because of what you are,” he explained. “You’re a mated omega, not a bonded one.”
It couldn’t be that simple.
“You were raised, just as every alpha, beta, and gamma is, with the potential to be a true mate. Heaven knows we don’t all find them, but the possibility for you was there. Because of that, you weren’t going to accept a mark from any alpha but your true one, me, and so sleeping with other alphas posed no danger to you of bringing on a heat.”
“But I was in pain the other night after we––”
“I know,” he interrupted me, not wanting, I was sure, to go back over the laundry room incident where he had shed all his inhibitions. “I was the same. I was supposed to put my mark on you then, so of course, when I didn’t, it was difficult for both of us.”
“So you’re thinking that was all normal?”
“I do.” His smile was lazy and sexy, and he brought his hands to my shoulders. “I think, after the blessing that was finding our true mate, we were supposed to stay together.”
“Probably,” I mumbled, leaning into him again, loving the heat rolling off his body, the smell of him, leather, and musk from the fur of his wolf, crisp pine and smokey sandalwood. “I should have stayed. I knew it was wrong when I was leaving.”
“But see, now I understand the reason you did, and could. You have a very important job, and your wolf knew, even if you didn’t, that leaving me might be difficult, but it wasn’t forever because I’m your mate, and you’d be in my den at some point.”
I chuckled. “Your den, huh?”
“Don’t tease your alpha,” he warned me playfully as he rubbed his chin in my hair, the scent marking important since we were surrounded by so many alphas.
I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed tight. “I kinda like teasing you, though.”
“Going forward, what I hope,” he rumbled into my hair, “is now that you’re mated you’ll stop fighting your nature every day.”
“I don’t fight my––”
“You’re strong and capable, but at heart, you’re still an omega,” he intoned, his voice low and gravelly. “True mate or bonded, you still need to nurture others and be part of a home.”
“I’m not going to quit my job and––”
He snorted, and my head snapped up so I could meet his gaze, which was surprisingly warm, as was the rakish grin that made my knees go weak. “Love, I know you’re not quitting your job. I just mean that I volunteer to be lavished with all the love and nurturing until you’re ready to start a family with me.”
I was stunned. “You think I’m father material?”
“Without question,” he stated, and then gathered me in his arms and kissed me.
Amazing how everything unfurled in my chest, all the fear, all the doubt, all the questioning, everything that had been solid, then bent but not, as it turned out, broken and was now, suddenly, reinforced.
“You called me love,” I murmured when he lifted his mouth from mine but before he eased back so I was still breathing his air. “Did you know you did that?”
“Did you know you called me baby?”
“I did?”
He grunted.
“Well, you are.”
“As are you,” he whispered, “my love.”
I grabbed him; I couldn’t help it. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him with everything I had, and when he kissed me back, and chuckled as he wiped away my tears, I knew I was done with anything but being all-in.
He knew me. Really knew me already, like my family did. He knew when to laugh, when to call me on my bullshit, and knew when I was this close to falling apart.
I loved him kissing me, I needed him hugging me. He was careful, but not too careful, because he recognized I wouldn’t break, and that was amazing. Tender and gentle, but he grabbed and manhandled me too, like he saw the two distinct parts of me no one understood before him. He got me, and it was so fast, scary-fast, hit-by-lightning fast, but that was how true mates worked. And even if I didn’t believe it, even if I had never seen it happen to my brother, and then my sister, it wouldn’t matter because this I grasped, this I could feel.
“I can’t believe I’m gonna tell you this right here,” I ground out. “This is the worst––”
“It’s not. It makes sense that here, in contrast to the nature of omegas all around