each other in the school hallway. The sudden encounter made them both stop, their eyes locking for a fraction of a second before they forced their expressions to relax.
The two girls talked casually, like school friends. Their voices were light, the conversation moving with a fast, easy rhythm that didn’t touch on anything personal.
Princess would smile at Faye as though everything was fine. She would ask how Faye was doing, her shoulders relaxed, her chest rising with a perfectly normal, easy breath. And Faye would smile back. She would tilt her head, her lips curving into a soft, polite line that hid the tight knot of worry in her throat.
Whenever Faye walked past Princess’s classroom, she would glance inside. She would peek through the narrow glass pane of the door.
Princess was always laughing at whatever her classmates were talking about, and Faye would smile, thinking Princess was doing okay without her. She watched the way the alpha threw her head back, her lungs expanding with a loud, hearty chuckle as she joked with her friends.
She would think to herself...
This is the best way for us to fix things. It felt right, a clean and necessary space that would allow them to heal the cracks before they became too wide to close.
Even after school, from her classroom window, Faye would always watch Princess loading the pups into the car and driving home. She would lean her forehead against the cool glass, her breathing fogging up the window pane as she watched the vehicle disappear down the long driveway.
In her mind, she believed Princess Kings was doing just fine with the arrangement. She watched the car turn the corner, her lungs letting out a slow, quiet breath as she turned back to her books, completely convinced that the space was exactly what they both needed.