Chapter 301 - 302 Picked out our home

Chapter 301: Chapter 302 Picked out our home

Damian’s POV

The morning light filtered through the curtains, pale gold and quiet. Aria was still asleep in my arms, her breath soft and even against my chest.

I’d been awake for over an hour.

Not because I needed to be. Not because of any pressing matter that demanded the Alpha King’s attention before the sun had fully risen.

I was awake because I couldn’t stop looking at her. Because every time I closed my eyes, I found myself opening them again just to make sure she was still here. Still real. Still mine.

My wolf was content—a rare state for him. He lay curled in the back of my mind, watchful but peaceful, his attention fixed on the woman in my arms like a wolf guarding his most valuable treasure.

*She’s ours,* he said, not for the first time. *Ours to keep.*

*I know.*

*She’ll never leave us.*

*I know.*

*Stop telling me you know and just watch her sleep like the lovesick fool you are.*

I almost laughed. Almost.

*Don’t forget to surprise her.*

*I know.*

Aria stirred, a small sound escaping her throat, and her hand moved up to rub at her eyes. Still half-asleep.

Still impossibly beautiful. Her phone buzzed on the nightstand, and she made a vague, grumbling noise without opening her eyes, her fingers reaching out blindly in its direction.

I caught her hand, pressed a kiss to her knuckles before she could even register what was happening. "Let me get it."

She hummed—more acknowledgment than protest—and I reached across her to grab the phone. I glanced at the screen. Her assistant, Jennifer.

The young woman who handled Aria’s schedule with such fierce loyalty that she’d once told me, to my face, that if I broke her boss’s heart, she’d find a way to make my life hell.

I’d liked her immediately.

I answered the call, keeping my voice low. "Hello?"

"Oh—" A sharp pause. Then: "Alpha Blackwood? I mean, Your Majesty? I mean—" A nervous laugh. "Is Aria available?"

"She’s still resting." I glanced down at Aria as she stirred, her eyes fluttering but not quite opening. The warmth of her body pressed against mine made it hard to focus on anything else. "She’s not awake yet."

"Of course. Of course, I’m so sorry—I didn’t realize—I mean, I knew, but I didn’t think—" Jennifer was flustered, her words tumbling over each other. "There’s a meeting this morning that was scheduled before she left, and I was just calling to confirm if she’d still make it, but if she’s not available, I can absolutely reschedule—"

"Reschedule."

"Done. Consider it done. Do you need anything? Anything at all?"

"No need." I felt Aria shift beside me, her hand finding my chest as she nestled closer. My wolf rumbled his approval. "She’s been working too hard. She needs this break."

"I completely agree. She never stops—I keep telling her that, but she doesn’t listen to me—" Jennifer was already moving, her voice businesslike now. "I’ll push everything back. Cancel the meeting, clear her schedule for the day. Is there anything else?"

"That’s all. Thank you."

"Thank *you,* Your Majesty. Tell Aria I said happy—well, just tell her I said to enjoy her day off."

I ended the call and set the phone back on the nightstand. When I turned back, Aria was watching me—those green eyes, still hazy with sleep but sharp enough to hold me in place.

"You could have just said I was busy," she murmured, her voice rough with sleep.

"You were busy." I brushed a strand of hair from her face, letting my fingers linger on her cheek. "You were busy sleeping in my arms. That’s the most important thing you could be doing right now."

"You’re ridiculous."

I kissed her forehead instead of answering. She made a soft sound, somewhere between a sigh and a laugh, and I felt something dangerous crack open in my chest. This. This was what I’d been missing my entire life without knowing it. A quiet morning. A sleepy mate. A bed that felt like home because she was in it.

"Come with me today," I heard myself say.

She blinked, still groggy. "Where?"

"The city. I have a few properties I need to look at." I paused, running my thumb along her jaw. "I want you there. I want your opinion."

"You want me to help you pick out a house?"

"No. Not just a house. Our home—the one we’ll build our marriage in."

I held her gaze, letting her see the weight behind my words. "Because I don’t care about the building. I care about whether you can see yourself there. Whether you can see us there."

Her cheeks flushed—a delicate pink that spread down her neck, disappearing beneath the collar of her shirt. She looked away first, but I caught the smile she tried to hide.

"That’s a lot of pressure for someone who just woke up."

"You handle pressure well." I let my hand drift down to her waist, pulling her closer. "And I have it on good authority that you have excellent taste."

"What authority?"

"My wolf." I said it perfectly straight-faced. "He has excellent instincts. He says you’re the one."

Her laugh was surprised and delighted, and I watched the way it lit up her face, the way it made her eyes crinkle at the corners.

I wanted to memorize every detail. Every expression. Every laugh line and eyelash and the exact shade of pink that colored her cheeks when she looked at me like this.

"Are you always like this in the morning?" she asked.

"Only when I wake up with someone worth waking up for."

"Smooth, Your Majesty."

"I try."

She sat up slowly, stretching like a cat in the morning light, and I forced myself to look away. Not because I didn’t want to look—I always wanted to look—but because if I didn’t, we’d never make it out of this bed, and we had places to go. Property to see. A future to build.

She must have been thinking the same thing, because she smiled and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "I need food before I can make housing decisions. You’re buying breakfast."

"I’m buying whatever you want."

"Careful," she teased, glancing over her shoulder at me. "I might hold you to that."

"Please do."

The morning slipped by in a blur of small moments. The drive to the city with her beside me in the passenger seat, her hand resting on my thigh, her head tipped back against the headrest as she watched the trees blur past.

The first property—a modern glass-and-stone structure set back into a hillside—where I watched her wander through the rooms, touching walls and running her fingers over countertops, seeing things I couldn’t see.

"What do you think?" I asked, leaning against the doorframe of the master bedroom.

She turned in a slow circle, taking in the space. "It’s beautiful. Very... you."

"Too much glass?"

"Too much glass." She grinned. "Beautiful, but impractical. If someone wanted to get to you, they’d have a hundred ways in."

*She thinks like a survivor,* my wolf observed. *She’s perfect.*

"Noted." I followed her down the polished concrete hallway, past the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the valley below. "There’s another property about ten minutes from here. It’s a little more... private."

"Private sounds good."