Chapter 16 Frankie
Chapter sixteen
Frankie
Iwake up to the sun streaming in through the window and the comfortable weight of Seth on my chest. It’s been a long while since I’ve slept so soundly. Seth twitches and lets out a little sigh before he turns and rolls to his other side.
My gaze follows the lines of his back, taking in the dip before the swell of his ass. I would love to sink right back into him, but I know he’s going to be tender.
Quietly, I get out of bed. I have no idea what time it is, but I think some eggs and bacon are in order. I pull on my boxers and head into the kitchen. I’ve been here often enough that I know my way around his place.
Grabbing the ingredients, I start cooking up breakfast. I put on a pot of coffee as the bacon sizzles, and I’m in the middle of scrambling eggs and cheese together when I realize I’m humming.
I stop what I’m doing immediately, staring down at the bowl of egg and cheese mush. I’ve never caught myself humming. Not as a child, and certainly not as a grown ass man working for the Vicellia Family. I’ve never been content enough in my life to just fucking hum for no damn reason.
Rustling from the bedroom has a smile curling my lips, and I look over my shoulder in the direction of the bed. Seth’s the reason I’m humming. He’s the reason I actually feel contentment.
I’m plating the food by the time Seth stumbles into the kitchen with a yawn and nothing but a pair of gray sleep pants. He’s practically walking blind as he rubs his eyes, but the moment he lowers his hands and blinks in my direction, his eyes go wide.
“Holy crap, you’re still here!”
I turn to face him, spatula in one hand, and one eyebrow raised.
“Am I not supposed to be here?” I try to act casual and confident, but inside I’m an anxious mess.
If he kicks me out, says this was a mistake, I don’t know how I’ll react.
I won’t force him to accept me, but I don’t know how we’ll move forward if he kicks me out.
I’ve never cared about anyone as much as I care about Seth, and I don’t know if I will recover if he ends up rejecting me.
“No, no. It’s just, you’re always gone when I wake up. But you’re still here and. . .” He stops and looks around me at his small table. “And you made brunch?”
“Yes. I have to restore all the calories I fucked out of you,” I quip, grinning when he turns an adorable shade of pink.
Adorable? When the fuck have I ever looked at someone and thought of them as adorable? When have I ever used that term?
Seth’s up to me and arms wrap around my waist, tilting his head up to brush his lips with mine.
The simple gesture has me shaking myself out of my thoughts.
He smiles up at me, and my chest tightens and fills with something light and warm.
“Thank you,” he says softly before gingerly lowering himself into one of the chairs.
Both pride and concern war within me when he winces. As much as I enjoy the fact that I literally fucked him to the point that he can’t walk straight, I hate that he’s in pain now.
“How do you feel?”
“Sore, but good.” He flashes me a grin as I place his coffee cup next to him, along with some sugar and liquid creamer from the fridge. He shoves a forkful of eggs into his mouth, and his little moan goes straight to my dick.
I get my coffee, black with just a sprinkle of sugar, and sit across from him. He nibbles on the bacon before he looks up at me with a determined expression. “So. . . dick bones?”
I cough on my bite of egg, pounding my chest to dislodge it. I was not expecting that to be the first thing he asked about.
“What about them?” I finally manage to say as I take a hasty sip of my too-hot coffee.
“You have a bone in your dick? Is this like common knowledge?” He takes another dainty bite of the bacon, his gaze full of curiosity.
“It’s not something I go announcing, but it’s known that some shifters will have them based on their animal form.
” Seth gives me a confused look as I take a bite of egg.
“Some animals in the animal kingdom have a bone called a baculum that assists with reproduction. That bone is also present in the shifters.”
His eyes are wide, his fork hanging forgotten. “And I’m guessing wolves have them?”
I nod. “They do, as do most other canines. Along with cats, bears, bats, most primates... Shifters retain a lot more of their animal form than most humans think.”
Seth pushes the remainder of his food around his plate. It’s obvious he has something else on his mind, but I won’t press him.
“Anything else you’re curious about?” Okay, I won’t press him too much. And we need to be as honest as possible with each other, especially with how all this began.
He ducks his head, his cheeks turning a bright crimson. “You said your wolf wants to knot me, to mate me, but that I’m not ready.” He glances up at me before his gaze flicks away, but I catch the look of confusion and hurt in his expression.
I push my plate away from me and reach over to clasp his hand in mine.
“It’s not because I don’t want it or think that you can’t handle it.
But I did want to explain exactly what it means.
You are my mate, Seth. That’s a big deal for us.
It means that you are it for me. There will be no one else.
If I knot you, if I claim you as my mate, we will be bound together. ”
His eyes widen as I explain, the blush spreading down his chest. “And all it takes for that to happen is for you to knot me? What about anyone else you’ve slept with? If you knotted any of them, wouldn’t they be your mates, too?”
I chuckle at how innocent he sounds. “Common misconception. A mate bond doesn’t form just because I’m fucking someone. It’s…It’s more metaphysical. And for the bond to connect, I have to knot you and bite you in shifted form.”
Seth’s head jerks up at that, his eyes going even wider as his breath hitches in his chest. “You mean, you have to fuck me as a wolf? I don’t… I don’t think I can do that.”
His horror borders on disgust, and I can’t really say I blame him.
For someone who’s never grownup with shifters, it would be a horrifying concept.
Honestly, even I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I have to be in wolf form, or at least partially shifted, for the bond to be sealed.
“Have you ever seen someone in shifted form?” Seth swallows at my question. I don’t need to use my sensitive hearing to know that his heart is pounding; I can see his pulse jack hammering in his throat from here. He slowly shakes his head, and heat twists low in my stomach.
I want him to see me shift. I want to lay myself bare before him.
“Would you like to?”
He audibly gulps, his eyes dilating as he licks his lips. I haven’t even done anything this morning, and he already looks thoroughly fucked, with his disheveled hair and plump, wet lips. My dick thickens in my boxers, and all I want to do is pull him into my lap and sink inside him again.
“Yes, but before you do that, I need to show you something.” The sudden change throws me, and I sit there in confusion when he gets up and scrambles through some paperwork on the coffee table. He brings me a small pile of papers and places them in front of me on the table.
“These are the letters my uncle sent me. The first couple aren’t all that interesting, but the rest of them…” He takes a deep breath. Whatever he’s read in those letters has shaken him, and I kick myself for not thinking something like this could happen.
“You said there are multiple letters? I was only aware of the one,” I say softly, reaching for the pile of paper.
“Yeah, he’d been sending me letters every few weeks since he got arrested. I never opened them until now. I didn’t want to hear his excuses, but now I’m wishing I had listened.”
There’s so much regret in his voice that I can’t stop myself from wrapping an arm around him and dragging him into my lap.
He curls against me, tucking his face against the side of my neck.
But equally important is how the fuck I missed a pile of letters.
I doubt he had them locked up in a safety deposit box somewhere.
The fact that this obsessive mate thing has got me so twisted up that it interfered with my job. I can’t be that inattentive. It could mean I end up pushing up daisies instead of coming home to him.
I breathe in his scent, pulling it into my lungs so that I don’t forget it. I’d roll around on him like a lovesick pup if he’d let me. But not now, when he’s sniffling and shaking in my arms. What the fuck did Cody say in his letters?
Twenty minutes later, I put down the last letter and scratch my fingers through my beard. I can see why Seth is so upset over them. Reading letters written by your uncle as he loses his mind would upset just about anyone.
Seth’s phone chimes, and he stirs on my lap enough to reach over and grab it.
Earlier, we made our way over to the couch so I could go through the letters.
Since then, he’d crawled into my lap and dozed off.
I’ve never been a man who was interested in cuddling, but with Seth, it’s okay.
Nice, even. I love the heat and the heaviness of his body on mine.
Any time a past lover has tried to do this, my wolf immediately went on guard, the feeling of being trapped making me want to peel off my skin in an attempt to get away.
But with Seth, it’s different. He doesn’t make me feel antsy or imprisoned.
I want to tie him to me, wrap my arms around him, and never let him go.
“Don’t be mad, but I took a picture of that weird puzzle letter and sent it to a friend of mine,” Seth mumbles, his breath tickling across the hairs on my chest. I tense beneath him, my instinct to control everything causing a momentary spike of anxiety.
It’s not that I don’t trust him, because I do.
But I’ve spent most of my life clinging to control like it’s my life raft.