Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Matthias
The next morning, I wake up with Maisy curled in my arms. My mouth is pressed to the curve of her neck.
Only the diamond necklace saved her from me marking her. The necklace that I put on her like a collar, hoping it would satisfy my bear as a substitute claiming.
I rip myself away from her side before I do the unthinkable.
I need more Moon Cure, now.
My harsh movement jostled Maisy. She rouses, looking dazed. She’s in nothing but the diamond necklace and everything in me aches to return to the bed, to gather her soft body into my arms.
“Matthias?” She blinks but doesn’t sound frightened, the way she did when she woke in the middle of the night.
“I’m here, beautiful. Go back to sleep.” I curl my hands into fists, and my arms shake with the need to go to her. Instead, I head to the bathroom to get another dose of Moon Cure.
A double dose.
This time the serum burns in my veins. It feels like ice spreading through my body. Acute pain shoots through my aorta. I clutch at my heart, willing it to keep beating. Potential side effect: arrhythmia. I’ll need to make notes.
Maisy is still awake when I re-enter the bedroom.
“How are you feeling, love?” I climb onto the bed beside her and wrap an arm around her waist.
She stretches. “I feel great, Doctor. Want to examine me?”
Thank fate I just took a dose of Moon Cure, or I’d push her down and maul her with my cock and teeth.
“Oh, I’ll be subjecting my little wife to plenty of examinations,” I tease, lightly running my palm up her belly to cup her breast. Her butterscotch and cinnamon scent is an addiction I don’t want cured.
She rolls to face me. “What made you want to become a doctor?”
I brush her hair back from her face. “My parents died in a car crash when I was young. Winnie was my adopted mom–you probably knew that.”
She nods, her big blue eyes trained on my face.
“I felt so powerless. I’m sure you experienced something similar when your mom died.”
Compassion fills her gaze, and she nods again. “I watched it happen,” she croaks. “I called 911, but it was too late.”
“Fuck.” I pull her body against mine. “That’s so horrible. You know it wasn’t your fault, right?”
She nods. “Daisy got me in therapy right away, which helped.” She rests her hand on my chest. “So what happened with you?”
I clear my throat. “Shifters have spontaneous regeneration. It’s hard to kill us. But my parents’ death put the fear of losing someone else I loved into me. Winnie…or my brothers.
So I guess I thought studying and understanding medicine would allow me to control any situation like that, if it ever came up.”
Maisy’s lips twitch. “You do have a controlling side, don’t you?”
I flick my brows. “Believe it.”
“I memorized dad jokes; you became a doctor.”
“Your coping method was far less costly and time-consuming,” I tell her wryly.
“But you love your job.”
I smile. “I do.” I shrug. “I like helping people.” I flick my brows. “And being in charge.”
Maisy’s smile is wanton. She responds to my dominance like she was made for it.
But I hope to Fate I haven’t implanted too much of my kink and desires on her. She’s receptive, but how could she really know what she wants if I’m her first? I don’t fully trust myself and my desires, and I’ve had way more experience that she has.
I kiss her forehead. “Now you stay here, and I bring you breakfast in bed. I need to feed my wife, so she has the energy to put up with my demands.”
Maisy’s nipples get hard, and the scent of her arousal makes me growl, but I force myself to leave her in bed.
I’m making coffee in the kitchen when I hear a motorcycle pull up outside the house. I knew one of my brothers was going to check in sometime today, but I didn’t realize it’d be Axel. His scent makes me clench my jaw. I still haven’t forgiven him for befriending Maisy.
I meet him in the lounge area near the door. He raises his face and sniffs the air. I don’t need to explain what we’ve been doing. He can smell it. The sweet scent of Maisy’s arousal perfumes the place.
I wait for him to comment on it, but he just asks, “How is everything?”
“Good. Maisy’s resting. How’s Vegas?”
“We’re lying low. The triplets are bummed they’re not allowed in the casino yet. They wanted to use fake IDs, so they could do slot machines, but Darius stopped them.”
“That’s probably for the best.”
“Canyon made him promise to bring them back for their birthday. Hutch and Bern are already practicing counting cards.”
I shake my head at the thought of the triplets hitting Vegas for their twenty-first birthday.
“We’re still surveilling Lucky Lou and his men. Are you ready to make a move on them?”
“Not yet. But soon. Let’s find Allen first, and then we’ll take care of them.” Lucky Lou and his henchmen aren’t long for this earth. They touched Maisy. They have to pay.
“Got it.” He hesitates like I’m not going to like what he has to say next. “I’d like to talk to her before I go.”
“She’s taking a nap.”
“I’ll wait.” He leans against a couch arm, folding his arms across his chest.
“You misunderstand.” I face him down. I’m taller than him, and I’m not above using all my height to intimidate him.
My bear wants to speed across the room and rip off his head, and I want to throw him out on his ass just for breathing Maisy’s scent, so asserting dominance is a nice compromise.
Only the Moon Cure holds me in check. “I don’t want you bothering my wife. ”
“Your wife,” he repeats, as if wondering if I mean it. His forehead creases as he stares into my eyes, hard. I’m more dominant, so after a moment, he drops his gaze.
But he doesn’t back down. “I’d like to talk to Maisy and make sure she’s okay. That this—” he twirls a finger as if indicating the smell of sex hanging in the air— “is okay. Because she didn’t sign on for any of this.” Now his eyes flash bright green. His bear is out.
“I know that.”
“But you’re fucking her like it is real. Does she know what this is? Does she know that she’s your mate?”
My guilt tears at me with vicious fangs. “None of your business.”
“It is my business. I want to know if you’re going to commit to this, commit to her, or forget all this happened once you’re back home.”
“What does it matter to you?” My eyes are bright blue. He can see my bear is out of control. I’m feral.
But he stands his ground. “Maisy’s my friend. If you leave her, I’ll be the one who has to pick up the pieces.”
“Is that what you’re waiting for?” I advance on him. “For me to leave, so you can swoop in and be her hero?”
I don’t let him answer. I cross the room and shove him back.
“What's your intentions toward my wife?” I snarl.
“You took her to prom. All the years of picking her up and taking her for drives. Little escapes just when she needed it the most. How long have you been watching her? Wanting her? Are you carrying a torch for her?”
“No.” He bares his teeth at me. If I hadn’t taken a double dose of Moon Cure, I’d treat it as a threat and rip his head off.
I circle him, and he turns to face me, his eyes bright with his bear. “Then why did you get close to her? Did you want her?”
“No!” But he presses his lips together. He’s holding something back, and I’m going to get it out of him.
“I don’t believe you. You told me she was perfect. That the person who ended up with her would be lucky.”
“That’s true.”
“So why don’t you want her?”
“Because her best friend is my mate,” he growls.
I stare at him, chest heaving. We’re both breathing hard. “Who?”
“Missy,” he bites out, like he doesn’t want to tell me.
My memory serves me a picture of a tall blonde by Maisy’s side at Winterfest. “The blonde.”
“Yes.” Axel blows out a breath. “I don't want Maisy because Missy is my mate.”
The fight leaves me so quickly, I almost stagger. Relief floods me–I don’t have to kill Axel for lusting after my mate.
And then the guilt rips into me. What sort of person am I that I would come so close to hurting my own brother?
I take a beat to catch my breath. “How long have you known?”
“Since prom.”
“So you’ve been fighting it, too.”
He says nothing. His face is pure misery. I’ve been there. Just talking about his mate must be torture.
“Say no more.”
“Maisy and my friendship is real,” he adds then stiffens. Upstairs, Maisy is moving around. I shake off my adrenaline and loosen my stance.
“Guys?” Maisy walks down the stairs, yawning. Her hair is tousled from sleep. I hold out my arm, and to my delight, she comes right to me and tucks herself into my side.
“Hey, Axel,” she greets him. “What are you guys talking about?”
“Just planning to get back to Bad Bear,” I lie.
“Oh.” Her shoulders sag. “All good things must come to an end.”
Maisy
I try to get Axel to stay for breakfast, but he refuses, saying he has to get back to Vegas. “Maisy, will you walk me out?” he asks, and I feel Matthias stiffen. Something’s up between them.
Before I can ask what, Matthias releases me. “Go on,” he urges although I could’ve sworn he was reluctant for me to go only a second before. “I’m making omelettes.”
“Yum, thank you.”
I escort Axel to the door. He won’t let me go outside because I’m barefoot, even though I’m warm enough in the blue lounge set and the sunny and 60 degree Vegas January is so much warmer than New Mexico.
“You good?” Axel asks, studying me intently. I noted him staring at my diamond necklace when I was in Matthias’ arms. As if he knows it’s more than a necklace.
“Yeah,” I say. “Better than good.” I resist the urge to squirm. I feel like he can see the marks that are under my lounge set.
“Good. If that changes, let me know.” He leaves me frowning.
Does he think that he needs to protect me from Matthias? Matthias seems to think so too. It makes me resolve to prove that I can handle him.
“Hey hubby,” I return to the kitchen and give Matthias a kiss. “So, we’re leaving?”
“Tomorrow. As much as I’d like to keep you here…” he doesn’t look happy about heading home, and that makes me feel better.
A spike of anxiety hits me. It’ll be good to get back to Bad Bear but what happens between me and Matthias? Will we still be a couple? I mean, we’re legally married, and he’s giving me sex lessons, but does he have any intention of keeping this up when we get back? Or will it all be over?
“I guess honeymoons don’t last.”
I wait for him to say it won’t be over, but he’s all business.
“We need to deal with Lucky Lou and Allen. We're keeping tabs on Lucky Lou. He’s searching for your father, too.”
“Got it,” I say briskly because I'm an adult, and I can handle this. “What will you do when you find him?”
“It’s up to you, beautiful.”
“I don’t know!” I’m flustered. I don’t want my dad hurt or in trouble, but I also never want to see him again.
For a moment his eyes flare with a blue light. “Whatever you want, I’ll do,” he rumbles.
I grab us both coffee and wait for him to serve up the omelettes. “What was that with Axel?” I ask because I don’t want any secrets between us. “You both seemed tense.”
He puts down his fork, a muscle jerking in his cheek. “I asked him if he was in love with you.”
“Axel? With me?”
“Don’t sound so surprised. You’re a pearl beyond price.”
I look away, my eyes smarting. Wow. Okay. Maybe it won’t be over when we get back.
“We’re just friends,” I tell him, touching my diamond necklace to reassure myself it’s there.
“We’re not really close, but…he always seems to show up at the right time.
Just every once in a while, he’ll roll up in one of his muscle cars or a bike or whatever he’s working on and honk the horn.
And he’ll take me for a drive.” I smile because riding around with Axel was such a nice reprieve from the stress of my life.
“We don’t even talk much. We just listen to music, or look at the view.
It’s nice. Not more than a few times a year, but…
he seems to know when I’m feeling down.” I let out a self-deprecating laugh. “Daisy probably calls him.”
“No, I bet he just knows when you need him. He’s quiet, but he pays attention.”
“He’s always been there for me.”
“It should’ve been me,” Matthias growls. His eyes flash blue, and I’m learning that’s when his bear is coming to the surface. His anger and regret, raw emotion bleeding through. “It should’ve been me. I never should’ve stayed away. I missed so much…”
My heart swells.
“I’m here now.” I take his hand and rub my finger over the gold band he put on as his wedding ring. He sighs. I feel his regret and understand it. If I had known he had feelings for me, maybe we could have dated even sooner.
But no, I probably wasn't ready. I'm not even sure if I'm ready now. So I take a deep breath and tell him what I really want. “We have one last night in Vegas. Why don’t we make the most of it? We could have a night on the town.”
“No,” he stiffens. “It’s not safe.”
“Please,” I snort. “As if you couldn’t keep me safe. C’mon, hubby, you owe me a date. I missed our planned one.”
He shakes his head, but I can tell I’m wearing him down. “I’ll let you dress me up any way you like,” I singsong. “I’ll wear my diamond collar.”
His eyes glow blue. I was right–it did mean something.
“And after dinner, we can come back here and spend all night in the playroom. If you wear me out enough, I’ll sleep on the flight home.”
“This is a bad idea.”
I smile because I can see I’m winning. “Please, Matthias. I want the whole world to know that I'm yours.”
He groans and slams his chair back then pulls me out of mine into his lap. “All right, wifey. I can’t say no to that.”