Chapter 23
Are we breaking up?
Heston
I paced over the cheap carpet and admired how Dean kept the place so clean. There were no stains or cigarette burns, not that people were allowed to smoke. Sure, he employed a cleaner, so I should have been silently praising that person.
I glanced at the smoke detector on the ceiling, its tiny light flashing but my friend had complained more than once that guests stuck their head and cigarette out a window. But there was no hint of stale smoke, so another thumbs up to Dean and the cleaner.
But Dean managed the place, and he lived on site. It was a twenty-four-hour job, one I didn’t envy.
I checked my watch and peeked between the curtains. No Devyn. The phone weighed heavy in my pocket, and I considered texting him again, but as my fingers hovered over the display, I paused.
Less is more, I repeated in my head.
I didn’t want Devyn charging in here, already on edge from me messaging him, Are you here yet? Where are you?
Rivers of sweat soaked my palms, and I wiped them on my pants. Dad would be horrified but Dean told me not to touch anything in the room and “Don’t use the bathroom or we’ll have to clean it.”
A familiar rumble outside announced Devyn’s arrival. He couldn’t sneak up on anyone in that car. Despite Dean’s obsession with the vehicle, he’d promised to stay in the office. He’d probably break that promise, or leave one foot inside and outstretch his arms to lovingly stroke the car’s paintwork.
I stood near the entrance so Devyn would see me when he opened the door.
But that might come across as too accusatory.
Instead, I took a couple of steps back. No, he’d think I wanted distance between us.
Shit, why hadn’t I sorted this out earlier?
The bed. Sitting on it while scrolling through my phone and pretending to have forgotten he was coming?
That wasn’t the look I was going for, but too bad.
It was too late to change my mind because there were footfalls outside the door.
My vision blurred as Devyn walked in, his scent teasing my nostrils and encouraging more sweat to leak from my pores.
But the aroma of two large coffees he was holding, mingled with his unique scent.
I loved a strong brew and rarely refused a coffee, but I was annoyed at being distracted by something other than Devyn. Silly really.
“Hi.” His hesitant voice brought tears to my eyes, but I resisted the urge to run into his arms. That would solve nothing and we’d probably fall into bed and Dean would be pissed.
“Hi.” I got up and smoothed out the bedspread, explaining we couldn’t touch anything.
“Okay.” He handed me a coffee, but didn’t remove the lid from his own.
This was the hard bit. “I’m sorry we parted the way we did.” Gods, I sounded like I was about to fire him. “But my world was shaken and stirred.”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“Let’s deal with the obvious first.”
I had a mental list, and each item needed to be ticked before we could get back to the Devyn and Heston who fell in love, assuming that was possible. It wasn’t, but we could be the couple who’d climbed over a hurdle and continued their journey hand in hand.
“That I have a wolf inside me.”
He just said it and didn’t bother easing into it by saying he was different. But when I thought back, I cursed myself for my reaction. Dad had brought me up to respect people, no matter how they looked or spoke, where they came from or how much money they had.
“Ummm, no top of my list was that I fucked up and made you feel bad for being you.”
“No, Heston. This isn’t your fault.” He took a step toward me, but I held up my hand. Melting into his arms was no solution.
“How about you tell me what you revealed? You said your ancestors lived in the forest. Start there.” Damn, I wish I could sit, especially as I had a coffee. I lowered myself to the floor and indicated he did the same.
He took a sip of his drink. Was that for courage, I wondered?
“My forebears were wolves and I’m a shifter.”
I gulped as I absorbed that not insignificant detail. He described how their human side developed and that was outfacing because it was safer and they could blend in, though they never lost the animal part of them.
“So you’re not the only one? There are lots of shifters on earth.”
He nodded.
There was one question I had to ask because, much as I loved Devyn, I wasn’t ready to become a shifter. “And can you create a shifter… you know… by say biting a human?”
“Nope, we’re not werewolves.” He told me the werewolf legend evolved from humans who glimpsed them shifting from one form to another.
“Okay.” I crossed my legs and gulped more coffee. His responses calmed my jumpy belly a little.
“Is Sebastian aware you’re a shifter?”
“Absolutely not.” His strident tone left no room for questions. “We’re forbidden from revealing our true selves to humans.”
But he had done just that to me. “And if you do, what happens? You get hauled up in front of the shifter in charge?” I tittered at my attempt at a joke. It was the first time I’d laughed since that day in the forest.
The laughter died on my lips as Devyn furrowed his brow.
“Yes, we appear before the shifter council and explain our actions, but we’re authorized to tell our mate if that person is human.”
I closed one eye, absorbing what he’d said. “Backtrack.” Shifter council, human. Mate. I was stuck on the last word. “Mate. What is that?”
“You. You’re my fated mate, Heston. The universe put us on earth and made it so we eventually found one another.”
Chugging more coffee delayed my response as I tried to make sense of my scrambled thoughts.
“But if you’re not comfortable being in a relationship with someone who’s different—”
Hot liquid splattered over the floor as my coffee was forgotten, I crawled toward Devyn and wrapping my arms around him, I sat in his lap. But he caught the cup and most of the coffee stayed where it was supposed to.
I put a finger to his lips. “Don’t say that. I love you no matter what and I always will. I’m ashamed of how I reacted when you showed me your wolf.” This wasn’t the moment to tell him I’d thought the creature was a dog. “My brain couldn’t process what I was seeing.”
Devyn kissed my finger and kissed it again before removing it from his lips and pecking my mouth.
“I thought I’d lost you.” He buried his face at the base of my throat.
“Never.” Grabbing his head, I pulled him away from me and studied his eyes. “They’re a different color, or the same as when I met you.”
“That was my beast.”
A frisson of excitement ran through me. His cock was hard, so perhaps we could have sex in the room because it definitely needed cleaning now. I wriggled my butt against his crotch and his dick swelled further.
“I can feel it.”
He snorted. “Not my cock. My wolf. He’s my beast.”
Oops! I’d have to come up with another name for his cock. Maybe Grant. The meaning associated with that name was big. Very big.
“But on a serious note, where does that leave us?” He nuzzled my throat.
How could I think with his lips on me? “How did you catch my cup?” For a human, that was an impossible feat. Wow! My brain was now thinking in terms of humans and shifters.
“Shifters have quick reflexes and enhanced hearing.” He nibbled my ear. “I could hear you racing around the room before I entered.
Damn, there was no keeping secrets from my… my mate.
“Are we mates?”
“It’s a forever thing, and while we are in name only, we’ll have to mark one another.”
Another new concept.
“But not today. Baby steps.”
I exhaled because it was a lot to take in. My gaze fell on the coffee foam and droplets on the carpet.
“Either we pay for the room or we clean it ourselves.” What a mess! “Dean will have my ass for this.”
“Your ass belongs to me and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.”
“Good.” I snuggled against my mate.
“I know someone who’s a whizz at cleaning.”
“You do?” His father had domestic staff, so perhaps he could get one of them to get rid of the coffee stain on the carpet.
“You, Heston. You clean offices for a living.”
Oh right, I almost forgot. The whole shifter thing pushed out rational thoughts from my brain.
“Coffee is a bitch to get out.” I got up and held out my hand.