Chapter 9 The Fake Relationship
THE FAKE RELATIONSHIP
“Titan?” a deep voice boomed. “Are you in here, boy? Everdin said you blew up your kitchen and fried three of your limbs. Do you still have a tail?”
Titan and Mathlin exchanged a look; both of them groaned.
“The minute he’s gone, we’re putting up a sign on the door,” Titan said in an undertone.
“And locking it,” Mathlin added. “That’s if you don’t stare at my ass again.”
Titan dropped his gaze, ashamed. “I’m sorry. That was harassment.”
“No! No, I meant, my butt liked it. But if you want me to get any work done, you need to stop looking at my ass.”
Heat crept up Titan’s cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
Mathlin shook his head, his face pink too. “I’m not.”
Something bright and bubbly sparked in Titan’s chest. Mathlin really was beautiful, with his large eyes and soft-looking mouth, his thin chest rising and falling—
“Titan!” came the shout again.
Titan grimaced. “C’mon. Let’s go say hi before Mr. Gonal starts yelling the bakery down.”
He led Mathlin back to the retail area, where a large, middle-aged alpha stood with his hands on his hips.
“Titan!” Gonal said loudly. “Are you alright? Everdin said you lost half an eyeball and all of your hair. Limbs too. Looks like some of that did happen. Is that the omega you were saving from the arson attempt?”
Mathlin gaped. “Arson attempt?”
“There was no fire,” Titan said dryly.
“I thought as much.” Gonal nodded and focused on Mathlin. “But this is the omega you’re about to marry?”
Titan choked. Next to him, Mathlin spluttered.
“We haven’t gotten that far in our relationship,” Titan said hurriedly, his face growing warm. “But Mathlin is certainly someone very special.”
“Hmm,” Gonal said, continuing to watch them.
Belatedly, Titan realized that the alpha was waiting for some proof of affection between them. Gonal wouldn’t leave until his suspicions were cleared up. Oh, hell.
With both his arms injured, there was no way he could do small, innocent gestures. There was only...
Titan turned. “Hey, Math.”
“Hmm?” Mathlin looked up innocently.
Titan had to turn his entire body so his fingers could brush Mathlin’s. Then he leaned in, pressing a kiss to the top of Mathlin’s head.
Mathlin’s pulse stuttered; he turned pink. So beautiful. “T-Titan?”
“You’re so short,” Titan said. “It’s so hard to reach you. C’mon, hop onto this counter.”
Mathlin followed him to the register and braced his hands on it, gracefully heaving himself up. Now that he was sitting there, their faces were closer together. Titan leaned in and tucked his nose against Mathlin’s throat.
Mathlin jerked slightly in surprise, but held still.
Quietly, so Gonal couldn’t hear him, Titan whispered, “He wants proof of our relationship.”
“Okay.” Mathlin brought his hand up, sliding his thin fingers into Titan’s hair.
Titan hadn’t done this in a while. But with Mathlin, it came more easily than he had thought.
He trailed his nose down Mathlin’s throat, seeking out his pulse point.
Mathlin shivered. He smelled good. Titan filled his lungs with Mathlin’s scent and nosed up his neck to his jaw.
There, he trailed his lips along Mathlin’s skin, back and forth, savoring the softness of his face.
The longer he did that, the more uneven Mathlin’s breathing grew. And Mathlin’s heart began to race, his linen scent turning warm and sweet.
More so when Titan pressed a soft, sucking kiss to his throat.
“Titan,” Mathlin squeaked. “Are you sure—”
The hand in Titan’s hair dragged him closer.
Titan laughed silently, just a huff of breath. “Oh, you sly kitten.”
“I’m not a kitten,” Mathlin protested. But he tipped his head sideways to give Titan more access.
All of Titan’s instincts rumbled, pleased. He closed his lips over Mathlin’s pulse point and sucked.
Mathlin made a low, helpless sound. His pulse thundered in Titan’s ears, and he grabbed Titan’s shirt, pulling him closer. “Wh-what’re you doing?”
“Leaving my claim on you,” Titan growled.
He alternated between kissing, sucking, and grazing his teeth over that spot, turning that patch of skin a pretty pink.
It would darken into a love bite later, and it was insane how right that felt.
How right it smelled, to have his scent on Mathlin.
“Wish I could use my arms. I would pull you closer, take you apart with them.”
He said that louder, for Gonal’s benefit. Mathlin shuddered.
Was it an act? It sure was convincing.
But maybe it didn’t matter, because when Titan moved to plant a matching mark on the other side of Mathlin’s neck, the omega’s pupils were dilated, his lips bitten red.
Titan swallowed hard.
“You’re so gorgeous,” he murmured, hating that he couldn’t touch Mathlin with his hands. He wanted to cup Mathlin’s face; he wanted to brush his fingers through Mathlin’s hair and trace those soft-looking lips.
What would Mathlin’s mouth feel like on him? On his throat, his lips, his cock?
“Oh,” Mathlin mumbled, his face turning pink.
“You look amazing,” Titan confessed.
Mathlin turned pinker. And Titan couldn’t look away.
This felt right. More than Titan could explain.
Someone cleared their throat loudly, startling them both. When Titan turned, he found Gonal still in the bakery’s retail area, watching them with raised eyebrows.
“Oh,” Titan said, embarrassed. Had he really forgotten about their audience? That shared moment between himself and Mathlin felt so real. “Uh, you were saying, Mr. Gonal?”
“I see that you’re very involved with your omega,” Gonal said approvingly. “You had better bond with him, or someone might steal him from under your snout.”
Titan’s instincts growled.
Mathlin coughed, drawing Titan’s attention back to him. He was just as pink as Titan, and he looked so shy.
“I’ll work on it,” Titan said, unable to tear his gaze away from Mathlin.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Gonal nod. “Speedy recovery, Titan. Your buns will be missed.”
Mathlin choked.
As Gonal turned to leave, Titan fumbled with his words. “I’m hoping to be back in business in three weeks!”
“I’ll help spread the news,” Gonal promised. With a wave, he wandered off, leaving Titan and Mathlin alone in the silence.
“Fuck, I hope they’ll still remember that Twin Buns exists, after three weeks. Or however long it takes me to heal.” The thought of all his hard work slipping down the drain—that was really fucking depressing.
Mathlin frowned. “I can help you bake? If you want to guide me through every single step.”
“Are you sure? That’s a lot of hard work.”
Mathlin nodded earnestly. “As long as I can have Jannie in the bakery with me, I’ll do it. You don’t know how difficult it is to find a job that lets me have her by my side.”
Some of the tightness in Titan’s shoulders eased.
“I’ll have Hamilton borrow a high chair from the pack,” he said. “And a car seat. He’ll get whatever baby supplies you need.”
Mathlin brightened. “Thanks.”
Titan’s mind raced with this new option. Depending on how much Mathlin could do... maybe Twin Buns could be back in business sooner rather than later. He would have fewer products available, but it was better than having none.
Mathlin’s stomach gurgled. Only then did Titan look down, remembering that they were still pressed together on the counter.
He yanked himself away, his face growing hot. “Sorry, sorry. I forgot that we were done acting. I was... lost in thought.”
Mathlin looked disappointed. “It’s okay. That was nice. I mean, you and me squished together like two lumps of dough in a loaf pan.”
Titan raised his eyebrows. “You bake?”
Mathlin shrugged, his mouth twisting. “I... I used to cook for my Master.”
“Your Master?”
“I was an apprentice,” Mathlin said. “After my parents died, a wizard took me in. I learned a lot of healing stuff from him, but...”
His pause sent a chill down Titan’s spine.
“What did he do?” Titan asked warily.
“I’m a black cat,” Mathlin mumbled, his eyes downcast. “The wizard cast a spell on me and kept me in my cat shape for a few years, forcing me to remain as his apprentice. During mealtimes, he would change me back into a human so I could cook for him. If I didn’t obey, he would beat me.”
Anger bubbled fast and harsh through Titan’s chest. “What the hell? How did you get out?”
“I waited for a long time.” Mathlin sagged.
“I learned some things because he was full of himself and he liked to tell me exactly what other people did wrong. He had embedded his curse under my skin. He would get really mad whenever I tried to scratch it out, so I knew it was important. But it took years for me to grow strong enough to carve the spell out of my body.”
Mathlin twisted at his waist, pulling up his shirt to reveal a splotchy, scarred divot at his hip, two inches above his ass. It was surrounded by several faint scars—claw marks? Knife wounds?
Titan’s heart hurt. “Did you inflict all that on yourself?”
“Trying to get it out.” Mathlin nodded. “At first, the wizard would heal me when I bled. After a while, he decided not to. I had to figure out how to shape my magic to close the wound. There were several binding spells around his house so I couldn’t just run out of there—”
“Fuck,” Titan hissed.
“But because he left me alone and didn’t lock up his spell books, I began to read them when he was away.
It took me a long time to figure out how to undo the binding spells—I had to learn how to make them first so I could create my own, because I couldn’t risk messing his up and having him find out. There were a few accidents.”
Mathlin showed Titan the faint silvery scars on his arms.
“Math, sweetheart.” Titan’s chest hurt.
“I was lucky—I could heal myself before he saw the injuries,” Mathlin said. “It always takes a lot out of me.”
“But you got away in the end?”
“Yeah. I got to the point where I knew how to dismantle all the binding spells around the house. Then I waited until he went away on a long trip. When he’d been gone for a day, I undid all his binding spells, scratched out the spell on me, stole some of his money, and fled.”
“How old were you?” Titan almost didn’t want to know.
“Eleven when I met him. Sixteen when I got out.”
“Fuck. It’s been, what, six years? Do you think he might still be searching for you?”
Mathlin shuddered. “I hope not. I tried to remove as much of my genetic material as I could from his house... But you know cat hair.”
Titan winced, leaning in to bump Mathlin’s knee. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Math. I wish I had been there to get you out. How the hell are you still here, getting yourself into a contract with me?”
“You’re not a wizard,” Mathlin said, his gaze steady. “And I know you. I’ve spent a while with your pack. You’re good people.”
An indescribable wave of relief swept through Titan.
“You’re good people too,” Titan murmured. He had glimpsed Mathlin on the edges of his pack ever since he’d shown up, but he had been too busy juggling his businesses to take a closer sniff. Until now.
“I don’t want to think about him coming after me,” Mathlin mumbled. “It’s not like we can do anything against a wizard; we’re shifters.”
“Call Uriel. He might have ideas. But call him using my phone.” Titan sighed, glancing at the bakery’s front door. “But first, we should print that notice, in case anyone else barges in and we have to put on another act.”
Mathlin looked at the floor. “Okay.”
Was it Titan, or did the omega sound disappointed?
Titan wished—again—that he could use his arms. “I want to hug you so badly.”
Mathlin looked up, the corners of his mouth twitching. “Really?”
“Yes.”
Mathlin fidgeted. Then, shyly, he said, “I can hug you. You’re not the only one with arms.”
He parted his arms and legs; Titan didn’t wait for another invitation to step closer. Those thin arms wrapped easily around Titan’s back, pulling him flush against Mathlin’s chest.
Titan exhaled and closed his eyes. “Fuck, that feels good. I didn’t realize how much I needed a hug, after all this crap landed on me. Pretend that I’m hugging you back.”
Mathlin laughed quietly. “What if I pretend that you have octopus arms? You could hug me with eight arms instead of two. That’s four times better than a normal hug!”
“You may as well look for an octopus shifter. I don’t have eight arms.”
“Maybe I will!”
Titan couldn’t help the growl that rose in his throat. No, he really didn’t like the thought of Mathlin wrapped up in another alpha’s arms.
But Mathlin wasn’t his, either.
With great difficulty, he muttered, “Only after your contract is up.”
Mathlin nodded sagely. “Who else is going to help you fend off Mrs. Everdin? She might tell people you became a snail shifter and slimed their homes overnight, and they’ll all come in with pitchforks.”
Titan snorted. “Thanks for the laughs, too. I meant it when I said you’re amazing.”
Mathlin blushed, ducking his head.
Want him, Titan’s instincts rumbled.
They were quiet for a while, the silence filled with their thumping hearts, their breaths rustling in and out.
“What else do you think Mrs. Everdin has told everyone?” Mathlin asked.
Titan groaned. “What hasn’t she told everyone?”
“Do you think she told people that we’ve been turned into zombies?”
“Maybe she told them we’ve been bitten by radioactive spiders,” Titan said dryly. “Or that we’re now muscular mutant turtles living in a sewer.”
“Or maybe you have a harem of tree monsters waiting for your fertile juices.”
Titan cringed. “Don’t call it that.”
Mathlin snickered. Titan shook his head, wondering how he had grown so fond of this omega in the span of a few hours.
He opened his mouth to remind Mathlin to print that notice, to stop people from coming back to an empty bakery.
But he remembered Mathlin pressed up against him, panting softly as Titan bit and sucked on his throat. The lovebites were darker now, twin spots of purple on Mathlin’s neck like a claim.
Mathlin had seemed reluctant to put the notice up, too.
What if... they played this game of Pretend for just a little longer?