Chapter 10
Oscar
Iwas warm. And there was an arm wrapped around my waist and a very warm body behind me.
Monroe. I grinned at the thought of my mate being behind me.
I waited a moment and felt absolutely no panic.
Nothing. I glanced around the bedroom, and although the windows had blinds on them, they weren’t closed, and I could tell it was early morning.
We’d slept all night, and I realized that for the first time in a very long time, I felt refreshed and actually rested.
“Do you always wake up and think about how well you did or didn’t sleep the night before?” Monroe asked, his voice still very sleepy.
“Only on the morning after I was claimed by my mate and I finally feel like I got enough sleep.”
Monroe’s arm tightened around me seconds before his lips touched my shoulder. “You should always get enough sleep. Sadly, I will say that once Mae is with us, our sleep will most likely be interrupted.”
I grinned. “Mae. And then when we have our own, we won’t be sleeping through the night for a while.” I rolled to my back, Monroe’s arm letting go enough so I could move positions and I could look at my mate. I grinned at him when he opened his eyes a bit. “Good morning, handsome.”
Monroe’s grin grew. “Morning. How are you feeling? You’re not sore, are you?”
I shook my head. We, of course, claimed each other and then dozed off.
We woke twice more in the night and had a repeat of earlier activities, and I would highly recommend each of them.
Monroe might have been a virgin yesterday morning, but he no longer was, and he really knew how to move his hips.
And he was incredibly talented with his hands.
“I’m feeling amazing, actually.” My stomach growled just then, and we both chuckled.
“Sounds like you need to be fed.” Monroe kissed my shoulder again, then rolled to his own back.
“I should probably empty my bladder first, but yeah, maybe we could go find something to eat?”
“We can. I will make whatever you wish.”
“You don’t have to,” I told him. “I can cook.” I sat up, and when I tossed the covers aside, I actually shivered a bit at the drastic difference between the warmth under the covers and the air in the room.
Hmm, we would probably need to adjust the thermostat because Monroe was a fae, as were Mason and Maelie.
They would need it to be warmer in the house than I would.
Same as Joseph and Hailey. We all had our wolf halves to help keep us warmer.
I hurried to the bathroom, and when I was relieving my bladder, Monroe knocked on the door. “When you’re finished, I’ll fix breakfast.”
I looked over my shoulder and could see just part of my mate standing just outside the bathroom door. “Why are you standing out there? Do you not need to go?” I asked, seconds before flushing the toilet.
“I do, but I didn’t wish to intrude.”
I closed my eyes to keep from rolling them. “We’re mated. I would say that within a week’s time, there will be absolutely zero shyness or uncertainty left between us,” I told him. “Come on in. I’m not shy, but if you are, I hope you get over it soon,” I added.
Monroe came into the bathroom, and I watched as he hesitated behind me where I was washing my hands.
“I’m not shy. I’m…trying. It’s all new.”
I nodded. “Yes, it is. We’ve been thrown together, and we have very little time to make us work before we have to go back to being parents. It’s going to be crazy and hectic, but we’ll figure it out.”
Monroe flushed and then went to the other sink, and he, too, washed his hands. “What did you mean when you mentioned about within a week’s time.”
“Oh. That I’m most likely going to go into heat, and, well, that’s going to leave absolutely no room for either of us to be shy about anything.
There is nothing even remotely fun about heats.
They’re messy, intense, and without a mate, they’re really not enjoyable.
You’re my mate, my alpha, essentially. I hope that you’ll take care of me during it? ”
Monroe moved closer to me, and I felt a whisper move along my body and then the light weight of clothing. I glanced down and saw that I was wearing sweatpants and a shirt now. Monroe was wearing much the same, and his finger touched under my chin to raise my face to meet his.
“Of course I’ll take care of you during your heat. And any other time. Always. When you’re pregnant and are craving something, I’ll provide that for you. If you happen to get sick, I’ll take care of you during that. I’m here for everything, my mate. All of the good and the not so good.”
I smiled again and really wanted to fire my stomach because just as Monroe was leaning down to give me a kiss, my stomach growled quite loudly.
Instead of my kiss, my mate stood, and I felt my protesting stomach doing flip-flops.
Where we had just been standing in our bathroom, we were now down in the kitchen.
“What would you like?” Monroe asked as he moved over to the refrigerator. “There’s eggs, of course. There is bread for toast, fruit, some…” Monroe pulled out a container and held it out.
“Yogurt. It’s good with the fruit. Would you like me to make breakfast?”
Monroe shook his head.
“How about you do what you would normally do for breakfast? I usually grab a bowl of cereal and call it good. Oh, and maybe coffee if I have time. I usually try to have time, but I don’t always wake up when I should, and most mornings, I’m running late.
” I cringed a bit about that. I was most likely going to lose both of my jobs.
It wasn’t that I was going to really be upset.
I wasn’t, and they wouldn’t really miss me. Not really.
“Eggs. Fruit, and you said the yogurt is good with it. Toast.” Monroe held up a package of sausage. “How is this cooked, and why do I feel it’s for breakfast?”
“You didn’t have pigs?”
“We had cows, goats, chickens, and there were wild boars. Which are pigs, no?”
I nodded as I moved over to Monroe. “You slice it into patties, and it’s usually fried in a pan. It’s pork sausage with spices. Sage especially, and it’s absolutely delicious.”
Monroe nodded, tossed the sausage over my head, and then closed the refrigerator. “Did you want tea?”
I nodded. “I drink tea. There’s a coffeepot here though. Did you want coffee, or are you a tea drinker?”
“I drink tea. I can do coffee for you if that’s what you prefer.”
I shook my head and reopened the door to the fridge and pulled out the carton of orange juice I’d seen in there. “This will do. You tossed the sausage. Where did it go?” I asked as I pulled down a cup. “Did you want orange juice?”
Monroe nodded. “Yes, please. And the sausage is with everything else on the table.”
I nodded absently as I grabbed another glass. When I turned toward the table, I froze. I was really expecting the ingredients to be there, but they weren’t. No, on the table were full plates of food. How had I not scented them?
“You…wow, okay. So you just toss things, and they magically make breakfast? Or whatever?”
“They can. I can actually cook, and I’m pretty good at it.
We don’t have magical powers until puberty, much like you start shifting then.
We all learn to cook and clean just like everyone else.
I still do things the non-magical way most of the time.
Sometimes, though, some mornings just call for a quick magical breakfast.”
I moaned when I moved closer and could actually scent the food.
“In my experience, most mornings end up being magical breakfast mornings. Sadly, I don’t have magic like that.
Which is why I grab a bowl of cereal. Or if I’m really behind, I’ll take a bagel and a cup of coffee on my way out the door. ”
I could feel Monroe’s irritation through our bond and tried to give him a look that said I was sorry.
“We’ll have to work on things. Especially that.” Monroe pulled out my chair and gave me an expectant look.
I sighed and sat down. “Working two jobs, one that I don’t get home from until three or so in the morning and then having to wake up at six to get to my other job, doesn’t leave much time for sleep.
” I poured two glasses of juice and placed one over near Monroe’s steaming mug of tea.
It smelled nice, and I peeked at it, wondering what was so different about it.
“Would you like a tea as well?”
“Do you mind?”
Monroe shook his head. “I will never mind. And we will need to discuss your jobs sometime very soon. You know I’ve already said you can work or not.
But being gone for so long during the day, and now I realize evening and into the night, I feel that I can be fair when I say one has to go, preferably the one that keeps you out half of the night. ”
A mug of tea had appeared in front of my plate, and I picked it up, taking a deep breath of it and smiling.
It really did smell wonderful. “I am not upset about that at all, and I am in agreement with you. I’ll also go so far as to say you don’t really have to worry about it at all because most likely I’m going to lose both of my positions because I’m not going to be there for a week or more, and they’ll just replace me.
I’m not really a key person in either place. ”
Monroe stared at me for a moment before he gave me a somewhat sad smile.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for our mating to cause you to lose your source of income.
I know how much you’ve stressed about that.
I’ve not only seen it in certain memories that you’ve shared with me, but you’ve also mentioned it when discussing your siblings. ”