Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kari
If you don’t mention us shifting, I’ll force it.
The second Bowie had migrated from the couch to lie on top of his dinosaur, when Kari had moved to get more snacks and switch movies, his wolf had started with the complaints.
Can’t you see he’s relaxed? Kari tried to reason with it.
He’ll be relaxed lying on me, my fur is softer than that big… oaf.
Oaf? Kari rolled his eyes at just how ridiculous his animal side was being.
It doesn’t matter. Just tell Bowie you’re going to shift. You’ve had your fun, and you’ve had all morning snuggling with him, now it’s my turn.
Is it wise? The last time we shifted it was to bite Rex. I want this weekend to be memorable for the right reasons.
He’s not scared of us. He bit your—
Alright!
Kari could feel his wolf’s excitement the moment he gave in.
His gaze traveled to Bowie stretched out on top of ‘Roarer’.
A contented smile graced his lips as he rubbed one of the large scales between his thumb and forefinger, staring at the TV.
He wore shorts and a T-shirt, the perfect color match to the toy he lay on making Kari chuckle.
“Bowie?” Kari waited until he looked at him before he shifted forward on the couch. “Do you want to cuddle with my wolf?”
Why did you ask like that?
Shush.
Bowie scrambled off Roarer, his expression full of excitement. “Yes.” He clapped eagerly. “Are you going to shift now?”
See, I told you so.
His wolf’s smugness was ignored as Kari rose and stripped off his sweats and T-shirt.
Bowie’s eyes dropped to Kari’s groin and his cock twitched at the possessive look.
Bowie had spent a very long time tracing over the mark this morning.
Kari didn’t think he’d ever grow tired of him doing that when he wore the same look as now.
“If you keep looking at Daddy’s cock like that, I won’t be shifting.” The threat was real with how his cock was twitching.
His wolf snarled at him, and before Kari could do something about his growing arousal, his wolf took control. His shift was fast, but Kari kept cognizant, searching for any signs of distress coming from Bowie.
You could have waited a minute.
His wolf lay down on the carpet and placed its snout close to Bowie’s fingers. No, I couldn’t!
“You are so beautiful.” Bowie’s fingers stroked their snout, moving up to rub gently behind an ear.
His wolf made a noise to let Bowie know how much he liked his touch.
Crawling closer, it laid its head on Bowie’s lap, then nudged at his other arm.
Their head was large enough to cover the whole of Bowie’s lap, and Kari was ready to wrangle control back if Bowie showed any sign of distress, regardless of what his wolf wanted.
Bowie stopped what he was doing, and a wide grin spread, lighting his eyes with joy. “You want me to stroke behind both ears?”
A wolfy grin that was all teeth received giggles and the attention they wanted, allowing Kari to relax. The TV played in the background, but Bowie never took his eyes off them.
“I forgot how big you are.” He bent over them and rubbed his nose in the fur. “Can I lie on you, too? I’ll be careful not to squish you.”
His wolf made a chuffing noise and wriggled back, only to come up against the dinosaur, which he growled at.
“Don’t be mean to Roarer, he can’t help he’s so big.”
Duly reprimanded, Kari chuckled at how cowed his wolf side was.
“It’s alright, I’ll put him back in the corner to make room, okay?” Bowie held his wolf’s gaze, and whatever he saw had him giggling as he stood up.
He dragged the dinosaur over to the corner, huffing and puffing. As soon as the floor space was clear, they lay down and rolled onto their back. front paws in the air. There was more giggling when Bowie returned and got down on his knees at the side of them.
“You really wanna cuddle with me.”
His wolf chuffed, its paws dancing in the air.
Bowie eyed them and then ran his gaze over them. Stretched out as they were, they measured about the same length as the dinosaur, but they weren’t as wide or as firm.
“Won’t I squash you if I lay on you?”
More chuffing and Bowie blew out a breath that lifted his bangs, crawling closer.
He was careful of their hind legs and moved the tail to position himself between their front legs, his hands on the carpet on either side of their head.
Once there, the front paws moved to clasp Bowie and brought him on top of them.
“Ohhuf,” Bowie gasped, forced to take his hands off the floor and onto their furry chest.
His wolf wouldn’t be deterred from getting the proper cuddle it wanted. It licked Bowie’s cheek and used its front legs to bring Bowie more on top of them.
Bowie’s giggles came with snorts as he finally gave in, wiping at his cheek. “You’re so soft.” As if to prove his point, he rubbed his cheek against their fur and settled more fully against them. “You smell like Kari and me.”
His wolf was in heaven as Bowie talked and got comfortable. Kari was swamped with affection as both wolf and man got acquainted. Life couldn’t get any more perfect!
Monday came around far too quickly, and Kari’s mood wavered between elation every time he thought about his mating and moodiness when Bowie headed off to his own office.
When Kari checked his and Bowie’s calendar after only five minutes alone, he complained bitterly to himself about the injustice of a full schedule, meaning his hope of getting a few extra days of bonding time went up in smoke.
It didn’t help when his wolf side pestered too.
He’d spent the entire afternoon in wolf form as Bowie had fallen asleep, his fingers wrapped in their fur.
His wolf wanted more of it. Kari got it, he did too.
Staring at his computer, it seemed they had to compete with the huge amount of work that had little to do with the extra that piled up while they were at the ranch.
It felt like a year ago since they’d been there, free to spend time doing non work stuff together. The sheer number of unopened emails would suggest they had been gone long too.
“Why the long face?”
Kari glanced up from his computer to see Rue standing in the doorway. “You would too if you saw how many damn emails I have.”
He rubbed at his eyebrow, feeling the beginning of a headache brewing at how many hours it would take just to go through them, meaning late nights and less Bowie free time.
“Same, I have six thousand four hundred!” Rue came and took the seat opposite Kari, getting settled.
A frown appeared when Rue crossed his legs and tapped on one knee, his iPad now on Kari’s desk. “What do you need?”
“What do you mean? We have a planned meeting this morning.” Rue arched his brow and tapped on his iPad. “We were going to discuss the ad campaign to introduce the new color palette for next year's summer season. Pin down which company would best suit what I’m after, remember?”
“Fuck, was that this morning?” Kari clicked on his daily calendar, the one he’d not really focused on when he’d been busy grumping, having failed to register the block of appointments for this morning.
He offered Rue an apologetic smile. “Okay, let me call Bowie. Is Monty joining us?”
Rue shook his head. “He’s busy working through my emails.”
“Why didn’t I think of that?”
Rue shrugged, and his nose started to twitch, his eyes narrowing on Kari in a way that got his stomach clenching unpleasantly. “No idea. You smell odd… different. Is it a new cologne?”
“Y-yeah, t-thanks,” spluttered Kari, working to keep his expression in check.
He was desperate not to reveal his concern about getting caught out when he still couldn’t share his news with his family.
Not until Bowie was ready. Why hadn’t he considered his scent?
Shit, he’d need to talk to Kodi alone, so he didn’t go off on one in front of the family.
He really should have considered this when he’d talked more with Bowie about his feelings and how he would struggle not to do whatever it was Lennon and Isley had noticed. Second guessing himself would only end in disaster, he was sure.
Bowie had taken some time to think about what he’d said before replying.
He expressed how much he liked what Kari did for him and didn’t want that to change.
So they were going to continue with what they were doing.
Kari just hoped that no one else said anything until Bowie was ready.
Kari wasn’t as convinced as Bowie that the rest of the PAs didn’t know.
He’d not pushed the issue; it was enough they were mated.
The rest would happen on Bowie’s timeline, whatever that was.
As he eyed Rue, who sat silently staring at him, he didn’t think he’d be as lucky at keeping things secret. “What?”
“There’s something different about you,” Rue accused, coming close and inhaling.
It was a struggle to keep it light and not back away. “Yep, I’m not as clever as you to get my PA to do the donkey work. And if we’re gonna talk about there being ‘something different’ going on, we should talk about you and—”
Rue held up his hand as if defending himself. “Low blow, bro, but I’ll take the hint, mind my own business. Shall we get on with why I’m here?”
Kari made no more mention of calling Bowie. He didn’t want Rue anywhere near him, saying shit about his scent. Bowie had no poker face at all.
“Let’s. I’ve several campaign boards in the boardroom. Wanna take a look and give me an idea of the direction you have in mind?” Kari rose when Rue did.
“Can do. I’m after something ethereal in design. ‘Sink into the sumptuousness of the fabric’ type mood. It will go with the new summer designs.”
Kari walked alongside Rue, nodding. “There are two ad companies that have that vibe around most of their campaigns.”
“Great, having choices would be good.”
He grinned at Rue as they entered the empty boardroom. “And being on the ball like this means Jup won’t be able to hog all the talent for next year's fashion show before everyone else.”
“That’s a side benefit I can appreciate.” Rue chuckled, going to the large table where Kari had asked for the campaign boards to be left when he’d headed off to the ranch.
This was his first time seeing them, and Kari was impressed by what he could see on initial examination.
Rue and Kari pointed at the middle board. It had all the components Rue was after.
“That,” Rue said excitedly.
“This,” Kari muttered, then grinned at Rue. “Looks like that was easy.”
“If only everything was like that.”
Kari turned his attention to Rue, convinced he wasn’t talking about anything work related by the way he spoke.
“You know I’ll listen and not judge if you wanna share.” Rue had often kept his own counsel, but Kari offered anyway.
Rue was tight-lipped about what he was up to while they were at the ranch, but from what he’d gleaned from Bowie, Rue was involved with not only Monty but an alpha who worked at Ranch-Down, the bar in Bayfield.
Kari had his own stuff going on, so he had kept his mouth shut when his brothers were moaning when Rue didn’t show one morning on the ranch.
“It’s all good—kind of. Just got a lot on my mind… the situation is personal and complicated.” He sighed heavily, frowning even as he rejected talking about what was evidently on his mind. “But thanks for the offer. If I need it, I’ll come back to you.”
“Anytime.” Kari slung his arm around him and gave him a half body hug. “And I mean that.”
“I know.” They shared a moment; Rue hugged him back and then shrugged him off looking flushed. “Right, let’s get the ball rolling. Which ad agency is this?”
Kari chuckled at the speed at which Rue changed the topic. “I need to check so let's head back to my office.”
Once he’d had a word with Kodi, he was going to call Bowie back into his office with the excuse of getting him to help with the emails. The idea buoyed his mood.
“You keep grinning like that, people will think you’re high on something.”
He glanced at Rue, widening his smile. “I am,”—Love—“Life.”