Chapter Sixteen
Lux
After we mated, Lux checked out of the Mates Motel and into my place. We hadn’t made the official decision of where we were going to live at the time because, while he didn’t have a house at that time, the contractors were actively working on replacing the one he’d lost due to lightning.
When they finally came back to him with the plans for the rebuild, we sat down and had a long talk. We made lists of pros and cons for each of our places, especially with both the baby coming and his business. There was so much to consider.
In the end, we decided to stay here until his place was built and then move over there.
The insurance company was shockingly easy to deal with, and we were able to work with the contractor to alter floor plans as long as we stayed with the same footprint as the original house.
In the end, we built a nursery that connected to our bedroom.
Our thought was that it could be turned into his office when the baby moved to their own bedroom.
Best of all, the land gave my fox a ton of space to run around and hunt in.
But deciding to move meant that even though my omega was now seven months pregnant, we were packing to move. I was half ready to say, “We changed our minds,” and stay here until after our kit was born. But the thought of moving with a newborn was even worse.
They had delivered the furniture we’d bought for many of the rooms, already.
There was still so much from here that needed to be moved over.
I felt bad that my mate had gone through so much getting to the point where we could move into the house.
Actively watching the first one burn to the ground had to have been horrifying.
And the process from ruin to new home was intense.
“I think I’m done in this room.” Rain stood in the doorway, his hands on his rounded belly. He was so freaking adorable pregnant, I couldn’t even stand it.
I noticed a piece of tape on his shirt as he got up.
“Are you all packed up, too?” I reached for it and pulled it off.
“I don’t even know where that came from.” He rubbed his left side. When he first started doing that, I thought he was in pain and worried a ton. Now, I knew he was rubbing where the baby was kicking because he felt like he was comforting our little one.
“I think the only thing we have left to pack up is the remaining kitchen stuff and the bathroom,” I said. It was still a lot, but less of a lot.
We had people coming to help us move, and I was able to use Bobby’s truck, making it a one-trip-and-done…in theory.
“How much time do we have?”
I looked at my phone. “Geoff and Bennett should be here in about twenty minutes. Gary and Maggie, not for another hour.”
“Could I take a really quick power nap?”
“Absolutely.”
He curled up on the couch and almost instantly fell asleep.
I used that time to pack everything else up. My mate was so exhausted, he didn’t even seem to hear them come in, and we started to unload the house into the truck with him still sound asleep. Finally, I needed to wake him.
I brushed a kiss against his cheek. “Honey, we need the couch.”
“Five minutes,” he mumbled. “Do the bedroom first.”
“I started in the bedroom,” I told him. “All of the rooms are empty, except for this one.”
That had his eyes popping open.
“You need to help me out because getting onto the couch was easy. Getting up, not so much.” He’d learned that the hard way one day when I was at work early in the week.
We followed them to our new place, where the first thing we brought in was the couch. He climbed right back on it and fell asleep. He wasn’t nearly as exhausted as he was the first part of his pregnancy, but he’d overdone it, so it made sense he was good and done.
I thanked everybody for helping and told them we’d have everyone over for a barbecue once we got settled in.
For unpacking, I started with the bedroom, making sure the bed was made, and then went to the bathroom, making sure all of our toothbrushes and shampoos were where they needed to be.
I ended in the kitchen. Everything else could wait.
As long as we had some cups and a few pieces of cutlery, we’d be fine.
I poured a glass of water and brought it to my mate, waking him again. “You need to drink some water.”
“Oh, okay.” I helped him up and handed him the glass, and he drank it all down. “Sorry, I’m not helping.”
“You’re growing a kit. That’s a full-time job, if you ask me.
And on top of that, you’re still working.
Then, when I was working yesterday, you spent all day packing, only to wake up early and start packing again.
If you weren’t this exhausted, I’d start to wonder if you were a robot who took over my mate’s body, because that’s a lot. ”
“You’re so sweet.” He pushed himself up. “I want to see our house with our furniture in it.”
We went from room to room then ended up outside on the patio.
“You should let your fox run around, now that it’s ours.”
“I can stay here with you.”
“Or”—he tapped my nose—“you can let your fox out, and I can admire him as he explores his new home.”
I didn’t love the idea of leaving him there, even though that made no sense. I wasn’t leaving. I was staying on the property. But my mate was stubborn and held his hand out for me to give him my clothing. I did.
He raked his eyes down my body. “If I had the energy…the things I would do to you. Now, run, play, piss on things. I don’t know what you’re gonna do, but do it.”
I loved how he spoke so frankly about my beast. He told me he was going to be father to a fox, so he should understand them. We both understood that our baby might not be a fox. Only time would tell. Neither of us had a preference, as long as they came into this world happy and healthy.
I called forth my fur and landed on the ground on my four paws before jumping into my mate’s lap and licking his chin.
“You are the most disobedient little fox. Now go do your thing.”
I jumped down and ran the perimeter of our property. And yes, I pissed on things. He’d been right about that. When I came back, my fox felt secure, and I was ready to spend the first night in my our new home.
“Did you have a good run?”
“Yeah,” I said, pulling up my boxer briefs. “Now, I’m going to heat up the chicken Maggie gave us so we can get some protein into you before trying out our new shower.”
We had a huge bathtub, but the shower… I had a feeling the shower was going to be our favorite. It was large enough for both of us, and friends, if we wanted to invite them, which we didn’t, and had showerheads with water coming from all angles. No cold asses for us.
“Oh, I do love me some of Maggie’s chicken. Did I tell you why I asked her why it was Fred’s Fried Chicken?”
“No, tell me.” I’d been dying to know for years.
“She said, ‘If I wanted you to know that, it’d be on the menu.’”
And I’d continue to wait. “That sounds like Maggie.”
“It does. I was thinking, but we don’t have to decide today.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“It does, but it’s not. It was just something that was fluttering through my mind when you were running. Maybe we should keep your place for a while. I could maybe work from there and keep this house just a home so I don’t ever turn into that business owner who never stops working.”
“You’re not going to be. You’ve set so many good boundaries.”
“But they’re hard, and having to drive there would make that easier.”
“I like that idea. But you know what I like even more than that?”
“Me?” He winked.
“Well, obviously. But also chicken. Let’s go eat.”