Chapter 39
CHAPTER 39
brEE
Her mate bought her a house.
The man she’s known for less than a month purchased a house for them.
He opens the door, and she gasps.
The first thing she notices is the spacious kitchen to her right, with stainless steel appliances and a massive marble island big enough to prepare a feast on.
“This is the base model,” he adds, as she gawks at the room. “If you don’t like it, we can always renovate.”
He says it conversationally, as if it’s normal that he’s presenting her with a house. To her left is the front room, fully furnished with a comfortable looking cream sofa set. A cat tree is in the corner of the room, so tall it almost touches the ceiling.
“Ellie’s upstairs, by the way,” Cole adds, as if reading her mind.
Her heart aches as she thinks of the small, round face. “I left her with you,” she murmurs, guilt bubbling in her stomach. “I didn’t try to take her with me. I just…left.”
“A lot happened that night. You left her in good hands.”
She looks up at him, his brilliant blue eyes meeting hers. “I never knew you could be so gentle,” she admits. The corner of his lip quirks and his expression softens.
“I can gentle when the circumstances permit it,” he quips, and she chuckles.
“You’re unbelievable,” she sighs, wandering into the kitchen to move away from him. But he follows her, invading her space until her back is against the island and he’s only inches from her. She cranes her neck to look up at him, and her heart flips at the intensity in his eyes.
She should push him away .
But she doesn’t want to.
“Unbelievable. Impossible. Ridiculous. You can call me whatever you want,” he murmurs, his lips inches from hers. “Just don’t run away from me this time.”
She licks her lips, inhaling his deep scent.
“I had to,” she whispers. “I didn’t have a choice.”
He shakes his head. “There’s always a choice, sweetheart.”
Then he leans in and kisses her.
It’s a desperate, hungry kiss, and she doesn’t stifle her moans. He grips her waist and hoists her onto the marble island, and she spreads her legs to wrap them around his hips. He groans into her mouth and runs his fingers down her neck to her sensitive mating gland, gently rubbing circles around it.
The sensation goes directly to her clit. When she pulls away to breathe, he uses the opportunity to suck bruises into the delicate skin of her neck.
She moans, the sound echoing off the walls of their home.
“You smell so sweet ,” he groans.
“Oh,” she gasps, her cunt throbbing. “More, please?— ”
He pulls her sweater off her and lets it fall to the kitchen floor, her bare arms on display.
They both pause, panting heavily.
“You’re beautiful,” he promises, pressing his forehead to hers. He takes the hand that was gripping his shoulder and lifts it, pressing a kiss to her wrist, keeping his eyes locked on hers.
Then, he switches and does it to the other hand, tenderly pressing his lips to the marks on the opposite arm.
“I love you,” he whispers. “I’m in love with you, Breana.”
She shivers as their mating bond thrums. Love, belonging, and safety wash over her so thoroughly she forgets to breathe.
Cole kisses her chastely, and when he pulls away, she sighs.
“I want to be worthy of being your mate,” he says. “I know what I do will never truly be enough; but I want to come as close to it as I can.”
She gives him a small smile as his essence rushes through her veins.
“You don’t have to say it back,” he adds. He presses a kiss to her palm and intertwines their fingers. “I’ll say it enough for the both of us.”
Bree nods, tears filling her eyes. “If you love me, then there are a few more things to discuss,” she breathes. “Before I allow any of this to happen. To let us happen.”
The truth is, she was doomed the moment she walked into the house.
She could have insisted on driving back to her apartment, but once she was in the car with Cole, she knew she was halfway to forgiving him.
She’s not ashamed that he’s her mate, and she doesn’t want to refuse their bond.
But she needs answers.
Cole doesn’t argue. He simply nods, scoops her into his arms, and carries her to the couch. She cuddles up against him, sighing in his hold.
She closes her eyes as he runs his fingers through her hair, inhaling his citrus essence and allowing the mating bond to soothe her.
“Ask away,” he purrs, his chest rumbling. “I’ll tell you anything you want.”
“The cabin,” she says. “Did you pay for me to stay the extra week?”
He chuckles. “No, sweetheart. I paid for the entire property.”
She pauses. “Wait. What?”
His fingers continue to card through her hair. “Do you not remember our discussion at the graveyard? I told you the title was in your name. Well, our name, technically.”
“Wait, I’m sorry, you bought the cabin?” She turns to look at him, but he just shrugs.
“You liked it. It was an easy decision.”
She blinks. “And the food?”
“You didn’t have anything in there but stale granola bars and water. I wasn’t going to let you starve.”
She huffs. “Okay, but that was a very unconventional way of going about it. And you know, illegal . You snuck artisan cheeses into the kitchen while I was asleep?”
“Guilty.”
It shouldn’t be funny, but it’s so absurd that Bree finds herself laughing.
He liked me so much he broke into my cabin just to leave me fancy cheese.
“Now I don’t have to sneak around anymore. It’s much easier this way for the both of us,” he smirks.
“And the pens? I assume you were watching me at the antique shop.”
He nods. “I was never far, unless I had to be. ”
She shouldn’t find his words reassuring, but she does. She blames it on the mating bond.
“What about…the other things you’ve done?” she asks quietly, staring at her hands. “What if you get caught? What happens then?”
“Then we leave. But I have no plans of that happening.”
“That doesn’t mean it won’t happen. If anyone finds out about Eugene…” her breath comes out in a gasp, and Cole pulls her tighter to him. “…I could be complicit.”
“Eugene was going to drink himself to death if I didn’t pull the trigger,” Cole deadpans. “And you would never be responsible for my actions in the law’s eyes, ever .”
“What happens, though? What happens to us if you get caught?” She wraps her arms around herself, curling her body inwards.
She doesn’t want to have this conversation, but the questions have been brewing in her mind since she left Green Woods.
He owes her answers.
“Nothing. I have plenty of contacts and favors that are owed to me. The worst-case scenario is we lie low for a bit until everything sorts itself out.”
She nods slowly. “Tell me they deserved it,” she murmurs, looking up at him. “ Promise me they deserved it.”
His eyes narrow. “More than anyone. I swear to you, Breana.”
He’s telling the truth; she can sense it.
“I just don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand?” Cole’s voice is gentle, but his eyes burn with intensity.
“Why did you start? What made you do all this?” she asks, wringing her hands.
He presses a kiss to her hair, and she leans her back against his chest, his purr vibrating through her body. “ They’ve always smelled wrong ,” he admits. “The evil ones, the ones that got away with it or played the system, they made me sick. Being around them in court would cause headaches so strong I thought my head was going to burst. It made everything easier when they were dead.”
She blinks. “You could scent if they were a bad person?”
“Yes. And the ones I killed deserved it. I’ll never regret killing them, but I regret making you fear me because of it.”
She wonders if this is how Ellie felt when she was with Erik.
Did Erik ever apologize to her?
Cole pulls her out of her train of thought by taking her hand and intertwining their fingers. “I suppose I went about doing everything wrong when we first met.”
“I suppose you did,” she mutters.
“I have no plans on ever killing again, unless you or the kitten are at risk. You’re my mate. I’ll always protect you.”
“I know,” she whispers.
As he holds her on the couch, in the home he purchased for them, she knows she’s already forgiven him.
Does that make her a horrible person?
She finds she doesn’t care.
“You’re not alone anymore,” he tells her softly. “I could sense your pain these last two weeks. It fucking killed me, sweetheart. You never have to feel that way again.”
She swallows a lump in her throat and leans up to kiss him. It’s soft, so different from the ones when they were in the kitchen. He responds in kind, his mouthwatering scent invading her senses.
“Never again,” he growls, as she swings her legs over his hips to straddle him. “I’ll never let you feel that way again.”
The kisses turn heated as she pants into his mouth, rubbing herself against his lap. His hands move to her waist, forcing her down against the outline of his cock and creating fiction between them.
Mine , her inner Omega purrs.
“Yours,” he hisses, and she realizes she’s spoken out loud. “C’mon, baby, take what’s yours.”
She doesn’t need to be told twice. She doesn’t bother to unbutton his shirt. She tears it open, exposing his sculpted chest. He groans as she buries her face into his neck, sucking and nipping hard, purposely leaving marks on him.
Slick drips down her cunt and into her panties, and she doesn’t want to wait any longer. It’s been too long since he’s been inside her.
She scrambles off Cole long enough for him to unbutton his slacks and her to shuck off her jeans and panties. His cock juts out, thick and massive, with the tip already glistening with precome.
“Fuck,” he hisses. “Sit on it, sweetheart. Bounce on it.”
Grabbing her hips, he pulls her back on him, his length sinking into her slowly.
He looks at her with wonder in his blue eyes, his lips slightly parted.
“Look at you,” he breathes, as she works her hips. “Fuck, that’s it, baby. Take it.”
His hands grope her ass, his palms squeezing her mercilessly as she rides him. He pulls down her tank top and bra, exposing her nipples as he sucks on one viciously.
She screams, bouncing on his cock until her pleasure crests.
“I missed this,” she chokes out. “I missed you, Alpha .”
He growls into her chest when her release washes over her. Her cunt walls squeeze him mercilessly as she soaks his cock, slick dripping out of her and staining his pants.
He releases her nipple with a pop and pushes his tongue into her mouth, swallowing her cries as he jerks under her. With a low moan, his cock inflates, and his scent deepens as he comes, pumping his seed into her womb.
It’s different than last time. This time, Bree knows exactly who Cole is, and she’s choosing all of him.
She continues to ride him until his knot is so inflated that she can’t move. With a sigh, she collapses against him, leaning her head against his shoulder.
“I love you,” he whispers, wrapping his arms around her. He rocks them gently, his cock still twitching as she nuzzles in his hold.
They bask in the afterglow, her wrapped in his strong arms as he stays locked inside of her.
It isn’t until hours later that he slips out of her and presses a kiss against her forehead.
“I’m going to clean you up thoroughly,” he murmurs as she stifles a yawn. “Then there’s someone I want you to meet.”
There’s a customized office just for her.
Her jaw drops. It’s her dream office, welcoming and sparking her creative energy.
Floor to ceiling bookshelves surround her, with a rolling ladder attached to it. An antique desk made of dark mahogany sits against the wall without shelves, and her pen set is on top waiting for her.
Someone else is also waiting on the desk, resting on a white, fluffy blanket.
With a massive yawn, Ellie the kitten perks her orange and white head up and meows happily at Bree.
“Oh,” she breathes, as the feline stands up and arches its back, demonstrating a massive stretch.
It’s obvious the kitten has been in very caring hands .
Without waiting for Cole, Bree strides over to Ellie and scoops her up.
“Hi,” she croons, smiling widely at the feline. She’s grown so much in just two weeks that Bree can hardly believe it’s the same scrawny cat she met two weeks ago.
She glances at Cole, who stands in the doorway watching her with a wistful look on his face. “She’s healthy,” he says. “She’s had all her shots and is about six weeks old.”
She shakes her head in disbelief, and he raises an eyebrow at her.
“I just never expected you to have such a big heart. You’re a walking dichotomy.”
He puts a hand to his chest in mock appreciation. “I’m flattered. Believe it or not, I’m not always a monster.”
“I’m learning that now,” she says softly, as Ellie nips at her fingers with tiny fangs.
She’s starting to believe that the good outweighs the bad in him.
Two weeks ago, she wasn’t sure if it was possible.
But as he comes up to her and takes Ellie from her arms, his eyes soft with adoration, she knows it’s true.
Cole may be monstrous, but he’s her monster.
Her mate.
And she’ll never be alone again.