Chapter 15 Cassie
Cassie
After a peaceful dinner, Eleanor and Alexei were back at each other’s throats by the time dessert came.
“I am not going to your house, bear! I have a house of my own,” Eleanor said firmly.
“Then I come there.” Alexei’s voice was just as stubborn. “I must protect you.”
“No, you must protect the human,” Eleanor said, nodding at Ruby. “I’m a shifter. I can protect myself, remember?”
“Hey, can we not call me ‘the human’ like it’s some kind of insult, please?
” my mate asked. “Why don’t you both come to my place?
All the security is upgraded so it’s probably safer than your house, Eleanor.
There are only two bedrooms so it’ll be a bit of a tight squeeze, but maybe you and I can share a room. ”
“No!” Both Alexei and I spoke in unison.
I knew that Ruby and Eleanor were not attracted to each other, and Alexei knew it too, but that didn’t mean that our inner beings were going to be okay with the unmated females sharing a bed.
Ruby gave us a confused look, then shrugged. “Fine, then one of you can sleep on the couch I guess.”
“I can sleep on floor,” Alexei said easily. “I sleep in much worse places when I am on missions.”
Eleanor rolled her eyes but didn’t comment.
“Great, let’s head back to my place then,” Ruby said. “I’d like a chance to relax and get a good night’s sleep before we leave on our road trip tomorrow.”
Alexei and I were going to have to figure out how to manage the road trip. It would be unusual for me as a writer to travel on the bus with the team, but at least it was explainable. Alexei would be harder to explain.
As it turned out, we didn’t have to worry.
After a quick check-in with Lois, we arranged for Alexei to be introduced as a visiting coach from Belarus, ostensibly here to see how U.
S. teams trained their players. I guess that’s why Lois was the boss, she could come up with a plausible cover story for anything.
“Did you tell Lois that Eleanor is your mate?” I asked Alexei as he hung up the phone. I’d stepped away to check on my own mate while he talked to my boss. She and Eleanor had disappeared into their respective bedrooms almost as soon as we did our security sweep of the condo.
He shook his head. “I am not making wolf angry,” he said. “I already have one angry wolf… how do you say? In hands?”
“On your hands,” I corrected, placing emphasis on the first word. “Okay, let’s get some sleep then.”
“You may have the coach Cassie.”
The next morning I woke up to find Alexei sleeping on the floor in the hallway, his big body blocking anyone from getting past him.
“Alexei,” I whispered.
The bear jumped to his feet faster than I could blink, immediately awake.
“Jesus Christ, how did you do that?” I asked. “I didn’t even see you move.”
“We were trained to wake up immediately and fight off attack,” he said simply.
“Do you want coffee?” I asked.
“Of course.”
The two of us headed to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. Ruby hadn’t prepped it before she went to bed the way she did the previous night. I had the feeling that she’d needed some time to process. A lot had happened yesterday.
We’d scarcely sat down when the two females came out, both of them looking slightly grumpy, probably because I’d heard both of them tossing and turning late into the night.
Discreetly I ran a napkin over my face, making sure there were no traces of the blood I was drinking from a coffee cup. I didn’t want my mate to pass out again. Ruby glanced at my two cups, wincing slightly as she realized one likely contained blood, then looked away.
Meanwhile Eleanor’s gaze went right to Alexei.
The bear was shirtless, revealing a muscular chest and washboard abs, covered in just enough hair to make him look manly but not gross.
With the dark stubble on his jaw and the half-lidded look he sent his mate, even I had to admit he looked hot, something that did not escape Eleanor’s attention either.
She stared at his chest for so long that Alexei rumbled a laugh.
“My eyes are up here,” he teased.
Eleanor huffed in annoyance at being caught, then stalked over to the coffee pot, pouring a cup of coffee for both her and Ruby.
After we were all caffeinated, we gathered our bags and headed to the stadium to meet the bus that would take us down to Portland.
“Head to the back,” I instructed Ruby and Eleanor.
It would be easier for us to see what was going on from the back of the bus. Eleanor took a seat in the last row and when Ruby moved to sit next to her, Alexei blocked her with one large paw.
“You must sit with mate,” he said, sliding into the seat next to his own mate.
Eleanor sighed loudly but she didn’t comment, she just moved as close to the window as she could get.
Ruby and I sat across from them, settling in for the three hour ride to Oregon.
I worked on my laptop while Ruby dozed next to me, at one point resting her head on my shoulder. I liked that. I liked it a lot.
I sent Alexei a text.
Cassie: What do you want to do about sleeping arrangements tonight?
Alexei: The team all have their own rooms. We will each stay with our mates.
Cassie: Will Eleanor go for that?
Alexei: I will show her this is a good idea.
Cassie: Good luck.
“Are you two texting each other from three feet away?” Eleanor asked suspiciously.
I gave Alexei an oops look, then turned my attention back to my laptop, trying not to listen as the two shifters argued at a tone that was barely audible to humans.
Next time I looked over Alexei was holding Eleanor’s hand, resting it on his strong thigh, and the soccer player was leaning against his side, her eyes closed as she took a nap.
Those two were going to be mated sooner rather than later I guessed.
As for me and Ruby, I wasn’t as sure. She hadn’t brought up anything personal since our conversation about being mates, not that we’d had a lot of privacy with Eleanor and Alexei sleeping over at her house. But even still, she’d very carefully kept our conversation professional.
At least until we got to our hotel in Portland.
“Where are you guys sleeping?” Ruby asked, looking from me to Alexei.
The bear smiled, making Eleanor bristle. “No.”
“Yes,” Alexei said, making his voice firm. It had no effect on his wolf mate, who continued to shake her head.
“Oh I get it, you guys want to bunk with me and Eleanor.”
“It’s the best way to keep you both safe.”
“I’m a freaking wolf!” Eleanor snapped. “I can protect myself.”
“Not as well as I can,” Alexei shot back, his voice stubborn. “I will sleep in room with you, or I will sleep in hallway outside door, and you will have questions about this. You make the choice.”
Eleanor’s irritation seemed more put on than genuine, telling me that she wasn’t as put out about the sleeping arrangements as she pretended.
“Fine, whatever, let’s get settled. We have a team workout at the stadium in an hour.”
As the team did their workout, Alexei and I checked out the specs and security system for the Portland stadium.
We didn’t really think anyone would mess with the players here, but better safe than sorry.
Once we felt comfortable that we had a handle on the space, we headed out to the field to watch the rest of the team’s workout.
“Seems like Eleanor is warming up to you, huh?”
Alexei nodded. “Yes, mate will be mine before we leave this city. Likely by tonight.”
“How can you be so sure?” I asked curiously.
“Our animals already are communicating through the bond. They work together.”
“Huh, I didn’t know you could do that.”
“Only in some cases,” he explained. “And only with fated mates. Usually the animals connect after claiming, but they are very eager to finalize bond, so they make themselves known.”
I wondered if it would be easier if Ruby was a supe.
I guess it would, but then again, she wasn’t really rejecting me.
Mostly she was ignoring the mate thing. But we were about to spend three nights sharing a room.
Surely that would give us a chance to get to know each other better and hopefully grow closer.
Even if our room did have two beds. So much for any ‘one bed only’ fantasies I might have entertained.
That night the four of us headed out with a couple of the other players to get dinner at a local farm to table restaurant before retiring to our rooms. The team had a ten p.m. curfew, which was fine with me.
It was easier to protect my mate when she was indoors and away from other people, plus it gave me some alone time with her.
Between spending several hours pressed up against Ruby in the bus seat and being crammed together in a booth at dinner, my physical craving for my mate was at an all-time high.
The fact that I could smell her excitement at our nearness only made it worse.
“What do you want to do now?” Ruby asked when we returned to our hotel room. “It’s too early to go to bed.”
My mind immediately filled with dirty images. As if Ruby could read my mind, she stepped closer. The sweet scent of her arousal filled the air around us, making my own panties grow instantly damp. It was crazy how much she affected me already, even though we weren’t officially mated yet.
“You know, I’ve been feeling kind of tense the last few days,” she said silkily. “And there’s one thing that really helps.”
“A bubble bath?” I asked, remembering that she’d taken a long bath the other night.
“No. Orgasms.”
I choked on my own saliva. She stepped a little closer, the air heating around us as I read the intention in her eyes.
In the back of my brain I could hear Lois warning me to keep my distance.
To keep my wits about me. But then Ruby slid her hands up to my shoulders and all of my good intentions flew out the window.
“Can I ask you something?” My mate’s voice was soft, breathy.
“Yeah.”
“Can we have sex without officially becoming mates?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but the closer we get, the more intimate we are, the stronger the bond between us gets, even if I don’t mark you and fully activate it.”
“So we could have sex without strings?”
I’m not going to lie, the hopeful tone of her voice hurt. I took a deep breath, trying to decide how to answer.
“You can,” I landed on. “But I’ve already spent enough time with you that it would be impossible for me to be casual about anything with you.”
Ruby looked disappointed. “I don’t want to lead you on or cause you pain if this doesn’t work out.”
“You don’t think it will?” I asked, ignoring the stab of pain in my belly.
Ruby stared into my eyes for a long moment.
“I feel… something for you. But this whole mate thing is a lot to take in. I know you’re sure about us, but I need some more time to process it all.
To decide if this is what I want long term.
I don’t want to be blinded by lust and realize later that I jumped into something I shouldn’t have. I hope you understand.”
“I do.”
I didn’t. I totally didn’t.
My vampire was making a wailing sound, demanding to be let out so she could claim our mate, whether she was ready or not. I beat her back with effort.
“But I also want you so bad I can hardly think of anything else,” Ruby continued, oblivious to the battle raging inside me.
I didn’t have it in me to deny my mate anything she wanted, so I gave her a small smile and said, “Well, that’s one thing I can help you with.”