22. Dom
22
DOM
I ’m working on a sketch of the outbuilding when I smell her. My mate. My wife.
I keep my head down, busy sketching out our new home as the sun from the skylight bounces off my wedding ring.
It’s been three days. Three whole days of being a husband, something I never imagined I would ever be, and I haven’t stopped smiling.
My wolf, initially, wasn’t fond of the idea of a ring, until I explained that this is Kira’s way of bonding, just as a bite is his.
My mate is quiet, but not nearly quiet enough.
I hide my smile at her for thinking she can sneak up on me.
But this isn’t a sneak attack this time, something my wolf is very fond of. She slides her arms around me from behind and I hear her inhale like I smell as good to her as she does to me.
“What are you doing?” she asks. “You ran off right after dinner.”
I did.
I flip the notebook closed, toss it on the floor and turn around, so we’re face to face. She’s beautiful in another of the short-sleeve, midi-dresses that she loves to wear. This one is a blue polka dot one and the blue almost matches her eyes. “I am making plans, wife. Big ones.”
Her head tips up, and her wavy strawberry-blonde hair looks redder under the skylights. She has more freckles on her nose, a result of all the time we’ve been spending outside, walking in the forest.
“What kind of plans?”
I back her across the room, and her gaze turns hooded. She must see exactly where things are going. And they are going there. Just not yet. There are things we need to talk about first. “Future kind of plans.”
She scowls at me. It’s fake. I can always tell when my wife is trying not to smile. “You’re being frustratingly vague, mate.”
My wolf rumbles happily. He’s still getting used to the idea of being a husband, as am I. But he very much loves it when Kira calls us mate.
Her back bumps the wall, but softly. I would never want to hurt my mate. “Am I?”
“You are.” Her eyes dip to the notebook I dropped. “Is it about me?”
“It’s always about you.”
“You sound like a man obsessed,” she says with a smile that she doesn’t do a thing to hide.
“I sound—” I kiss her, “—like a man in love.”
She wraps her arms around me, and I tuck her against me. We’re as close as we could be, but it never feels close enough. Long minutes later, I break the kiss and peer down at her, taking in her flushed cheeks, the soft look in her eyes, and rosy lips. “We have to talk.”
Wariness flits across her gaze. “About?”
“Future plans.”
Her wariness melts away. “Like?”
“I’m going to get you pregnant,” I warn her.
This is something we haven’t talked about, but we need to. We should have already. Another thing I’ve failed to bring up when I should have. Galen used to call me Mr. Prepared for every eventuality.
I’m not sure what happened, but I keep losing myself in the moment when I’m with Kira. Galen thinks it’s hilarious, so do the rest of my packmates who suddenly have a serious beta who wanders around smiling for no reason.
“Is that a bad thing?” she asks softly, wariness creeping back into her expression.
“Not a bad thing.” I slide my palm around the nape of her neck, absorbing the heat of her skin and the way she leans into my touch. “But we do need to talk about it. We should have already.”
It isn’t easy for a shifter and a human to have a child together. It takes time. Kira is my mate, and I have a feeling the normal rules won’t apply when it comes to mates.
“So you think we should use protection?” Her expression is impossible to decipher, but I see something in her gaze that makes me place my hand on her belly, low, where a baby would grow.
“I am not saying that. Maybe because there’s something about you carrying my child that makes me want to lay you in my bed and not let you up again until it happened.”
Her breath catches and the sweet scent of her arousal fills my nostrils as her arms tighten around me. “Really?”
I kiss my favorite freckle of hers. The one right beside her mouth. “Really.”
We look at each other for several seconds, the silence stretching.
“I’m a family man, Kira. I’ve known for a long time now that I want—and what I need—is my mate and a family. That’s all I’ve wanted.”
“You want a family.” As she strokes her palms up my back, I take my hand from her belly and step forward so we don’t have even an inch of space between us. “With me?”
I kiss her. “With you.”
“And our kids. Will they…” Her voice trails off.
“Will they what?” I prompt her.
“Growl?”
“Did you have a problem with them growling?”
She shrugs. “I’m not sure when I’ve never heard you growl.”
I lower my head. Her breathing subtly changes, so I know she thinks I’m getting ready to kiss her. I very softly growl into her ear.
She giggles. “What was that?”
“My ferocious growl, wife. What did you think it was?” I deadpan.
She grins up at me. I kiss her again because I can’t help myself, then take a step back, snagging her hand. “Come on, I want to show you around your new home.”
“My new home?” She eyes the outbuilding with bemusement.
When we returned from Missouri, we moved a lot of Kira’s bigger belongings into another outbuilding for longer term storage. We have more boxes in here, and the rest of her clothes and personal items are in the house.
With bits of straw on the floor and boxes tucked in the corner, it doesn’t look like much of a home. It will.
I wander around the outbuilding, pointing out my plans for the space. “ That is going to be where our kitchen will go. Maybe something rustic. We could have a kitchen island there and a big oak table.”
I turn her to the other side. “We could have a log burning fireplace in that far corner with a massive couch so we can leave the skylight where it is.”
“Where will we sleep?” she asks.
I point upward. “Up there. For now. But we have space along this wall for two or even three bedrooms.”
“For?” her voice is soft.
I peer down at her. “Who do you think? Those growling children we’ll have.”
She doesn’t laugh at my terrible joke. Mostly because it isn’t one. “You really want kids?”
I sense I’ve wandered into a sensitive subject. “I do. But you don’t?”
“I do,” she says softly. “But I never thought I would.”
My wolf growls.
Bryce.
Yeah , I mentally growl back. I wish I could kill him all over again.
“Kira?” A thought suddenly hits me between the eyes.
“Yeah?” she whispers.
“I forgot about the bathroom.” All that time sketching, and I forgot we would need a bathroom.
She stares at me.
I kiss her. “You have destroyed my ability to think straight, and I have never been happier in my life.”
Her face splits with a grin. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I peer down at her. “I want a future with you, Kira. If that comes with kids, that would be amazing. If it doesn’t happen, I still have you, and you will always be enough for me. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” She points to another wall. “The bathroom can go there.”
I look at the wall and nod. It’s not near the kitchen, and we’d have enough space to put in a bath and a shower.
“And we need storage,” she adds. “We’re going to need a lot of storage for three growling kids.”
I hug her. “Maybe you should do the sketch.”
“We’ll do it together, Dom. Between us, I think we’ll figure it out.”
Yes, we will.