11. Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
L ucas felt so warm and comfortable he never wanted to move again.
Since he’d been on the run, it had seemed like a fight just to stay warm.
It was a constant thing, even on the warmest days.
He was sure he’d have felt that way even if it were in the middle of summer.
He knew it had something to do with his nerves and always being on edge.
Having to always look over his shoulder did weird and unexplainable things to his body.
He snuggled in, trying to get closer to the source of the warmth.
When he realized the warmth came from a hard body, his muscles stiffened.
He knew instinctively who was holding him.
The man who’d kept calling him mate when Lucas had read him.
Then, like snowfall, he remembered what had happened.
How could he forget when he felt his cum drying against his skin?
He tried to get up, but Bennett held him firmly.
“Let me up. Please,” Lucas said against a hard chest. He knew he wasn’t very convincing when he sniffed, taking in the delicious scent.
He closed his eyes for a brief moment, lying back down again.
It was both relaxing and enticing all at once.
He smelled a little bit like cinnamon and the summer sun, underneath the motor oil and paint.
Lucas negated his words even further when he pulled at the zipper that lay inches from his face, exposing a T-shirt-covered chest, pushing the fabric aside. Lucas placed his nose at the spot where bare skin teased him.
“Oh God.” His cock started getting hard again, which just made him remember what had happened.
He had come in his jeans like some pubescent teenager. Not only that, but he had come so hard he’d passed out. God, how embarrassing was that.
“My name’s Bennett.” Bennett rubbed his chin on the top of Lucas’ head. Lucas already knew his name because Forrest had told him in the car on the way over. “And you’re my mate.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Lucas lifted off Bennett, refusing to meet his gaze.
“It means you’re the other half of my soul. Fate only gives us one mate and you’re it for me.”
Lucas placed his hands over the wet spot on his jeans. He knew his face must be about twenty different shades of red.
“I want to go home,” he said.
The man growled and pulled him to his chest. “I don’t know if I can let you go right now.”
“I…um…need to clean up.” His face heated with embarrassment even more.
“Oh, right. You want the bathroom?”
Well, that was actually preferable to walking around with a cum spot on his jeans. Lucas nodded, and stared through his lashes.
Bennett was a very handsome man.
“You have pretty eyes.” Lucas couldn’t hold back that one thought .
The man reached up and traced his finger across Lucas’ lips. His eyes seemed to light up, sparkling in a way that mesmerized him. “Thank you. All dragon shifters have green eyes.”
“The same shade as yours?”
Bennett smiled with a slight upturn of his lips. “No. My little brother, Ladon, has eyes with blue specks in them, along with the green.”
“He’s a dragon shifter, too?”
“Yes.”
Lucas averted his gaze. “I saw your dragon when I touched you. He’s very pretty.
Shiny black. I took this boat ride out on the ocean with my parents once.
The water was the same dark blue/black color that got lighter when the sun hit it just right.
Your dragon reminds me of that. Same color and stuff.
” Lucas knew he was babbling but couldn’t seem to help it.
“I don’t have siblings. Probably a good thing, considering. ”
“Considering what, baby?” Bennett didn’t even seem fazed by the sudden turn of conversation.
“Considering I have an entire Vampire coven after me.” And there it was. The moment of truth. He’d probably get kicked out of town.
Bennett growled. “No one will touch you.” His eyes changed suddenly. They reminded Lucas of the reptile lurking just under the surface. Lucas sucked in a breath and tried to get away from Bennett. “Shh, baby. My dragon would never hurt you.”
“He can’t help it, Lucas,” Forrest said from somewhere to the right. Lucas jumped at the sound of his voice. “Dragons are a little more primitive than other shifters. They concern themselves with the basics. Survival. That includes the protection of their mate. He’d never hurt you. ”
Bennett narrowed his eyes. “Stop helping. You’re making me sound like an idiot who can’t control my dragon.”
Forrest huffed out a breath. “You can’t.
Your eyes changed like four times since we’ve been in here.
Plus, you could just say thank you for helping.
You’re fucking it up by scaring him. And why are you getting so grouchy?
God, take a nap, Bennett. Seriously, man.
You need a fucking candy bar or something. ”
Bennett rolled his eyes before meeting Lucas’ gaze again. “He is the reason why you should be grateful you don’t have siblings.”
Lucas started laughing. Something about the banter between the two brothers struck him as extremely funny.
He hadn’t laughed in a long time, even before that night with the vampires.
He always considered himself a happy person, but maybe not.
If he hadn’t laughed in months, maybe longer, didn’t that mean he was unhappy?
“I’ll have you know I am the one who brought Lucas to you.
I practically delivered your mate to you like he was a fucking pizza.
You should be thanking me,” Forrest said and stood.
Lucas watched him enter the kitchen. He heard the refrigerator door open and close again.
“Seriously, Bennett. You have ketchup, pop, and pickles.”
Forrest came back in the room and held out his hand to Bennett. “Fork it over. I’ll grocery shop for you so you don’t look like a complete loser in front of your mate.”
“There’s money in the top drawer of my dresser. Now leave us alone for a minute.”
“You got an hour to fuck each other blind, then I’ll be back,” Forest said, walking out of the room, heading down what Lucas thought was probably a hallway, but he couldn’t really tell from where he sat.
Lucas turned back to Bennett. His smile died when he saw the look in Bennett’s eyes. Lucas licked his lips and couldn’t keep himself from leaning forward. Bennett’s hands came up to frame his face as he pulled Lucas to him.
The kiss was a press of their lips, neither of them taking it any farther. It was as if Bennett feared scaring Lucas again. Lucas was far from scared. His cock grew hard and he tried to get closer to Bennett, wanting close to the source of his pleasure.
Lucas slipped into Bennett’s mind with no effort at all.
He didn’t even know he did it until he felt Bennett’s passion rise to the surface and then Lucas gasped and pulled back.
“Sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” All the passion Bennett felt, coming off him in waves, was too much again and Lucas panted, trying to catch his breath.
“It’s all right, baby. Shh, I’ve got you. You’re okay. So pretty like this, though.”
Lucas, once again, tried to climb out of Bennett’s lap. “About that shower.”
Bennett’s hands left Lucas’ face and he lifted him into his arms as he stood, making him squeal at the unexpectedness of it.
Bennett held on to him as if he weighed nothing.
Lucas had been losing weight since being on the run.
He wasn’t a big eater when he stressed out and that was catching up with him. Still, he had to be heavy.
“I can walk,” Lucas said.
“I like this better,” Bennett said.
Yeah, Lucas kind of did too, not that he was ready to admit that, though.
Lucas didn’t say anything but held on as Bennett walked down the hallway.
He went into a bedroom that had the blankets and sheets all rumpled up on the bed, as if someone had just gotten out of it.
The room had that cinnamon smell to it and Lucas couldn’t help but moan.
The smell was so strong, so…intoxicating.
“Why do you smell so good?” Lucas asked and pressed his face against the bare skin of Bennett’s shoulder .
“That’s how you know I’m your mate. I don’t smell like that to anyone else. Just you. Your smell is stronger for me because I’m a shifter.”
“What do I smell like to you?”
“You smell like the northern forest. Like pine, I guess.” Bennett stopped inside a bathroom, continuing to hold Lucas close, and took a big long pull of air in through his nose.
Bennett moaned against Lucas’ hair. The air he expelled moved some of the strands aside.
“And like the roses on the west side of my mother’s house. I’ll show you sometime soon.”
Lucas thought about Bennett already talking about meeting his mother. They hadn’t even been on their first date yet.
Lucas wasn’t sure what to say to Bennett, who seemed so fierce and instinctual with everything he did. At least he was around Lucas.
“Can you put me down, please?” He asked without looking at Bennett.
He put him on his feet but didn’t release the hold he had around Lucas’ waist. Lucas was eye level with the center of Bennett’s chest and that was right where he kept his gaze. Bennett lifted his chin with a finger until their gazes met. “What did I say that has that worried look on your face?”
Lucas shrugged. “This is all happening so fast.”
“When a shifter finds his mate, that’s it for him. You’re it for me, for the rest of my life.”
“Just like that?”
“Yep, just like that. Fate has chosen.”
“And you don’t have a say in it at all.”
Bennett shrugged. “Why would I question Fate? I trust that you’re perfect for me.”
“I can’t do that. Trust like that. So blindly. ”
Bennett frowned. “Are you rejecting me?” He asked in a gruff voice that scared Lucas a little.