Isaac #3
“Holy shit,” she says, shivering. I wrap my arm around her, offering the warmth of my chest. “Next time, tell me to undress under the blankets. I’m the one in danger of frostbite now.”
I laugh. “I’d not let that happen.”
She grins before immediately burrowing back beneath the blankets and curling herself against my side until there’s barely any space left between us.
Warm skin meets mine, our scents slowly settling together, like they recognise where they’re meant to be. Most of the tension I’m carrying simply melts.
I drape my other arm around her waist without thinking, my palm settling against the soft curve of her hip.
She fits so nicely against me, like she really was meant to be here.
Her fingers begin tracing idle circles across my chest. After a long moment, she speaks so quietly I almost miss it.
“Would you want to bond with me?”
My eyes widen, and I try to remain still so she doesn’t mistake my reaction for panic. My hand stills against her, my heart thudding loudly through my ears.
My cock flexes, practically screaming, yes, let’s do it.
“To bond with you?” I repeat. “Of fucking course I want that.”
She keeps tracing tiny circles against my skin, eyes fixed on the place beneath her fingertip.
“I know you can’t mark me,” she says, keeping her voice low and quiet. “But… I want to mark you. I want to bond with you.”
I smile. “I love you, Cassidy. I want everything you’ll let me have. A bond, a place in your life, room in your future. Everything.”
“I wasn’t doubting. Well, much,” she admits. “I just… now that I have the connection with Evander, it just feels… right.”
“And when it’s time for us to do the same, it’ll feel just as right,” I tell her. I tilt her chin up until she looks at me. “Shortcake.”
“Yeah?” She’s breathless.
Needy.
“If you asked me to bond with you tomorrow…” I brush my thumb gently over her cheek, unable to stop scenting her hair as I do. “I’d say yes before you’d even finished the question.”
Her eyes shine, the light no longer to blame, not with how full of love her scent is.
Then, with that wonderfully determined expression she’s been wearing more and more lately, she reaches up and gently touches just beneath my collarbone.
“Can I mark you here?”
I blink. “There?”
She nods. “So everyone knows.”
I can’t help laughing. “I’d want nothing more. Mark my forehead if you want.”
She shakes her head.
“That’s not why,” she says softly. “I want everyone who sees you to know you’re loved.”
The laughter disappears from my chest so quickly it almost hurts.
She’s perfect.
So fucking perfect.
She smiles at me, and her scent blooms so sweetly I don’t need the bond to know what she’s feeling.
“You really want me?” she asks.
“I really, really want you,” I say softly. “More than anything else.”
She shifts a little higher in my lap until we’re almost nose to nose. Her hand is still resting beneath my collarbone, fingertips warm against my skin.
“I’ll be gentle,” she whispers.
“As if I’d expect anything else.”
Her smile grows impossibly softer. She leans in first to press a lingering kiss against the place she’d chosen, her lips warm enough that I feel it all the way down to my ribs.
Then, the smallest nip. It doesn’t sting, barely even cuts into the skin.
A quiet breath catches in my throat anyway.
Before I can even react, she’s already soothing the tentative bite with another gentle kiss.
“I’m sorry. I think I lied,” she murmurs automatically.
I laugh under my breath. “You lied?”
“It might hurt.”
I grin and squeeze her hips. “Worth it. Every bloody second of it, shortcake.”
Her cheeks flush, but she studies my face for another second, clearly checking whether I’m lying, before relaxing.
She lowers her head, kisses along my collarbone before finally biting down properly this time.
I groan, my hips rocking up into hers, and she grinds down as her teeth elongate in my chest.
She doesn’t pull back immediately, but I barely notice. Not when my entire being is pushed to the side to make room for her.
The bond isn’t just there anymore. It’s her. I can tell how tired she is, how relieved she is. How much she fucking loves me.
I can feel it all.
She pulls back, her lips coated in blood, our scents tangled so tightly I can barely tell where mine ends and hers begins. I yank her down, pressing my lips to hers.
She moans into my mouth, her hands gripping my biceps to steady herself, as I pour my passion for her into this kiss.
I close my eyes, breathing her in, absorbing the changes in my body.
Her emotions brush against mine.
Soft. Content. Home.
She pulls back, blinking at me with dopy, bright green eyes, her lips still stained with my blood. “I love you.”
I can feel the truth in her words.
“I choose you, Isaac,” she continues. “Now. Always.”
Fuck, I might cry.
“I love you, too, shortcake,” I whisper, brushing another kiss to her lips.
She lies on my chest this time, straddling my body, as I adjust the blanket, wrapping it around us both.
Her finger traces the bite she left on me, and I shudder at first, but it quickly becomes comforting.
Past her, I feel a smug swell of pride that can only belong to one alpha.
Evander.
He’s happy for us, sensing the change in his mate, and I know the group chat will be flooded with his questions.
It’s nice, though, having this connection to him, too.
We’re connected through her now, and soon, Silas and Harlan will join us. We’ll finally be a pack.
I never thought I’d get to be part of one.
My thumb strokes lazily across Cassidy’s hip as she settles back against my chest with a contented sigh, instinctively tucking herself even closer.
Neither of us speaks. We don’t need to. Not when we can feel the other, sense exactly how comforted they are.
Rain continues tapping softly against the bedroom window. Somewhere downstairs, the heating clicks hotter.
The house creaks around us, settling in for the night. Little by little, Cassidy grows heavier against me.
I glance down when I’m pretty sure she’s asleep.
She is.
One hand is still fisted lightly against my chest, dangerously close to the little mark she’d left behind, as she drools lightly against my skin.
I brush a kiss across the top of her head, smiling into her hair.
Maybe I was never enough for the family I was born into.
Maybe I spent too many years believing the easiest child was the one who needed the least.
Looking down at the omega sleeping peacefully against my chest, I realise how wrong I’d been.
In this pack, nobody’s needs are ever an afterthought.
Not even mine.
I tighten my arm around Cassidy just enough to keep her close, my own eyes beginning to grow heavy.
I’m exactly where I’m meant to be.
Home.