Chapter 14 #4
Emory usually tried to keep his claws at bay when they had sex, but after his rut, he’d permanently saved a set of pillows, sheets, and blankets to his online shopping list, just in case he had to put in a quick order after a particularly fun night in bed.
The first time they had tried out Cameron’s fuzzy handcuffs Emory had wrecked every pillow he owned.
The same thing happened when Cameron innocently pulled a spreader bar out of his overnight bag and asked Emory if he had any experience using them.
The answer was no, he hadn’t, but he sure did now.
Clearly, he would be submitting an order tomorrow for another set of new sheets, because Cameron tilted his hips in just the right way, and Emory’s claws sprang from his fingertips, slicing into the top and bottom sheets on his bed.
Cameron tilted his hips again and moaned loudly, causing Emory’s tail to sprout from the base of his spine. It immediately wound its way around Cameron’s leg, which seemed to be his lion’s favorite move.
“Emory,” Cameron groaned, and he lifted his arms above his head as two tentacles sprouted, one from each hip.
“That’s it, love,” Emory panted.
“I’m…I’m close,” Cameron whined, and his tentacles wrapped around Emory’s back.
Emory bent down to kiss those two freckles. “I thought you were going to say you’re ready.”
Cameron’s eyes rolled back as Emory gave a particularly hard thrust. “I’m…also that.”
Emory slowed his pace and waited for Cameron to meet his eyes. “Now?”
Cameron’s smile was slow, almost lazy, as he traced his fingers over the place he was going to mark on Emory’s neck. “Can’t you feel it? I think we’re both ready.”
As soon as Cameron said it, Emory knew he was right. As of late, he could feel Cameron’s energy almost all the time, but he had never been able to see his fated mate’s octopus before. That was usually reserved for mated fated mates, and even then, it wasn’t always possible.
Emory’s lion chuffed in excitement as a clear image of Cameron’s octopus appeared in Emory’s mind. His lion sprinted over to him and, with as much grace as a four-hundred-pound beast could manage, he settled overtop of Cameron’s octopus.
“Emory,” Cameron whispered. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes, running down his cheeks and onto the ruined sheets. Emory kissed them away before pressing their foreheads together.
One of Cameron’s tentacles came to rest on Emory's shoulder, and it pulled Emory down towards Cameron’s neck.
On instinct, because what was more instinctual than finally mating with the love of his life, he licked the tender skin, preparing it for his bite.
His lion teeth descended into his mouth, and he opened his jaw, pressing his canines in without puncturing the skin.
“I love you,” Cameron whispered, as one of his large suction cups attached to Emory’s neck.
Emory couldn’t speak, but his tail tapped three times on Cameron’s leg.
Sliding his teeth into his mate’s neck was somehow foreign and yet as familiar as taking a bite of his favorite pastry. The taste of Cameron’s blood was the sweetest thing he’d ever tasted, and not even the burning, pulling pain in his own neck could take away from the moment.
Emory was barely even aware of his hips still thrusting into Cameron, but when Cameron let out a scream of ecstasy, pleasure rocketed up Emory’s spine, and he came deep inside his mate.
His knot pressed easily inside Cameron’s well-prepped hole, and it raced up Emory’s cock, smoothly locking into place.
Pleasure and pain collided inside his body as the beautiful orange light that made up Cameron’s omega octopus stabbed through Emory’s lion. Emory pressed back, forcing his golden light against and then straight into Cameron.
There were no words to describe the feeling. If he had to, he’d say it felt like getting everything he’d ever wanted. Love, peace, and acceptance all wrapped into one.
Somehow, even though it felt inconsequential compared to all of the other feelings he was experiencing, Emory came a second time. His knot jerked and pressed, rubbing against the tight walls of Cameron’s writhing body, as he shouted through his second release.
The carnal, full-body pleasure brought him back into his body at the same time as Cameron’s tentacle flopped limply off Emory’s neck. He hadn’t really known what mating would feel like, but he hadn’t expected to be able to feel the mate mark forming. It was like his skin was rearranging itself.
He carefully pulled his teeth out of Cameron’s neck, and a trickle of blood ran down Cameron’s chest. Emory wiped it off with a corner of his sheet, ignoring Cameron’s protests. He was still overly cautious with Emory’s things, but Emory couldn’t care less.
Once he’d gotten all the blood off, he trailed his fingers up Cameron’s chest until he reached the newly formed mate mark. He reverently pressed his fingertips to the mark, and Cameron gasped.
Pleasure flooded through Emory, and he cupped his own mark in surprise. Cameron’s eyes filled with tears, and a moment later, so did Emory’s. He could feel everything Cameron was feeling: a blinding joy, deep satisfaction, and a fair bit of overwhelm.
The good feelings mixed with and intensified Emory’s own, but their combined feelings of overwhelm settled on him like a heavy crown.
They were mated now. Cameron was his, and he was Cameron’s, and no person, job, or family tradition was going to change that. They had done it. They’d overcome every obstacle and made it out together.
Emory slowly settled his body on top of Cameron’s, mimicking his lion’s position so he could gather him in his arms. He was careful not to jostle his knot too much, but every slight adjustment made pleasure course in a loop through their mate bond.
“Words cannot do my feelings justice,” Emory murmured as his tears leaked onto Cameron’s cheeks, mixing with his own.
“I love you?” Cameron suggested, and Emory laughed.
“I love you,” Emory repeated.
Nope, it didn’t even come close.
“You’re my…” Cameron tried again, but he slowly trailed off.
“Your mate,” Emory said firmly.
“My everything,” Cameron whispered, and Emory let out a soft sob.
He rubbed his wet cheek against Cameron’s. It chafed a little uncomfortably, but Cameron pressed into it.
“My whole world… My fated mate… My Cameron.”
Meeting Cameron’s family couldn’t have been more different from their trip home to meet Emory’s.
Cameron’s parents greeted them at the door and ushered them inside with hugs and kisses for both of them.
Shay threw herself at Cameron, trying to climb onto his back the way Emory knew Cameron liked to do to her.
She was more reserved with Emory at first, but as their first evening wore on, drinks were had, games were played, and she warmed up to him.
The next morning, Cameron’s parents made them breakfast, and Emory insisted on doing all the dishes. Cameron’s ba offered to dry the dishes, and he gave Emory the least intimidating ‘shovel talk’ of all time.
“We’re so thankful Cameron has met you. So long as all the amazing things we’ve heard about you are true, we have no doubt you two will have a long, happy union,” his ba said.
“I think between the two of us, I’m the lucky one, sir. Cameron is the most amazing person I’ve ever met, and I can’t wait to be with him and to love him for the rest of my life.”
His ba gave one sharp nod of his head and then launched into a long-winded story about Cameron as a kid, with references to a tri-fold presentation Emory desperately wanted to get his hands on.
An idea had been forming in Emory’s head, and he needed to find a few minutes with both of Cameron’s fathers alone.
Unfortunately—not that he was really complaining, but still—for the remainder of the morning, Cameron gravitated around him like a moon orbiting a planet.
He enjoyed this needier side of Cameron when he allowed it to shine through, and Emory caught Cameron’s parents smiling fondly at them several times.
A little while after lunch, he was able to grab Cameron’s ba and pa, and he told them his plan to propose to Cameron.
He wasn’t sure of the timing, but he knew he wanted to get Cameron a dark blue sapphire ring, and he wanted it to be a surprise.
Cameron’s ba excused himself, and a few minutes later, he came back with a slip of paper with Cameron’s ring size on it.
“I had to ask Shay, but she promised not to say anything,” Cameron’s ba said. “So long as she gets to be in the bridal party.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Emory promised, and he accepted a hug from both of them before they rejoined Cameron and Shay in the living room.
A few hours later, Shay made a big show of stripping off her cardigan and skipping towards the back door. “Alright, Emory. Time to show us if you’re truly worthy of my brother.”
“I think it might be a tad late for that? But I’m happy to prove myself to you in any way you see fit,” Emory said, his lion eagerly rising to the challenge.
He followed after her but froze on the first step to the backyard when Shay began to strip off her shirt.
“Oh, my apologies!” Emory said, throwing his hands up in front of his eyes.
Cameron crashed into his back, and they both stumbled down the stairs.
“I’m so sorry,” Emory tried again. “I thought I was supposed to follow—“
“She’s going to shift, Emory, that’s all,” Cameron said with a breathy laugh.
While many shifters had no qualms about being naked, that wasn’t how Emory was raised.
He could count on one hand the number of times he’d seen any member of his family shirtless, much less actually naked before shifting.
Ronan had trained a little of that reticence out of him, often sauntering around naked in their sprawling yard after a shifted run, but Emory still wasn’t used to it.