Twenty-One
Wyatt
My stomach was tying itself in sick knots, and i felt like my throat had closed up. i could barely choke down water, even as the coyote pack around me sat through breakfast, cutting up sausages and fried eggs, murmuring to each other politely about passing the butter or the salt.
Part of me was glad I’d eaten before I left Vern’s. Another part of me longed to be sick, because everything was upside down and backwards.
Caroline and Karla thought I could get pregnant. Cal said I smelled funny, and they all thought that could be one of the reasons. The very notion was making my head spin more than the idea that there were people who could shapeshift, at will, between animal and humanoid forms.
It’s impossible, I told myself firmly, inhaling deeply as someone passed a plate of bacon right under my nose.
Just like people shape-shifting into coyotes is supposed to be impossible, some more sarcastic part of my personality bit back.
My stomach lurched again.
What if …
No. All this talk about fated mates and omegas and whatever—that was …
that was fine. Humans believed in soulmates, even though we didn’t know if souls actually existed or not.
So fated mates—it was probably just the same thing.
Shifter culture’s idea of love at first sight or a couple that just was somehow meant to be.
There wasn’t actually a scientific basis for it.
A guy like me getting pregnant … that was physically, biologically impossible. There was no way …
Cam set down his silverware with a clink and took a decisive sip of his coffee. “All right,” he said, “let’s go get this bond fixed.”
“Y-yeah,” I agreed, offering a shaky smile to the rest of his family. The twins were looking at me with curious eyes. Caroline was still scowling, and Cal wouldn’t meet my gaze.
Karla smiled. “Good luck,” she said, and I felt my shoulders relax despite myself.
Nobody here thought what we were doing was weird or wrong. All of them—even Caroline and Cal—supported us.
I took a shaky breath and let Cam lead me from the room.
We went upstairs this time, the worn carpet on the stairs cushioning our footfalls. Without a word, Cam opened the door to one of the rooms, revealing an enormous expanse of space.
Cam shut the door behind us. “Nobody’ll bother us up here,” he said, and I nodded again, then sank down on the messy bed.
Cam’s scent immediately washed over me, and I closed my eyes, before frowning. I could smell Cam now? And I liked it?
I opened my eyes again and watched Cam pace to the window. “Why didn’t you come back?” he asked. “Caroline said we shouldn’t leave it long …”
“I …” I hesitated, looking down at my feet resting on another worn carpet. It matched the one in the hall, on the stairs.
I could lie. Say I’d just been busy. And I had been—all these birthing animals were running me off my feet.
But deep down, I knew there was something else. “I was … afraid,” I offered finally. “I don’t know why.”
Cam pressed his lips into a thin line as he leaned against the wall, amber eyes regarding me carefully. “We don’t have to do this,” he offered. “I know … I know it’s a lot.”
I nodded. I knew all that. I also knew he’d given me the option to back out before he bit me the first time. There was a reason I didn’t take it.
It felt wrong to deny him anything. And I’d heard in his voice how much he wanted this.
And I’d hoped, at least for a little bit, that he didn’t just want it. That he needed it as much as I did. When he’d suggested it, I’d been weirded out—I was still trying to get my head around shifters and fated mates, and now he wanted to bite me and bond me …
But if I dug down past my confusion, there was a simple answer. An instinctual one, singing in my blood, ringing through my bones, making me ache.
Yes.
Just yes—no caveats, no if, ands, or buts. I wanted Cam, and I wanted to be his forevermore. And if he’d have me? If he wanted the same?
All the more proof I was making the right decision.
I folded my hands in my lap, twiddling my thumbs. “So … how do we …?”
Cam’s brows shot up. “You want to? You just said you were afraid, and like I said, we don’t have to—”
I gave him my best glare. “Just because I’m afraid doesn’t mean I don’t want to.
Think about rollercoasters—they’re scary to get on, and half the time, as you’re sitting in that car, climbing that first hill, you’re sitting there thinking you’ve just made a huge mistake.
You think about how you can get back to the ground, if they’ll stop the ride and let you off.
And then the drop comes, and you’re scared shitless, but it’s also … ”
“Fun,” Cam said.
“Exhilarating,” I breathed, then met his gaze. “And the ride ends and you wonder what you were scared about.”
I watched Cam’s throat work. “All right,” he said, pushing away from the wall.
He approached the bed cautiously, almost like a predator stalking his prey.
I leaned back on my elbows, watching him.
He landed one knee on the mattress, then the other, planting both hands on either side of me as I laid myself out beneath him.
“Let’s go for a ride,” he said, and, despite myself, I started laughing. He blinked those golden eyes. “What? What?”
I put a hand over my mouth, shaking my head. “Sorry. Sorry, it’s just—” I sobered a little. “Dirty talk is kind of ridiculous, isn’t it?”
His expression twisted. “I wasn’t—oh, God, did I really say that?”
I snorted. “You did.”
He bit his lip. “Fuck, I did. Oh my God.”
I laughed harder, and he joined me, both of us dissolving into deep, rolling guffaws, until I thought I wasn’t going to be able to breathe any longer.
Then, without warning, Cam leaned in and nuzzled my neck, right above the aching bite mark. I froze, my eyes going wide as the tip of his nose brushed over the old scab and, beneath it, the ache. “Wyatt,” he breathed against my skin.
I inhaled. It was all the response I could manage.
I felt his breath, his lips against my collarbone. “God, I love you,” he said.
“I love you.” The words rolled off my tongue before I could stop them. Before I could even think about them.
It didn’t matter. They were true. I didn’t care if we’d only met a couple of weeks ago—I loved Cam, with my whole heart, and I always would.
The realization bloomed warm in my chest, heating my whole body. There was part of me that still doubted it—it had been less than a month, and that wasn’t nearly long enough for the honeymoon phase of a relationship to wear off—but it was drowned out by the roar of emotion that swept through me.
And then Cam bit me.
It was nothing like the first time; I barely even felt his teeth going in, although I knew he’d broken the skin with ease.
I jolted forward with a cry, and Cam released me, swiping his tongue across the wound.
I could feel the blood now, warm on my skin, but that was nothing compared to the warmth spreading through the rest of my body, like wildfire burning me up.
It wasn’t like the want I’d felt before. Then, I’d been burning up with desire. This—this was similar; I wanted Cam to fuck me, badly, but it wasn’t just sheer lust.
I could feel the warmth of Cam’s affection pouring through me, and I wanted nothing but to make him warm too, to show him how much I cared for him, to bring him to the same high that I was feeling.
It was amazing. If I’d ever thought I’d fallen in love before, how very wrong I’d been. All my childhood crushes, my college boyfriends—nothing could compare to this. Nothing at all.
Cam moved against me suddenly, pressing his hips to my thigh. “God, I want you,” he growled, and I bucked up against him.
“Have me,” I returned, my voice strangled, and then we were all hands, hastily stripping away clothes, desperate to get skin to skin. Cam rutted against my hip, until I spread my legs, inviting him inside.
Hazily, I realized he wasn’t using any lube—he might have sucked on his fingers or spit on his hand or something, but I couldn’t remember. It didn’t seem to matter; two fingers slipped inside me with little resistance, and I practically fell apart under his touch.
Then the fingers were gone again, replaced by the head of his cock, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from yelling.
Not that it hurt—it was that I wanted it that bad.
I drew a deep breath, closing my eyes as he sank deep into me, stroking the ache in my core.
I trembled with it, begging him to go faster, deeper, to push me over the edge and soothe the ache the way only he could.
With his knot. God, I wanted his knot, wanted to be stretched to the limit over him, locked together with him …
I tilted my head back, eyes closed tight as I remembered how much he’d filled me. My hands found his shoulders; I dug my nails into flesh, sank my teeth into my lip.
“God, Wyatt.” He sounded reverent.
“Cam,” I exhaled, then tossed my head back again on a moan.
Sex had never felt this good. I curled my toes, pleasure ringing through every nerve ending in my body, echoing through me.
I groaned again as I realized the echo was Cam’s own pleasure—I dragged my hands down his arms and felt it spike, followed by a pointed thrust into me that sent ripples down my spine.
I bucked my hips helplessly, lost to the frenetic rhythm of instinct, of carnal desire—mine and Cam’s alike.
I lost it when Cam bit me again, sinking his teeth back into the wound on my neck, tearing me open wider. I arched up, crying out, clinging to him for dear life as pleasure broke across me, wave after wave shuddering down my spine, shaking me down to my core.
Cam whimpered against my skin, finally releasing me as he struggled to get his breath. He slammed home once, twice more, then stilled as he spent himself deep inside me.
He stayed suspended above me for another second or two, eyes wide, pupils blown, face frozen in a mask of pleasure. Then he shook and finally collapsed onto me with a grunt.
“Oh fuck,” he breathed, and I trembled, releasing any last tension I’d been clinging to, melting back into the bed. “That was—”
“Amazing,” I breathed.
“I was gonna say intense,” he offered, turning his head slightly as he pushed back to his hands. “But amazing works too.”
He rolled off of me, sprawling across the bed. I had no idea how long we both lay there, staring up at the ceiling.
Time slowed to a crawl as I watched the morning light dance across the ceiling. I was torn—I never wanted the moment to end, but I wanted forever with Cam, all the tomorrows and somedays it would bring.
“Shower?” Cam asked from somewhere beside me, voice soft and far away.
“Yeah,” I agreed, then slowly peeled myself off the bed. Cam groaned as he did the same.