Chapter 5 Rafael
Rafael
Rafael could not comprehend what Isaac dropped on him. His grandmother was Madam Love? Laverne Addams was his mate's grandmother?
“I take it by that haunted look crossing your face that you’ve heard of her?” Isaac’s shoulders were relaxed, in contrast to Rafael’s tense posture.
“Sort of.”
Isaac gave him the side-eye look of disapproval before popping another piece of cotton candy in his delectable mouth. “I may not have listened as closely as my grandmother wanted me to, but I heard enough growing up. Mystics. Spirits. Fate. The unknown.”
“I knew your grandmother as Laverne Addams.” Rafael wondered if that was too much of a shock for his mate. Once his mate figured out what Rafael meant, he would understand the significance.
“Wait. Addams? Her maiden name?” Isaac’s brows crunched and formed a cute little furrow between his eyes. Rafael wanted to rub it away and soothe the expression from his mate’s features.
Rafael nodded, knowing he needed to answer the question. “Yes.”
“But you are barely over thirty?”
“Sort of.”
“Stop saying that.” Isaac snapped, but his tone lacked any real anger. Rafael could see the wheels spinning in his mate’s mind as he tried to connect the dots. Issac’s mind struggled to comprehend, hands balled into fists as he squashed his poor cotton candy in his grip.
“Yes. I knew your grandmother before she met your grandfather. She was a friend. She visited the circus a few times when we traveled through New Orleans at the time. That was years before we settled here, though.”
Rafael wondered if he may have to catch Isaac as the man's eyes widened and he began to shake his head in disbelief.
“I can't believe that woman was right all this time.
My father told me she was a kook, off her rocker, and not to be trusted.
No matter what she said, my father insisted it wasn't real.
“What did she tell you, Isaac?” Rafael had a feeling he knew. In a roundabout way. Laverne had told him he'd eventually find his fated mate, but that he would have to be patient.
At the time, patience was not his strong suit. Yet with years of holding onto his hope, he became patient, even if he didn't fully believe. And hopefully it would pay off soon.
Isaac turned to face Rafael, scooting closer on the couch until their knees touched. Rafael felt his heart skip a beat; here it was, now or never.
“That I’d find my carousel horse and fall in love.” His voice came out calm and even, regardless if Rafael could hear their racing hearts beat in tandem. As if they were already one.
Rafael wished Laverne was still alive so he could find her and kiss her. Not romantically, of course. But she had set him up to help ease his way into his fated mate's life.
Rafael attempted to remove his sunglasses with a trembling hand, but Isaac intervened. “Can I?” his mate asked, both hands poised at the side of Rafael's face to grab the glasses. Rafael nodded, feeling the weight of the moment crush him like a ton of bricks.
Automatically he closed his eyes as the object was lifted from his nose. Isaac's light chuckle softened the moment. “Open your eyes, please.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” his voice was so close. “I was unprepared last time. It caught me off guard. But if I remember correctly, square pupils are that of a horse or goat.”
“Horse,” Rafael answered with his eyes still closed. “I recognized you when you touched me.”
“Touched you? When?”
“Later.” Rafael felt himself falling apart.
“Open for me, Rafael.”
He was. Opening his heart for his mate. But that's not what the man meant.
Slowly, Rafael cracked his eyelids apart. The view before his eyes was brilliant compared to the darkness. The vision that was his mate. His beautiful, gorgeous mate.
His mate who was currently scanning his face as if he could reach into Rafael's soul. At least it felt that way to Rafael.
“So unique,” Isaac whispered reverently, in complete awe. Then Isaac's hands were on Rafael's face, exploring his cheeks, his jaw, his fingers disappearing into his hairline—not that Rafael had much of a hairline with his dreadlocks.
Then his mate surprised him once more, leaning in completely, sealing their lips together. Then Isaac was on him as a fevered frenzy took over.
Rafael wasn't one for sugar, but the taste of cotton candy on Isaac's tongue became addictive. Lips smacking, tongues dancing. Isaac pushed Rafael down onto the flat surface of the couch, their hands roaming as their bodies slotted together in the tight space.
“Isa—” More kisses interrupted his train of thought as their bodies undulated, their hard cocks bumping along the other at once. “Isaac,” he managed to groan out as Isaac took his soft lips and left open-mouthed kisses down his jaw and neck, littered with nips and licks.
“Fuuuck,” he jerked, trying to get a handle on the situation.
“Tell me now. What are we?” Isaac gasped, sitting up quickly, arms braced on Rafael's chest, legs tangling and hanging off the edge of the couch with Rafael's leg stabilizing them.
Rafael examined Isaac's face. Did he know? Because of Laverne, was his talk with his human about mating going to be simple?
“Fated mates?” Rafael poised it as a question, not knowing what Isaac wanted as a response.
It must have been the correct answer when Isaac gifted him with a megawatt smile and descended back on top of Rafael, continuing his kisses.
Fighting with their clothing, they ended up in a heap of limbs on the floor.
“You get your clothes, and I'll get mine,” Rafael grumbled as he sat up on his knees, fumbling with his hoodie before shucking it off and tossing it aside.
“Mmm,” Isaac moaned appreciatively. Then his chilly hands were tracing Rafael's lean muscles and tattoos. “So very sexy.”
Rafael felt his cock twitch in his pants when Isaac licked up a path from navel to peck. Thankfully it was all the man could reach—for the time being.
Isaac could gladly have his way with Rafael. But they needed to be stripped first.
Threading his fingers in Isaac's hair, Rafael clenched and pulled his head back away from skin. “Naked. Now.”
Isaac pouted. “I can't help it. It's been a while. Too long. So, so long ago with a man. And I want–need–to admire your figure.”
Rafael knew he'd catalog that information away for later. As long as his mate was in the here and now, that's all that mattered.
Taking a demanding kiss, Rafael pushed Isaac down and shoved up his shirt. His mate understood the command when Rafael unbuttoned his jeans.
Divested of all his clothing, Rafael drank in his fill of Issac. His eyes lingered on his playful mate, who now pumped his hand up and down his hard cock while caressing his body with the other.
Rafael watched until Isaac laughed, at which point he shook his brain back online and removed his jeans. Skin on skin, they moaned as one as Rafael lay against Isaac. Just like earlier, their bodies slotted together perfectly. As if made for each other. And they were.
That frenzy feeling returned as soon as Rafael's mouth sucked at Isaac's neck. He'd never felt the need to mark, to bite, to rut, yet it all came right there on the surface, itching to take over.
Their bodies slid together in a sensual dance; it had been ages since Rafael had entertained the idea of a bed partner; however, he didn't forget the steps.
Arms tangled once more as they fought to touch and caress what skin they could reach. “Please,” Isaac begged, arching his hips up into Rafael's. “Take me. Make me feel.”
“I am,” he argued, sucking and licking a trail down Isaac's neck and collarbone.
“Too long. Now.” His fingers clenched in emphasis, his legs dropping open to cradle Rafael.
“You will be mine,” Rafael growled as he put two fingers to Isaac's mouth, the man instantly sucking them, twirling his tongue to coat them in saliva.
Removing them with a pop, he didn't waste any time preparing his mate.
The tight channel drew his digits deep inside, relaxing and allowing Rafael to play while leaving marks along Isaac's fair skin.
“Stop teasing!” His mate complained, his head thumping the ground under him. “I'm ready. I'm ready!”
Rafael chuckled at Isaac's insistence while pulling his nipples into hard peaks. So sensitive his mate was. Rafael would relish that fact for years to come.
Propping up on one hand and knees, Rafael situated his cock at Isaac's entrance. Staring his mate in the eyes, he slowly sank into the man's warmth.
Isaac's body gripped him firmly as Rafael bottomed out, his pelvis pressed against Isaac's backside. Resting his forehead on Isaac's, Rafael paused to give them a moment to adjust.
Yet his mate had other plans. Wrapping his legs around Rafael's back, Isaac linked his ankles together and arched his ass up and down, fucking himself on Rafael's lodged cock.
“Oh, yes,” Issac moaned. “You feel so, so good. Yes. Just like that.”
Not that Rafael was doing anything, nor had he ever felt such a sensation before and let his mate have his way. Mutters and mumbles fell from Isaac's lips like prayers and praises.
“Please. Yes, Rafael. Fuck me. Please.”
When his mate begged continuously after losing his rhythm, Rafael took over. Only to draw out Isaac's pleas into curses as Rafael took his time stroking at the same slow pace he had started with.
The other part of Rafael's consciousness had other plans, though, as if taking control; Rafael rutted faster, harder, and deeper into his mate. Rafael felt a part of himself grow that he had never expected, while yeses chanted on a loop.
“Oh, my god, what the fuck is that?” Isaac hummed as his word ended in a long, drawn-out moan.
“Tilt. Your. Head.” Rafael barely gritted out his command, thankful when Isaac didn't question him.
He bit Isaac's smooth skin; fangs weren't really his thing, but whatever made him tick as a carousel shape shifter gave him enough magic or whatever was needed to snap their bond together as his cock's knot locked them together in the most intimate of ways.
Isaac screamed in rapture, his hips jerking as hot seed splashed up between their chests. Rafael quickly followed his mate's lead, pursuing his own release while enhancing his mate's pleasure.
Letting go of his mate's neck, Rafael found himself instinctively licking the spot. He increased the pressure of his tongue lapping at the mark as Isaac squirmed with delight.
“Raf,” Isaac pleaded. “I…” he trailed off as he tilted his head back, letting out a lower scream, more seed shooting between them. Rafael liked this trick and intended to use it multiple times.
Their bodies sank from the adrenaline; Rafael balanced to the side, languidly caressing Isaac's sweat-glistening flesh. His nose rubbing along the man's jaw, his chest working overtime to even out.
“I've… never…twice…” Isaac huffed out.
“I've never knotted. I kinda like it,” Rafael punctuated his statement with a subtle shift of his hips; instantly Isaac gasped, eyes widening.
“Again.”
“Always.”