Song: Saturday Nights by Khalid
Words: 2624
Published: July 3rd, 2020
Third Person POV
Harley

Sun shines through the window onto the couple since it was still open from yesterday morning. Rayna cuddled her face into Harley's chest to avoid the bright light, but once it reached a certain point, he couldn't ignore it anymore.

He groans and shields his eyes with his forearm. After a few moments to wake up and gather himself, he slowly pulls away from Rayna and gets out of bed. He stands up, stretches, and walks across the room to the bay window. He pulls the curtains closed and checks the clock.

6:52 A.M.

He debates on what he should do, but when his eyes land on Rayna, his beautiful little mate sleeping so peacefully, he knows that there really isn't any competition. He walks over to his side—the right side, closer to the door—and crawls back into bed. He pulls Rayna closer to him, and they're right back to cuddling.

Soon, he's back asleep.

*~*~*~*

Harley wakes up for a second time this morning slowly to a familiar yet odd feeling. Slowly, he figures out that Rayna is awake and tracing shapes on his skin. She starts on his chest, drawing through his shirt, then moving up to his neck and down his bicep. After a full five minutes, she makes it to his hand, intertwining her fingers with his and lifting his hand to kiss it.

He opens his eyes to see his mate looking down at their connected hands biting her cheek with a slight smile, like she was trying to hide her happiness.

He finds himself smiling uncontrollably, and he lets out a content sigh when she begins tracing her thumb over his hand. Surprised, she looks back up at him.

"Good morning, baby," he whispers in a gruff, morning voice. She blushes and looks away. Curious, he dives into her head.

'That's hot,' she thinks to herself regarding the sound of his voice.

"Morning," she mumbles, pulling their hands to her chest.

"What do you wanna do today?" Harley asks, drumming his fingers quickly on the back of her hand. She giggles softly and does the same back to him.

"I don't know . . ." Rayna whispers. "This is nice."

"Do you wanna just stay in bed all day? I don't think you've actually gotten a relaxing day since you got here, so you deserve it. You can eat in here and draw or do whatever you want," he suggests.

She pouts slightly. "What about you?"

"I'll be working in my office, like usual?" he says as if it's obvious.

Her big blue eyes look up at his hazel ones like puppy eyes.

"I want you to stay here with me," she mutters, squeezing his hand. Her tone was so soft and somewhat sad. He feels his heart break and gives her a kiss on the forehead.

"I guess you can do whatever you want in my office, or I can work from here today. Which would you prefer?"

"You. Here," she orders, her emotions showing. He doesn't entirely understand why she's acting like this, but all it makes him want to do is love her. When he thinks about it, it might be the mark.

"Okay, baby."

He takes his hand away from her, making her angry for a moment, but uses it to cup her face instead and kiss her on the lips for a few moments. Her tense body instantly relaxes and she responds tentatively to the kiss.

Harley pulls away after a few moments. Rayna whimpers.

"I don't want you to leave me," she whines. For some reason, her lip starts to tremble and her voice breaks.

"Hey, hey, don't cry, baby. It'll all be okay. I'm right here, aren't I? And I'm not going anywhere. I'm not gonna leave you," he assures her, pulling her into his chest.

"I- I'm s- s- sorry," she mumbles. "I- I don't kn- know why I'm s- s- so emotional," she stutters, pulling away.

"It's probably the mark, baby. It's okay," he explains. She nods, agreeing. "We should get out of bed now."

She shakes her head and pouts.

*~*~*~*

A little after they have lunch, Rayna remembers that book she was reading. The Flower Wolves. She was sitting in the bay window, drawing in her sketchbook, when she zones out.

"What are you thinking about?" Harley asks, not focusing well with his mate sitting just across the room from him.

"When I was in the library, there was this book I was reading . . ." she tells him.

"Oh, yeah. What book was it?"

"The Flower Wolves."

"Right. I can have someone grab it, or there's an audio version."

"C- Could I have the audio version?"

"Of course."

Harley's eyes glaze over with a grey tint, and he stares off into space, showing he was mind-linking someone. It was only a few moments before he was back to normal, typing away on his laptop keyboard. Rayna nods, guessing that that's that, and turns back to her sketch. It was just of a bunch of different kinds of flowers wrapped up in a bouquet.

After a few minutes, there's a knock on the door, slightly startling Rayna, though she realizes she should've expected it. Harley gets up and answers it. With a few words she doesn't care to pick up on and the exchange of an object, Rayna has the audio version of the book and is free to listen to her hearts content.

*~*~*~*

Rayna is tired of drawing and has already listened to at least ten chapters of The Flower Wolves. It is very interesting, but she's tired of it, too. She wonders how Harley can just sit still at a desk all day.

"Harley," she whines, flopping on the bed.

"Yes, baby?" he asks, not looking away from his computer.

"I wanna cuddle."

"I'm still working, baby."

"Can't you take a quick cuddle break?"

"I'm the Alpha King, sweetheart. Breaks, even cuddle breaks, aren't allowed."

She rolls her eyes and gets up, walking over to him.

"You're right. You are the Alpha King. You work all day, so . . . you deserve a break. Besides," she leans down to whisper in his ear, "who's gonna know?"

He shivers, still unsure of how he feels about this new side of Rayna.

"Uhm," he stutters. "No one, I guess, but work is still work . . ."

"Please?" Rayna whines, giving Harley her puppy eyes.

"Okay," he says softly, turning off his laptop. She smiles brightly and crawls back into bed, waiting for him. He smiles softly at her, all of the work he has yet to do plaguing his mind, and walks over. He crawls into bed with her, and she lays on top of him.

Rayna cuddles into his chest, Harleys arms wrapping around her. She hums in contentment as his warmth and tingles and scent surround her. There, she feels safe and comfortable. It's the only place she's ever felt that besides her mother's arms . . .

Harley had slipped into Raynas thoughts and feels his heart sink at how scared she always is in the back of her mind. She hasn't had the same sense of peace as she has right now in years. She's been living her life in fear without any sense of safety.

"I will never leave you, Rayna," he whispers into her ear. "I can promise you that, and I'll tell you everyday for the rest of our lives to make you believe it."

She smiles, turning her head to kiss his jaw.

"Thank you."

After a few minutes, an idea pops into her head, making her sit up. Harley gives her an odd look but sits up as well.

"Let's get to know each other more," she says. "Let's ask each other questions."

"Okay," Harley replies. "You wanna ask first?"

"S- Sure. Uhm . . . What's your full name?"

"Harley Kit King."

Rayna can't help but giggle.

"What's so funny?" Harley asks, confused.

"Kit sounds like Kitty," she says with a smile.

"I guess it does . . ."

"That's your new nickname. Kitty."

He raises an eyebrow.

"I'm the Alpha King, and you're going to call me Kitty?"

"Yes," she says stubbornly, crossing her arms. He chuckles softly at how cute she is.

"Okay then. What's your full name?"

"Rayna Dahlia Quinn," she responds.

"It's beautiful," Harley compliments. She blushes.

"Thank you. Yours is very handsome."

She just keeps blushing harder with the silence, as Harley doesn't know how to respond, so she moves onto her second question.

"Who's in your family? You haven't talked about them at all, but I- I noticed some people on your b- bulletin board." As she speaks, she even points towards the bulletin board handing over his desk with some pictures pinned around the edges.

"Well, there's my mother and father. Ophelia and Frank King. They were obviously the King and Queen before us. I also have two little siblings. Luke and Leigh. Luke is sixteen and Leigh is fifteen."

"That's an age gap," Rayna says quietly without thinking.

"It is. I was an only child with everything in the world for nine years until Luke was born. Then I was an older brother with everything but loving parents, as they were too focused on the baby to remember their first son. Soon after Luke was born, Ophelia was pregnant again, and Franks little attempts to still keep me in the loop diminished to nothing as he was taking care of a baby and a pregnant woman."

He spoke softly with neither a happy nor sad tone, looking down into his lap or staring off into space.

Rayna's head drops, and she reaches out a hand to rest on Harley's forearm. He looks up to meet her eyes, and she does the same.

"I'm sorry, Harley." She moves closer to him and rubs his back. He leans into her for comfort and nods softly at her verbal response.

"I was upset at my little siblings for a little while, yes, but once it was my responsibility to take care of them while Frank and Ophelia worked, I really got to know and love them. My anger switched to my parents, and there was some obvious, unspoken tension between me and them. As I got older, the tension only grew. Frank liked to pretend it wasn't there and just teach me how to be Alpha King while Ophelia would only make it worse by targeting me whenever something was wrong. 'Oh, Luke and Leigh had a dirty room. Harley, pick it up.' 'Luke shit himself. Harley, were you neglecting your little brother?' 'Leigh was talking with a maid today. Harley, you need to watch Leigh more.'"

He continues with his rant, but Rayna doesn't care. It's obvious that he hasn't had someone new to talk about this to in a long time, and he needs to let it out. She understands. It may be over, and it may be forgiven, but it is in no way forgotten.

"Even now, when all four of them have moved out of the castle into town, I'm blamed for shit. 'Luke isn't talking to any girls. Harley, set him up.' 'I found pot in Leigh's room. Harley, are you dealing?'"

He groans.

"My anger has dissipated over the years, but I know it isn't completely gone. I only realized how fucked up I was when I was about twenty-two with the help of Keane and Calum and Emmett. I started therapy and one by one gave up all of the stupid, bad things I was doing."

Rayna nods.

"I'm really proud of you for doing that, Harley. It must've been difficult," she comments. He smiles and nods, wrapping an arm around her and kissing her head.

"Thank you. It was."

He continues.

"It took a while for therapy to start working. I was young and full of anger. I didn't have any patience and wanted a quick, easy answer. That was why I did all of those things. Sex, alcohol, that shit. It was a quick fix. Slowly, through therapy, I confirmed that my mother was in the wrong, and she gave me abandonment issues. I've never had a girlfriend, and becoming friends with Savvy was difficult, as Ophelia gave me the impression that women weren't to be trusted. I overcame that, though."

Rayna crawls into his lap, feeling tears sting her eyes.

"I'm so sorry that she did that to you. I hope you know that you can trust me. I'm not gonna leave you," she tells him, holding him tightly.

"I'm okay now, baby. I know, I know."

He sighs.

"I ended therapy last year, and I've been okay besides Hollow. He always blamed me for us taking so long to find you. He thought it was my fault for making all of those mistakes. I realize now that I'd rather go through all of that before meeting you. I don't want you to ever see me like that. I'm happy that you're meeting me now, when I'm the best I've ever been."

"What does Hollow think now?" Rayna asks.

"He's so happy to finally have you with us, but I don't think he can forgive me for a while."

"Do you think I could get him to forgive you if I talk to him?" she asks.

Harley shrugs. "I don't know. Do you want to try?"

"Y- Yeah."

"Okay . . ."

He closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths. When he opens them again, they are pitch black. His entire body language changes. It goes from comfortable to cautious. Hollow looks at her in slight shock, lightly running his hands over her as if he makes one wrong move she'll break. She realizes that his scent of maple changes to have a tint of honey.

"Hey, Hollow," she greets softly.

"Hey, mate," he greets, his voice more animalistic than Harley's.

"I get why you're upset with Harley," she starts. "You think that if it weren't for him, you'd have found me sooner, right?"

He nods.

"I know that Harley made mistakes, but everyone makes mistakes, Hollow. You should know better than anyone how bad of a mental state he was in. He went from having the world to missing the one thing every child should have: a parents love and attention. He felt abandoned. Scared. Confused. Lost. You can't blame him for what he did. He was young, and he didn't know what he was doing."

"But if he didn't do those things, we could've had you," Hollow interrupts.

"Hollow, the reason you didn't find me sooner is because last year when you visited my old pack, I wasn't eighteen yet. I was nearly eighteen, but you came two days before my birthday. You couldn't have found me sooner. It wasn't because of Harley, okay? Besides, I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Yes . . . But you were in pain. We should've been there to help you."

"Hollow . . . You can't keep thinking about shoulds or shouldn'ts and ifs. The past is the past. Harley cleaned himself up, and I am here now. Now is what matters, okay? Everything's okay. I want you to forgive him, because he was just being human. I understand if you can't yet . . ."

Suddenly, Hollow pulls Rayna in for a kiss. She hums in surprise but reacts quickly. They pull away a few moments later at the same time.

"I understand now," he whispers, and his eyes fade black to Harley's hazel. They quickly daze off, and Rayna assumes Hollow is apologizing. Once Harley meets her eyes, he smiles brightly.

He pulls Rayna into his chest and rolls on top of her, smothering her with kisses. She giggles uncontrollably.

"Harley!" she squeals.