Chapter 4
MICHAEL
Since Davey cooked, I cleaned.
There weren’t a lot of dishes, so I had everything washed, rinsed, and dried within a few minutes. I was putting away the plates when I saw Davey get up from the couch in the reflection of the window.
"I'm gonna hop in the shower." He stopped halfway across the room. “Do you need to use the bathroom before I go in there?”
“No, I’m good.” I squeezed the plates a little too hard and almost cracked them between my fingers. “Take your time.”
I grabbed a deck of cards off the game shelf and dropped onto the couch, trying not to think about the sexy omega in the shower. Wet. Naked. Rubbing his body with soap. Slippery. Shit.
I’d barely gotten the deck shuffled before I heard the bathroom door close with a soft click. A moment later, the old pipes groaned as the shower turned on.
My wolf stirred, already alert at the mere thought of Davey so close and so nude.
I pushed him back and implored him to ignore the omega who smelled like everything we’d ever wanted.
Solitaire was always a good time suck, so I started dealing my cards when I heard it.
The first soft groan.
My head snapped up, and I froze with my cards suspended in midair.
There was another moan. This one slightly louder than the first.
Fucking hell.
Human hearing wouldn't have picked it up over the dripping water, but my enhanced senses caught every subtle sound. Every catch of his breath and every wet slide of skin on skin.
I squeezed my eyes shut to tune it out, but that only made it worse. Without visual distraction, my hearing sharpened further, and the slick, rhythmic sounds grew faster as Davey's breathing hitched in a way that sent blood straight to my dick.
It was wrong to eavesdrop on his private moment, but I couldn’t help it. If there was a way to turn off my hearing, I would have. Maybe. But I couldn’t.
What I needed was to put some distance between myself and those sounds before I did something stupid.
"Michael..."
It was my name. He said my name. It was barely more than a whisper, but there was no mistaking that Davey had called for me.
My wolf responded immediately, clawing to get out and claim what he believed was rightfully ours.
Ours. Mate.
He’s talking to himself, not calling us. I restacked my deck, no longer pretending to play. And he has no idea we can hear him.
I gripped a throw pillow over my lap in an attempt to hide the obscene erection that I’d been trying to fight since first meeting the man.
"Michael... Oh god..." The sounds from the shower grew more frantic. Davey was close.
I could practically taste his arousal in the air, and my imagination filled in the gaps of what I couldn't hear. Lean muscles would be tensed under streaming water as his hand worked urgently to empty his heavy balls.
I palmed myself through my jeans, unable to resist the pressure. My cock strained against the denim, aching for release.
Mate. Help mate.
God, I wanted to. Not now.
My senses locked onto Davey like a heat-seeking missile, and I heard the exact moment his rhythm faltered with a sharp intake of breath as he came.
He panted heavily for a few moments before the shower shut off, and I heard the soft sounds of Davey drying off.
I grabbed the cards again and shuffled them to look busy, but I needed to get my shit together before he came out.
The bathroom door opened, releasing a cloud of steam into the hallway. I kept my back turned as if my complete and total attention was not on the wet omega.
"Shower's all yours if you want it." Davey was standing in the doorway to the bedroom with tousled hair and a towel around his waist. The scent of his body wash mixed with the unmistakable aroma of recent release almost made me come right there.
My wolf paced restlessly, pushing against my control. “I’m gonna take a walk first. Clear my head."
Davey's brow furrowed. "A walk? It's freezing out there. And dark."
"I'm used to it." I moved straight to the door, careful not to leer in his direction. "I spend a lot of time outside when I’m working."
It was a weak excuse, but I needed air that wasn't saturated with his scent.
"If you say so." Davey shrugged and went to the bedroom. "Don't freeze to death out there. I'd hate to have to explain that to management."
I stepped out onto the porch without bothering with my sweater. The cold air hit me like a physical blow, and I inhaled it deeply.
As soon as I was deep enough in the trees, I stripped off my clothes and hung them on a low branch. The cold barely registered against my overheated skin. I let the change take me, bones cracking and reforming as light gray fur sprouted across my body.
The shift was quick, and within seconds, I stood on four paws in the snow.
Before I took off running, I glanced back to the cabin one last time and saw Davey standing in the window, staring right at me.
Holy shit, did he see me shift?
My paws pushed off the icy ground as my wolf took control.
Snow flew behind me as I ran at top speed, trying to get to the point that I could calm down.
The physical exertion helped burn off the excess energy that had built up in the cabin, but it did nothing to quiet my wolf's theory that we’d found our fated mate.
Mate. Our mate.
I'd been around plenty of omegas before, and I'd never experienced such an overwhelming pull to be closer. The need to claim the man was scary, but as soon as I acknowledged it, it made perfect sense.
I launched myself over a fallen tree and landed hard in a snowdrift, sending powder flying in all directions. After a while, the cold finally began to seep in, cooling my blood and slowing my racing thoughts.
Davey was human and knew nothing of my world. Was it even possible for a wolf to mate with a human? I mean, I knew it was possible, but did it happen often? I didn’t spend time with a lot of shifters, and those that I did stay in touch with, none of them were mated yet.
But every time I thought about what my mate might look like, Davey’s face filled my mind. You might be right, bud. Maybe he’s our mate.
Mate. Ours.
I slowed to a trot and circled back toward the cabin. As soon as I saw light from the windows glowing against the dark woods, my wolf whined, eager to return to what he believed was waiting for us inside.
Maybe I was overthinking this. Lust was a funny thing.
Maybe the attraction I felt toward Davey was simple chemistry between two compatible people.
Nothing mystical or fated about it. Just two adults sharing a cabin together.
It happened all the time in cheesy holiday movies, so there was no reason for me to get all weird on him.
I shifted back to human form at the edge of the clearing and pulled on my clothes with shaking hands. Just being close to him made the need to see him even stronger, so I hurried back to the cabin.
When I opened the door, the warm air rushed out to coat me.
But it wasn't just the temperature that hit me.
It was the scent. Davey's arousal was stronger than before and filled every inch of the small cabin. This wasn’t just the lingering scent of his shower activities. This was fresh, potent desire.
He was curled up in the corner of the couch with an open book in his lap, but his cheeks were flushed.
When I entered, his head snapped up and his pupils dilated. Even from across the room, I could hear his heartbeat accelerate as another shift in his scent flooded the space in response to my presence.
"Feel better?" Davey’s voice was slightly strained as he closed the book.
I stepped all the way in and shut the door behind me, unable to tear my gaze from his.
Something electric passed between us again. Like when I touched him in the lobby. Something I’d never felt before and had no name for.
Mate. My wolf certainly had a name for it.
Yeah, I heard you the first twenty times.
The rational part of my brain scrambled for explanations, but my instincts knew the truth. "Yeah." I kicked off my boots that were only on for his benefit. "Much better."
An invisible thread seemed to connect us, and I was pulled straight to the couch to be closer to him. Davey's eyes tracked my movement, and his scent grew stronger and more intoxicating.
When he licked his lips, I nearly groaned aloud. "It must be getting colder out there. Your cheeks are all red."
"I run hot." That wasn't a lie. As a shifter, I maintained a much higher body temperature than humans. I could live out in the snow for a month before seeking out warmth.
Despite having the whole couch available, I sat down right beside him. Close enough that our thighs nearly touched. To my relief, Davey didn't move away. Instead, he angled his body toward mine in an unconscious invitation.
Mate. Our mate.
And as I looked into Davey's eyes, I could almost hear his pulse flutter at his throat.
He breathed me in as thoroughly as I breathed him in, and I couldn't find it in me to argue what was right in front of my face.
My wolf was right. Somehow, against all logic and precedent, this human omega was my mate. And from the way his body called to mine, some part of him recognized it too, even if he didn't understand it.
The real question now wasn't whether Davey was my mate, but what the hell I was gonna do about it.