Chapter 8
8
C orbyn had just come back into his bedroom when he noticed Shiloh was stirring.
Hurrying over to the side of the bed, he took Shiloh’s hand, holding it between his own as his mate woke up.
When Shiloh opened his eyes, Corbyn made sure he was smiling.
“Hey, how are you feeling? Any better?”
“I’m not sure yet. I can’t remember the last time I slept so deeply.”
Shiloh used his free hand to tug the hair away from his eyes.
“It’s been…it’s been a day.” He looked around, spotting the lamps lit in the room.
“Day? Night? Is your mom very upset I missed the celebration dinner?”
Corbyn shook his head.
“The dinner’s been postponed. Mom happily told anyone who grumbled about it that her son met his omega under unique circumstances, and their need to learn more about each other before socializing is being respected. She sounded so pompous about it, but she was right.”
He chuckled.
“Mom’s just worried about you and your health. I’ll send her a text shortly and let her know you’ve woken up.”
“What about Nora? Is she still with your parents? Can we go and get her?” Shiloh moved as if he was getting out of bed, but Corbyn eased him back against the pillows.
“Our little lady is fast asleep. She has a full belly, and a clean butt, and is likely dreaming of holding court in a household of besotted adults. She is just through that door there,” he pointed to the left.
“I have left the door open so we can hear her when she stirs.”
“How long has she been asleep?”
“I’ve only just put her in her crib, so I imagine we’ll have a few hours before she wakes again. If you remember, that was an average sleep time for an infant with her genetics, at least according to what the doctor said.”
“I don’t want to think about half the things the doctor said. He was very thorough.” Shiloh was pushing himself up, clearly trying to sit up.
As Corbyn helped him, he noticed again his mate was definitely too thin for a man his height, and he perched on the edge of the bed, keeping his arm around Shiloh’s shoulder.
“Do we really need to be talking about heats and slick and ruts and knots just now?”
Corbyn could feel an instant tension in Shiloh’s back.
“Hey, that’s not why you’re in my bed. If there’s one thing I want you to learn to trust, it is that I am unlike any other alpha you’ve ever met before, and I intend to prove it to you over time. You are here, because while you’re sleeping your wolf takes comfort from my scent. It helps you both feel safe, wouldn’t you agree?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever slept so well, thank you.”
“What I am hoping,” Corbyn said, “is that you and I, we will create our relationship together. Not based on anyone else’s expectations, not based on any rules except those we make ourselves. I told you when we were still in the facility that I want my mate to be my equal, and I stand by that.”
Nodding slowly, Shiloh asked, “What will that mean for you and me and being claimed? I know sex is usually involved…”
Corbyn was already shaking his head.
“I’m not saying that’s never going to happen between us. We’re mates and that’s something we will both explore as we get used to each other and those urges grow over time. All I ask for now, especially while you’re still healing and recovering, is that when your initial infection is healed, we can exchange claiming bites. It will help settle both our wolves and deepen our bond. For now, the main focus is on you getting well.”
Shiloh pulled a face.
“I can’t believe I got an infection in the first place. For shifters, that’s unheard of. I especially don’t want to think about…”
Guessing what Shiloh was going to say, Corbyn laid a finger over his mate’s mouth.
“We don’t ever have to talk about that unless you want to.”
Corbyn had been privately disgusted when the doctor found out that the last person who had inseminated his mate had left more than spunk behind.
He wasn’t upset with Shiloh, never with his mate, but so many people had let Shiloh down.
His whole lower body was riddled with some form of an infection, and nobody had picked it up, including the doctors at the facility, even when he’d gone in to give birth.
It was a miracle that Nora was all right, although she had to have her blood checked, too.
The doctor seemed assured that Nora wouldn’t suffer any ill-effects, and he did suggest that any doctors Shiloh saw after being rescued might not have even thought to check for infections, because shifters typically never got sick like that.
However, because Shiloh’s body had been so run down and his wolf was so weak, Shiloh’s natural defenses crumbled.
The doctor had said privately to Corbyn that Shiloh’s decision not to have any more children was likely for the best.
“I seriously don’t think his body could handle it,” he’d said as Corbyn showed him to the door.
Corbyn had agreed.
“All I want for us to focus on now,” he said, taken in by the depths of blue in Shiloh’s eyes, “is getting to know each other. There is so much I want to know about you – the things you like, what you enjoy doing. I want to show you that you and Nora have so many options now we’re together, and that’s not just me being a big headed alpha.”
“No, it could be because you’re rich.” But Shiloh was smiling, and he hadn’t moved out from under Corbyn’s arm.
“Hey, if it gives me brownie points, I’ll take them. I just hope that you’ll come to see that your needs will always come first. Yours and Nora’s. That’s all I want. It’s what I was born to do. To look after you and our sweet little girl.”
Corbyn hoped Shiloh could hear his sincerity.
He’d waited hours for Shiloh to wake up and had done a lot of thinking in that time.
Saying he was going to be a responsible alpha, mate, and father was one thing.
Doing it took a lot more than words.
Corbyn was lucky because he knew his family would help him.
They adored Shiloh and Nora already.
“I can’t believe I got so lucky,” Shiloh said.
“I think I’m going to end up with bruises because I’m sure I’m going to keep pinching myself to make sure I’m not still asleep. I know it might not mean as much to you, but even little things, like the care your mom showed me. That sort of concern is so foreign to me. It’s not something I’ve experienced in my life at all.”
“That’s something you’ll have to get used to,” Corbyn said with a chuckle.
“Mom has always been a caring person, and she’s definitely got a soft spot for you and Nora. You’re part of our family now, don’t you understand?”
“As I said, that will take some getting used to, but please don’t ever think I’m not grateful for what you did, for what you did yesterday, for what you’ve done today, for what you’re doing tonight. It is still the same day, isn’t it?”
Corbyn nodded.
“Barely, but yes. Speaking of the time, I imagine you’re probably feeling hungry. Is there anything in particular that you’d love to eat? Something that perhaps you’ve seen or had before that brings you some comfort or something that you’d really enjoy?”
“I honestly can’t think of anything,” Shiloh said.
“There was a time, back when the original Nora was alive, we used to talk about the meal we might have if our alphas ever found us and took us away from that place. She used to be a baker, so she would describe what sounded like the most incredible cakes. They really sounded delicious.”
“I’m sure I can get you a cake. Any kind you like.” Don’t bakers get up early?
But Shiloh was shaking his head.
“I never had the heart, in two long years, to let her know I was never really a fan of cake. Her talking to me was a gift I will cherish for life, and if all she wanted was to talk about cakes, then I was happy to listen.”
No cakes then, right.
“I’m partial to puddings,” Corbyn said.
“Have you ever had a trifle?”
“I don’t think so. That has a lot of custard in it, doesn’t it?”
“That’s the best part – all that custard.”
“Hmm, you know what I would love? You mentioned comfort food. I’d love a big bowl of beef stew and a pile of freshly made bread. You know, the white bread that people will tell you is no good for you, but it always smells so good when you walk past a bakery. Lashings of butter, thick slices of bread, and a beef stew with a rich, thick gravy.” Shiloh licked his lips.
“Goodness, I can almost taste it just thinking about it.”
“I’ll order us some.” Corbyn had a friend who owned a restaurant in town.
He was certain the man would have some stew left over from the night’s menu and that man did crazy hours.
Pulling out his phone, he quickly sent a text and within a minute had a positive reply.
“Stew is on its way,” he said, putting his phone away.
“It will be about twenty minutes.” He hesitated and then added, “There was one thing I thought you and I should clear up between us, if you’re up to it before the food arrives.”
“I’m not up anywhere,” Shiloh said.
“I’m still in bed. What surprises me is that you’ve only got one issue with me. You look like the type of man who’d make a list.”
“Just the one thing,” although Corbyn was chuckling.
His mate wasn’t wrong.
He liked lists.
But the issue he needed to discuss was serious.
“I do realize that you were under a lot of stress when you accepted my necklace,” he started to say, but Shiloh quickly interrupted him.
“Please don’t go down the direction I think you’re going,” Shiloh said.
“Our wolves already know that we’re meant to be together, and in case you’re thinking that I only accepted your necklace so I could keep Nora, then please know I would never do that to you or anyone.
“At the time, I did think you were very handsome.
I’d be blind not to notice.
But even in that moment, if I hadn’t thought it felt right, I wouldn’t have accepted your necklace.
I would have told you to wait, and I would have continued to fight Janice for the right to keep my baby.
”
Shiloh sighed.
“But this does feel right, and you feel right. My only worry is that I can’t be the mate that you deserve. With the things that I’ve gone through...”
It was Corbyn’s turn to interrupt.
“Again, Shi, we don’t have to talk about that ever if you don’t want to. That’s in the past.”
“You don’t even want to know about my life before I was taken?” Tilting his head, Shiloh looked at him.
“Did you know I used to be an excellent coder back in the day? Admittedly, it’s been a long time since I turned up for work. I’ve probably been fired by now, but I was gainfully employed for quite some time in my life…before.”
Yet more people that didn’t sound like they looked for him when he was gone.
Corbyn widened his smile.
“Well, the wonderful thing about being mated to a Stone is you don’t have to work. However, if you’re keen, you could help me with some suggestions on how we can make improvements at that birthing facility. I’d like to think the next time a rescued omega finds themselves in the same position as you were yesterday, they might be treated with a bit more respect and dignity and, above all, have their choices respected. What do you think?”
“Definitely.” Shiloh glowered.
“When I was taken to that room, I don’t think they realized, or maybe they did, and it was deliberate, but I could see into the other rooms as they took me down to that one you found me in. Can you imagine how that felt, seeing all those lovely painted walls, and the comfortable beds and all the equipment imaginable, and then you get taken into your room which is white walled, stark and containing nothing but a bed frame and a thin mattress?
“There was no comfort.
There was nothing in the room that suggested I even had a right to be there.
And that wasn’t fair.
All I was focused on was the baby.
But for a lot of other omegas, that could be the final straw for them, if they’d been through what I went through.
They should be treated the same as any other omega, whether they have a mate or not, whether they’ve been abused or not, they deserve to be treated the same.
”
Corbyn could hear the passion in Shiloh’s voice, and his heart lifted.
His mate was tired, ill, and it was going to take him a while to regain his confidence, but he could still speak up when he saw things that weren’t right.
“Then you have got the perfect alpha,” he said, leaning over and taking a risk, pecking a quick kiss on Shiloh’s nose.
“Because I can make sure the things you want changed can happen. Between us, we’ll see to it that a system is put in place for any omega to be safe and cared for, not just for while they’re giving birth, but for as long as they need.” Corbyn lifted his head, hearing the front doorbell.
“Sounds like our food’s arrived, probably just in time for Nora to wake up. I’ll grab a bottle while I’m downstairs.”
“Corbyn,” Shiloh said as he got up.
“I do promise I’ll work hard to be the omega you deserve.”
“I think you’ve got things around the wrong way.” Corbyn grinned.
“I’m going to be working hard to be the mate you deserve, and you’re going to work on just being yourself. Do we have a deal?”
“Deal.” Shiloh’s smile widened.
He still looked exhausted, and it was going to take time, but as Corbyn went to get the stew and a bottle for Nora, he was confident he and his mate were on the same page.