Chapter 21
Eran
Guardians of Glitter Bomb Territory
I ached as Vatten walked out of the bedroom and headed into the kitchen.
He was right, though. Breakfast was probably the best course of action.
Since that was what he wanted to do it was our only course of action.
I rolled across the bed and grabbed my phone from the nightstand to scroll through official group announcements.
Good to their word, Philip and Canton still had guards stationed on all the wells.
Canton was running water purity tests on the wells still used at the farm.
So far, every well tested was potable. Which was a relief.
The farm also utilized rainwater collection, but rain wasn’t always reliable.
They were in touch with the larger GGB council, but Canton had made it clear that the final decision on whether or not to fill in the older wells rested with him.
I kept scrolling. There hadn’t been another Pami sighting but there was a small note about Clarence Moonscale taking precautions and adding security measures to ensure that her absence continued.
After scrolling through the birth announcements and two true-mate meeting announcements, I switched over to my citizens’ app.
Everyone called it something different, but it was sort of like social media if its biggest purpose was to communicate and coordinate.
Those of us who used it could easily let others know if we were available to help on projects, watch kids, etc.
Usually, I was always down to help when I was in town.
But I added the matingmoon and self-imposed house bound tag to my profile.
I also sent off a quick message to my sire so that Jacand wouldn’t randomly show up.
I’d never hurt Jacand, rut or not, but I didn’t want to say the wrong thing and actually hurt the kid’s feelings.
I also let Jade know because that meant I wouldn’t be able to stop by and help him out either.
Then I reluctantly let Bernard know. We no longer lived together but it felt strange not to tell him.
Anyone with the app who checked out my profile would probably put two and two together and realize I was in a rut.
There was a rut tag but most people didn’t use it unless they were looking for help with that particular ailment.
I wasn’t sure if our first mate, Feral Moonscale, knew that people were using his groupwide app to broadcast they were DTF, but it happened.
“Kitchen?” my cat yawned.
I thought about going into the kitchen but didn’t trust myself not to interrupt whatever Vatten was cooking.
So, I took a shower and took care of myself.
Sure, my thoughts were all over Vatten and dripped down onto our mating link, but it was hard to keep them to myself when everything inside me craved him.
I wanted to lick the salt from his skin and savor every bit of flavor on my tongue.
I wanted to wrap around him and live in his skin if that was the only way to get close enough to him.
Stroking off in the shower took the barest edge off but that was enough for me to towel off and go on into the kitchen wearing a different towel.
I wasn’t about to bother with putting clothes on when I knew I wouldn’t keep them on for long once Vatten was satisfied that we’d nourished ourselves enough.
The kitchen was a mingling aroma of fried eggs, bacon, toast, and the unmistakable tangy scent of Vatten’s arousal. He had to be so fucking slick. How was he concentrating on anything? How was the bacon not burnt?
“Because I want energy for this,” he said, picking up my thoughts over the mating link.
“Plus, I wasn’t this hard up until some cat got into the shower and thought about fucking me just about every way imaginable.
Just so you know, I’m not a cat. I am not liquid in a flesh suit.
My hips don’t bend like that.” Amusement laced his words and I smiled as his ass swayed back and forth with his shifting weight as he tended the stove.
Was this why people thought cooking omegas were sexy?
Did they just want to watch their butts?
“If you weren’t in a rut and it wasn’t my butt after I volunteered to cook, I’d have something to say about all that, mister!
” he said without looking at me. “I don’t think those old fashioned, small-pricked, megalomaniacs wanted to watch butts while people cooked.
They wanted omegas to cook because they were entitled and--- I said I wasn’t going to say anything but now I’m on a row and I’d keep going but you’re amused! I am not hot when I’m all worked up!”
I laughed unable to stop my thoughts from pouring all over my mate. He was indeed hot when he was worked up but he was also hot when he wasn’t or when he was merely asleep. Vatten was fucking breathtaking.
“And I know you know that!” he said, plating the food at the counter. “And you were making a joke but it wasn’t very funny. I’m not mad at you but don’t think with your dick so much, okay?”
I glanced down at my dick pressing up against the towel like it would soon break through its fluffy surface. Maybe he was right and it had more blood than anywhere else in my body.
“I mean, I could say I think the opposite is true too,” I said, trying to lighten his mood.
“What’s that?” he asked, filling glasses with orange juice.
“That omegas like alphas who cook because then they can watch their butts,” I said, crossing the kitchen to help him bring the stuff to the table.
“You have butts on the brain,” Vatten laughed.
“Not until you sit on my face,” I said and he rolled his eyes, but his cheeks dotted with red.
“Put your bacon in your mouth,” he said but scooted his chair closer to me before sitting down.
“This is really good,” I said, taking a bite.
“You’ve barely tasted it.”
“It’s bacon. I bought it at the store. So I know it’s good quality bacon. Bacon is always good.”
“Are you even tasting it?” he laughed.
“It doesn’t taste as good as you,” I said.
“I won’t have the whole group saying I starved you while you were in a rut!” Vatten said, picking up a piece of bacon and tapping me on the nose with it. “So, eat up.”
A second later, two sets of footsteps played around in the corridor. One set was distinctly smaller than the other.
“Jade and Jondi,” my cat said before my nose ever caught up.
Then as if to confirm he was correct, Jondi made a long SHHHH! Sound.
“These are secret snacks for while Uncle Eran learns all about Vatten. I hope he passes his test,” Jondi whispered in that loud, obvious way little kids often did. “Good luck, Uncle Eran!”
Jade’s laughter carried down the corridor as the footsteps of the duo left.
We waited until after we finished breakfast before checking the front door.
I almost went out of habit but Vatten pointed to the towel clinging for dear life around my waist and went out instead.
A few minutes later, he carried two large baskets back into the kitchen and then returned to the door.
“You are really popular or Jade is really wealthy,” Vatten said, setting two more baskets onto the table. “There are four more.”
“Some of these are just baskets from the farm. We all get weekly deliveries. Well, everyone connected to the farm. Canton always says if someone goes hungry off the farm its either because we forgot to bring the food in or we didn’t share. Do you want me to grab some pants and bring in the rest?”
“No, you start sorting stuff and putting it away. I don’t want you to wrestle someone in the hallway,” he said.
“I only want to wrestle you,” I said as he headed out of the kitchen again.
A few of the baskets were obviously from the farm.
It was all fresh produce with a few mini pies from Ears or his kids.
The others were undoubtedly the ones Jade and Jondi left.
They not only smelled like them but had all the hallmarks of a kid helping put them together from the drawing of a giant kitten that took up the whole sheet of paper that I stuck on the fridge to the boxes of candy.
There were also fresh baked loaves of bread, sandwich fixins, and other things that were easy to snack on.
In a little glittery zipper pouch, was several packs of condoms, lube, and other ‘I don’t know if you want kids or not, but just in case’ items.
“This whole basket is filled with pies,” Vatten said, his eyes growing larger with each passing second. “This one has danishes. This one has laundry. I think its from your parents. Do your parents do your laundry?”
“No, a laundry service does. It probably just got mixed in with the others when they dropped it off,” I said, taking the baskets from him.
“You pay someone to do your laundry?” he blinked at me.
“It’s good for the economy. The service is really just a single parent making extra money,” I said.
“You better not be talking about Jade,” he shook his finger at me. “If you make your best friend do your laundry because he needs money, I’ll kick you in the shin.”
“No, Jade runs a play center for flying kids,” I said.
“And I’d give them money too if they’d take it but it’s more about feeling like they’re part of the community by doing something helpful.
Everyone needs a purpose. Yeah, I know. Raising two kids is a purpose all its own but everyone needs something outside of their kids. ”
“So… You pay someone else to wash your underwear?” he blinked.
“No!” I shook my head. “I’d never send my underwear or dirty socks to someone else. Most of those need handwashed anyway.”
“But there’s a washing machine here.”
“Yeah, I know,” I nodded. “Look, their kids go to Jade’s play place. They asked him if he knew anyone who would like a laundry service. So a bunch of us decided to do it after Jade asked us to.”
“It’s sort of sweet but if I was a single parent and I had to wash everyone’s laundry to feed my kid, I swear I’d start cursing people,” he said.
“No one is making them and no kid is going hungry. Not here. Not in the GGB. Not with the leadership or with Canton’s farm brat program.”
“Huh? Farm brat? That sounds mean,” he said, his eyebrows knitting together.
“Oh, it’s the program’s nickname. It’s a program that sends a certain amount of produce per child or college aged person to every family who signs up free of charge. The nickname might sound mean but I don’t think the kids care as long as they’re eating. We’ll get it too.”
“But we have money and can go out and—”
“That’s the thing, though. When in theory everyone has enough – those who don’t speak up in bigger places or ask for help, usually get it too.
Like I’m not going to get through all the produce on my own.
I’ll take what I know I won’t eat out to the table at the end of the corridor and leave it there.
Maybe some weeks I take something someone else left there because it looks good.
Then someone takes what I left. The goal is feeding people who are too stubborn or afraid to ask for help,” Eran said.
“I’m not explaining it all that well. I grew up with it.
I was one of the kids who went to school with three lunches.
One for me and two in case someone else was hungry or didn’t like their lunches or what the school free lunch was.
Since I grew up with it, I guess it’s hard to explain it. ”
Vatten started to tear up and I blinked in bemusement.
“Mate, I didn’t mean to make you cry,” I said, walking over and pulling him close. “The school lunches here really aren’t that bad.” I wasn’t sure what made him cry.
“It’s not that,” he sniffled. “It’s—I just imagined you up at the tail crack of dawn making extra lunches for our kids to take to school and,” a sob tore from his throat.
I kissed his forehead. If we had met more recently than yesterday, I may have suggested a pixelated baby pregnancy test but even if my swimmers were equipped with compasses and found the eggs without delay, they couldn’t have implanted and caused enough hormonal changes to show signs of pregnancy yet.
Plus, there was the little detail of my being in a rut.
That didn’t normally happen if your mate was pregnant.
“You’re just going to be such a good dad,” he said and his whole body vibrated. “I tried not to vibrate because I don’t want to knock stuff over. Then I cried because that’s what happens when I can’t wag my tail.”
“Do you have the zoomies?” I asked.
He hesitated and I wondered who in his past had told him that was a bad thing.
“No one,” he said over our mating link. “It’s just… We live in an apartment. The neighbors don’t want to hear that.”
“The neighbors below us have five bear cubs under five. If they can hear anything over them it’s a miracle straight from the Other World. Plus, use the corridor. Seriously, it’s like Zoomie Lane out there. No one will care.”
“Are you certain?” he asked.
“Go on. Go have fun,” I said and stole a kiss. “I’ll get everything put away.”
“Are you sure?” he looked down at my crotch.
“It’ll survive,” I chuckled.