raiden

"Why are you here?" Is the first thing that leaves my mouth.

Maia sighs, but my eyes remain glued to Nara who fidgets with her fingers as she stands awkwardly beside Maia. I felt bad for her; it was clear that she didn't want to be here. She probably didn't want to be in the pack at all.

Now if only she'd tell her father that.

I met Nara in the past and truth be told, I had no problems with her. She was sweet, a little shy, but overall a nice person. I'm sure that we could be good friends, but that's all I want. As nice as she was, I knew from the moment that I met her that we weren't suited for each other. I told my parents this a million times over, but they still insisted that the two of us would fall in love over time.

"I was told you already knew, but Nara will be staying at the pack for a month. Mom and Dad requested that you and I show her around," Maia answered.

Turning around, my eyes find Cloud's but he refuses to meet my gaze. Instead, his eyes square in on Nara as he takes in her figure. His jaw clenches slightly and his gaze breaks away from Nara and he stares at me expectantly.

"You really don't need to," Nara's quiet voice objects. "I don't need a tour, I can just go back to my room—"

"—We'll go," Cloud interjects, causing Nara, Maia, and I to turn to him. His eyes connect with Nara "I should see more of the pack anyways."

Maia's eyebrow raises, but she doesn't argue against Cloud coming. I watch as he turns around and begins to walk back toward my bedroom, most likely to get dressed.

Goddess, please don't let this be a disaster.

"Come on in," I tell Maia and Nara with a sigh. "You can take a seat on the couch while Cloud and I quickly get dressed."

The two of them nod and step inside. I lock the door before disappearing down the hall where my mate went. When I enter the room, Cloud is digging aggressively through the clothes hanging in the closet causing me to cringe.

"Cloud?" I mumble quietly, but he doesn't reply. "Cloud?" I try again, but he continues to ignore me.

Moving toward him, I place my hand on his arm to stop his aggressive search.

"What, Raiden?" Cloud sighs.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know they were coming today or I would've told you beforehand," I tell him honestly.

"It's fine," he says in a monotone manner.

"Are you mad?"

"I'm not mad," Cloud denies as he pulls his hand from my grasp and continues to shove clothes around.

He's mad.

My own annoyance begins to grow. Not at Cloud, but at the situation. We had just started to get somewhere.

"Cloud?"

Cloud sighs and begins to turn to me. "What, Rai—"

When his head turns, I pull him closer to me and into a kiss. After a second, he responds and grips me. When we pull away, I meet his eyes with a determined expression.

"I may have not known that Nara was going to be here today, but it doesn't change anything. You're my mate, Cloud, and nothing's going to change that," I promise. Cloud's gaze softens slightly, and I grin. "Besides, she's only going to be here for a month and she's actually pretty nice. We can put up with this."

Cloud nods and my arms wrap around him. "But I do have to say that jealous Cloud is—"

"Shut up," Cloud interrupts, sending me a glare but there was no anger behind it. "I'm not jealous."

My grin grows. "No?"

"No."

I open my mouth to retort, but Maia's mind link stops me from doing so.

"Hurry up, before it gets too late."

I roll my eyes, but don't bother replying. It's not like I told her to come.

"Maia wants us to hurry," I tell Cloud and he rolls his eyes.

"Tell her to fuck off. If she has a problem with how long we take, she can leave and give Nara a tour on her own."

"Then you and I can spend the day together," I say and Cloud raises his eyebrow.

"On second thought, maybe we should hurry up."

I roll my eyes and Cloud slips out of my grip before disappearing into the bathroom with his clothes. I didn't need to change since I had already showered before I left to see Mars, but I wasn't going to willingly sit in a room with Maia and Nara. Nara wasn't the issue, but if Maia was here — and Mom and Dad sent her — then that meant that if given the chance, the topic of marriage would come up.

As much as I love my sister, she worries too much about what our parents want. Honestly, if she stopped focusing on them and started focusing on herself and thinking for herself, then our relationship would be much better. But it was rare to see the moments where Maia let her real personality and beliefs shine through.

I don't really remember when the change happened. It was something that occurred gradually over time. When we were younger, Maia was my adventurous, crazy, and loud sister who did what she wanted. I used to always follow her around and saw her as a role model, but as we grew up, Maia stopped smiling as much and the wild side of her began to disappear. She lost her independence and what made her Maia. It was like she had disappeared completely and instead, there was a stranger in her place.

I miss the Maia from my childhood. Deep down, I know that she's still there, but between Mom, Dad, and also Hopper, I doubt that I'll ever get the chance to see the real Maia again. Not just glimpses of the person she used to be, but all of her.

"Are you okay?" Cloud asks, breaking me from my trance.

Blinking twice, I look up at him and see that he's finished getting ready. He stares at me with a frown on his face and his head tilts slightly.

"Yeah, I'm okay, just thinking," I tell him. "Are you ready to go?"

Cloud looks as if he wants to say something, but ultimately he decides against it much to my relief. The last thing I want to do is ruin the mood again.

"Yeah, let's go," he says and begins to walk towards the door. His hand reaches for the knob, but he stops before opening it and turns around to face me.

"Oh and Raiden, I'm not jealous," he tells me once again. Cloud turns away from the door and moves toward me until there's hardly any space between us. He leans inward and I follow suit, but just before our lips touch, he pulls back slightly and says, "What's there to be jealous of when I already have you?"

I blink as Cloud pulls away and makes his way back to the door with a smirk on his face.

"Hurry up!" He calls out, just as his body disappears from my view.

A wide smile grows on my face and I shake my head. There was no doubt in my mind that Cloud was going to ruin me, but I didn't mind that. In fact, I was looking forward to it.