Chapter 24
Braun
“Um, no. He didn’t do that either.” Emeric flopped back on the guest bed and looked up at the ceiling. “When can I move to my bedroom upstairs? Uncle Dorian said I could keep the little soldiers we found and I need somewhere to put them.”
His Uncle Dorian claimed not to have much but he was just a barely restrained packrat too.
“We’ve got two options. We can order one online and have it delivered or we can go pick one out probably Wednesday.
” I’d given up pretending he wasn’t going to stay with us when Macy had used a new friend’s phone and explained that she’d gotten distracted at the outlet mall and wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.
Yep.
She was still using presumptive language that made it sound like she’d take him eventually, but that wasn’t going to work. My assumption that she was grown-up enough to take on the responsibility of taking care of Emeric had been grossly overconfident.
“We need to pick one out.” Emeric looked so sure about that I knew an Uncle Dorian says was coming. “Uncle Dorian says touching things is better because we have to see the quality.”
“Then we’ll do that later this week.” Because I had a never-ending pile of paperwork on my desk at the house and out at the ranger station. “We’ll make a list before we go. Two lists. Needs and wants.”
Nodding seriously, Emeric frowned and looked amazingly like Dorian when he was thinking and fighting off yawns. “I need a bed but I want a shelf. I can do that.”
Hmm.
“Let’s keep that shelf in the need category unless there’s one up in the attic?” I couldn’t remember if we had anything like that or not. “It might take us a while to find the perfect stuff for your room, so if we have something we can use temporarily that’ll be good.”
Nodding, Emeric settled back against his pillows as he glanced up again like he was picturing his room. “Uncle Dorian says we can’t rush that kind of thing and we might need to look at flea markets and places like that because antiques are sturdier.”
Emeric’s confident tone made me wonder what conversation I’d missed.
“I think that’s a good plan as long as you like the furniture.” I didn’t care what his room looked like but I wanted to make sure he knew he got to pick it out. “After school tomorrow you can do some research on decorating stuff and see what style you like.”
I was really hoping he wasn’t going to love that weird IKEA everything looks boring stuff, but I could live with it in just one room.
“We’re also going to need to pick out bedding.” We really did need a few lists. “What color should it be?”
The way his eyebrows went up and his head cocked made him look like he thought my IQ had just dropped ten points. “Blue.”
Duh.
“Perfect.” Eventually he’d be comfortable enough to figure out his own tastes, right? Was that something we needed to talk to a therapist about too? “Okay, you head to bed because we’ve got to get up early for school and I need tomorrow to come fast so we can see what happens next in the book.”
Emeric sat up and gave me a tight hug as I sighed and grumbled again. “Books shouldn’t have cliffhanger chapters that early.”
He snickered quietly but tried to look serious by the time I let him lie back down. “Maybe if we’re good tomorrow we’ll get two chapters.”
“I think bribes might need to be involved.” I wasn’t sure what the chapter to behavior scale looked like but I wasn’t willing to take any chances. “We’ll figure out some good options.”
One chapter was just kind of stingy.
“You’ll…” His yawn that time was wider as he finally relaxed completely into the bed.
“You’ll figure out good options. You’re a good mate.
You…you think about what he likes. I…I saw that online.
The…the relationship guy said you have to think about what your partner likes to help make them feel important. ”
He’d snuck the weirdest stuff when he’d been browsing online.
“Thank you.” Running my hand over his head, I sat beside him on the bed as he closed his eyes and stopped fighting how tired he was.
The trip he’d made to find us had worn him down more than he understood but part of me couldn’t help wondering if his family had been taking care of him good enough to begin with.
The more I thought about it and compared to some of the other pups his age, the more I worried he wasn’t as filled out as he should’ve been.
Because Dorian was right, Emeric’s paws were huge compared to the rest of him.
His human body wasn’t showing the difference but he’d been running around the yard with the other pups when we’d picked him up earlier and it’d been more obvious then.
Not that Dorian had noticed.
No, my mate had nearly swallowed his tongue when the pups had all changed to their human forms, naked as jay birds as my grandmother used to say.
Just remembering the way he fought to keep a straight face left me trying not to laugh as I made my way through the house, making sure to turn off all the lights. I was well-behaved by the time I got upstairs, though, because after dinner, the stress of the day had hit Dorian hard.
He’d been doing great at hiding it from Emeric, but as I came into the bedroom, I found him standing in the middle of the room like he’d just stopped mid-step. He blinked back to life as I came in, but I could smell the stress coming off of him.
“Come here, Wolfchen, I know what I want as my reward.” His attempt at bribing me had been cute but it’d been obvious he had no idea what to do at that point. “We’re going to start with a shower because I want to wash you.”
He shook his head like a pup with water in their ears but then quickly followed it up with a nod. If I’d been human, it probably would’ve been confusing, but I was grateful for being more practically designed. “I… Okay… Yes, Sir.”
So he needed his Dom?
“Good boy.” The simple praise had his shoulders relaxing and him taking a deep breath. “You need to hug me first, though.”
Yes, he was going to need step-by-step instructions at least until his stress had lowered enough that his brain could work. It was definitely going slower than the rest of him because he started walking before glancing around and realizing what was going on. “A hug. Yes.”
So he ran and ran until he stopped?
That was good to know this early in our relationship but I was going to have to work on managing it better.
I was doing fairly good now, though, because he melted into me as he wrapped his arms around me. “Good boy.”
Kissing his head, I held him tight and kept a firm pressure on him until I could sense his stress easing again. “Tell me one thing that’s on your mind.”
I wasn’t sure what would come out or if he could do it yet, but I stayed quiet while his brain worked to process the order.
It took longer than he probably realized, but I was in no hurry and he got there eventually. “They had a bet going on at work about what I was…am.”
Okay, not where I thought we would start but I could see why that’d stuck in his head.
“That was rude. Period. Someone should probably point that out because it seems like the only people who ended up in charge at the high school panic first and make decisions second.” Who’d thought to put a Tanuki and a rabbit shifter in charge of one of the hardest jobs on the planet?
“It’s not rude if I agree with you, right?” I didn’t care if it was but I shook my head anyway. “Okay. Mr. Reed is easily startled and his tail comes out every time it happens.”
That wasn’t good.
How many humans who didn’t know what was going on did they have in the building on a regular basis?
“I think you need to remember that they like you. They were just confused and didn’t know how to approach you about your history.” And genetics. “It sounds like they’ve got a system when they interview new people and you passed without knowing it.”
At some point I was going to have to ask what he thought the Atley kid was.
“I guess there isn’t a good way to ask someone why they walked around a ghost and why they ignore random tails popping out.
” Letting out another deep breath, Dorian’s hold relaxed and he started rubbing his cheek against me.
“They need to work on their interview process, though, because I’m pretty sure the art teacher knows too, and he’s human because he keeps announcing it entirely too often. ”
Ancestors above.
“I’ll have someone check into that.” Jessen was going to have to start doing the background checks on anyone looking to work at any of the schools.
The fates only knew what was going on at the elementary school.
Those kids had no ability to control their shifts which was why so many were homeschooled.
But not everyone could do that.
Yep, calls needed to be made and research needed to be done.
“They like me, though.” Reminding himself of that seemed to help clear his head because his scent was shifting back toward delicious and not slightly burned.
“And they were excited for our mating and to meet Emeric. My students were nosy but were excited for me too. Did I tell you one family brought in a gift basket?”
“That was nice of them.” It was probably going to keep happening for a while too. I might not have been the biggest badass in the area but I was one of the strongest shifters and technically owned half the businesses in the area.
“It would be understandable if you wanted to address the bet and their behavior in a more formal way, though.” I couldn’t believe they’d been taking bets on what he was. Well, part of me could understand it, but not at work.
We kept our bad decisions at pack or group levels, not work.
“I’m going to think about that but not right now.” Whatever he was thinking, it was moving him in the right direction because his hands had gone from clinging to me to caressing my back.
“Alright, Wolfchen, but I want you to let me know if that changes.” It could go either way but I wanted him to be able to talk it out first. It was time to push that to the backburner, though, because his scent had shifted toward candied bacon and it was time to head into the shower.
But that wasn’t going to stop us from working through his mental stressors, so as he finally eased back from me, I took his hand and led him to the bathroom. “Tell me something else that’s on your mind.”
It took him longer to find another one, but by the time I had the water warming up and his shirt off, he’d sorted through some of his thoughts. “Macy’s a moron too and I’m kind of mad about that.”
Oh yeah.
I kissed his head and did my best not to vent about how much I agreed with him, though.
“She is young and is not dealing as well with this as I thought she would, but I’m mad as well and we’re going to keep Emeric here with us.” Something made him chuckle and crash his head into my chest. “What?”
“You’re supposed to ask me about that, not assume.” He was trying to find his teacher voice but I snorted.
“You started it first.” Besides, I knew what he wanted and I was just giving it to him. “I heard you talking about it with him yesterday and that whole giving him a space thing wasn’t subtle in any way.”
Dorian’s huff said I was right but it also said I’d distracted him out of some of his stress. “That’s ridiculous.”
Yep, I was right.
“When she gets back, though, I’m going to need you to meet her and tell me if you think I should’ve expected this.” I hadn’t, and as I reached for his pants, I started to second-guess a lot. “She gets good reviews at work. She’s smart and went to college early. But her family seemed stable too.”
Kissing my cheek, he snuggled closer and wiggled his hips to help his pants fall to the floor. “That just means she was gone a lot and you haven’t had a chance to get to know her well enough. How about we make sure to start doing more pack-based activities? Barbecues or things like that?”
“I think that’s a great idea.” So was finishing getting him naked, so I reached for his briefs and slowly peeled them down his hips. “But I want you to tell me if I start asking too much from you without realizing it. I know there’s got to be a balance.”
Dorian laughed.
“You have no ability to set boundaries or balance anything.” Shaking his head, he sighed and kissed my cheek. “But I will let you know when you start driving me insane.”
Smart men were really sexy.
“Thank you, Wolfchen.” Leaning down, I kissed his neck and gently nibbled on it. “I want to make sure my mate is happy with me, so making sure I know when to apologize thoroughly is important.”
His shiver was sexy but my favorite part was the sharp inhale as dirty thoughts seemed to fill his mind.
“But now…now it’s time to reward you.” Hips rocking forward, Dorian’s muscles tensed like he was fighting the urge to grind his cock against me. “You said you knew what you wanted?”
“I do.” Leaving it at that had him bouncing back and forth between wanting to complain and wanting to moan. It seemed like another distraction was in order, so as he stepped out of his clothes, I moved back and started taking off mine. “I’m going to enjoy it too.”
Dorian licked his lips and swallowed hard as his gaze followed every move I made. “What…what kind of things are you going to enjoy?”
He was thinking a bit too clearly now, so I ran my hand down my chest and slowly teased the button on my pants before stroking my hand over my bulge. “Relaxing things.”
Eventually.
He started to say something else, but easing the zipper down and letting my pants fall to the floor had his brain grinding to a halt. “I…”
Doing my best not to smile, I slowly peeled my boxer briefs down, letting my hard cock spring out like it was reaching for him. All thoughts of figuring out what I was going to do faded from his mind as my dick took it over. “How does…how does your knot feel when you’re not…when it’s just there?”
“As far as I can tell, it feels denser compared to the rest of my cock.” To say he was fascinated by our differences would’ve been an understatement, so I reached out and took his hand, bringing it to my dick. “If you’re a good boy for me, I’ll let you wash it in the shower. Would you like that?”
Nod.
Swallow.
Squeeze.
Moans…from both of us.
“Yes, Sir.” His hand stroked my erection as he shivered again and need came back over his face. “Thank you.”
“Such good manners.” Kissing his cheek seemed to fuck with him because his body tensed and he whined softly for me. “I can’t wait to get my reward from my good boy.”
Because it was time to start exploring what else my needy mate was curious about.