Chapter 39

DOE

Around noon the next day—after spending the previous evening rolling around in bed with my mate and having the best night’s sleep of my life—Ace insisted he make me lunch with what little food I had.

I sat at the island counter while I watched him make me and himself a plate of scrambled eggs, a few slices of ham, and a couple of pieces of toast.

“I miss you guys too,” I said into my phone, “but I’ll be home soon, I promise. Just a little while longer.” I was on speaker with my entire family on the other end.

Feeling anxious to let Mom know I was okay, I’d called her from my burner phone about twenty minutes earlier.

She burst into tears the moment she knew it was me. The two of us spent about ten minutes talking, asking each other a million questions, before she insisted on Dad and my brothers joining the call.

It was such a relief to hear their voices. I had missed them all so freaking much.

“Why can’t you come home now, Dotty?” Griffin’s little voice pierced my chest and nearly had my eyes pooling with tears.

Griffin had always been the quietest of my brothers. For him to speak up over everyone else in my family just confirmed how much he missed me.

“Well, I…I…”

How did I explain to my little brothers that I couldn’t see them because I would be nonstop fucking my boyfriend for the next several days?

Thankfully, my mom came to my rescue. “Now that the lock is off, Doe and Ace need some time alone to catch her up on everything she’s missed,” she explained.

I tried not to feel too embarrassed that my parents knew the real reason Ace and I were locking ourselves up in the cabin.

It couldn’t be avoided, given everything that had happened, but still, no parent should know as much as my parents did about their daughter’s sex life.

“And that’s going to take ~two weeks~?” It was Thomas who spoke this time.

“There’s a lot to talk about,” I said. ~Years’~ worth of things to talk about. Not that we would be doing a whole lot of talking. “But as soon as we’re done, I’ll come straight home.”

Tears clogged my throat, but I quickly swallowed them down. “I can’t wait to see you all,” I whispered. “I hated being away.”

Noticing my rising emotions, Ace appeared at my side in a flash. He put a comforting hand on my back, silently telling me he was there.

“Yeah, you can’t ever go away for that long again, okay, Dotty?” Felix said. “Promise?”

I sniveled and leaned on Ace. “I promise, buddy.” Ace’s chest started to vibrate under my ear, purring for me and giving my stiff muscles instant relief. “I’ll see you soon, okay? I love you all.”

A chorus of love-yous rang back to me. My lips split into a huge grin. I was so lucky to have them in my life. I couldn’t wait to get back to them.

We all said our goodbyes, and I was just about to hang up when my dad spoke.

“Hold on a second, Doe.”

I could tell from the volume and clarity of his voice that he was off speakerphone now. It sounded like he had stepped into another room too.

“Is Ace there with you?”

I glanced up at my mate who could no doubt hear every word. “Yeah, he’s right here.”

“Do you mind if I talk to him alone for a second?” Dad asked.

Something in my chest tightened. Maybe it was a foolish hope, but I thought we were done with secrets. “Oh, um…” I shrugged. “I guess that would be okay.”

I handed Ace the phone. I expected him to raise it to his ear and walk into another room, but instead, he hit the speaker button and set it down on the counter in front of us.

“Hey, Joe. You’re on speaker.” Ace stepped behind my stool and wrapped his arm around my chest, right under my neck. “Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of Doe too.”

My eyes flew up to his. All my dread melted away, replaced with a sense of relief.

It was one thing for Ace to say there would be no more secrets between us, but what he was doing now really proved to me that he meant it.

It was a new level of trust and communication between us that I had been yearning for for years.

“Right. That’s right.” My dad blew out a breath and laughed. “What a relief. Sorry, Dorothy. It’s going to take some getting used to.”

He laughed again, and it sounded authentic and full of joy. “I just wanted to check in on Ace and his wolf. Make sure they are doing okay.”

Moments like this reminded me just how much I loved my stepfather. He’d taken on the role of surrogate father not only for me but for Ace as well.

He could have easily discounted me as his daughter and cast Ace to the side as well. But he didn’t. He loved us as if we were his own.

“I’m doing great. Fantastic,” Ace responded, smiling. He hugged me tightly to him. “My wolf is just happy to be with our mate again.”

“He’s not giving you any more trouble? He’s stopped fighting for control?”

Ace shook his head. “Nope. He’s happy as a clam.”

As if to prove his point, Ace’s rumbling purr deepened, vibrating against my back and traveling all the way down to my toes. I leaned into the sound with a happy sigh.

“Good,” Dad said while exhaling. “That’s good. You’re going to take care of my daughter, right? You two have”—he cleared his throat—“everything you need?”

I stifled my groan of humiliation. He was obviously referring to my heat. Not exactly a topic I wanted to discuss with my father.

“We’ve got everything under control, Joe,” Ace answered with a firm tone. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, our lunch is getting cold, and Doe hasn’t eaten since last night. We’ll call you soon.”

“All right, all right, I get it. I’ll let you two go. Take care of each other, okay?”

“Will do,” Ace replied.

“Bye, Dad. I love you,” I said.

“I love you too, honey,” he answered.

With that, Ace grabbed the phone from the counter and ended the call.

“Well, that was embarrassing,” I said.

Ace kissed my head and stepped away, rounding the corner to grab the food he’d made us.

“It won’t always be this way, you know. The circumstances mean everyone knows our business, but the next time you go into heat, it will stay between us. I’ll make sure of it. You deserve privacy.”

I gave him a small smile, appreciating the resolve in his voice.

I thanked him as he set the food down in front of me and took a seat in the chair next to mine.

I grabbed my fork and was just about to dig in when Ace grabbed the bottom of my stool and yanked me closer to him so the sides of our legs and arms were touching.

I couldn’t help my giggle. It was nice to know I wasn’t the only one who was desperate for physical contact.

With a sigh of contentment, I scooped some eggs into my mouth and leaned my head against Ace’s shoulder. He put a hand on my knee and squeezed.

“What’s on the docket today?” I asked him.

I knew Ace well enough to know that he had the entire day planned out, with the goal of preparing for my heat. I could already see the determination in his eyes.

Without warning, Ace grabbed me from my chair and set me on his lap. I blinked at him in shock, still getting accustomed to him using his full strength around me.

“You weren’t close enough,” he explained in a nonchalant tone. He moved my plate right next to his and motioned for me to continue eating.

He didn’t continue talking until I took a bite. “Grocery store first—

“The kitchen needs to be stocked with two weeks’ worth of easy-to-grab food and drinks that I can give you in between mating sessions. You’ll be too high on hormones—and orgasms—to feed yourself.”

I nearly choked on my breakfast. He was so blunt. But I guess that was a good thing. I needed to come to terms with my new reality.

“Do you really think my heat is going to last two weeks?” I asked. “I thought you said that was rare.”

“Yes, it’s rare, but the first heat is typically stronger than the rest. And given all our exceptional circumstances, I want us to be prepared for anything.”

He put his hand on my knee and rubbed it. “But no matter what happens, I’m going to be with you the entire time. You don’t have to worry about a thing.

“By the time you start to come out of your fog, you’ll be so content, you’ll wish your heat could never end.”

I exhaled and nodded. Even though I was still nervous, I believed him. Ace would take care of me. Everything would be fine.

I’d read that an omega’s heat can be an extremely pleasurable experience when she has the right partner helping her through it.

And I definitely had the right partner.

My mind swarmed with images of all the ways Ace could help me through my heat…

On my hands and knees, on my back, against the wall, with me on top while his strong hands helped to guide me up and down his hard, thick—

“Doe,” Ace bit out behind me.

I jumped. I tried not to show how aroused I was on my face, but the sound of my name in that deep, demanding tone of his caused my already fluttering sex to clench painfully.

Ace groaned. He dropped his forehead onto my shoulder and gripped my waist tightly. “We have things to do today,” he said through clenched teeth. “~Necessary~ preparations to make.”

“I won’t be able to complete those preparations if you keep thinking dirty thoughts that fill the room with your perfume and make your mouthwatering slick drip onto my leg.”

With a squeak of utter embarrassment, I attempted to scramble off his lap, only to have Ace snarl and yank me back to him.

Pink heat blanketed my cheeks and chest. I hadn’t noticed my perfume or how drenched I was becoming between my legs.

But Ace was right. My arousal was fierce and evident in the air around us.

Ace drew in large pulls of air, trying to calm himself. “After the grocery store, I’m going to run to the general store and get you curtains for the bedroom like you said you wanted.

“I want to make sure you have everything you could possibly need for your nest so it’s perfect. Is there anything else you—?”

“Hold on. What do you mean ~you’ll~ run to the general store? You don’t want me to go with you?”

Just the thought of him leaving me made my gut roil violently. He couldn’t leave me. I wouldn’t allow it.

Ace growled as if the thought of leaving me upset him too. “I want to be apart even less than you do, I promise.

“But you need rest, Doe. The next two weeks are going to be hard on your body, and you’re already so weak because of all our time away from each other—”

“Exactly. I’m weak because we were apart. If you leave me here, it’s not going to do me any good. I won’t be able to rest. I’ll just go crazy.”

I grabbed his arm, digging my fingers into his skin. “I need you near me. You can’t leave me alone again. Please. I won’t survive it. I’ll die without you.”

Okay, maybe the developing heat hormones were making me a ~little~ dramatic, but that was really how I felt. I refused to let him leave my side.

“Okay, baby, okay,” Ace said, hugging me to his chest. “We’ll go together. You should be the one to pick out the supplies for your own nest anyway. Now, finish eating so we can get moving.”