Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Dewi
Dewi considered it exquisite restraint signaling massive personal growth on her part that she didn’t drag Peyton aside during dinner to ask why the hell he was acting so fricking weird.
Or that she didn’t use her Prime on Ken to ask why he also appeared overly stressed. Because by the time they retired to the cabin that evening after dinner, she realized Ken seemed close to his limit.
In fact, how stressed he was radiated off him in waves.
To be fair, she knew that could be due to any number of mundane issues, from new fatherhood to being overwhelmed by the huge pack presence today at the recognition ceremony for the babies, to feeling frazzled over taking on more responsibilities with work while Gillian took maternity leave.
After the baby was fed, bathed, changed, and tucked into her crib, Dewi decided it was time to focus on them for a little while.
“Come take a shower with me,” she invited, taking Ken by the hand and leading him toward the bathroom.
He didn’t resist. “That’s not your ‘take a shower’ tone.” He smirked. “That’s your ‘I want nookie’ tone.”
She cast a smile at him over her shoulder. “Are you complaining?”
“Didn’t say that.” Dewi laughed as Ken swept her into his arms and carried her the rest of the way into the bathroom. “Not complaining at all.”
When he set her on her feet, she kept her arms draped around his neck and pulled him in for a long, sweet kiss that soon heated up quite nicely, thank you very much.
Heated to the point that it drove all other thoughts out of her brain besides getting both of them naked without shredding their clothes in the process.
He leaned in enough he could reach the shower knob to turn on the water, and she still didn’t break their kiss.
She couldn’t get enough of him, or this.
Of them.
Finally, he tipped his head back far enough that he could speak. “Are you sure you’re feeling up to this? Don’t you need time to heal?”
“Oh, I’m fine. Perk of being a shifter, remember?”
“But is it…safe?”
“Huh? We’re in the pack compound. Of course it’s safe.”
He arched an eyebrow at her. “That’s not what I meant, Dew.”
“It’s—” That’s when it hit her. “Oh. Yes, it’s a safe time of the month for me.” Then she laid a hand on his chest when he leaned in for another kiss. “Wait. Why did you ask that?”
“Because if or when we decide to try for another baby, I’d rather they not be an oopsie.”
She stared up into his eyes. “Does that mean you want another baby?”
“That means if you decide you want to have another baby, I’d rather it be planned. Or at least consciously prepared for.”
“But you get a say in it, too. You sure you want to put up with me being pregnant again? I’ll be the first to admit I was…tetchy, as Badger said.”
He smiled, his hands coming to rest on her hips and gently pulling her against him.
“Yeah, but it was your first one, and you were—and still are—dealing with a lot of emotional stuff. If I ever change my mind and decide no, I don’t want more kids, I promise I’ll tell you.
Beyond that, the choice of having more kids is squarely on your shoulders. ”
She cocked her head at him. “Why is that?”
He adorably snorted. “Because unless there are medical developments that allow me to get pregnant and have babies, you’re designated as ‘it’ when it comes to that. Your body, your choice.” His smile faded. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to sound like a political ad.”
She rose onto her tiptoes and kissed him again. “Do you know how much I love you?”
“Why, because I’m adorkable?” One corner of his mouth quirked up in the hint of a smile.
Dewi molded her body against his, his erection pressing against her through their clothes.
“You’re utterly, completely adorkable. And you put up with me, meaning you’re a fricking saint.
” She nuzzled his nose. “And because I think you’re perfect.
I can’t imagine ever being with anyone but you.
” She slanted her lips over his again, savoring this, and him.
“And let’s call oopsie baby evensies for how I grabbed you out of nowhere in a sports bar and overloaded your brain in the process. ”
Now he fully smiled, slowly grinding against her in that way she loved. “Yeah, but I’m not complaining about how that turned out.”
“Well, neither am I.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Reeeeally? I think you spent the last several months doing nothing but complaining, honey. When you weren’t trying to scare me to death with your four left paws, that is.”
“Yeah, but that’s just because…” She realized what he was doing. “I know,” she finally said, resting her head against his chest. “Give myself the grace I’d extend to everyone else. Because I’m harder on me than on anyone else.”
He wrapped his arms around her, his breath warm against her scalp. “Exactly. And it’s not like we need to decide this right now.”
“I want more,” she whispered, her eyes squeezed shut.
“I want a houseful of kids. I want them close in age, like Peyton and Trent. Not spread apart like me and Peyton. I want them to be able to count on each other should…something happen, I want them to be able to be there for each other, not be nearly strangers to each other.”
He didn’t respond, at first, but his body didn’t tense, either. “Okay,” he simply said.
She finally looked up at him. “But I’m Head Enforcer.”
“Yeah? And?”
“How do we manage that?” she asked.
“Uh, I think I’ve proven I don’t have a problem changing diapers.
” He smiled. “And I get to work from home. Plus, we’ve decided that Da’von will work under me, so I can train him how to do my job.
He’ll be able to work remotely, too. He can pick up the slack when I need time off to be a dad.
Between him and Gillian, and Trent, of course, and any future hires, I think we’ve got this. ”
He cupped her face in his hands. “You’re overthinking this, honey. Whether we have only one, or we have ten kids—”
“Ten? You want ten kids?”
Ken’s right eyebrow arched again. “That’s not what I said. You’re the one who said ‘houseful of kids.’ Doesn’t matter to me how many kids, because I’m here for you. You’ve already made my dreams come true, baby. I’m all-in. For life.”
She rested her head against his chest again. “I don’t want ten,” she finally said. “That’d be…a lot. But I think I’d like at least a couple more.”
“Then why don’t we practice after our shower?” he suggested. “Which we should start taking before the hot water runs out.”
They stripped and climbed in as tendrils of steam curled through the shower. Draping her arms around his neck again, pressing her body against his—it truly felt like they were made for each other. As if the Goddess herself had sculpted the two of them as a matched set.
Ken’s hands slowly skimmed down her sides, reaching around to cup her ass and firmly press her against him while slanting his lips over hers. The long, languid kiss melted every cogent thought struggling to erupt in Dewi’s mind and anchored her there, to him, to the present.
To them.
He turned them so she stood under the water and finally broke their kiss so he could grab a washcloth and soap and start lathering her. Scrubbing her back first, then pulling her against him, her back to his chest, his fingers slowly sliding over her breasts and down her stomach.
He nibbled on the shell of her ear, using their mate bond to speak to her.
“I love you so much, baby. I never knew how perfect life could be before I met you.”
Dewi caught his hands and moved them up to cup her breasts even as she tipped her head to the side to give him easy access to her neck. “You know what I want,” she told him.
He worked his way down her neck, teeth lightly grazing her flesh as he teased her, kissing, nipping, across her shoulder and back up again.
“Maybe I want you to beg me for it tonight. Maybe I want to hear how hungry you are for it.”
Pleasure tightened and curled inside her, making her clit throb. She ground her ass against him, his erection perfectly nestled along the seam of her ass. Even in the best of times with Beck, she never begged for anything, and he was smart enough not to ask that of her.
But with Ken?
For her mate, she’d do anything he asked. Everything. Whatever it took to make him happy.
Gladly.
That he never considered taking advantage of the power he had over her made her trust him even more.
Because she’d never abuse the power she held over him, either.
Not consciously, anyway.
“Please mark me,” she begged, gasping as he nipped again, a little harder that time but not anywhere close to what she wanted.
What she craved.
She thought maybe he really was going to make her beg for it when his teeth pierced her flesh and white-hot pleasure surged through her.
She clamped her mouth shut to hold back her cries while her orgasm bounced around every nerve ending in her body, including a few she wasn’t sure she’d been aware of before.
“That what you needed, baby?” he asked, even with his teeth still buried in her shoulder.
“Yes!”
A low, deep growl rumbled from his chest and through her body. “If and when you tell me you’re ready to try for another baby, I will have fun bending you over and fucking you every chance I get.”
One hand slid between her legs, his fingers unerringly finding and working her clit and driving her up the cliff again. “Because I won’t stop, either. When I’m not fucking you, I’ll be teasing you and keeping you so horny you can’t think straight, begging me for it.”
Dewi undulated against him, the pain from his mating bite making the pleasure of her second orgasm that much sweeter.
And the mental image of him doing all of that to her also amped her need.
Thisssss…
There was nothing wishy-washy about her mate. She knew their inner circle understood Ken’s truth, but it secretly pleased her that many people would easily underestimate her man.
Hers.