9. Aerin
9
AERIN
I ’m brushing my hair at the dressing table when Mack slips into the bedroom and closes the door behind him.
It’s much too early to even be up in the bedroom. It’s 4 and because I couldn’t concentrate on anything downstairs as I waited for Mack to come home, I thought a nap would help me stop worrying.
All I did was lay in bed and worry even more.
Objectively, I know Mack did nothing wrong. Helena said he’d texted and said he was fine, safe, and just checking out a track they’d picked up at the hotel.
He wasn’t in danger, wasn’t lying bleeding, dead or dying in a ditch somewhere like I kept imagining he was. But I couldn’t help but feel so helpless. Like, if he really was hurt, what could I do? I can’t shift because of the baby. I can’t run, again, because of the baby, and every time I reach for my powers, it’s not there.
I can’t even manage stairs without holding the balustrade.
Deep down, I know Mack wants to protect me, but I want to cry all the time. He was gone for the better part of the day, and I’ve been here, knowing that even if he was in trouble, I couldn’t help him.
“You didn’t need to leave anyone here to watch me,” I say, keeping my eyes on the mess I’ve made. Toiletries are spread over the dressing table. I don’t wear makeup. Most shifters don’t, and only then, they prefer fragrance free or natural because our wolves would struggle to deal with the artificial scents beauty companies love adding to everything.
“Helena would have just been bored sitting at home alone,” he says, closing the door. “Better she come and stay with you. Have you eaten?”
“I wasn’t hungry.”
“I could make us something,” he quietly offers. “Or we could call out for takeout?”
“No. Was there trouble?” I briefly meet his gaze in the dressing-table mirror.
He’s stepping out of his shoes, looks tired, brown hair more tousled than usual, like he’s run his hand through it multiple times today, but he’s fully focused on me. “No trouble. Just frustrated. Sorry I was gone so long.”
After he’d left, I’d showered, dressed and gone downstairs to have tea and catch up with Helena, who is a couple of months pregnant with Bennett’s child. We watched TV, hung out in the garden for a bit, and read, but I could never fully relax as I waited for Mack to come home.
She’d done her best to distract me, but the longer Mack was gone, the more certain I was that something had gone wrong.
I shrug. “You couldn’t help it. What happened?”
“We found a marked tree in the hotel. Can we save that conversation for later? I think I’d rather hold the woman I love for a bit.”
And for absolutely no reason at all, my eyes fill with tears.
Instantly, he’s concerned, hurrying over to drop into a crouch beside me. “What is it?”
I sniff. “I don’t know.”
He picks up a box of tissues and offers it to me.
I choke out a laugh. “Is there anywhere you didn’t leave a box?”
The corners of his eyes crease in a smile as he brushes a tear from my cheek. “I left a packet in your coat pocket in case you ever need it when you’re out.”
This man owns my whole heart, and his thoughtfulness makes me want to cry even more.
He kisses my forehead, then gathers me into his arms, carrying me to the bed.
He sits on the edge, wrapping his arms around me and making me feel like there is nowhere safer in the world. “Please don’t cry, love.”
Turning my face against his throat, I wind my arms around him. “If I’m not crying, I’m using the bathroom a million times a day. But I still wish I could have gone with you, so I could help if you needed it.”
He strokes a hand up and down my back. “I wanted you safe, love. And it’s okay not to be able to help all the time. All Bennett, Chris and I did were sniff around trees. You’d have been as frustrated and bored as the rest of us.”
I peel my face from his throat to peer up at him. “Sniff trees?”
He nods. “I’d have much rather been here with you.”
“What’s going on, Mack?”
He sighs. “I don’t know. I tried calling my dad on the way back and he didn’t answer.”
“I tried calling Ivy, and she answered, said she was busy, and hung up fast.”
We study each other for a bit.
“Do you think they’re having a baby and they don’t want to tell us?” I ask.
Ivy is in her late thirties, still able to get pregnant, and Connall, Mack’s dad, is older. So maybe that’s what this is all about. They’ve taken the next step in their relationship and they think we won’t approve or be comfortable with it.
As long as my aunt is happy, that’s all I care about. I didn’t particularly like Connall when I first met him because he couldn’t have made it any clearer if he tried that he had a problem with me and omegas in general. But if he’s making Ivy happy, then that’s all that matters.
I just try not to think about what they get up to.
When Mack winces, I can’t help but smile. “Did you just imagine my aunt and your dad having?—”
He kisses me. “Uh, you’ve said more than enough, love. I’d appreciate you stopping right there.”
We fall into another long silence.
“We’ll figure this out together,” he eventually says. “We won’t always be able to face everything side by side, and that’s okay.”
“I feel pretty helpless not being able to help you.”
“You are helping. You’re here, and you are doing something so incredible that I could never do. You’re creating a life, and you ground me like no one else ever has or can. I walked into this house exhausted, fed up, and annoyed.”
“And now?”
“Now I feel stronger and more positive than I did before. You’re my heart, and it would destroy me if something happened to you and the baby.”
His heart is in his eyes.
“I just wish I could do more, that’s all.”
“You don’t always have to be doing something, you know?”
“I know.” I think a little longer about this feeling I’ve had. “It had felt good being able to stand up to Shane before.”
“Adela is always talking about seasons.”
A reluctant smile lifts the corners of my lips. “She says she’s in the season where she doesn’t give a flying whatever what anyone thinks. That sounds like a cool season to be in.”
He nods. “It’s okay to be vulnerable, love.”
“I know that too.”
“I will always want to protect you. But not because you can’t look after yourself. You can.” He flashes me a grin. “I remember you sending Shane flying and you ripping out handfuls of my fur when you were protecting me. I still have a bald patch.”
“I was holding you back,” I say, smiling. “And I did not rip out any fur.”
He kisses me. “You stepped on my paw. I was limping for three days after. I thought about putting on a leg brace, but I was trying to look brave so…”
My smile widens. “I did not, and there was absolutely no limping.” I poke his chest. “And what leg brace?”
“Did.” He kisses me again, and he lifts me and places me in the bed, settling beside me. “I just remembered something important.”
“And that important thing is?”
He caresses my throat, my shoulder, and edges downward. “How long it's been since I made love to you.”
I moan, arching my back when his fingers delve between my thighs. “You made love to me last night,” I pant out.
His lips touch mine. “Did I?” He smiles against my mouth as he nudges my panties aside. “Then I’d say we’re overdue.”
I thread my fingers through his hair, kissing him as, with each taunting touch, he slowly drives me toward my climax.
I’m struggling to breathe as I come down from my orgasm when he gently turns me, urging my back to his front so we’re spooning. He fists the hem of my dress and draws it up over my hips and then lifts me slightly to pull it over my head.
When he releases me, the soft thump of his clothes hitting the floor makes need spike in my belly. I wait, my heart in my throat and my back to him, for him to slide back into bed.
I sigh when he tucks my body against his and slowly pushes into me.
He kisses my throat as he caresses my breasts. “How is that, love?”
The way it always is when we make love.
“Perfect.”
“More?”
“Yes.”
He rocks into me. “ Mack !”
We grind together, our temperature rising as we fill the room with the sounds of our pleasure.
His hand tightens on my hip and he grunts as he picks up the pace.
I shatter.
Mack follows soon after, pressing his mouth to the back of my shoulder and holding me flush against his trembling body as he strains inside me.
I keep my eyes closed, hugging his arm as I relax.
Mack somehow manages to grab a sheet from where we must have kicked it off the bed and covers us without letting go of me.
It’s not even night yet and we’re in bed. If I’m not careful, I’m going to fall asleep.
“Mack?” I say a short time later.
“Yes, love?”
“I’m sorry I keep crying all the time.”
“No apology necessary.” He kisses the back of my shoulder. “You want to sleep or eat?”
The sound of my stomach growling would be embarrassing if I were with anyone but Mack. But because it’s Mack, I grin. “I won’t ask you if you missed that.”
He laughs. “We’ll eat, but give me a second to recover and I’ll go down and make us something to eat.”
“That sounds good.”
Yawning, I’m falling asleep when I wince.
Mack lays his hand flat on my belly like he felt the kick. “Thumper is definitely football team material.”
I giggle. “We seriously need to think of names.”
“We have one.”
I twist to face him. “You realize this kid will never forgive you when they reach teenage hood and that is their name, right?”
He scrunches his face. “Dealing with a teenage temper tantrum… You’ve convinced me.”
Thumper delivers another kick or punch and I wince. “I need to use the bathroom. That was my bladder.”
I move to get up, but Mack beats me to it, lifting me into his arms and carrying me out of the bedroom and down the hallway toward the bathroom.
I smile suddenly, and he slows as he returns my smile. “What is it?”
I shake my head. “Just remembering when I nearly got flattened by a semi and you carried me to the bathroom before.”
I had broken my leg in so many places I couldn’t walk. An injury like that is practically unheard of for a shifter. I had to wear a leg brace and everything. It was terrible.
And then we fell in love as I’d healed.
“Yeah?” his eyes soften.
“Except I’m heavier now.”
He nudges the door open with his shoulder. “Nope. You’re about the same.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m six months pregnant, Mack.”
He places me on the toilet and kisses the top of my head. “And you’re still as light as a feather. I’ll wait outside to carry you back since you have this thing about me not being in the same room as you when you pee.”
It doesn’t make sense when I know Mack can hear it even from outside. It’s just one of those things I will probably never understand, I guess. Mack doesn’t care. He’s open about everything.
He leaves me to use the bathroom, closing the door after him. Smiling faintly at the door, I shake my head and focus on peeing, hoping that Thumper doesn’t spend tonight stamping on my bladder or kicking my kidney like she prefers to do most nights.
I hope, but I’m not holding my breath.
Then I hurry up and use the bathroom so I can eat with the man I love and he can hold me until I fall asleep.