Chapter 11
11
BENJAMIN
Why was Connor so perfect? He was supposed to be my fated mate and all, but that couldn't be the full answer. I felt like I was back in school, staring at a blank essay test.
He was gorgeous in that carefree way some alphas had. Perfect without even trying. Stranger still, he didn't act like he was god's gift to omegas, unlike every alpha and even a few betas I knew. He was casual and carefree, and my consent mattered to him.
I found myself initiating touches and kisses with him, something I had never done. Every time, he rewarded me with the sweetest sounds, or when he'd eaten my ass … gods. I was still squirming in my seat just thinking about it.
That was the problem. I had too damn much time to think on this bus. I needed a distraction beyond my family's initial distress. My statements about meeting a kind alpha made them think the opposite, that my phone was being monitored by my big alpha captor. After reassuring them I had not been kidnapped, I apologized to my nephew via a text to my brother.
"[laughing emoji] I can't even tell you what he said," my brother texted.
I tucked my phone back into my carry-on and turned to Connor. "Do you want kids?"
"What? No! I mean, maybe, someday?"
"I think I know what you mean." I relaxed against him so my cheek rubbed his shirt on the opposite side of the mustard stain. "I never wanted kids, either, but now that I've met you, I think I could change my mind."
I clapped my hand to my mouth and sat up straight again, trying to put some distance between us. "I mean …"
"Meeting you has changed my mind about kids," he said. "Though your family chat made me reconsider. How old is your nephew?"
"He'll be nine tomorrow."
"Alpha?" he asked.
"How could you tell?" I rolled my eyes, more at my brother and his husband than at my mate.
Mate. Fuck. I really thought of him as my mate.
"I always thought humans had better rules about alpha dominance and omega subservience than shifter packs do."
"Maybe other families, but ours has always been more traditional." I sighed.
"Backwards, you mean." He nudged me in the side.
I snorted. "Yeah, maybe. Your pack was the same way?"
"Worse. I told you, they wanted me to bond an omega mate I didn't know. It was my job to breed him until we had a full litter of pups, and then our pack elders would teach them their roles in our pack all over again."
"You refused the bond?"
He nodded. "I wanted something more."
"Like what?" I pried, resting my head against his chest again.
"I knew I wanted an omega who thought for himself, not one confined by pack law and his station. The omega they wanted me to bond was sweet and complacent, and it felt so wrong."
Ha. Sweet and complacent did not describe me, even when I tried to be those things to keep peace with my family.
"I wanted a self-made man, someone who didn't let his role as an omega stop him from climbing a corporate ladder, or running his own company, or whatever he desired."
"I'm not exactly at the top of the corporate ladder," I reminded him.
"You refused to work at your family's bank, and you're a manager." I'd briefly mentioned my past to him, and he'd remembered that. No alpha had paid such close attention to me before, nor cared what I said. When he kissed the hair on top of my head, I loved him a little more.
Wait. What? I did not love him! We just fucking met!
He kissed my head, and I liked him more. That was all. Liked. Liked-liked. Gah, I was back in middle school.
I fell asleep somewhere in the middle of nowhere and woke to a hellscape. Freezing rain pelted the bus windows. The rattling sound woke me from a nightmare where I was giving birth to Connor's baby, but instead of a wolf or a human, it was a person-sized rattlesnake.
I didn't even wait. I pulled up the shifter website I'd been looking at earlier and scrolled to see if there were rattlesnake shifters.
"You've been researching shifters?" Connor's voice was froggy, either from sleep or lack of use. "You even found a legit site."
I hadn't questioned the source. "There are bogus sites?"
"There's a ton of monster romance fiction out there. You could have stumbled onto an author's website, or a fan fiction wiki. They're out there."
"I'm glad I have you to verify, then." I snuggled against his chest, and something hard poked my hip.
"Sorry," he whispered. "I'm a little excited when you're this close to me."
I glanced up and forgot whatever platitude was on my tongue. My brain short-circuited and all I could think was how much I wanted him, too. I swallowed before I started drooling.
The bus driver's intercom buzzed to life, startling me from my surreal reaction. "Those of you hoping to continue on this route to San Bernardino, we will not be leaving Las Vegas until this storm lets up. There's been a rockslide on our usual route through Cajon Pass."
"Something tells me we'll be stuck in Vegas overnight," Connor said.
I had to agree. This time, being stuck with Connor wasn't an inconvenience. Despite the shitty weather, I was looking forward to it.
When we finally arrived in Las Vegas, we once again helped the driver with our luggage. The attendants were nowhere to be seen in the downpour. Once we had all bags unpacked and accounted for, Connor and I made our way to the terminal to wait for a shuttle.
"Whichever shuttle arrives first," I said under my breath, "we're staying there tonight."
I was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't a hotel I recognized. I only hoped it wasn't on the strip. I wanted a quiet night in.
The Bear Den Inn and Suites shuttle was about the size of our second bus, but it wasn't as crowded. We were the only ones to board. We sat near the front, Connor on one side of the aisle with his new suitcase on the seat, and me on the other with mine tucked between my legs.
I'd been dazzled by the lights in New York City, but the Las Vegas strip was brighter by far. After what seemed like miles with all the stoplights, we turned onto a much quieter, though still bright, side street. Soon after, the shuttle pulled up to a beautiful lodge with a log cabin motif much like last night's B&B.
The beta behind the desk took one look at me and shook his head. "You'll have to find another place to stay. We don't allow single omegas. This is a family place."
"Excuse me?"
"He's my fated mate," Connor said at the same time. "We haven't found the right time to … bond … yet, but we need somewhere to stay the night, out of the storm."
The beta frowned at me again. "He doesn't smell like your fated mate. He smells human and vulnerable, and we're having a moon party tonight."
I held my tongue and made a mental note to look up moon parties on my new favorite website when we got to the room. If we got a room.
"I'll mark him tonight," Connor said.
Another mental note to research marks. Was it as simple as leaving a hickey on my neck, or was a hot iron involved? That was called branding, right? Not marking?
My pulse spiked the longer we stood before the desk. Finally, the beta sighed. "The hotel's rather empty tonight, thanks to the weather. The casino's in our main lodge. I'll see if we have a room in the tower instead, if you promise to stay there, together, until it's time for you to check out."
"Do you have room service?" Connor asked.
He nodded.
"Deal."
After a few tense moments where I worried the beta would change his mind, he created two room keys for us and directed us to the hallway that led to elevators up to the second-floor skywalk. From there, we were to cross to the tower, and our room was on the tenth floor.
I called my dad and pops to let them know I'd made it to Vegas, but this was as far as I would get tonight. While I did that, Connor called room service and ordered hamburgers and fries for us.
"Who's that in the background?" Pops asked.
"Um … Connor?"
He glanced up at me as he hung up the room phone. "Yeah?"
"Who's Connor?"
"He's … a friend," I said. We hadn't talked about marking, bonding, or whatever else the desk clerk had said, and I didn't want to push.
"Is this the same alpha he hated yesterday?" my omega dad asked.
"I didn't hate him," I said, rolling my eyes for Connor's benefit.
He leaned back against the headboard, and I glanced around the room for the first time since dropping my carry-on onto the luggage rack by the TV stand. We had only one bed in our room. Again. It was a king, at least, not the cozy queen we'd shared last night, but still, one bed.
Couldn't be helped, I supposed. Connor had said he would mark me tonight, whatever that meant. We had to keep up appearances, so the beta didn't kick us out in the rain. Maybe it was the pheromones I'd read about, but part of me wanted to wear Connor's mark. I'd met plenty of alphas, and he was the first who made me feel comfortable around him.
My brain insisted it was too soon for something so permanent, and I trusted my brain. Still, part of me wanted to listen to my heart.
After reassuring my parents I would keep them posted on our progress, I ended the call and flopped down face first on the bed beside Connor. "Ugh. Why are parents?"
"I wouldn't know," he said. "Mine haven't given a shit about me in twelve years."
"Sorry," I mumbled into the comforter, and then thought better of it. How many people had fucked on this comforter? I'd read somewhere that hotels washed the sheets after every guest, but the comforters got washed only when they looked dirty. This one smelled a few guests past filthy. I flipped onto my back and scooted up the bed until I sat beside Connor.
I took his hand in mine. "Do I need to look up what marking and bonding mean to shifters, or will you explain it to me?"
His breath hitched. "I said I'd mark you so we'd get the room. I saw how nervous you were on the strip, and I didn't want to look for another hotel. Forget I said it. I wouldn't trust myself to explain it in a way that's neutral, anyway."
My gut instinct was to distrust his word after he'd lied to the desk clerk, but then he kept talking, and what he said … Connor paid attention. He got me, and I'd barely had to explain my anxiety.
He was also quick on his feet. He'd lied to the clerk without hesitation, all while compiling the data and forming an accurate opinion of me. He was fucking perfect. It took my entire willpower not to roll over, straddle him, and kiss him senseless.
Instead, I grabbed my phone from where it lay between us and pulled up the website I'd used earlier.
"A mate bond forms between fated mates when they have unprotected sex for the first time," I read aloud. "The alpha knots the omega and attempts to breed with him. While the knot is forming, the alpha also bites the omega's neck or shoulder, called a mark, usually in an obvious place that can be displayed for all other alphas to see the omega is bonded to another. In some packs, the omega also marks the alpha to discourage unmated omegas from attempting to mate with their chosen. Most shifters mate with a single partner for life, while other monsters may have polyamorous groupings or partnerships they may choose to end at any time."
"That's a lot," I whispered. "Unprotected sex sounds like a really bad idea right now. I've always worried I would be extra fertile. My married siblings always joke about how they or their partners got knocked up the first time they had sex, and that's probably going to be me."
Connor patted my leg. "I understand."
His voice was soft, but I still detected a hint of sadness.
"I want you to meet my family, first," I explained, "and see what you're getting into. Then we can talk about mating."
His throat bobbed when he swallowed. "You want me to meet your family?"
I nodded. "My parents promised not to harass you too much, but the others can be a handful. And my nephew will probably hate you, but he hates everyone, including me. I'll be his least favorite uncle if I miss his party tomorrow."
"Have you talked to him?"
I laughed. "My brother texted me an hour ago to ask if I had the Wonderdog yet. I don't need to talk to him to know what will happen when I show up without one."
He sighed and pulled me into his lap. "I'm sorry. That sucks."
I couldn't think about my family anymore, not when I felt Connor's hard cock nudging me through our clothes.
"There are other things we can do tonight that don't involve getting pregnant," I said.