Chapter 16 Huston
HUSTON
He’s my mate—now what?
Candrin was acting weird. And I understood why.
To me, I instantly could detect that he was my mate, and the frenzy, want and need made complete sense.
But for him—as a human—it probably confused the daylight out of him.
He was so embarrassed when I knocked on his door earlier—he thought he was caught rubbing one out.
And I guess that was true, but not in the sense he’d have imagined.
I could scent his arousal and it called to me from across the house, so I knew before I knocked that he had his hand on his dick.
Was he thinking of me when he did it and saying he was on the phone was just an excuse? What if he’d had his hand on his cock while talking to another alpha?
No! my beast insisted.
You’re right. That wasn’t it.
He had been mumbling, though, so it was possible he was talking to himself, or pretending to talk to me. Yeah, I liked that version.
When he’d said, “Come in,” I’d had second thoughts and told him I’d see him later. I wanted nothing more than to have him in my arms, but decided not to rush it.
I just needed to remember that he was new to this world—so new that he didn’t even realize he was part of it yet. I needed to give him time to adjust. The last thing the poor guy needed was to feel pressured by me.
And then there was the fact that my brothers didn’t know yet.
Tanner was probably going to be pissed at first. Candrin was both a human and our tenant.
My bear picking him as our mate was going to mess up that dynamic completely.
He’d come around, of course, and be completely fine with it. But at first it would be a challenge.
Oberon? I wasn’t so sure about him. He was the free spirit of us.
He was creative and looked for love and happiness in everything.
He’d probably be over the moon pleased that I found a mate while at the same time worrying that the human in Candrin might not fully accept all the shiftery parts of me.
The entire thing was a cluster and until we all got back under one roof and could discuss it, I felt like I was in limbo.
In limbo and horny as fuck. Being surrounded by Candrin’s scent had me in a constant state of arousal. But something was holding him back and I was trying to respect his human boundaries, which was why I was out back in my fur.
My bear didn’t want to be out here, though. He wanted to be inside with our mate. I did too, but not if it would make him uncomfortable. He deserved so much better than that. He deserved everything. This time out here to clear my head and figure shit out was good for us both.
Mark.
Mate.
Ours.
Mate.
My bear disagreed which made it more imperative that we be out here running ourselves to exhaustion.
The air was good for me, clearing my head enough to make a few decisions.
They weren’t earth shattering, but I had a mini plan.
I was going to go to the market and get something quick and easy for dinner, nothing as fancy as I’d like but money was tight which was how Candrin walked into my life in the first place.
So in a way, it was the best thing ever.
I would make him dinner and we could do something boring, like play a game or watch a movie—something not sexy. That would only lead to us getting back into bed again which I loved, but also I was trying to be good.
It was getting to be mid afternoon and if I was going to do anything I planned, I needed to get back into my skin and off to the store before the only meal I had time to cook was spaghetti with jar sauce.
It would be fine, but also not at all what I’d wanted to do for my mate.
I wanted to make something better than a single alpha “I don’t cook” kind of meal.
When I got back to the house, Candrin was in his room.
I called from downstairs to let him know I was going to the store, fearful that if I went up there, neither of us would have the willpower to keep our clothes on.
Was that a problem? For me—no. For him, I had a feeling he was still struggling with all of this too much to have it be anything less than confusing.
“Okay.” He shouted from his room and I had no idea what he meant by it. I was assuming he meant it at face value because it would be far too easy to overthink things.
The store wasn’t far away and as I wove through the aisles, I picked up items I thought he might like as well as food for dinner. The bakery section had a beautiful baguette and I decided to do a caprese salad and an Alfredo pasta. It was an easy meal that felt fancy without breaking the bank.
My phone went off in my pocket as I walked out of the store. My initial reaction was I hoped it was Candrin, but how could it be. We may have been intimate, but that didn’t mean we’d shared phone numbers. I needed to remedy that.
It was with disappointment that I saw it was my brother, Oberon. And not because I didn’t want to talk to him. I did. But because even though it was impossible for Candrin to be on the line, I wanted him to be so badly.
“Hello brother.” I worked my way to the car, bags in hand and phone haphazardly balanced between my head and my shoulder.
Someone not too far from me honked their horn at I didn’t know what.
“Did I catch you at a bad time?” Oberon asked.
“Naw. Perfect time actually. I’m just leaving the grocer. That honk was not for me.” At least I didn’t think it was. If it was, I didn’t change my behavior for it and they could die mad about it.
I put the groceries in the back seat and climbed into the driver's side.
“I was just checking to see how things were going with the new tenant. I feel bad I’m not there to help.”
I wasn’t sure what he thought there was to help with, but he was like that. Oberon was always there to lend a hand or an ear.
“About that…” It felt great to have someone to talk to about this. I hadn’t been able to talk to Tanner since I scented Candrin as my mate and I needed to let it all out. “Let me focus on backing out without killing anyone and then I have some things to tell you.”
I’d have stayed in the lot, but didn’t want to chance someone over hearing me discussing my mate and my bear. Would they? Probably not, but I was too much of a worrier about that kind of thing to risk it.
I backed out and drove out of the lot, turning away from the house. I had a feeling this conversation was going to take a bit longer than the drive home and it was easier to just drive the long way.
“I’m on the road. You still there?”
“I am. Didn’t mean to call at a bad time.”
“You didn’t. It was actually perfect because I have amazing news to share.” And I crossed my fingers that he thought so too. “The new tenant—Candrin—my bear scents him as our mate.”
His breath hitched and I braced myself for negative feedback, but none came. “That is amazing news. Tell me all about him.”
And so I did, everything from his very humanness to the way his lips curled while he smiled to the way he liked his coffee. I left no detail unshared with the exception of things related to our physical connection. Some things were better left unsaid.
“He sounds wonderful. Have you told our brother?”
“No. Haven’t talked to him yet. I hope he doesn’t get too pissed about him being human and our tenant. You know Tanner.” Although I supposed if the shoe was on the other foot, Tanner might have been thinking the same exact thing about me. As different as we were, we were also the same in many ways.
“For what it’s worth, when I talked to him about Candrin, he had nothing but nice things to say about him. He did mention he was a bit spoiled in his upbringing, but you can’t help how you were raised, you know?” His words had me seeing some things that had transpired in a new light.
“I’m glad he likes him. I do too.” I sucked in a deep breath. “I’m nervous about sharing my bear side with Candrin. What if he’s scared and can’t look at me ever again?”
I thought back to the old nursery rhyme where the spoiled little girl runs off in fear. Would my mate do the same? I didn’t think so. But if he did…
“Fate wouldn’t do that to you, brother. That’s not how it works. Candrin was put on this planet for you and you for him. Congratulations.”
“Thanks. It’s like—I can’t even explain it, but I want this for you so badly.”
“I do too, Huston. I do too.”