Chapter 20
Vatten
Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory
I woke up the next morning still in dog form on Eran’s bare chest as if he’d cradled me all night.
I stretched and licked his chin. His five o’clock shadow tickled my tongue.
He hugged me and kissed the top of my head before turning to his side and snuggling into me.
How late did he stay up once we got back to the apartment last night?
His skin was really warm and cozy. Extra warm.
Cats were always heaters, though, right?
He was hard too. So hard that even cuddling him made him moan.
I shifted back to my human form, and he blinked his eyes open, waking up more fully.
“Are you okay?” I asked, more worried about the fever-warm skin than the hard-on.
Morning wood was real. That was a non-issue, easily taken care of.
The fever on the other hand… Had the storm gotten him sick?
Was it the ghost? Shifters had strong immune systems and that went double for alphas but something…
. Something was happening. Could ghosts make you sick?
“I think it’s you,” Eran said.
“Me?” I blinked and felt my own forehead. “I feel fine. Maybe that’s part of whatever gave you a fever.”
“It’s not a fever,” Eran chuckled, turning on his side to face me. “It’s you. Your scent. Our true-mate response. Being so close to you.”
“Heat?” I sniffed the air and buried my face in the crook of his neck.
He smelled warm, furry, and delicious. “I didn’t know alpha cats went into heat.
I know ---” I stopped because saying I knew most intact, nonshifting domestic housecat toms were always down to fuck sounded wrong.
I mean, that’s how it worked, but saying it to my mate was wrong.
Eran laughed, picking up my thoughts over our mating link. For a second, mortification shimmied down my spine. I had to be careful how loudly I thought in the future.
“Down to fuck is a good way to describe an intact tom cat,” he nodded. “And it’s not heat and I’m not just feline. I’m a bear and it’s a rut.”
“Oh!” I sat up. “I’ll cook.”
Eran blinked at me.
“It’s like alpha heat, right? That means we should eat first. Do I need to call anyone?
Like to tell people their orders will be late or that we won’t be around?
Are you going to fight someone if they come over?
Bears in ruts like to wrestle with other bears to see who’s actually bigger, right?
Shit! That didn’t come out right!” I facepawed.
How many times was I going to put all four of my paws into my mouth?
“Back home, sometimes the single polar bear shifters will have these big wrestling matches if more than one of them are in a rut at the same time.”
“You’re adorable when you’re worried about offending me. Bears do fight during ruts. I’m not saying it’s never happened but it’s different with shifters. Like did anyone ever die during those wrestling matches?” Eran asked, his eyes raking over me.
“No,” I shook my head. “To kill another alpha would make it harder for the sleuth.”
“Exactly.”
“Do you want me to find you someone to wrestle?” I asked.
“No, thanks. I’d like you to come here, though. Like really close. The cavealpha part of my brain wants to pounce.”
“Food first,” I laid down the law. “Food first because we might forget to eat. We should also tell someone just in case this turns into a matingmoon whether we want it to or not. How long do ruts last?”
Eran cocked his head at me as if he was thinking something at me, but nothing came through. I blinked and listened harder.
“No, I’m just… Like you weren’t a virgin before, right?”
“No,” I shook my head. “I avoid alphas in ruts. It’s just--- Instinct.
If you don’t wanted to be rutted, you stay away.
It’s just what you do. Not that bears are rutting people without consent where I come from…
It’s more… It’s just a gut feeling. Too many generations where that probably happened.
I don’t know how to explain it. They went into ruts and we sent them out into nature until they were finished.
We’d hear them wrestling around out there… ”
One of Eran’s thoughts slapped into my brain and my face turned a shade of red wine. They probably weren’t wrestling. They were---
“Yeah, I mean, maybe it starts out as wrestling but not every alpha is omegasexual,” Eran nodded.
“Well, you can only wrestle with me because I’m not sharing,” I said, scooting toward the end of the bed.
“Come back over here,” Eran said, reaching out to wrap an arm around my waist. I froze for a second.
He wasn’t holding onto me tightly. Not really.
I could get away but part of me wanted to sink onto the bed and see what it was like to be under an alpha in rut.
To writhe under him while he aired his baser nature.
“Food first,” I said and slipped out from under his arm. “And text someone to let them know. Maybe Jade. Or maybe not. He’s an omega.”
I stopped and turned to face him from the doorway. “Have you ever rutted with him? Like not sex, but in a rut—” my face was probably more strawberry than wine at that moment.
“No,” Eran said but it felt like there was more to that story.
“Do you really want to know?” he asked a second later when I lingered in the doorway.
“Sort of.”
“Which part?”
“I dunno… The rutting and why the Jade answer feels incomplete.”
“Jade’s been in heat while we were together,” Eran said. “And I’ve rutted with other people. Probably two or three times. Usually from the pheromone swap app.”
“No more of that app,” I shook my head, swallowing down a growl.
“Of course not,” Eran said.
“Gonna knot him next time and show him that he’s ours,” my dog grumbled as I walked out of the room. “Knot him so hard that he thinks he’s pregnant.”