The Deputy and His Enforcer (Kincaid Pack #3) - Kiki Clark Page 0,41

of pack is weakness, your wolf knows better. Start listening to him more.” Nico plopped down into a seat at the small kitchen table in the corner of the room, crossing his arms over his wide chest and giving Marcus a hard look.

“It’s not even that…” Marcus knew he didn’t spend enough time scenting and bonding with his packmates, but it wasn’t because he didn’t see the value in it or thought he didn’t need it. He sighed as he grabbed a couple of bottles of water and sat next to Nico at the table. “It’s like… if I don’t remind myself to do it, I subconsciously fall into old habits and think I’m not… I don’t know, welcome or whatever.”

It’d been a long time since he’d talked like this with Nico as well. His body and mind were feeling loose after the influx of dopamine the puppy pile had given him, even though he’d had to inform Rick and Kai about his conversation with Wendy when they returned to the manor. Rick had sighed a lot and rubbed his forehead, then sent him and Nico home, telling them he’d see them the next day.

“Sometimes you say shit like that and it makes me really angry at your old pack and family,” Nico said, voice a bit growly.

Marcus smiled at him. “It is what it is. Anger won’t change who they are or what they did. And it won’t change the things they taught me.”

Nico grunted and leaned forward, gripping Marcus’s forearm tightly. “You’re like a brother to me, okay? I’m going to be better about forcing you to go for runs and letting Fi snuggle the shit out of you on the couch while we watch Moana for the nine hundredth time.”

Marcus chuckled a little, but it died off quickly, his mind slipping to a concern he’d been ruminating on for days. “Do you think…”

“What?”

He took a deep breath. Bennett had told him he could talk to him about mates, but he didn’t know if he’d have the guts to bring it up out of the blue with him. “Do you remember when you first learned about mates?”

Nico’s eyebrows shot up, and his face split into a grin as he released Marcus’s arm and leaned back in his chair. “Sure. The pack I grew up in was pretty open about matings and… mating.” He winked at Marcus, chuckling when his face heated in embarrassment. “They didn’t have a coven like ours, so they didn’t have a lot of the rituals and celebrations incorporated into their pack laws and lifestyle. But on full moons, we’d usually gather as a pack and have a big bonfire, and mated couples would fuck under the moonlight, just outside the light of the flames.”

Marcus sucked in a breath, his eyes feeling enormous. “They had sex in the open like that?”

Nodding, Nico sipped some water and adjusted in his seat. Marcus ignored the deepening of Nico’s scent, too interested in hearing about such a strange pack ritual.

“Yeah, it was normal to us. I remember as a kid barely even thinking about the fact that most of the adults would slip a few feet away and get naked, but when I went through puberty…” He shook his head and laughed lightly. “I remember there was one couple who didn’t even bother leaving their spots by the fire. I guess because it wasn’t like we couldn’t see the others in the dark anyway, you know? Anyway, this couple would just… she’d drop to all fours right there, and her mate would just go to town behind her.”

Swallowing, it was Marcus’s turn to shift in his seat. He didn’t think he’d ever be comfortable having others watching him during such an intimate act, but the idea of watching others? “Your pack was very…”

“Hedonistic? Yeah. They embraced their wolf sides more than other packs do, but that also meant there were more fights and less opportunity for advancement. We barely had any technology and shunned contact with humans.” He shook his head once more, then cleared his throat. “Sorry, I got a little off track there. You wanted to know when I learned about mates?”

“Yeah. Or, well…” Marcus looked away and frowned at the ground. Was he really going to ask Nico about this?

“My parents told me that my mate would be my other half. That they’d make me better and give me anything I needed while I’d do the same for them,” Nico said with a shrug when