Chapter 2 The Adult Kind Of Milkmaid
THE ADULT KIND OF MILKMAID
Mathlin dragged his feet, reluctant to step out of the cabin.
He didn’t want to leave the pack.
He knew he should. He wasn’t a wolf, and he wasn’t even a guest.
He had come here stowed away in an alpha’s car trunk, when his friend Killian had an emergency. Except the threat was now gone, and there was no more reason for him to be here.
The thing was, Mathlin did have a place to go, that wasn’t with the pack. There was a safehouse back in Cartfalls—a fully stocked place with A/C and ice cream deliveries twice a week.
But with only himself and Jannie in that too-big apartment, he had felt just a bit anxious.
Who was he kidding? He had been feeling a lot anxious.
In the safehouse, with all that space around him, Mathlin kept feeling as though he would be attacked at any moment. He was used to hiding in small, dark places, places too small for an alpha to enter.
Funny enough, there were lots of alphas in this wolf pack.
None of them had attacked him. They hadn’t harassed him, or made him feel uncomfortable.
In fact, the pack had loaned him a crib so Jannie had a place to rest her little head.
Mathlin was currently spending his nights on his new friend Ottis’ couch.
Ottis was a wolf omega from the pack, and he, too, had a baby.
So the pack wasn’t making him leave, or anything like that.
It was just that Mathlin kept feeling as though there was a timer ticking above his head. Sooner or later, the pack would ask why he was here. Then they would kick him out.
Or Jannie would accidentally start a fire—in a cabin made of wood—and the pack would run him out with pitchforks.
Ottis had assured him that none of that would happen. Mathlin didn’t believe him.
Hence his moving out.
All he had to do was take one step, then another step, until he was out of here.
Eight-month-old Jannie wriggled in his arms, babbling and chewing on a bright orange disk. When she saw him looking, she stuffed the spit-covered toy into his mouth.
“Ugh!” Mathlin cried, jerking his head back.
Jannie giggled and chewed on her fingers instead. Mathlin shook his head fondly. Jannie was his everything; he wouldn’t go anywhere without her.
He turned the doorknob, finally stepping out of Ottis’ cabin.
“Breaking news! Breaking news!” someone yelled, skipping between the pack’s cabins. “Alpha looking to hire a milkmaid! Accommodations provided, pay negotiable. Wound care experience preferred.”
Mathlin blinked. “Wound care?”
The tall, thin man stopped and turned sharply to look at him, even though he was plenty far away. A regular person wouldn’t have heard Mathlin from that distance. “Yes, the alpha employer is very grumpy right now. He’s hurt and needs help with everything.”
Mathlin swallowed. “Tell me more.”
The man loped over to him. He had white hair and a wizened face, sharp eyes that studied Mathlin intently. “He’s looking for a live-in helper to be his hands—his don’t work right now. You might have met him before? He’s part of this pack. Titan. He owns the bakery, Twin Buns.”
“Oh!” Mathlin had passed the bakery briefly, during Crush and Killian’s car chase. He had never stepped inside though. “I thought only one of Titan’s arms was injured.”
The man winced. “He broke his other arm this morning. And he has some orders that need to be filled urgently.”
Mathlin cringed in sympathy. “I... I might be able to help with that.”
“Really?” The man perked up. “Even with the adult tasks?” He held his loose fists in front of his hips as though he was holding a very long sword handle, and jerked his hips back and forth.
Mathlin’s face grew hot. “Uh. I... I guess I could do that too. It’s not like I have an alpha.”
If Titan belonged to the pack, then Mathlin would have an excuse to hang around without being chased away.
“Great!” The man clapped his hands briskly. “I’m Hamilton.”
Hamilton took off his casual suit. He tucked his clothes into the pouch of a black harness and slipped the harness over his head. Then he shifted into a huge pterodactyl.
“Climb on,” Hamilton said.
Mathlin checked to make sure Jannie was secure in her chest carrier. Then he clambered onto the pterodactyl’s back, and gripped the harness tightly. “I’m secure! Or as secure as could be. I hope we don’t roll off and die.”
Hamilton cackled. “Prepare yourselves for the Ride Of Death!”
He took off into the air with broad, sweeping strokes. Jannie squealed. Mathlin squawked and quickly decided that he preferred his feet solidly on the ground.
“I’m not a bird!” he cried, clutching the harness with white knuckles.
“It’s okay,” Hamilton yelled back. “One day, I’ll take you and Titan up into the skies, and both of you can shriek and grab at each other like one of those adventure comedies. It would be a great first date. Well, maybe I can tie Titan to my back, and you can both gaze at the stars.”
The trees and cabins fell away beneath them. Everything looked so tiny now.
“This is like a horror movieeee,” Mathlin wailed.
“I’m having the time of my life!” Hamilton whooped.
It was far too long before the pterodactyl finally landed. Hamilton laid himself flat on the ground, and shifted back into a man.
Mathlin rolled off his back and crawled away, blubbering with relief. “I could kiss the parking lot. This is the love of my life.”
“If that were the true love of your life, you would be sucking the parking lot’s face right now,” someone rumbled.
Mathlin froze and looked up.
An alpha stood at the entrance to the bakery, his left arm in a sling, his right arm hanging limply by his side.
From Mathlin’s perspective on the ground, the alpha was huge.
He had kind hazel eyes and dark brown hair, full lips and a strong jaw.
Actually, he was really handsome. Not to mention his broad shoulders and muscular body.
His loose shirt hinted at a set of full pecs, and his thighs filled out his gray sweatpants.
“Why do you have to wear gray sweatpants?” Mathlin blurted. “Don’t you know everyone can see your bulge?”
Then he froze, wondering why the hell his mouth had let that slip.
Hamilton cackled. Titan raised an eyebrow, his lips curving into a grin.
“I mean, I did not see any bulge at all!” Mathlin hurriedly said. “No bulge, just a flat front of your pants where there are no suspiciously long shadows that try to suck in your eyeballs. Like a black hole. No, I don’t mean the one in your butt.”
He froze again, thinking back on the things he’d just said. And now he wanted to smack his forehead against the ground.
“Oh, hell, you can just bury me right now. ‘Here lies Mathlin, the loose-lipped stray cat whose eyes are bigger than his stomach and his butthole combined.’”
“I’ll take him,” Titan said, smiling even though he had shadows under his eyes. “This is the first time I’ve smiled in a good long while. Thanks.”
Hamilton clicked his tongue and gave Titan a double thumbs-up. “I’ll be back to help you draft a contract, if you need that.”
“Thanks.”
Mathlin leaned sideways so he could press his face against the asphalt without squishing Jannie. Then he turned his head and gave the ground a kiss. “There, this is the love of my life. Now no one can say anything bad about me, because the parking lot is my alpha.”
“If there’s no tongue involved, it’s not counted,” Titan said dryly. “Tongues mark the depth of passion.”
Mathlin scowled.
Titan met his gaze unwaveringly.
“The parking lot has no depth I can plow with my tongue! Unless you find me a pothole.” Mathlin stuck his tongue against the asphalt and gagged. “Ew!”
“Hey, don’t shame the love of your life.” Titan coughed, his shoulders shaking. He was laughing at Mathlin.
“Why don’t you lick the parking lot,” Mathlin growled. “Let’s see how much you like it.”
“Are you sure? Would it count as cheating if I lick the great love of your life?”
“I should’ve named my butthole the love of my life,” Mathlin blurted. Then he moaned, horrified at himself.
Titan was biting his lower lip, his eyes sparkling. He glanced at the ground and back at Mathlin. “I could lick the ground.”
“Would you really?”
The alpha nodded. “But I might not be able to get back up, if I bend that low. Both my arms don’t work.”
“I’ll help,” Mathlin said mulishly. “Just to see you lick the ground.”
A handsome, boyish smile tugged at Titan’s lips. “Promise?”
“Promise.”
Titan stepped away from the bakery’s entrance and paused in front of Mathlin. Mathlin scrambled to his feet. This close, the alpha was two heads taller than him, and twice as broad. He was intimidating.
Instead of threatening Mathlin like other alphas had, Titan went down on his knees, spread them wide open, and carefully lowered his chest to the ground. He hovered his face an inch above the asphalt, glancing back up at Mathlin.
And his pink tongue peeked out, dragging against the parking lot’s rough surface. Mathlin winced in sympathy.
Titan grimaced and spat, dirt sticking to his tongue. “Ugh. Haven’t done this since I was a pup.”
He stuck his tongue out, trying to get it clean.
“Here, you can lick me instead,” Mathlin said. Then he wanted to smack his face. He shuffled over to grasp Titan’s shoulders, pushing him upright—not that Titan seemed to need it at all.
His shoulders were very broad and warm against Mathlin’s hands. Mathlin turned to offer Titan his shirt.
Titan blinked. “You want me to... lick your shirt?”
“Yeah, to get the dirt off your tongue.”
“I could just rinse it out at the sink.”
“Oh.” Mathlin thought for a bit. “But can you turn on the faucet?”
“Damn it.”
They stared at each other. Titan finally leaned in, wiping his tongue on the edge of Mathlin’s shirt. “Ugh. Thanks.”
“This feels really weird,” Mathlin blurted. “I’ve never had an alpha try to clean his tongue on me before. It’s like you’re desperate or something.” He stiffened. “Oh, gods! This is how I get fired even before I sign a contract!”
“You let me lick your shirt, so I think we’re even,” Titan said dryly.
“Titan Whiteclaw!” someone cried. Footsteps sounded. Then a middle-aged woman stopped in front of them, looking scandalized. “Did you just... lick the ground?”
The alpha froze.
“You’re a baker! What were you thinking, putting your mouth on such an unclean surface?”
Titan glanced at Mathlin, looking so lost and awkward that Mathlin decided to step in.
“It was my fault,” Mathlin announced. “I said he wasn’t allowed to see his baby—” he gestured at Jannie “—unless he licked the ground to prove that he’s sorry.”
Ever so slightly, Titan’s eyes widened. The woman’s gaze snapped to him; Titan visibly tried to school his expression into one of regret.
“He’s right, Mrs. Everdin,” Titan said.
Mrs. Everdin gasped and turned to Mathlin. “Titan wronged you?”
Titan frowned, jerking his head slightly. Maybe Everdin was a regular customer and he couldn’t afford to lose her business.
Think fast, Mathlin told himself. “It’s a long story. But he saved me last night and hurt his arms because of it. So he can’t bake for a while. He and I are even now though. Well, he did more—he saved my life. He’s a hero.”
“Hmm,” Everdin said, the cogs visibly turning in her head. She patted Titan on the shoulder and turned away excitedly. “I guess I’ll forgive him for that. I’ll spread the word.”
“The bakery will be open soon,” Titan said hurriedly. “I’m recovering quickly, so your favorites will be in stock again.”
“Good,” Everdin said before hurrying off.
Titan sagged when she left the property. “Wow. That tongue of yours.”
“My tongue is good,” Mathlin said. And coughed awkwardly. “I mean, it licks very well.”
Titan snorted. “Fuck. I need to not laugh so much, or I’ll end up spraining a muscle.”
“Well, the good news is that I can help you heal faster,” Mathlin said.
Titan’s head snapped up. “You can?”
Mathlin shrugged. “I have a bit of healing magic. Not a lot. But it’s enough to enhance your healing so it shouldn’t take as long.”
“Thank fuck,” Titan breathed. “I would go insane trying to relearn how to bake. There’s just so much to be done around here.”
Now that Mathlin was looking closely, he saw the strain on Titan’s face. Faint worry lines creased his mouth and forehead; a sort of hopelessness lurked deep in Titan’s eyes.
Oh, he thought. Titan really needs help.
Not just with his hands, but with his life.
Mathlin knew that feeling. Not that his life was any better, but maybe... he could find a way to help Titan?
“I’ll help,” he said. “I might end up making a mess of everything though.”
Titan huffed. “I’ll keep a close eye on you.”
“You mean, like voyeurism?”
The alpha snorted, his lips curving up. “Not that invasively!”
“Maybe you should! Just in case!”
Immediately after, Mathlin realized his mistake. He couldn’t have Titan watching him around the clock. But it would look suspicious if he changed his mind now.
Titan watched him, a smile playing on his lips. “If that’s what you want.”
“Yes. Wait. Did I just ask my boss to jerk off while watching me?” Mathlin blurted. “Because that escalated quickly.”