Page 18 of Sandro

I huffed and rested my head against the top of Sandro’s. At least my leopard could be comfortable in any position. Not that I was uncomfortable. Sandro’s hold was no longer tight, but he still had his one arm slung across my body while the other was under my neck. It wasn’t a terrible position.

I lay there, unable to sleep, trying to figure out how I could help my mate. From what little of himself he had revealed to me, he seemed like a sweet man. But it was now obvious that he needed to talk to someone about everything that had happened to him. Was Rio that person? Would Sandro be upset with me if I reached out to the warlock doctor? He’d given me his number for a reason, hadn’t he? Did Rio already know about Sandro’s nightmares?

Sandro started moaning in his sleep again, and I moved a paw across my body and chuffed quietly several times. I couldn’t exactly hold and comfort him in my shifted form, but I didn’t know if I was actually safe in my human form. If Sandro hurt me, I knew it wouldn’t be on purpose. But how did I help him?

I couldn’t sleep in my shifted form every night. It wasn’t that it was uncomfortable. My leopard loved being out, and he really loved being surrounded by our mate’s scent. The fact that Sandro was rubbing his scent all over my fur made my leopard very happy. But this was impractical. Not only that, but eventually, Sandro would claim me, right? And then I would go into heat, and then there would hopefully be a baby.

He was going to need to feed, which meant biting, and that meant claiming. And that certainly wasn’t happening in this form. I moved my head and paw to see if I could get out from his hold, but Sandro moaned as his hold tightened on me. Nope. I wasn’t going anywhere until my mate fully woke. Would that be sometime tonight? Or would it be in the morning?

It was already morning. Or I guess some considered it the middle of the night, but still. It had been an incredibly long day, and I was tired, but would I be able to fall asleep? I closed my eyes, let out another huff, and tried to shut my thoughts off so I could get some rest.

Today had been more than eventful, but it hadn’t been terrible, actually. Sandro had taken me into town, which ended up not being far at all, and we’d visited a bunch of little tourist shops. We’d bought nothing but lunch, but with the time difference, it was technically supper for us.

I realized that I wasn’t turning my thoughts off, and I was reliving the day with Sandro. If I were in my human form, I would smile about the majority of it. He was… I huffed. He was such a gentleman. He was attentive, curious, and sweet. He’d asked me if I wanted or needed anything several times, and when I heard his stomach growl, I suggested finding somewhere to eat. We’d eaten at this adorable restaurant, and the food had been nothing like what we had in Italy, but it was amazing. I was definitely a fan of bacon cheeseburgers now.

I closed my eyes again, not realizing I’d opened them, and tried to relax my mind. It had been an incredibly long day, and I was exhausted, but my leopard was worried about our mate. How could we help him? Was that even possible?

I lay there for a long time before my mind shut down enough, and I was able to finally doze off. I shouldn’t have been surprised that when I woke, I was in my human form. What was shocking was that Sandro was kissing my neck and moving down my chest. Not only that, but I was hard as a rock and felt like I was ready to come. That was when I realized that I was gently rocking my hips back and forth, rubbing myself against my mate’s equally naked body! I froze, my hips stopping their movement.

“Don’t stop,” Sandro said, then chuckled. “You were enjoying yourself very much, and I’m not one to tell you to stop.”

I gently pushed on his chest, and when he fell onto his back, I scrambled to the other side of the bed. “That shouldn’t be happening,” I said.

Sandro laughed. “What? Your body reacting to being near your mate? Or the fact that I wasn’t going to wake you to stop it?”

“Yes. All of it.” I tried to roll away but realized I was somehow tangled in the thin blanket that was on the bed. With a bit of frustration, I managed to get it off my legs, and then I could roll away and stand on the far side of the sofa bed. “That is not how it should be with mates for the first time,” I said before I started for the stairs. My body ached, and I truly wanted nothing more than to get back in that horrible bed with Sandro and let him claim me, but there were things we needed to talk about before that happened.

I suddenly ran into a hard, somewhat hairy chest, and I bit my lower lip to keep from whimpering. I loved hairy chests, and Sandro’s definitely didn’t disappoint. What I couldn’t figure out was how he was now in front of me, blocking the bottom of the stairs. “Don’t go,” Sandro said. “I do apologize. You are, of course, right.” I glared up at him. He pulled me closer to him, his naked body hard in all places, and I moaned involuntarily when I felt his stiff cock against my stomach.

I broke eye contact and looked at Sandro’s chest instead. This close, I saw all of him, and I raised my hand without thinking and ran my finger across a pink line on his chest. Then I noticed there were a few more. Sandro flinched as I touched them, but he didn’t stop me. I looked up at my mate, my heart breaking for him.

“You’re scarred.”

His jaw was clenched so tightly that it looked like it might break. “It happens when we are gravely wounded. I truly was more dead than alive. I had lost almost all of the blood in my body, and I had only minutes left, not hours.”

“Oh, Sandro.” I slid my hands around his chest and wrapped my arms around him tightly. I placed my head against his chest, and there was no way I would be able to stop the tears from falling. My heart broke in that moment for my mate. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

“There is nothing for you to be sorry for,” he said. He kissed my hair and then laid his cheek on top of my head.

I moved, Sandro’s hold on me loosening, but he didn’t let me go. I didn’t mind even a little. I looked up at him, tears falling down my cheeks. “We need to talk, Sandro. About everything.”

He nodded slowly. “If you’re wondering, I do remember last night. I appreciate you coming to check on me,” he said. “But yes, I agree that we should talk. Did you want to get dressed first? Or just climb back into bed?”

I wrinkled my nose, then moved out of his embrace. I swiped at my face and shook my head. “That is not a bed. I think the sofa would have been more comfortable,” I told him.

Sandro shrugged. “I could stretch out, and it wasn’t that terrible.”

I sighed. “Come with me,” I told him. I took Sandro’s hand and started up the stairs. He followed, and when we arrived in the loft, I led him over to the bed. I dropped his hand before climbing in and then moved to the other side to give Sandro room. “Join me. We can talk here because one, this bed is so much more comfortable, and two, we really do need to discuss what happened.”

Sandro sat on the side of the bed but didn’t lie down. I got a good look at the scars on his back, and when I reached out for him, I touched his shoulder like I’d done a few hours ago. “Come to bed if nothing else,” I told him. “It’s still mostly dark outside.” The sun was rising, which meant it was midday back in Italy. “If you don’t want to talk, we can get a bit more sleep.”

Sandro sighed, then lay down. Immediately, I moved over to his side and slung my arm across his stomach like I’d done last night in my leopard form. Sandro moved his arm out, and I took the invitation and laid my head on his shoulder, moving even closer to my mate.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

Sandro was quiet for so long, I didn’t know if he was going to or not. Then all of a sudden, his voice filled the silence.

“I was back in that warehouse. I don’t even know their names, but I know some of them were from the Piscano family and others the Cattaneo family. They took turns. It wasn’t even quick. They slid the knife in slowly. The first few times, the wound healed on the outside, but it took longer for it to heal inside. I could feel my body trying, but I was already weak because I’d gone too long without feeding.”