Chapter 7 #2
Oscar shook his head. “I want to go home. I’ve just met my mate today, and although I don’t expect anything to happen until he’s ready, I don’t really want to be around others either. My wolf isn’t really happy, and I just want to be in a little bubble with you for a little while.”
I honestly hadn’t thought about things from that perspective. I just wanted my mate to have someone show him attention and that someone cared. But why would he think that nothing was going to happen between us?
“Then home we will go. I apologize for insisting we come out tonight. It wasn’t the best planning on my part. I only wished to show you that I valued you and wanted to give you the attention I feel you deserve.”
Oscar grinned up at me. “Good. Let’s go,” Oscar said as he pulled on my hand.
I chuckled as I let him lead me away from the ice sculptures, and we quickly departed the area where the festival was being held.
Once far enough away for Oscar, he slowed his pace, and we continued on at a relaxed walk while the snow floated down around us.
“I have never seen snow fall like this,” I said after a time. “Well, this heavily. It was snowing earlier, but this is different.”
It was truly a beautiful sight. We could see it falling in the light the lamps provided along the pathway, and there was just something so serene about it.
“I’ve seen snow before, but it wasn’t until I moved up here that it was an every-winter thing. There isn’t snow where I’m from in Mississippi.”
“Do you miss it?” I asked suddenly. I knew there would be certain aspects of the fae realm that I would miss, but as a whole, I wouldn’t wish to go back. There wasn’t enough positive there for me to desire to return.
“Not really, no. I understand my birth pack has been through a massive overhaul, and everyone that was in charge is no longer in charge.” Oscar snorted. “Most aren’t even alive any longer, from what I’ve been told.”
If I didn’t know of Oscar’s past and how his pack was involved in his being sold, I would be concerned about his comment. But I wasn’t. He had every right to feel that way.
“I believe the correct response to that is rightly so,” I hedged.
Oscar gave me a beaming smile. “Yes,” he said quietly. We continued walking at a slow pace in silence for a few minutes until our new house came into view. The lights from the top of the council building gave the falling snow a completely different feel, and I could only call it romantic.
“May I kiss you?” I asked suddenly. I’d wanted to for hours now but had lacked the courage to do so. It hadn’t felt as if it were the right time, but now, possibly, it would be. The mood felt more romantic, at least for me.
“You don’t have to ask. You’re my mate.”
“Ah, but I do. Yes, we are mates, but I would never force you to do something you were uncomfortable with.”
I leaned in, cupping Oscar’s face with my free hand, and gently pressed my lips to his.
The tingling that had been coursing through my body all afternoon flared before it calmed slightly.
It seemed to center where we were touching though: my hand on his face, our hands laced together, and my lips on his.
I was a bit insecure about it all, but when I heard a quiet moan from Oscar seconds before his lips parted slightly, those insecurities fled. When Oscar’s tongue gently touched my lower lip, it was my turn to moan at the sensations it caused.
Oscar’s tongue pushed forward, causing a zing to go through my body when it touched mine.
Wanting nothing more than to participate fully, I pulled my other hand free and placed it on the back of Oscar’s neck at the same time my own tongue pushed back and found its way into Oscar’s mouth.
He moaned once more but then pulled away by turning his head to the side.
“I apologize,” I said immediately and took a step back.
I wasn’t sure if it was my lack of experience that made things awkward or that he felt I was pushing too fast for too much.
Either way, I didn’t wish to upset my mate, and I wanted to make sure I addressed whatever was wrong that caused him to pull away so quickly.
“Why?” Oscar asked. When I looked at him, he looked hurt, and his aura seemed to agree with that.
“I did not mean to make you uncomfortable. I know I’m not experienced in these things. I’ll ask that you are patient and give me time to learn what it is that you enjoy.”
Oscar growled, and I’ll admit that it was adorably cute to hear his wolf side come out.
I couldn’t wait to meet his wolf and thought that perhaps I was about to because he seemed to be struggling at the moment.
Instead, I found the front of my coat grabbed, and Oscar started walking, pulling me along with him toward our house.
“Did I do something to upset you?” I asked as my mate continued to pull me along behind him.
It was easy enough to keep up with his steps, but he wasn’t speaking, and that had started to worry me.
I went through everything I could think of that I could have done wrong, and the only explanation I could come up with was that I’d pushed for too much too fast. I knew about his past and that I would possibly have to wait for some time before he was ready for me to claim him.
Oscar finally stopped when we were standing in front of our house. The snow was falling harder now, and I wondered how much more we would get. Would Oscar want to go out in it tomorrow? Would he talk to me? He was currently glaring up at me, and I had no idea why.
“Are you going to talk? What did I do wrong? I understand I’m not the greatest at that stuff, but I am trying.”
“That’s the thing, Monroe. I’m not upset.
You did nothing wrong. And I want nothing more than to be inside our house with you when you do that again and again.
For the first time in I don’t know how long, I felt something.
Something here,” Oscar said as he touched his chest and then moved his hand down his torso.
“I want us. I want to be yours, but I’ll wait if you’re still unsure. ”
Unsure? “Oscar, I would love to call you mine. I know you have a somewhat difficult past that wasn’t of your own choosing, but that doesn’t bother me. You’re mine, and I want nothing more than to be yours.”
“Then take me inside and claim me.”
I took several deep breaths before I nodded once, and after taking Oscar’s hand in mine, I walked inside our house with my mate by my side.