34. Salem
Chapter thirty-four
“Can we stay in bed today?” I ask him, not wanting to function and just wanting to enjoy the afterglow of being mated. “This whole thing is confusing, but I find myself enjoying this.” My head snuggles into him, and he rolls us to our side before kissing the top of my head. If this is what having a mate will be like, I can get used to it.
That thought causes my stomach to drop. It feels like a lead weight is now residing in my stomach, and I don’t know how to process it. I am supposed to have five mates. Five. How will I manage that? On top of that, how will they respond to that? The whole thing doesn’t seem like it would be fair at all to them.
Knox leans over me, snapping me out of my thoughts. His voice is still heavy with sleep. “Where did you go?” He chuckles before adding. “I’ve been talking to you, but you seemed to have gone a million miles away.”
His handsome face frowns slightly at me, waiting for my answer. I reach out with my fingers, run them from his forehead down, and stroke his beard. As much as I want to keep it to myself, I know I shouldn’t. I want to go into this mate bond open and honest. Given how much baggage I carry, it’s the least I can do. I know I am going to fuck this up, but I’ll do it honestly. It only seems fair since my burdens also seem to be his now. “Sorry about that. I guess I was thinking about the latest dream visit.” My face drops. Guilt is a heavy emotion to hold on to. I even feel guilty for looking at him when I am thinking about others, who they may be, and what they will think of all of this. How will we balance all of this?
His fingers grip my chin gently, and I tilt my head up to look at him again. “Don’t do that.” He leans forward and kisses my lips. “Don’t pull away from me. Even if it’s something you don’t think I will like. I am with you, so don’t shut me out.”
I scrunch my nose up and shoot him a slight glare. “That is going to take some getting used to.” I close my eyes and blow out a breath. “I already feel like I am a terrible mate. From everything I know about mates, which is very limited, there is no other. Somehow, I am supposed to have five, and there is only me. It hardly seems fair.”
He huffs out a breath and rolls me onto my back. Knox rolls atop me, his elbows propping him up, but our faces are inches from each other. “I can’t lie. It’s going to be an adjustment. Somehow, this will all work out how it’s supposed to.”
I bite my lip and feel anxious as I lay some honesty out for him. “I think I know who one of them is.”
His head tilts, and the corner of his lip tips up in a smirk. “Me too. It’s Gage.” My eyes widen, and panic slightly grips me, yet I relax as he smiles. Knox must see the shock on my face. “I saw the fight you and your animal were having when we met. I love Gage like a brother. He will protect and love you in a way I can’t.”
“You can’t love me?” It’s my turn to frown, as that thought has my heart sinking.
He shakes his head and laughs. “You see, I am already struggling with my words. Gage cares. He is charismatic and charming. I am good at seeing what people need and directing everyone. We will have a pack, and I think everyone will bring something that you will need. With all the entities inside you, we might need the extra hands to give you what I can’t.” He moves down and kisses between my breasts. “You are more than enough for me.”
Knox will be my leader, and that thought turns me on for some reason. Thoughts of him commanding everyone with my pleasure. It gives me a shiver; even though I doubt it will happen, a girl can dream. Knox slides down and kisses me below my belly button. “What are you thinking about, you naughty minx? Because whatever it is has me rock hard.”
A blush colors my cheeks. “Is that a thing? Are you able to feel my thoughts? Because those are private and slightly embarrassing.”
That catches his attention as he moves back up my body. The tip of his cock teases at my folds. “Now I have to know.”
I close my eyes and groan. “You seem slightly like the leader. I don’t know why, but I keep thinking of you ordering everyone around for my pleasure, and I am here for it.”
My eyes peek open when he doesn’t answer. “That’s a fantasy we can probably make happen after we come together as a pack.” He closes his eyes and groans. “That came out wrong, but you know what I mean. There will be some adjustment period, I am sure.”
My fingers comb through his long, inky black locks. “As much as I want to sink on your cock, I want to know about you. I feel as if you know everything about my life, and I know nothing about yours.”
He smiles at me, and butterflies fill my stomach. “I can’t tempt you with a quick fuck followed up by pillow talk?”
“You mean while I slip into a weird, sleepy state while we wait for your cock to deflate?” I laugh and shake my head. “Talk first, sex after, then nap. Tell me about your family.”
“You know, you quite enjoy being stuck on my cock.” I shoot him a look, and he rolls over and faces me. “Hands to yourself, mate.”
“Can we try to meet your family when your cock isn’t inside of me?” I giggle and reach out to touch him, but I don’t because of the no-touching rule. “I think we scarred my dad. Probably for life.”
“Yeah, I think that would be for the best.” His hand reaches out and grabs my hands, which hover there. Knox pulls them up to his mouth and kisses both of them. “I changed my mind on the touching rule. No sexy touches.”
Fuck, he is sexy. I smile and touch his cheek before resuming, running my hand through his hair. “My family is what most consider wild. My mother came from wolf shifters. Her father tainted their bloodline with being of demon fae. Mother didn’t exactly fit in when she discovered she was a skin-walker. She can morph into anyone’s human form, along with her wolf. This scared the pack with the ability to shift into someone else for nefarious purposes. My mom isn’t like that, but I suppose if she wanted to, she could. Passing off as anyone is a dangerous gift. It’s a secret that we don’t like to share with others because it could make people panic. People are quick to fear, and my grandparents had to protect her the best they could, which led to them leaving the pack life for her not being accepted. She met my father, a siren, and they never looked back. They ended up creating a new sort of business. They operate underground fights and take bets. Business boomed, and it became quite an operation. Think of it as a speakeasy type of business, with their legitimate businesses on top and illegal sides below. It is a hotel and casino up top, but it also has special keycards and a code to take visitors below.?
“They had me and my sister Gabby before adopting Atticus.” He chuckles and shakes his head. “Gabby says she wants nothing to do with the business, but you can always find her at the casino. She makes a killing at cards and doesn’t seem interested in anything else. Gabby is great, loves to talk shit, and will for sure talk shit about your choices of men.”
I lean forward and kiss the mark on his neck. His lips find my ear as he whispers in his deep, growly voice. “It sends a weird pulse of pleasure throughout my body when you do that.” He pulls me up and kisses me before wrapping his arms around me. “My family will love you.”
I frown, wishing I had a family that would love him, though I have Ember and Constantine. “My siblings will not welcome you or me into their lives, so they already sound way better than mine.” I shiver, thinking about what will happen when my sister finds out I have a mate. “You might not want to be seen with me on campus. They will try to make your life hell.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening. You’re mine, and I will take on the world with you.” He practically growls at the last part; I feel how passionately he means it through the bond. “We will make our little family unit. You, me, and Gage are just the start.”
“Do you think I will feel the pull to the other three? I think 203 might be one of them.” I pause and consider Simon, but I don’t feel he fits neatly with Gage and Knox. I suppose only time will tell. Maybe I am overthinking this? I think about the wave of lust I felt the last time I was with Simon. I would be foolish to ignore it. I don’t voice things about Simon yet. Let him be my internal torment of questions. I’ve already voiced more than I ever have.
“I think we work on things between us first. Let us hole up. You know, there is a loophole for freshly mated students. It doesn’t happen often but buys us a couple of days. Let’s hole up here, and then we will have Gage over to discuss things.” He nips my neck. “I need you for at least one more day before I have to share you.”
I wrap my legs around his and thrust my hips upwards. “Good. I want to be greedy for at least one more day. Then, maybe we can deal with reality tomorrow, but one more day.”
I want to stay here for days and not come out. Just ignore everything else because the world gets complicated once we leave. “Enough talking.” I lean into him and kiss his lips, and we forget about the world.