12. Miles
MILES
I woke up exhausted. It had taken me forever to get to sleep last night. I kept thinking about what happened since running into them at the grocery store. Every new thing I learned yesterday left me with three more questions, but some things I knew for sure.
Shifters were real.
I lived in a shifter apartment building.
I was the only human.
And the messed-up part was all of that knowledge didn't impact me nearly as much as hearing about Indie's other father. Learning that he left her when she was four months old because he found someone else was a gut punch. If he had been a cheating scumbag it would suck, but that was something I was familiar with and understood. From the sounds of things, he’d been faithful until that day.
His ex had met someone and realized instantly that the person was his. They were destined to be together for the rest of their lives, and to make it worse, the pull was so powerful that he walked away from his family.
Indie seemed happy with her current life, but that didn’t make abandonment less horrific. Stellan didn't seem upset about Kipp as much as he did about Indie being left. Or possibly that was what I wanted to read into it, but the whole thing was pretty messed up.
I rolled out of bed and put on a pot of coffee, fed Marmalade, and took care of getting ready for the day, trying to fall into my routine. Trying and failing. I kept getting distracted by my own thoughts.
Suddenly, the weirdness of my neighbors made sense.
If they were smelling me, it was because they knew I was different, that I was human.
I didn’t belong. I had no idea where the process failed and how I landed where I did, but I was here now and I needed to figure out what to do next.
Should I leave out of respect? Try and fit in?
Hearing about Kipp was like slamming the door closed and the possibility of being with Stellan, my crush, being thrown away for good. I couldn't risk opening up to someone who could leave me with one sniff of a stranger.
“What do you think, Marmalade?”
She meowed at the cabinet with the treats.
“Yeah, I figured. You think your tummy's empty?” I grabbed a few and gave them to her, and she purred and purred.
A knock on the door startled me. I assumed it was Jon. He’d mentioned something about changing the batteries in the thermostat earlier in the week. When I opened it, Stellan stood in the doorway instead, and he looked nervous.
I stood out of the way and he walked inside, and we stood looking at each other for too long before either of us spoke.
“I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go out again, but like as a date, dinner, or... or a walk. Even coffee would do.”
I wanted to say yes, but the word wouldn't come out.
“I don't think that's a good idea.” It hurt to say, but it was true.
“Because of who I am?” His voice got quieter with each word.
“No… yes… not really. Come sit down.”
We went over the couch and sat next to each other, and he waited for me to collect my thoughts.
“I spent most of last night thinking about you and Kipp.”
“He's not part of my life anymore. He's not coming back.”
“See, that's just it. You and Kipp, when you were together, you were happy, right?”
He gave a slow nod.
“But then one day, boom! He found the love of his life and walked away.”
Another nod.
“I can't be that person wondering if today is the day that someone walks past you and you leave. It's better not to get started when we know the ending.” I looked at the floor, proud of myself for saying it, but not sure where to go from there.
He picked up my hand. “That's why you said no?”
“Yes.”
“Silly human.” He squeezed my hands. “That can never happen. I already scented you as my mate. That's why I ran away that first day. My bear… he wanted me to claim you, but you were human, and it was too much to process and deal with.”
“You weren't disgusted with me?”
He reached up and cupped my cheek. “No. Disgust was the last thing I was feeling.”
“Please tell me what this means.”
And he did. He told me about true mates and mating bonds and markings and happily ever afters. It sounded almost like a fairy tale and not real life, but there was such sincerity to his words. He meant them all.
“You mean it? I'm yours forever?” The thought should’ve been terrifying. I didn’t know his middle name yet and he was declaring us true mates. Only it didn’t scare me at all; instead, it wrapped around me like a hug.
“If you'll take me.”
There was more to say, so much more. But hearing his words had me forgetting about logic and planning and details that needed to be figured out.
Instead, I slammed my lips against his and kissed him with more passion than I'd ever felt before.
It was hard and rough, and so unlike me.
A growl built in his chest as his hand came up behind my head, holding me in place, giving me back everything I gave to him.
Our lips only came apart when we were both breathless.
“I want to be yours,” I told him, meaning every word. “Please make me yours.”
He picked me up and carried me to the bedroom, his lips on mine the entire time. He set me down and we tore at each other's clothes, like if we didn't get ourselves naked we’d both die from the need.
“I want you.” I grabbed onto him once we were on the bed, our bodies pressed together, our hands wandering and our mouths expressed everything we felt.
I was so slick, so ready for him, and he hadn't even touched me where I wanted him most.
He broke our kiss, grumbling, “Mine,” and then kissed a path along my chin, down my neck, further and further until he reached my aching cock.
He licked me from root to tip, circling, and then swallowed me down whole as his finger teased my slick entrance. My brain ceased working. The blissful silence in my head allowed me to just feel, to feel his mouth worshiping my cock, his finger teasing my slick hole and his breath warmed my skin.
His fingers gave me a preview of what was to come as they worked my entrance. One finger at first, fucking me while his mouth continued its feast. Then a second finger and a third. His other hand stroked my length to the same rhythm.
It was nearly too much, my balls tightened. My orgasm was so close.
“More!” I cried out. “I need more. I need everything. I need you inside me.”
He popped off my cock, slowly removed his fingers from me, and settled between my legs and leaned forward, kissing my lips once more. The sexiest part was the way he looked at me.
I thought he was here for more foreplay, and I grumbled, saying I needed him inside me, and he snatched a pillow.
He settled it under my hips, pushed my thighs back. He lined himself with my entrance, and slowly entered me, inch by glorious inch. Stellan watched my face the entire time, looking for any discomfort until he was fully inside me.
“You feel so fucking perfect,” he said.
I mumbled something incoherent back. He chuckled in response and slowly pulled out and slammed back into me.
“More,” I pleaded, and he listened, slamming into me again and again.
This wasn't sweet lovemaking. It was so much more powerful than that. He thrust in and out of me, telling me how perfect I was, how I felt amazing, how he didn't know where I ended and he began, and he never wanted to.
I’d never felt so wanted.
I met his thrusts, my hips bucking in time to his movement. My orgasm was close. I could try and hold it back, but as selfish as it was, I didn’t want to.
“I’m going to come!”
“I got you.” His hand wrapped around me, and he jerked me to the same rhythm as his thrusts. “Come for me, omega mine.”
Three more thrusts and I was calling out his name, my cum shooting out between us, coating his hand and covering my chest.
He growled, lurched forward, and his teeth sank into my shoulder. The need to do the same back was too strong to ignore, and I leaned up and bit his shoulder, my teeth breaking the skin. His knot grew as he filled me with his cum as his huge knot sealed us together.
“Mine. You’re mine, Miles.”
“Yes, I’m yours.”