CHAPTER EIGHT
Preston
Nightshade Bear Territory
I missed my baby as soon as he was gone. Wess probably thought I was a sniveling omega who couldn’t make up his mind. I was fine with leaving Andy with Mori and our parents until he cried for me. Now sending him away felt almost evil. As if I was choosing time alone with Wess over him.
“Does he like hanging out at your parents’ house?” Wess asked as he circled around the chair to massage my shoulders again.
“He really does. They’re great with him and it’s good for him to be around other kids too,” I nodded.
“It’s okay to miss him. If you want me to, I’ll go and get him back right now. We have forever – at least in the grand scheme of things and as ourselves we have however long forever turns out to be this turn of the wheel. If you need him here with you, we’ll make it work.”
“I know you’ve lived most of your life up on a mountain, but you do know what most mates do when they meet, right?” I asked, trying to sound teasing but it just occurred to me that despite his teasing and bossing me around he might not actually know.
“Is this a game? Like I say ‘no, I don’t know’, even though I do, and you show me what you like?” he asked, still massaging my shoulders. “And I’m all ‘Yes, professor. Like this? Am I doing it right? Am I your good boy?”
“And have you played that game before?” I asked, trying not to blush. My praise kink wasn’t so hidden, was it? I almost told him it was his job to tell me that I was a good boy. I stopped short because a bear needs to save something for later.
“Not that particular game but I know enough,” he said and I glanced up at him.
“I just know that we have forever to get to it. Is the true-mate magic making me hard as hell every time we’re alone?
Yeah. Do you smell delicious? Yeah. More delicious with each passing second. Plus, I still have to make you relax.”
“Make me relax?” I arched my brows and attempted to look cross with him. My teary eyes made the attempt an utter failure. Not very sexy.
“Yeah. I don’t think you ever learned how to,” Wess said. “I think that’s why you chose me in the Other World.”
“And you know how to relax?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, you did clean up the living room as soon as you walked in.”
“Because it bothered you. I could’ve lived with it,” he shrugged, still massaging my shoulders. At least I wasn’t falling asleep this time.
“So what’s your secret to being unbothered? And I don’t want to hear that the answer is not to care what other people think. Everyone cares what someone else thinks. It’s humanoid nature. Everyone wants to be liked.”
“Not true. Sure, some people need to be liked. Some people need to have the majority’s approval, but mate, I’ve lived on top of a mountain by myself for most of my adult life.
I don’t need anyone’s approval. I want you to like me.
I want the baby to like me – maybe he’s the one I’m most worried about not liking me because he’s obviously the center of your world and properly so.
I even want to get along with your family but I don’t need the world to like me.
Hell, they tried to summon me down from the mountain with some big party in my honor in exchange for my abilities.
I don’t want that. As for the rest of it?
Eh, I know what I’m capable of. I know how I am and what I can manage.
That means for the most part, I don’t worry. ”
“You are so going to bite the midwife. I can see it now. Mister Chill loses it all as soon as I’m pregnant. I can’t wait for it,” I grinned.
“Does the idea of me biting a midwife turn you on?” he leaned down and whispered in my ear.
His warm breath played on my skin, and I let out a long, deep breath.
Yeah, it sort of did. All my life I stood up for myself.
I was the perfect modern omega who handled all my own stuff.
Hell, I wasn’t even going to tell anyone about Sharon Claudis until she started causing trouble for other people too.
So was I a traitor to think this way now?
The thought of him organizing the house – even for a weekend – of him planning one meal or handling wrapping some Yuletide gifts or kicking Venal’s ass into a pulp if he tried to show up and be his mother’s evil minion again.
It hit me in all the right spots. Not just below the belt either.
My whole life someone always had my back but this was different. He was different.
“So, you’re going to teach me to relax?” I asked, not answering Wess’s question aloud.
“No, I’m going to relax you. You’re a carrier.
All the worry and stress genes have been built into you by centuries of carriers doing most of the work.
Asking you to relax would be like asking a fish not to swim.
I’m not an unreasonable demon. Eventually, you’ll know I’m not going anywhere but for now…
Eh, I’ll just do the heavy lifting myself. ”
Wess’s hands disappeared from my shoulders, and I thought he’d circle around the chair, but he disappeared into the kitchen.
Had I misread his intentions? I thought he was talking about sex or at least foreplay.
Was he talking about food? Did he have a food kink maybe?
That one where he liked to watch people eat?
“He’s rummaging around in the hall closet,” my bear said into my thoughts, tuning me into his more powerful hearing.
A second later, Wess walked back into the living room with the massage table I bought when I thought I’d become a massage therapist tucked under one arm.
“How did you know that was there?” I asked as he set it up in the middle of the floor.
I got up and pulled the drapes. Whatever we got up to this evening the whole of the Nightshade Bear Territory didn’t need to see. I had already spotted a few looky-loos trying to catch a peek at Wess.
“I found it while I was looking for the broom. You don’t keep it by the door. That’s where I keep it at the cave. It’s a good way to chase off squirrels and rodents without hurting them,” he said.
“Uh… Squirrels don’t come inside here. We make sure of that. Here – like inside the house here – Baby Andy would totally eat whatever squirrel he caught and then cry because it was gone.”
“Strip,” Wess said once he was certain the massage table was stable enough for his liking.
Then he disappeared down the hall again.
I froze in place unsure of exactly what he was planning.
He was in my bedroom now and I was glad I had a few minutes to straighten up before my shower while I was grabbing my clothes.
He came back with two belts and my brows arched higher.
“You’re still dressed,” he said, bemusement dancing on his expression.
“Uh… do I need a safe word before I undress?”
“Oh,” he laughed at the belts. “These are to keep you on the table. I’m not a sadist. Well, I can be if that’s your thing, but I’m not a sadist by nature.”
“Bondage then?” I laughed and a little tension fled my shoulders. I didn’t mind some spanking or when an alpha man-handled me a bit but a belt to the butt wasn’t my idea of sexy. I’d never yuck someone else’s yum but life had beat my ass enough recently without adding a belt into the equation.
“Gotta keep you in place, so you relax,” he shrugged. “Up to you. If you want to stay stressed out all night, I’m not going to stop you.”
When I didn’t say anything, he crossed the room and stood in front of me. He was a bit taller than me and his horns, though short, made him seem even taller. He pushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear and kissed my forehead.
“Look, I’m not going to do anything to you that you don’t want me to. So, yeah. Safeword. If this is too much just say so. It’s not fun, if you’re not into it.”
“What’s your plan once you have me on the table?” I swallowed hard.
Standing this close to Wess sent a wave of anticipation down my body.
My knees shook a little bit. I put my hands on his shoulders to hide it and to his credit he didn’t glance down or call me out.
His scent plunged into my lungs with each and every breath.
It was a shame that the massage table wasn’t strong enough to hold two people.
The sofa was. The chair was. The kitchen table and--- My train of thought didn’t merely derail, it crashed and burnt to cinders when his lips brushed against mine.
I slid my hands from his shoulders to behind his neck as my lips opened under his.
His tongue snaked into my mouth exploring the space and rubbing over mine.
His hands slid up and down my sides and hips before sliding around to hold onto my ass.
Using the leverage, he pulled me into him against his well-muscled body.
My knees shook as everything inside me called out to give into him – to let him take over and claim me.
Whatever changed – changed. Nothing stayed the same forever.
Now Baby Andy would have a healthy alpha role model around the house and maybe fighting a polar bear who could freeze her into an ice statue would deter Sharon Claudis from showing her smug, baby-sacrificing face around here.
Wess leaned back out of the kiss, flashing me a knowing look. How was he doing that? He wasn’t inside my head yet. We hadn’t exchanged our claiming vows.
“You’re not relaxing. No, thinking about Sharon Claudis. In fact, I think she should be the safe word. You utter Sharon or go all rigid, ready to fight like you did just now and that’s the safe word.”
“Uh… Thinking it is the safe word?” I teased, trying to cut the tension.
“For me, yeah. You can’t relax while thinking about her. Now, strip.”
“Take off your cotton fur!” my bear growled into my thoughts.
This time I did take off my clothes but I took my time because I didn’t want to seem too eager to follow his instructions. I had to put up some resistance, right? I just met the guy.