Why My Mate Cries
Chapter 43

ALIYAH’S POV

“Aliyah,” Jane called my name.

My gaze followed her voice from the door frame where Reid exited. As I glanced at her, I noticed that she was smiling shyly at me.

“To tell you the truth…” she paused and bit her lower l*p.

I instantly got curious about what she was about to say. I stood up a little straighter, waiting for her to continue. She breathed in heavily and chuckled.

“To be honest, I was a little afraid of you.”

My eyebrows jumped up at her words, and I was kind of shocked. “For real?”

I wondered what I did for her to feel that way. Then I recalled what I did back at the supposed formal dinner. I couldn’t help but wince, remembering that particular event. I was struggling to socialize back then. I still do. Honestly. But I wanted to overcome my fear and be better for Reid, and our pack.

She nodded her head. Her cheeks were blushing.

“Yeah, it started on the first night I came here. I thought that maybe you didn’t like me or I might have offended you in a way that I wasn’t aware of,” she explained carefully.

I kind of felt guilty that Jane had this feeling towards me. My shoulders sagged as I let out a sigh of defeat. I then held her hand and squeezed it, and I was all too aware that she was surprised that I did it.

“I—I apologize for what happened that night,” I said, and offered her a sincere smile. “I was struggling to socialize back then because I came from a very strict family…”

She frowned and waved her other hand. “Oh, no! You don’t need to apologize, Aliyah. Uhm, and I understand that you had some fear of befriending people. Actually, Lucas informed me about it. B—But I hope we can be, uhm, friends…”

I pursed my lips, trying to suppress my smile as I couldn’t believe that a human wanted to be friends with me.

“Please?” she asked carefully.

That’s when I could no longer hide my happiness. I chuckled, nodded at her, and then wrapped her up in a tight hug. For most of my life, I’d been surrounded by people who didn’t want me, and loathed me to the core. Now that everything had changed and here I was, trying to rebuild my life in the way that I desired, I wouldn’t dare run away from these people who wanted me to be part of their lives.

I only wanted happiness, and this was already it…

“Of course, Jane, we can be friends,” I said sincerely before pulling away from each other.

We both chuckled. Before I realized it, we were able to serve so many foods for our pack mates together, and I had fun cooking with Jane. Just like Liana, Alice, and Charlotte, I felt like I had found a new sibling, and we were like soul sisters who got each other’s back.

Reid, on the other hand, had dealt with the behavior issues of the young wolves. Even after breakfast, I found him scolding the twins in their room for making fun of Liana. I wanted to intervene and somehow try to calm him down, but I didn’t dare do so as I knew he was only doing what he needed to do to correct Ellie and Dustin.

“Such a pain in the a*s,” Liana muttered while leaning on the doorframe of the twins’ room.

We were both watching Reid and how he dealt with the twins accordingly.

“I’m sorry that they made fun of you, Liana,” I said and patted her back, as I knew how she felt since Ellie and Dustin did the same thing to me several times.

She forced a smile, and then sighed loudly. “I wish I could be kinder like you. I really can’t put up with kids. I ended up slapping them and now I feel guilty for what I did.”

“That’s because you’re kind, Liana. You were just set on the edge, but you didn’t mean it.”

Reid walked toward us after scolding Ellie and Dustin. He closed the twins’ bedroom door and started massaging the bridge of his nose. Even if he didn’t say it, it was pretty obvious that he got stressed.

“I think I should remind Klaus that I’m not ready to have a child,” Liana quipped, and just like that, she left.

Reid moved to my side. I turned to him and he only smiled.

“Tough time?” I asked, wrapping my arms around his waist.

He then nodded. “The twins are such a hard case.”

“I have a feeling that they will behave sooner or later. Don’t give up on them, alright?”

“I won’t.” He cupped my face and brushed his thumb on my chin. “Whatever they do inside the house, don’t mind them for now. Stay away from them as much as possible. I don’t want you to be stressed.”

He sounded so worried that my lips curled into a smile. I nodded at him, and tiptoed to give him a k**s on the corner of his lips. What I did somehow helped lift his mood, seeing that he had already flashed me his charming smile.

We went downstairs to join our pack mates who were having fun in the living room. It was at that moment that I felt so relieved from all the stressful things I encountered for the past couple of days. The pack house was full of life, and seeing myself being belonged in one big family made a lot of difference in the way I viewed life. Time passed so fast that before I even realized it, it was already bed time.

Lying on the bed, Reid was massaging one of my feet. It was the first time someone ever massaged me, and I loved the feeling.

“You like it?” he asked.

“I sure do,” I replied, with a smile. Feeling much better, I took my feet from his lap and mouthed, “Thank you.”

He lay down beside me and looked at the ceiling before he drew in a breath. I shifted my position, facing the side of his face. A dreamy smile crossed his lips, and I couldn’t help but be curious as to what the reason behind his smile was.

“You look so happy,” I commented.

He glanced and blinked at me. “I’ve got reasons to be happy.”

“So, is this a guessing game? What are those reasons?” I quipped and squinted.

“The main reason is you’re here with me,” he answered directly without breaking our eye contact.

My heart skipped a beat, and I could feel my b***d engulfing my cheeks.

“Funny how you looked so worked up and cruel when you were scolding the twins…”

“It’s part of my obligation,” he said, and pinched my nose. “I’m kind of practicing, so once we have a child, I’ll know what to do.”

I was surprised to hear that Reid had an intention of having a child with me. I could feel my heart racing so fast inside my chest as I envisioned myself giving birth to Reid’s child. How does being a parent feel?

“Now, I’m curious.” He shifted his position to be able to look at me further. “How many kids do you want to have?”

I chuckled. “Are you being serious?”

“Yeah, but if you’re not comfortable talking about it, then I’m not going to push it.”

My hand moved to his chest and traced circles on it. “Trust me, it’s fine… and to answer your question, I’d go for two or three?” We then chuckled. “I kind of want to have a big family.”

Reid took my hand that was on his chest and squeezed it. “We’ll have a big family then.”

I felt that all-too familiar warmth inside of me. His words were definitely nice to hear. It sounded like a promise… a lifetime promise.

“That sounds perfect to me.”