One Bed? No Problem
There are probably many good motels in this world, but this one… this one wasn’t one of them.
The shower was lukewarm at the hottest, and it only lasted for about ten minutes. On top of this, the complimentary shampoo and conditioner bottles were about 90% water, and did absolutely nothing for my hair. The hair dryer- attached permanently to the bathroom counter- burped out a hint of warm air before dying completely. There goes all that distraction I was hoping for, I thought, staring at the darn thing dismally.
Aegis looked up when I returned, dressed in vaguely pajama-esque clothes, because I didn’t actually own a pair of matching pajamas. I definitely didn’t own lingerie. Not that I would’ve worn that on this trip, because that would have been crazy.
“Good shower?” He asked, eyes darting all over me, from head to toe.
“Yes,” I said automatically, then frowned. “Well, no. Not at all. But it’ll do.”
“Your hair’s still wet.” He stood from one side of the bed and moved around toward me. “Towel.”
I stared at him for a minute, started, then grabbed one of the dry towels and handed it to him. He gestured to the bed, amber eyes intent on my face.
“Take a seat,” he said, voice unbelievably calm.
I nodded, sitting on the edge of the bed. I felt the mattress dip significantly, the springs creaking, as Aegis took up position behind me. I held my breath, and then… he started toweling my hair.
If I’d have tried to tell Ivy about this, I would’ve sounded insane. Instead, at whatever-o’clock it was in the morning, I was sitting there, heart pounding, blushing like a teenager while Aegis Black, massive and powerful Alpha of the Black Lake pack, was towel-drying my hair. I felt like my back was violently aware of his proximity… and every part of where he was touching was electric.
“You ever noticed something interesting?” Aegis said quietly. His voice was a low hum that reverberated through my back into my chest.
“About what?”
“The pack name.”
“What, Black Lake?” There was a beat of silence after I’d said it, and then I laughed, a nervous note to my voice. “Are you talking about the fact that it’s both our last names?”
“Aegis Black and Sylvia Lake,” he said, before gently testing my hair to see if it was dry enough. My scalp tingled. “Black Lake pack.”
“Of course I noticed,” I said dryly. “I know the pack’s always been named that, but… I used to daydream that it was fate.”
Aegis chuckled. His hands dropped from my hair to my back, fingers trailing downward before he leaned away. “Maybe it was. The pack name was decided several generations ago, but… fate’s done stranger things.”
“Like a werewolf and a human, if you’re right,” I said, turning to look at him. I had to tilt my head back; he was on his knees, looking down at me, and that sent a thrill of electricity through my body.
“You say ‘if’ like there’s a chance I’m wrong,” he said, smirking. His eyes were bright in the low light of the motel room’s single, pitiful lamp. “Remember: werewolves started out as humans. From who else do we get our fated mates, but from those who were once human, too?”
“Poetic,” I murmured.
For a moment, Aegis’s eyes darkened, and he lifted a hand to touch my cheek. The feeling of his rough skin against mine left traces of fire and heat. With achingly slow precision, he tilted his head, leaned down, and kissed me, this time slowly, sweetly, gis mouth moving against mine. I was ready to fold against him, but too soon, Aegis pulled back, a muscle spasming in his jaw.
“Come on,” he said, and there was an edge to his voice. “We need sleep. Long drive tomorrow, and we need to get going as soon as possible.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to sleep. I watched him move over to one side, before grabbing one of the fifty pillows piled onto the bed, none of which would ever be comfortable enough, and sliding it upright into the space between our spots.
“A wall?” I asked, bemused.
“I don’t trust myself,” he said, giving my a dry smile. “Come on.”
I crawled over to my spot on the bed, before reaching over to turn off the lamp.
That instantly made everything worse.
It was like the side of me closest to Aegis was just… vibrating. In the darkness, my senses were amplified, and I could only imagine how that was for him. I could hear him breathing, and how it sounded too fast for sleep. I could feel his weight in the bed, every movement, and oh, how I wanted to close that distance.
This was a terrible idea, I thought, but at least I got some sleep in the car. Aegis hasn’t had any at all…
“Do you want me to drive tomorrow?” I said, my voice too-loud in the darkness, even though I whispered.
“No.” His voice reverberated through the bed and into my body. “I will be fine. I have stayed up much longer than this, before.”
“Bet you the woman at the front desk wouldn’t have dreamed of this scenario.”
“What, a pillow separating two people who obviously do not want the pillow there?”
“I don’t know about ‘obviously’…”
“Two adult people show up alone in the dead hours of the morning at a cheap motel.”
“Yeah, all right, but that’s not the point. In our case, that’s not why we’re here.”
There was a low chuckle, which set the butterflies in my stomach off. “Go to sleep, Sylvia. There will be time for banter in the morning.”
I yawned. I was still tired, in spite of all my napping. “I don’t know if I’ll sleep.”
“You will.”
----
It was the burning sunlight stabbing into my eyes that woke me up. I groaned, moaned, twisted, and found that I couldn’t freely turn over in the bed. I tried again, confused, and then opened my eyes to squint at the too-bright room.
A pair of intense amber eyes glittered back at me, and my own eyes snapped open, all that grogginess disappearing in a flash.
“Aegis,” I breathed. I looked down. The blankets had twisted in such a way that my legs were pinned to his. I was on top of his chest, and he had one arm over my back.
“Good morning,” he said, voice deceptively light. “Don’t know when this happened.”
“Where did- the pillow-“
“The other side of the room.”
I tried to twist around, but the blankets wouldn’t let me. I tried to look down, perplexed. “How did we do this?”
“Apparently, you move around a lot in your sleep.”
“I… I thought that was only when the kids slept with me…”
“Hang on.” He lifted a hand and tried to free the blanket; it grazed my chest, and I couldn’t stop the sharp intake of breath. If he noticed, there was zero reaction on his face.
Working carefully, Aegis freed one leg; grunting, he unintentionally pushed me against him, and I held my breath as he shifted himself out from under me. The blanket loosened without so much to be tense around, and it fell away, allowing me to roll off of him completely.
We both sat there and stared at each other with wild eyes, breathing like we’d run a marathon.
“Do you want the bathroom first?” He asked finally.
“Nope,” I said, too fast. “Go ahead. All yours. I need… um. I gotta… wake up.”
Neither of us bought that, but Aegis stiffly stood up and walked to the bathroom, while a band of butterflies danced violently in my belly.