Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Jin
I run my hand down the center of Leo’s spine, watching as he instinctively curves his back, chasing my touch. It reminds me of a cat more than a majestic bird. I can’t help but smile, watching him sleep.
Leo is so beautiful. I still can’t believe I get to call him my mate. I can hardly believe this silly tattoo was pointing to him all along and I was somehow too caught up in myself to realize it. He’s everything I didn’t know I needed in my life.
Leo listens when I talk. He revels in my excitement. He keeps me grounded when excitement threatens to tug me up into the sky. We balance each other out and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I love him.
The feelings aren’t a surprise, but what is surprising is how quickly they’ve come on. I thought love took time but I guess, when you meet your person, there’s no timetable on love.
I run my fingers through Leo’s hair, amused that this is the first time I’ve seen it flat and the only reason it’s not its usual crazy self is because it’s greasy from how sweaty we’ve gotten last night. Leo warned me that heats were hot. Thankfully, as a Seraphim, I’m used to the heat.
His heat should take another day and a half at least, according to what Leo said. I’m ready to help him through it however he needs. I’m ready to take care of him. He’s mine.
A shiver runs down my spine at the thought.
Leo starts to stir. He shoves his face against my chest, breathing me in, his thigh thrown over my groin. His back stretches even further before his pretty brown eyes finally open, finding mine.
“Good morning,” I say softly, cupping his cheek in the hand not on his back.
“Hi,” he says, giving me a small, sheepish smile. “I think we can finally take a shower.”
“Oh yeah? Get all cleaned up before getting dirty again?”
Leo shakes his head. “I think my heat is over. It feels like everything has settled.”
“Already?”
“Mhmm,” Leo hums, his eyes unreadable. I’m not sure what it means that he’s finished his heat so quickly but there’s something about his tense body that tells me he knows and is nervous to tell me.
I care about him so much. Nothing he could say could ever push me away. I just need to somehow let him know exactly that.
“Leo,” I whisper, leaning down and kissing his forehead. I hear him give a soft sigh. “Why is your heat over so early?”
“It means my heat caught.”
“Caught what? I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
Leo swallows thickly before his eyes meet mine.
“It means that my heat did exactly what it was supposed to do, Jin. It ended early because there’s no more need for it to go on.
My scent has already started changing, I can smell it.
You and I are now mated. Our family has grown.
” There’s a moment of quiet before Leo takes my hand, guiding it to his stomach.
“Oh,” I breathe out, finally understanding, hitting me like a bolt of lightning. “Oh, Leo.”
“Is that okay?”
I hold my mate tight against my chest. “Of course it’s okay,” I say, doing my best to calm my racing heart.
I never really thought much about finding love, let alone having a family. Especially not a ‘traditional’ biological family. I never thought about having kids. I never dreamed of having a mate, especially not after getting my tattoo.
My head is spinning. It’s so hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that my entire life has changed in such a short amount of time.
I was content to drift, to experience new things, and live life to the fullest all alone.
I was content to just keep doing what brought me joy.
It’s not until Leo quite literally bumped into my life that things felt like there could be more, that I was allowed to want more.
I’m elated. My chest feels so full of love that it might actually burst. I might start to crack and sunshine will spring right out of my skin, burning us both.
I didn’t know I wanted to be a mate, I didn’t know I wanted to be a father but I do.
I want it all. I want them both so desperately that I’d give up anything to keep them for as long as they’ll have me.
I clear my throat. “Are you happy?”
Leo looks up at me, smiling. “Yes,” he says, one of his hands coming up to rest on my cheek.
We hold each other’s faces, gazing at each other.
“I’m really happy, Jin. I’m so happy you’re my mate, I’m happy I’m pregnant.
I’m so happy you spent my heat with me. I’m happy you’re in my nest. I’m happy that I get to keep you.
” He blurts it all out quickly and it takes a moment for all the words to really register but when they do, I’m bowled over all over again with emotion.
I love him so fucking much. “I’m so happy. ”
“I am too,” I say simply before leaning down and kissing him. It feels like I’m sealing our declaration with a kiss, solidifying our feelings for each other.
We share soft kisses back and forth but they don’t have heat to them like the previous night.
We might be covering each other’s faces and necks with kisses but there’s no need to push it further than that, content just the way we are.
It’s soft and gentle and warm and perfect.
I can feel his affection for me through our lips and I hope he can feel the same.
“Let me keep taking care of you,” I say softly, “let me bathe you.”
“Okay,” he whispers.
“Stay here. I’ll be right back, Leo.”
I get out of the nest, stretching my arms over my head.
My back gives a few satisfying cracks. My entire body is exhausted, my muscles sore from our lovemaking.
I can’t imagine how Leo is feeling or how a full heat would leave us feeling.
Maybe I should start working out so I’ll have better stamina for the future.
Knowing there’s a future with Leo leaves me grinning as I move through his apartment to his bathroom. I start running the water in the bathtub. Once it’s the right temperature, I plug it and let it fill.
Looking in the mirror, I stare at the bite against my neck.
I touch it, hissing as pain runs through my shoulder.
It’s bruised and soon, the indents will scar, leaving me marked for life.
I don’t think I’ve seen anything more beautiful.
No tattoo could ever compare to this mark against my skin.
The rest of my body is filled with scratches and bites and hickies.
My entire body is a tapestry, showing Leo’s love for me.
I’ve never felt prettier, like a piece of art.
Back inside Leo’s bedroom, I dip down and snag a pair of boxers, sliding them on. Then I kneel at the entrance of the nest.
“Let me carry you?”
“Okay,” Leo says softly, his cheeks turning adorably pink. We mated, fucked, and confessed to each other, but somehow, asking to carry him is making him blush. Gods, he’s adorable.
Leo crawls over to me until I can get a proper hold on him. With a grunt, I lift him into my arms, one hand under his knees, the other behind his back. Then I carry him into the bathroom before gently setting him down in the water.
“Feel good?”
“Yes,” he says with a sigh, letting his head fall back against the edge, his entire body going lax.
Something inside of me preens at taking care of Leo like this, some buried instinct making itself known now that we’re mated.
I want to be the best mate possible for Leo. I never want him to regret picking me.
I turn off the water before kissing his forehead. “I’ll be right back.”
“Mhmm.”
I scurry into the kitchen, grabbing a cup and some fruit from the fridge. Then I make my way back into the bathroom, finding Leo exactly how I left him. I stare at him for a moment, just taking him in.
Leo is just as covered in marks as I am.
There’s a possessive flare that rises up inside my chest. He’s mine.
He’s mine and it’s clear not only by our words but also by the intricate marks on his skin.
Bites and hickies and bruises. His mating mark is proudly on his neck, a display that everyone will be able to see.
“You look so beautiful,” I say, unable to keep the words inside.
Leo’s eyes snap open. “What? Right now? I look like a mess, Jin!”
I shake my head. “You don’t. You wear my marks so prettily.”
There’s that blush again. “Yours are sexy.”
“Thank you,” I say with a grin, falling to my knees beside the tub. I pull a grape off the vine, offering it to Leo. He takes it, chewing slowly. I could watch him like this forever but then he’d get all cold and pruny. Best to keep focused on the task in front of me.
“Would it be okay if I washed you?”
Leo gives me a small smile. “I’d like that.”
I feed him another grape before dipping the cup into the water, pouring it over his shoulders and neck.
I do it again, this time pouring it carefully over his head, getting his hair wet.
I miss that mop of hair sticking up all over so it’s my duty to get those luscious locks back to their former glory before our mating.
Especially since I’m the reason they’re so greasy at the moment.
“That feels nice,” Leo says with a small sigh as I run my fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp. When I wash it, a noise hits my ears. It takes me a long time to place what’s going on.
“What’s that noise?”
Leo’s eyes open, giving me a sheepish look. “That’s me. Sorry. Your hands feel really nice.”
“You?” That’s when I realize Leo is purring.
My insides light up like a Christmas tree. I’m filled with pride and affection. The purr sounds so pretty and I can see myself growing addicted to this sound, doing everything in my power to hear it as much as possible.
I lather up the shampoo before rinsing it, careful to keep it away from Leo’s eyes. Once his hair is clean, I feed him a few more grapes. The purring is still there, loud in the otherwise quiet bathroom, the perfect soundtrack to my soft care.
Picking up a washcloth, I cover it with soap before gently cleaning Leo’s body. His body is so beautiful and it feels like such a privilege that he’s shared it with me in this way, that I get to be the one to care and clean him.
“Hey, Leo?”
The purring slows down as he looks at me. “Yes?”
“Can we move in together?”
“I would like that,” he says with a smile. “Do you want to move your things in here?”
“Yeah. The place I live in is supposed to be temporary anyway. A place for creatures like me who kinda sprout from nothing to get their feet under them.”
“Okay. You can move your things in here.” Leo seems to think for a moment before slowly, saying, “I have a different idea. We could look for something more permanent. Like a real house.”
I can’t help but grin. “Yeah, we could do that. Something outside of town where you can shift into your other form. Somewhere we can raise our kid.”
“We can even have an extra room just for my nest,” he says, gaining some excitement. “Can you imagine? An entire nesting room? That sounds incredible.”
“Anything you want,” I tell him seriously. “I would give you anything if it’s within my power.”
“All I want is you,” he says, bringing his hand out of the water, touching my cheek. “You’re everything I didn’t know I needed, Jin. You’re my sunshine.”
“Then you’re my sunflower because I need you facing me to face the rest of the world.”
“Oh, you’re kinda sappy.”
We both chuckle softly. I lean into the tub and steal a quick kiss. Then I pull the plug on the tub, letting the water drain.
“Let me help you stand so you can rinse off.”
After fully rinsing off, I help Leo out of the tub. I dry him off and make sure the bite on his neck is clean. While Leo dresses himself, I take a quick shower myself. Once I’m clean and dried, Leo is already back by his nest, pulling things out and tossing them into different laundry baskets.
“Laundry time?”
Leo sighs. “So. Much. Laundry.”
We spend the day like that, recovering and cleaning. It feels so domestic in the most delightful way. Even just doing laundry is amazing because I get to do it with Leo. I think I’d find paint drying interesting if I got to do it side by side with my mate.