Chapter 12 #2
Dom had already arranged the dining room table for breakfast. He sat right in the warm light that flooded into the room, his red hair shimmering like rose gold.
This part of the house had been a conservatory once, but while Ell loved his vegetable garden, no one had really wanted to keep the greenhouse going.
Dom had restored the metal framework and put in new glass that offered proper insulation.
He’d spent hours on his knees, restoring or replacing the old tiles after adding under-floor heating.
Now the room was possibly one of the nicest in the entire house.
“Oh, wow, the place really goes on,” Marcus said, and I could feel Dom basking in our mate’s words.
Marcus was right. Farther back, in what had been the rest of the greenhouse and a shed that hadn’t been connected to the rest of the building before we’d moved in, Dom had created the really comfy part.
There were two walls full of books and reading chairs Dom had built himself from reclaimed cherry wood.
Since he’d ripped out the floor anyway to put in the heating, he’d decided that a sunken cuddle area set into the floor was just what would finish the room off, and we’d spent many an evening there since then.
Marcus appeared sufficiently impressed when he saw that part, his eyes going to the books first before he oohed at the sunken floor area.
“Told you you can have your cuddle puddle, Marcus.”
Dom gently put his hands on Marcus’s shoulders, but I could tell he wanted to hug Marcus against him, run his nose through Marcus’s freshly washed hair, and put his scent there all over again.
Gods, but that was the issue with letting your mate shower or bathe; you just wanted to rub yourself all over them so everyone knew they were yours and you theirs. It defeated the purpose of the shower, of course, but I still wanted to do it.
Marcus cleared his throat. “Didn’t expect this in some creepy house out in the woods. Nor the geraniums out front.”
“Don’t dis my geraniums. Mate or not, I’ll slap your pretty ass for that.” Dom flashed his teeth.
I had no doubt he was serious, too.
Marcus turned to face Dom. “Dude, you have issues.”
“No, I just have a knack for geraniums, and no one fucking appreciates it. I usually kill every other decorative plant, so let me enjoy the one kind that thrives when I’m around.”
Marcus noisily sipped his tea. “They’re magnificent geraniums. Big, bulbous, beautiful geraniums.”
He looked as cheeky as he sounded. I was glad he was feeling better.
“Magnificent huh?” Dom showed his canines. “Big and bulbous, huh? Are you trying to poke fun at me, Marcus?”
Marcus shrugged and sipped more of his tea, easily a challenge for any wolf.
I cleared my throat to reel Dom back in, and he just hummed in appreciation, subtly smelling the air to get Marcus’s scent.
I took a step toward Marcus and put a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, let’s have breakfast.”
“Sure. I could eat.”
Dom made an unhappy sound. “You better. You had no dinner, being sleepy and all that.”
“Nanny werewolves,” Marcus mumbled, either to test our hearing or to tease us. Both were fine; welcome, even.
We all sat down around the breakfast table.
I glanced at my phone and saw that the email I’d been waiting for had arrived.
I’d had a brief text exchange earlier before helping Marcus with his bath, and one of my employees had a preliminary background check on Steven ready now—something I wanted to see for my own peace of mind.
Marcus caught me looking. “You still have my laptop and phone.” He was already on his second mug of oolong while nibbling some toast with raspberry jelly. “I should get back to working. And doing some damage control after fucking Steven is probably in order.”
Dom growled. “I’d like to do some damage to fucking Steven.”
I shot Dom a look, and he checked himself.
I turned to Marcus “Both are upstairs in my office. I had one of my PR people come up with responses. I know you wouldn’t normally get a PR person involved in this, but she’s very good at managing these kinds of situations, and she has experience in helping clients who had to deal with stalkers.
She and I both agree that downplaying it will serve you best.”
Marcus straightened in his chair. “You want me to downplay what that jerk did? He took a video of us—of me—and I had no fucking idea, and then he sends it to people I’ve done work for, to friends…to everyone! What’s there to downplay?”
Dom shuffled his chair over to Marcus and put his arm around his shoulders in a show of support.
“I take what he did absolutely seriously, believe me. Like I said, whatever we can do to drive home to your ex just how seriously we take this, we will do. When I say downplay, I’m referring to how best to present yourself and your side of this to the recipients of Steven’s email. Does that make sense?”
I didn’t love the idea, but it would be best for Marcus in the long run. The truth was, I thought the video was very serious, possibly more so than Marcus himself did. Primarily, I was concerned with the lengths Steven seemed to be willing to go through just to get Marcus back or get back at him.
In my opinion, Steven’s email had been designed to push Marcus away from his friends and increase pressure on him to come back to Steven, tail between his legs. That kind of manipulation was a dark pattern and didn’t lead to good places.
Marcus was pissed, very understandably. He clenched his jaw and looked at his lap. “Yeah. I guess.” His moonstone eyes found mine. “I didn’t mean to snap at you, Lincoln. Sorry. Also, you don’t have to get involved in this beyond this point. You’ve already done plenty.”
“Call me Linc. And don’t worry about it. As Dom said yesterday, this is the kind of thing I enjoy doing, and I won’t leave my mate to deal with it by himself.”
“I’m still up for nibbling on your ex for you. Just say the word.” Dom winked, showing his teeth.
Marcus looked from one of us to the other, and Dom pulled back reluctantly to give our human some space.
Marcus ran a hand through his hair, flinching when he came too close to the stitches.
“Look, this mate thing… I’m not sure what to do with it.
” He crossed his arms in front of his chest and hunched in his chair.
“I don’t think I can be what you want me to be.
I don’t want to be your chew toy. I just came out here for a vacation, because fucking Steven never wanted to go on one.
I’m not looking to jump straight into a new relationship right now.
It’s what all the advice says, you know?
That you should be single for a while after a breakup. ”
Hearing that hurt. It was difficult not to take Marcus’s words personally. Dom whined quietly, and Marcus gave him a look somewhere between hurt and regret before hesitantly patting his arm.
“How long is your vacation?” I asked.
“Booked the B&B for three weeks.”
I nodded. “How about this: You spend the rest of those three weeks here instead. Get to know us. Enjoy the scenery. Heck, let Dom take you on a hike, because if you know where you’re going, it’s actually really pretty out there.
” I tried to remain calm and composed, but it wasn’t easy.
The thought of losing our mate, of him leaving…
it made me want to curl up into a ball and cry.
“No one will bite you without your consent. Marcus, here with us, no one wants you to be anyone but who you are.”
I let that sink in and hoped our mate would approve.
Honestly, I had no idea what I’d do—what any of us would do—if he didn’t.
All of our instincts told us to show our mate that we were willing and able to take care of him, and it seemed as if we were failing, as if he wanted to reject us.
Stepping back and seeing the situation through the human lens made understanding it easier, but it did nothing to change the fact that it hurt.
Dom was as tense as me, and Marcus was clearly skeptical. “Could’ve sworn there was some getting to know you happening last night,” he mumbled.
I nodded. “There was.”
Our mate had enjoyed himself in our arms, and the memory soothed me. If I looked cocky, I wasn’t sorry for it.
Dom had the good sense not to say anything, but I could practically feel how much he wanted to.
After what felt like half a lifetime, Marcus said, “Fine, but you’re not washing my hair again. That’s just too much.”
Dom being Dom, he leaned forward and brushed a kiss over Marcus’s cheek. “Thank you.” He used his vulnerable, earnest voice.
Gods, I loved Dom. If Marcus rejected us, it would crush him. I swore to myself then and there that I’d move heaven and earth not to let that happen. I looked at Marcus. What really needed moving was that cute human’s heart.