“Who taught you?”
He moves to my other side. His touch becomes brisker and more efficient. I’ve got goosebumps up and down my arms, and they seem to bother him. He uses his other hand to rub my clean skin, as if to warm me, but I’m burning up. My skin is prickling from anticipation, not the chill.
“Everyone.”
“How so?” He lowers himself to his knees to wipe my legs.
“Dermot. Eamon. Quill. My father. Moon Lake. North Border. Salt Mountain.”
“Not Last Pack?”
“They don’t know shit but how to sniff ass.”
My lips curve. Poor Last Pack. Always lowest rung on the shifter ladder. And yet here we are. In our bare skin, in a den. No different than them.
“If you listen, and you watch, you pick stuff up.” Killian places my hands on his shoulders, and then he lifts my bad leg to wipe off my foot. I wiggle my toes. He grabs them and squeezes. “Behave.”
“It tickles.”
“I’m quick.”
“And bossy.”
He arches an eyebrow. He looks so damn pleased with himself.
“You’re not the boss of me. Just so you know.” I put more of my weight on his shoulders as he lifts my good leg.
“I know.”
“I’m not going to stop selling mushrooms.”
“You’ve got more?”
“I’m going to grow more.”
“Okay.” He places my foot carefully back on the smooth rock floor, and he sits back on his heels, gazing up at me. He’s smiling, amused, and his cock is hard.
“And any female who wants to sell things at the market, can.”
“Agree.”
“And we need a rotation for laundry and kitchen duty. One that’s fair.”
He nods.
“And if a female wants to fight, she can.”
“Who wants to fight?”
Kennedy, for one, but I’d never betray her confidence. “It’s a hypothetical.”
“If I let females fight, the males are gonna band together and come after me again.”
“Are you worried?”
Now he grins wide enough to show his sharp incisors. “Not at all.”
“And females can drive if they want to.”
“Seems they already do.” Killian gazes up at me, and even in the dim light, his eyes twinkle. “Are those all your demands, Alpha?”
My stomach flips. Oh, I like him on his knees in front of me, calling me that, looking at me like that. It’s heady.
“I want land near the commons. For gardens and a new greenhouse.”
His smile already tells me yes.
“I might not want to go all the way to Abertha’s cottage when I have a pup.”
His eyes turn molten and lower to my bare belly. My heat surges.
“A pup?”
I shift. “Well, yeah. I guess. Yes? That’s what mates do, right? Have pups?”
“Not always.”
“But most of the time.”
He nods. His face is serious now. “If you don’t want it yet, I can pull out.”
My hand flies to my face. This is so weird. We’ve known each other all our lives, we’re connected by a bond as real as muscle and bone, and in some ways, I’m still the nerd at the front of the bus, and he’s the cool kid in the very back seat.
And he just said “pull out.”
He reaches out and cups my calves, stroking with his thumbs. “I want you to carry my pups, Una. I want that more than anything. You know that, right?”
I lift a shoulder.
“But if you want more time, you have it. If you need me to prove myself, I will.”
His intention flows into my chest, powerful and true. He’s waited for me almost his whole life. Maybe his mind forgot, but his heart never did.
Now I understand that mine didn’t either. Not really. But I didn’t have a choice, so I made my own way. Like he did. And we found each other again. Neither of us innocent anymore, but maybe better off for it.
“Are you still mad that I didn’t wait for you to have sex?” For the first time in the cave, I feel naked.
“Not mad.”
“Disappointed?” I cross my arms.
“Jealous.”
“We weren’t together. We didn’t know we were mates. Neither of us.”
“I know.” He rises to his knees and gently takes my hands, pulling them away from my chest. “I feel what I feel. But it’s not on you. And I don’t want you to regret anything. I wanted everything in your life to be good and perfect.”
The memory floats up between us. The crone’s bed, her soft quilt, the horrible pain, and the cool tea.
“It wasn’t. But it wasn’t bad, either. It’s the path I had to take to get here.”
“To me,” he says.
“To you,” I agree. “Do you remember? Abertha’s cottage? After the attack?”
“I do.” He tucks a flyaway behind my ear. “You were so brave.”
“You were so strong.” And in my memory, I see how very young he was, too.
He brushes a kiss across my lips and lowers himself back to his knees, drawing me down to wrap my legs around his waist. He’s hard against my belly, but this isn’t about that. He squeezes my hands, and through the bond, I feel his nervousness and hope.
He bares his neck and casts his gaze down. For me.
His vein throbs.
I have a choice, but it feels like I made it a long time ago. When—I’m not quite sure. But it’s natural for my fangs to lengthen. My wolf yips and bounds. She’s all on board.
I open my mouth and test his skin with the tips of my fangs. He shudders in my arms. His longing teases my nostrils.
He wants this so bad. Worse than I have ever wanted anything.
It’s knowing that—the truth of it pulsing through our bond—that lets me let it all go—the fight with Haisley. The night in the blackberry patch. The dumb rules and frustrations and bull crap that I blamed him for over the years.
It was all his fault, but it’s not the whole of it.
I remember curling beside him in bed. I remember him reverently braiding my hair. We’ve been without each other too damn long. And I want him back.
I sink my teeth into his neck, and his groan of pure pleasure echoes off the ceiling. He tastes like a copper penny. His blood sizzles on my tongue, and then it lights my every nerve on fire, and I’m burning now, hotter and brighter than ever before.
“Mate,” I moan.
He blinks at me with bleary, blissed-out eyes. He holds me tight, and I lap at my bite, healing the wounds as I admire them. They’re not as big as mine, but they’re perfect all the same.
I wriggle in his arms. Why are we kneeling here?
“What’s wrong?” he murmurs. “What do you need?”
“You know. I’m hot.” My skin is on fire, and my insides are cramping, spasming on air.
“Do you want the pool?” He stands, lifting me, and strides over to the pool to lower me in. The water is cold, and I sink down until it licks my chin, but it’s not enough.
He steps in after me, and I turn, climb him, gnaw at the beautiful mark I’ve made. He rinses my hair with palms full of cool water.
“Killian.” I rise up, try to sink down on his hard cock, but he twists to the side.
“You need to build your nest. And you’ll need food and water. I have to go back up and get some. It’ll only be a minute. Okay?”