Chapter Eleven
Brodie
T he anxiety I felt driving back home was weird. It felt like a pressure in my chest, something that worsened ever so slightly the closer and closer I got. By the time I parked in the yard and got out of the truck, I was twitchy in a way I couldn’t remember ever feeling before.
Then I saw Kye and Carys, and relaxed minutely, only to catch the scent of a person I didn’t know. My wolf started to approach the edge then, and I was suddenly seconds away from imploding when Kye hugged me.
It was as if he pressed a button to release all that tension, and I swayed into him. My wolf instantly relaxed, flopping in my mind as if it had been doing something incredibly taxing for a long time.
Then Kye suggested lunch and nap, and the gratitude I felt toward him tried to bowl me over.
He was taking care of me in ways nobody really had before. I’d had a couple of on again, off again boyfriends but those were more transactional things than anything like this. I always felt like a service Dom with everyone but Rian.
The fact that Kye was tapping into our bond without knowing it was there told me exactly how real said bond had to be. Not that I questioned it anymore. It had only been days, but it could’ve been months with how my wolf settled around him.
While we had lunch, Kye told me all about Lina Keller. It was clear he’d immediately liked her and thought she would be an asset to our renovations if we managed to get her father to loan her to us.
“I’ll see what I can do about that,” I agreed as I pushed away my empty plate.
Kye’s brows popped. “Just like that?”
“Unless my instincts tell me something negative about her, I don’t see why I wouldn’t trust your judgment.”
“Okay.” He seemed pleased as he stood and gathered our plates. “Let me put these in the sink and we’ll go nap.”
Carys grabbed the iPad. “I’m not that tired, so I’ll continue my hunt for a therapist and read, maybe.” She glanced at the window, then looked at me. “Do you think, once we’re ready to replace the windows, we could put in a window seat here?”
I followed her eyeline and tilted my head. “You know, I’ve seen those window seats where you use them as part of the kitchen table seating. Would that work? I could build a new table and maybe some benches. A proper bay window type of deal?”
“There’s certainly room for that.” Kye turned to us. “If we keep growing the pack, we’ll need a big table, too.”
I smiled at him, until he blushed and turned away again.
I went upstairs first and washed my face in the bathroom in the hopes of feeling a bit less icky from the drive. I took off my shirt and grabbed a washcloth, then wet it with hot water before running it along my neck.
I heard Kye coming into the bedroom and opened the door. “Hey, you need the bathroom?”
He clearly thought about it for a second, then stilled as his gaze locked on my torso. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen me shirtless before, but somehow, right then, he seemed almost spellbound.
I waited until he snapped out of it and blushed.
“Uh, yeah, I could pee before I try to nap,” he murmured.
“Okay, let me just….” I put the washcloth on the edge of the hamper and walked out.
He slipped inside the bathroom, closing the door. I could hear him whisper “Jesus fucking Christ…” and snickered quietly.
To me, Kye was endlessly attractive. The lithe form with pale skin, long hair, and soulful yet mischievous eyes? Wolfnip, I tell you. And that was before I even considered who he was on the inside.
I took off my jeans, because who would want to sleep in those? Then I lay down on the bed but didn’t get under the covers yet. Instead, I scoffed at myself, yet posed a bit anyway.
Half-reclined on the pillows, I put one hand behind my head, so my bicep popped, and spread my legs a bit, bending one knee slightly.
Okay, maybe I was posing more than a little.
The bathroom door opened and Kye stepped out. He did a comical double-take, then marched to the bedroom door. For a split second I thought I’d overdone it and he was walking out, but he closed the door instead and turned to me.
“Really, Brodie?” he asked, hands on his hips.
“You closed the door, though.” I smirked.
He rolled his eyes, but the corner of his mouth had been twitching even though he tried to scold me.
He left his sweats on the floor and climbed on the bed, then promptly knee-walked in between my legs and settled over me like a human blanket.
I smoothed his hair behind the ear that wasn’t pressed against my chest, then slid my hands over his shoulders and along his back, petting him.
Tugging at his T-shirt, I asked, “Can I take this off?”
He lifted minutely and let me pull the shirt off him. Then he settled back against me, and the skin contact was everything.
We stayed like that for a while, breathing together.
“How old are you?” he asked suddenly, not lifting his head but looking up as much as he could.
I squinted at him, confused. “Wait, we haven’t talked about that?”
He chuckled. “I mean, we haven’t even known each other a week at this point, Alpha mine.”
“Fair.” I snorted softly. “I’m thirty-three. Why?”
“I’ve been reading a lot and I was reminded of the fact that wolves don’t appear their age. I would say you’re twenty-five, based on looks alone.”
I shrugged. “It is what it is. Max and Ben are twenty-eight and twenty-nine respectively.” Then I asked, “You’re something like twenty-four? Five?”
“Yeah, twenty-four. I was five when Carys was born. Then sixteen when our sister Eira came along.”
I hummed. “Were you close to her?”
Kye sighed. “Kind of, when she was little. But our stepmom never wanted us around after Eira was born so it was rough. I wish we were close, and maybe we’ll be when she’s old enough to make her own decisions, but we weren’t even close enough for us to miss her now, really. Carys and I talked about it yesterday.”
“I wish I hadn’t lost so many years with Bella, but I get why she had to run.”
“And then you avenged your sister and mine,” he murmured.
He lifted his head and then continued the movement until he’d resettled to straddle me.
Kye tilted his head and watched me as he put his hand on my chest. I grinned slightly. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to see, but I covered his thighs with my much bigger hands.
He rocked his hips minutely, rubbing us together in a way that made me sigh and get fully hard from the half mast I’d been in since he lay on top of me.
He raised a brow at me and ground his erection against mine through our underwear.
I smiled, then squeezed his thighs. “Stop.”
He stilled immediately, then cocked his head as if to ask why.
“There’s something I need you to know before we take this any further,” I said, my heart suddenly beating faster.
“Okay?” He frowned, and moved one hand in the middle of my chest as if he was feeling my sudden nerves affecting my body.
I fought hard against the instinct to break eye contact. For the first time since I’d ended Rusty, my wolf felt submissive inside me.
“I know you’ve been researching wolves. Did you read anything about mates yet?” I blurted out in an almost-nervous tone I disliked instantly.
Kye frowned again. “Yeah. Today, actually. I was getting to a point where the paper explained about how mates work in modern day packs—wait.” He sat straighter, lifting his hands off my chest. “Are you trying to tell me you have a mate?”
Yeah, that was exactly what I was trying to tell him, but I needed to choose my words carefully here. He was clearly thinking about bolting.
I moved my hands to take his and smiled slightly. “Yes,” I said firmly, then squeezed his hands so he couldn’t escape. “It’s you.” Or maybe going for the most direct answer would work too, thanks, brain.
“W-What?” The stunned expression on Kye’s face stayed there for a handful of seconds, then he chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, unable to keep a smile off my face when I felt him relax on top of me.
“I guess if you’d come home half an hour later, I probably would’ve figured this out myself. Now that you’ve told me, I see the signs, so to speak.” He shook his head, then looked at me fondly. “I thought it was a regular wolfy touchy-feelyness and an insane chemistry brewing between us from the start.”
I grinned. “I mean, it is both of those things. There’s just something extra added into the equation.”
He pulled his hand from mine and rubbed it over his face. “Just so you know,” he said a moment later, his voice as serious as I’d ever heard it. “I’m all in. I won’t be leaving you hanging.”
The joy that burst out of me when the relief hit me and the wolf had my eyes glowing and my claws making an appearance. I let go of Kye so that I wouldn’t hurt him, but then the wolf took over and I grabbed him, flipping us over until I was on top of him.
He made a soft “oof” sound, then laughed brightly. “I gather that you agree with the idea.”
I buried my face in his neck, then rumbled out, “My wolf is extremely happy with this.” The words came out a bit slurred, the partial shift changing my teeth into something sharper and more animalistic.
Kye wrapped his arms and legs around me and squeezed tightly, hugging me with his whole body. “Good. I’m happy, too. Alpha.” Then he sighed, the sound pure happiness, and added, “Mate.”
The wolf inside me howled with happiness, a part of the sound coming out of my mouth in a low whine.
“It’s okay,” Kye whispered. “I’m here. I know you’re a wolf. I’m not going anywhere.”
I pressed my palms against the bed on either side of him, then watched as the claws finally receded. Pushing myself up, I looked at him.
“Do you know you’re a miracle?” I asked him seriously.
He smiled and chuckled, a blush climbing up his cheeks. “Well, even if I wasn’t, you’d be stuck with me, so there’s that….”
I understood the statement came from being self-conscious. Knowing that telling him he was wonderful wouldn’t help and that his view of himself would only strengthen over time, I only shrugged.
“I think you’ll be a fine mate for an Alpha,” I said casually, as if I wasn’t feeling his inner turmoil over being adequate. “And I’m incredibly fortunate that I get to be that Alpha.”
His lips curled up, but then the smile fell off. “There’s one thing I need to know, though.”
“What’s that? I’ll answer any question you might have. There are no secrets between us,” I vowed.
“Rian. I hear how you talk to him and….” He averted his gaze, clearly uncomfortable.
I wanted to chuckle but didn’t. It wasn’t a laughing matter when my mate, my unclaimed mate, already felt threatened.
Still in a pushup position over him, I lifted one hand and cupped his cheek. “Can you look at me, Kye?”
He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, then did as I asked.
Smiling ever so slightly, he said, “As hot as this show of strength is, my human brain thinks you’re going to collapse on top of me and you weigh a lot more so can we maybe talk while you’re not hovering over me?”
I let my chuckle out and moved to lie on my side next to him. I waited for him to settle so that we could make eye contact.
“I met Rian nine years ago at a kink club in Seattle. I’d already gotten a bit of a reputation for a new Dom, and there were submissives who wanted to play with me. I just… there was something about most of them that I didn’t like; this needy quality that expected more than I felt I could give.
“I guess now I know why fate didn’t put anyone in my way that I could have a long term relationship with, since without knowing, I was waiting for you.”
He blushed, but said nothing, so I continued.
“Rian and I did a scene at the club and then went home together. To his place, which was a ton nicer than the hole I was living in. He doesn’t really flaunt his money, but his place was nice. We had sex that night, even though our scene hadn’t been sexual. In the morning, when I woke up, he was reading some brick of a book next to me and said, and I quote, ‘you Dom me like a God, but I don’t think I need your dick in the future. Wanna be besties?’”
At Kye’s startled laugh, I grinned, too. “Yes, that’s the kind of language he uses.”
“Doesn’t sound very… two-hundred years old,” he commented.
“He really exceeds people’s expectations, that’s for sure. He’s funny and fierce and… there’s a lot of life he’s seen, and death. I think he tries to stay positive because there’s this darkness in him, too. But even I have rarely seen it.”
Kye’s expression changed into something so compassionate it made my heart clench. “Now I want to hug him.”
I smiled. “Good. He’s a hugger. Anyway, so we decided we were best as friends, because the sexual chemistry didn’t work. It was totally fine, but why would we do that when we can just cut it out of the equation.” I took Kye’s hand. “But here’s a thing. If he needs submission, if he needs a scene? I won’t say no to him.”
Kye thought for a while, his gaze sliding from mine in a way that told me he was figuring things out in his head.
“I don’t have that much experience with BDSM. I’ve been to a couple of play parties and munches, so I’ve met people and played in a more limited capacity. For me, D/s is sexual and much like with sex outside a scene, I… it’s not easy for me to trust to that degree.” He made eye contact again. “With you? Absolutely. Put me on my knees, Alpha.” He smirked at my groan, then got serious again. “I can accept you being Rian’s Dom when he’s here and he needs you. I’m sure I’ll learn to love him as much as you do, based on what you have told us about him.”
“But?” I asked, feeling trepidation.
He shook his head, then pushed some long black strands of hair behind his ear and smiled. “No buts. It will take me a bit to truly internalize that you’re as much mine as I’m yours, since we’re so new. But I respect the fact that Rian knew you first and that your relationship isn’t romantic or sexual. He’s not a threat to our mate bond.” He then shrugged as much as he could lying down. “I have human sensibilities about stuff. Not only this, mind you. I was never really around werewolves and vampires growing up. The customs and differences between the cultures are kind of new to me, thus the studying. I’m learning, but it will take time for some preconceived notions to adjust.”
I found myself swallowing back sudden tears. Did he understand how amazing he was?
Overwhelmed, I blinked a couple of times and rolled onto my back. “Holy shit, Kye.”
He giggled, then moved closer to me and peered at my face. “So, wanna fool around?”
I chuckled a bit wetly. “We still need to talk about the bonding and all that, but yeah. Some fooling around would be welcome right about now.”
“Awesome!” He slithered down my body and settled between my legs. “I would like to taste you, Alpha.” He said the honorific in the way he probably would’ve called me “Sir.”
My throat clicked when I swallowed. “Are you going to be a good boy for me?” My tone was rough, my brain immediately going into Dom mode.
The smile that spread on Kye’s lips was breathtaking. “The best,” he said confidently, and I didn’t doubt him for a second.