Page 32 of Fifty & Feral

He lifted his head to glare at me, but the glare melted into a helpless grin. He kissed the tip of my nose, then my forehead, then my mouth, soft and unhurried.

“Stay right there,” he said. “I’ll get a cloth.”

He returned with a warm washcloth and cleaned us both with the same tenderness he’d shown all night. Then he pulled the blankets up over us and tucked me against his chest, his arm heavy and secure around my waist.

“We never finished the wine,” I said sleepily.

“Tomorrow.”

I smiled into the dark, my head pillowed on his shoulder, his heartbeat steady beneath my ear. Somewhere outside, the telescope was still pointed at the sky, waiting for us.

The predator had caught his prey.

And the prey had never been happier to be caught.

Chapter 17

Jack

Iawoke once again to having Connor in my arms. He turned into a spider monkey while he slept. He had himself draped over me, his arm on my chest and his leg hooked over mine. His hard cock pressed against my hip. It was the first thing I had noticed when I’d woken up a few minutes ago. I wasn’t going to complain, but I was going to get up because my bladder was currently protesting having Connor’s knee pressing against it.

I wiggled, trying to extricate myself from his hold. Like a constrictor knot, his hold only tightened as I struggled.

“No, five more minutes,” he said. His fingertips bit into my skin as he held on, and his knee moved from my bladder, nearly catching me in the balls.

I tensed all over, bracing for the impact. He sighed and snuggled closer. I pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“Baby, I have to get out of here.”

“You’re so warm,” he said. “Want to hold you.”

I loved that. And if biology wasn’t working against me, I would savor it. “I will be right back, and then we can go out to breakfast.”

Connor’s head lifted. “Go out?”

“Yeah, Blake owns a diner. He’s another member of the pack. It’s a popular place for the pack to hang out.” As I spoke, my stomach sank and my bladder forgotten. I should have suggested something different. He wasn’t going to want to hang out with my pack all the time, or was he? And when did I start thinking of it as my pack?

I knew that Mason wanted me to take over as alpha. More than one pack member had slipped up and addressed me as such. When I had asked Mason about it, he told me it was natural, and that if I didn’t take the position, we’d have to talk about what that looked like. The wolves would naturally look to me for guidance in all things, but he assured me I had a choice, even though it really sounded like a foregone conclusion.

“Or we can stay here, or, or whatever. I don’t have a preference.” Even though I really did want him to go out and meet the pack with me. There was something about being among the pack that was calming for me. And I loved nothing more than to show off Connor. He was fantastic with them. The way he listened and cared what people said and really engaged them in conversation was what had drawn me to him in the first place. I knew the whole pack would love him. Connor would probably become more popular than me in time.

Connor gave me a sleepy grin, his eyes barely open. “You’re cute when you’re nervous. I would love to go hang out with your pack at the diner. After I have five more minutes of snuggles.”

“And you can have your snuggles after I take a piss.”

Connor smiled into the pillow and let me go. “One date and all the romance is gone. I see how it is.”

“No, the romance is just on hold until I take care of biology,” I argued. I did my business and hurried back to the bed where I had fight to get a corner of the blanket.

Four days. I had four days until the full flower moon lit up the sky and I would make my final shift, completing the transformation or whatever this process was called. I would be a full werewolf then. And if I ended that night without a mate… well, I guess I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen. Would I just never change back? Would I lose my humanity?

Oh fuck. If I was stuck as a wolf with a human mind forever, that was going to be interesting. Knowing about all human things without being able to experience them would suck, quite frankly.

I didn’t let myself think too hard about it. I would work up the courage to tell Connor before my time was up, so there was nothing to worry about. Unless of course he said no, he wasn’t interested in being my mate. I suppose that would also suck.

We took our sweet time getting ready for the day. We moved around each other easily, as if we had been living together forever. It felt like we belonged in my home together, even though it had been years since I’d had anyone living in my space with me. With Connor, it felt natural.

“I hope they have one of those skillet dishes that’s packed with eggs, hashbrowns, sausage, and everything delicious. I love those. I never make them though at home. Seems like too much work,” Connor was saying as we exited my room and made our way through the house.