Chapter 37 #2
“He said, and I am misquoting, why didn’t your dummy alphas bite you already. So I said, biting is a little beyond my comfort zone, and—misquoting again—he said, dude, it can actually make you a lot more comfortable.”
I heard Dom inhale sharply and stop unpacking. He moved closer to the bottom of the stairs to listen.
I made a mental note to make sure Vi hadn’t had a hand in this. “You had a session today?”
His brow furrowed. “No, last week. I’ve just been sitting here and thinking about it, okay, and Blob has been kicking me for the past half hour, so I’m kind of done with pretending I’m still thinking about it.
You know, this is really freaking hard, and call it a mood swing if you want, but it is, and on top of all of it, I feel most comfortable in a nest. Who does that, Ell? Who?”
I wanted to climb into his nest with him, but Dom had tried that. As it turned out, our omega was not having it. The nest was his, and his alone.
“It’s a normal thing, Marcus.”
“See, I knew you’d say that, but I also know you don’t really know that.
You all have no experience with what is normal for people like me, and you’re just basing your theories on dead people.
Like geometry. Archimedes and all that. You don’t know any of that density stuff for sure, you’re just basing everything on some dead mathematician. ”
“I suppose you have a point there.”
“No kidding. Do you know how I know I have a fucking point? The thought of you moving your left foot a half inch and disturbing my sock circle is giving me a whole lot of anxiety.”
“I won’t move my foot, Marcus.”
“My anxiety doesn’t care about that. Why did my therapist look so shocked when I told him we’d decided it was a no on that whole biting me thing, Ell? Explain that to me.”
Dom was on the first stair, one foot on the second.
“That’s been gnawing on you all the time? Uh, no pun intended.”
“Oh, funny. Yeah, it’s been fucking gnawing on me. Among other things.”
“We didn’t want to pressure you. You said you didn’t want it, and we want to respect what you want.”
His hand went to his belly to rub in soothing circles. I ached to do that for him.
“Logically, that makes sense. I’m actually grateful you didn’t just bite me when you could have, but he said with a mate bite, this whole nesting thing would be less of a… Holy hotpants, I don’t even know what to call this anymore.”
“It’s normal, Marcus. It really is.”
With impressive speed, he lobbed a sock ball at me. I didn’t move, just let it hit me squarely in the chest.
“Stop fucking telling me what’s normal. That goalpost has been moved a few too many times since I met you.”
“Fair enough. Do you want to come downstairs maybe?”
“That depends. Is there apple juice?”
Apple juice was the new oolong. Apart from preferring carbs, it was the only real pregnancy craving he had.
“There’s always apple juice for you.”
“Okay then. I’ll go downstairs with you. If Linc comes too. You have to take at least two steps away from my socks though. You’re way too close.”
“I can do that.”
I went all the way back into the hallway and knocked on Linc’s office door. He pulled it open a few seconds later.
“Shit, this late already? I got carried away.”
Marcus snorted from behind me. “Try getting pregnant with a little werewolf who has decided punching you in the gut all day long is the way to go. That’ll prevent that.”
Linc smiled. “Sorry, honey. I didn’t mean it that way.”
Marcus closed the door behind him. “Yeah, yeah.”
Linc raised his brows.
I kissed him. “Come downstairs. Marcus has a bone to pick with us, he says. Oh, before that though. Marcus?”
“Still here. I don’t think I want to leave the two of you alone up here where my nest is.”
I watched as Linc suppressed his smile. “Right. So Vi called me on my way here. Looks like the hunters all took a plea deal. Steven too. They haven’t been sentenced yet, but this means there isn’t going to be a court date.”
Marcus snorted. “That jerk did one thing right in his life, then. Good. I don’t want to talk about that again if you don’t mind.”
Linc and I nodded.
Linc looked as relieved as I felt. “That’s good news. Tell her thank you. Marcus has a bone to pick with us, you say?”
I nodded.
Our mate groaned on the stairs. “That is not what I said. Would be a different story if you’d touched my socks though.”
Linc sighed. “That reminds me; I should order new ones. I don’t mind walking around the house barefoot, but it’s November.”
I grinned at him. “I bought socks.”
He put his arms around my neck. “Thank you. I love you as a general rule, but I love you even more right now.”
There was more groaning from the stairs. “I feel the splatter of your judgment hitting me all the way down here, you know.”
“I’m not judging you, Little Red. Leave those guys and come to me. I have juice too.”
Linc and I shared a laugh, then followed Marcus down the stairs before he could get upset about us being too close to his nest.
Oddly enough, while he’d tried out a few other places for the nest, the cuddle puddle had never made that shortlist, but he liked it well enough and now made a beeline for it. Dom followed, juice in hand, and Linc and I walked after the two of them.
“Ugh, I hate this,” Marcus said when Dom held out his hand to help him down to the puddle.
Linc and I hopped in from the other side, and Linc all but lifted him down. “You’re fine, Marcus.”
I watched them. From where I stood, with Marcus wearing my sweatshirt, you really couldn’t tell. But when he went to put his arms around Linc and groaned at his bump getting in the way, there was no mistaking it. We were well on the road to becoming parents.
Marcus pursed his lips. “Give me apple juice, not compliments.”
I chuckled. Dom was trying to keep his expression neutral but failing.
We all sat down. It took a little while to get to where Marcus seemed happy. He was between me and Dom with Linc lying on Dom’s chest and stroking Marcus’s belly. I could tell the baby was kicking every time Linc smiled.
“So. I’ve been thinking,” Marcus said after drinking half his apple juice in one gulp.
“What’s going to happen is, you’re going to bite me.
I thought about doing it in the shower, but my therapist implied that it’s usually something sensual or whatever.
Since I’ve been horny all day, we’re going to have another foursome, and you’re going to do it then.
Thank fuck I can’t get any more pregnant than this. ”
Linc’s smile dropped and his eyes went wide. Dom’s too. Marcus looked at each of them, but his eyes came to rest on me and his frown deepened. “I can’t get any more pregnant than this. Right?”
I blinked. “Oh. No. That’s not how that works. You’re close to as pregnant as you’re going to get.”
He kept looking at me. “Oh, good. Good, good. Can’t imagine being any more pregnant. This is plenty. Why is your face doing that?”
I put a hand on my chest. “My face?”
“All your faces.”
Linc cleared his throat and moved his hand in slow circles. “We’re just surprised.”
Marcus groaned. “I do not fucking care. I want sex. Sweet gods, I just want to feel good, okay? And I need to be able to not live in a mess of linen and cotton underwear.”
“You have our underwear in your nest?” Dom tried to sound innocent and failed so badly.
Marcus’s cheeks flushed. “Oh, shut up.”
I stroked his cheek. “Right now, Marcus? You want that to happen right now?”
He rolled his eyes, finished his juice, then put the empty glass down. “That’s what I just said, isn’t it?”
I nodded. “Had to make sure.”