Chapter 22: Taking It Slow

Amelia

I wake up in his arms. It feels so right to be here. We spent our second night together, again fully clothed, on top of my bed, and I have to appreciate how incredibly patient I know he is being. He is my mate, but I just am not ready to finalize the mating process. At this point, I know that having sex and truly marking each other will go together, and I still want to hold off for just a few more days, until Alpha and Luna have returned and we have their celebration. It would feel so wrong to me if we were to do anything to distract from their moment.

And I have to admit that I am nervous about sex. Everything we do together is the first time for me, and each step feels so momentous. First kiss. First time he touched my bottom, or my boob. First time his teeth touched my throat, and first time mine touched his. Everything is so intensely personal, so deeply significant, and I am very glad that he is letting this unfold slowly, letting me adjust to each step.

We’ll get there.

He’s still asleep, holding me, and I just rest here with him, listening to his slow breathing and his steady heartbeat, and it is the most soothing thing in the world. I watch as the sky slowly lightens outside the window at the top of my wall, and I feel him, and love him.

Right around dawn, he stirs, and inhales deeply, and “Mmmmm” comes from deep in his chest. His arms tighten around me, and I burrow down closer to him.

After several minutes, reluctance clear in his voice, he says, “I have to go get ready.”

“I know, me too.” I lean over him, and give him a good morning kiss. I used to worry about morning breath, but it doesn’t matter, to me at least. He always smells nothing but entirely yummy to me. Judging from his reaction to my kiss, I think he feels the same.

He sits up, and shakes his head, and rubs his face. “I’ll see you at breakfast?” he asks.

“Of course. Um, pay attention to how you’re feeling while we’re apart. I hope that my little experiment is still working.”

He lets out a little laugh. “An experiment, eh?” He leans down to kiss me again. “All right, Impossible Girl, I should have known you’d want to explore with me.” He smiles, strokes my cheek, and leaves the room.

I have to figure out what he’s talking about. I resolve to do an internet search of Impossible Girl later.

Dominic

After the way I was feeling all day yesterday, I am tense as I leave her. Not just because I hate to walk away from her, but because I’m worried I’ll start having that pain in my chest. But it isn’t happening.

I go up the back stairs, around the building, and into the side door. I’m becoming more familiar with the layout of their pack house, and it’s easier to get around, make my way back up to my room in a way that I think I’m less likely to be seen by anyone. It’s inevitable that Evan will know I keep staying out all night, but otherwise I’d just as soon keep that information to myself for now.

By the time that I’m opening the door with my key card, I realize that Amelia’s experiment worked. No pain. Just the wonderful warmth of knowing that we spent another night together, and that we are each carrying a little bit of each other. She not-marked me, I think with a smile, rubbing my fingers over my throat, feeling the little tingle there.

When I get inside, Evan is still in bed, but his eyes open immediately. So no sneaking in for me.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hey.”

“You’re really serious about Amelia, aren’t you?” he asks, watching while I sit on my bed and take off my shoes.

“Um, yeah, you could say that.” I’m getting used to keeping this secret already. I wonder if it is going to feel weird when we finally let it out into the open that we are mated.

He sighs. “Okay.” I suppose that he was still thinking that he’d give it a shot, but hopefully he has given up on that. Funny, with her little not-mark on me, I don’t even feel like growling to think of it. I know that she’s mine, and I’m hers, and nothing that anybody else could ever do will come between us.

I can almost feel sorry for the guy. “Do you want first shower?” I ask him.

“Nah, go ahead,” he says, a little glumly.

Yeah, I think I do feel sorry for him.

Amelia

What do you wear to a meeting with a Luna? I stand in front of my closet, trying to decide. Should I dress more, I don’t know, formally than I do for my usual job? I realize that while I am staring at my clothing options, a towel on my head, wearing my bathrobe, my hand is at my throat, rubbing over Dominic’s spot there. I can see that this is quickly becoming a habit, touching where he touched me, feeling somehow close to him.

I decide to go with a skirt, something a little dressier than usual, but not so dressy that it’d look like I’m going to a party or something. I have a red skirt, which seems appropriate since tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and I put on a cream-colored sweater, and white tights. I guess for shoes my black flats will do. I analyze the mirror. There, that looks all right.

When I get to the kitchen, Dominic is already there, waiting for me at what has apparently become our table in the back. He’s gotten his breakfast, but I think he is waiting for me to arrive before he starts eating. That is so sweet.

I quickly grab some cereal and juice and join him. He is staring at me, with a little smile on his face, like he thinks what I’m wearing is funny.

I look down at myself before I put down my dishes, then I sit down. “What?” I ask. “Is there something wrong with my outfit?”

He pffts out a laugh. “Wrong?” He grins at me, looking down at my clothes. “Hardly. You look like the cutest Christmas elf I’ve ever seen.”

I look down again, and smooth the skirt over my thighs. “I wanted to wear something nice, since I’m meeting with your Luna. I hope it’s okay?”

He shakes his head. “Luna is super nice, you don’t need to worry about her.” He cranes his head around and looks down at my legs, wearing the white tights. “Um, I hope you’re still wearing this later.”

“What?”

He laughs. “Impossible Girl, you really have no idea, do you?”

“What?” I ask again.

He leans a little closer to me. “You are impossibly gorgeous, and sexy, and that skirt just … does things to me.” I think he’s joking, and I look up expecting to see a smile on his face, but instead see that his eyes look very intense. Oh.

“Don’t pay any attention to me,” he says, as though that is remotely possible. “I doubt there’s anything you could wear that you wouldn’t look outrageously hot in.” He picks up his fork. “We have to eat, they’ll want us at work soon.”

Dominic

She digs into her bowl of cereal with a spoon, the sexiest damn elf I can imagine, and while we eat she is just watching me, with her pretty blue eyes. I will take that vision with me while we are apart today.

“Your experiment worked,” I tell her, “thank you.”

Her face softens. “I’m so glad. I don’t want you to be in pain. Just think of me while you’re gone,” she adds.

“There’s no way for me not to,” I tell her honestly, and she smiles, and looks down, and her fingers brush across her throat.

“Same,” she says.

Just as I’m finishing up my breakfast, a guy I don’t know comes over to our table. Amelia looks up and says, “Hi, Theo.” She looks over at me. “Dominic, this is Theo, he is our Beta’s assistant.”

“Hey Dom,” Theo says. “Beta Malcolm said that you’ll be driving the Dark Woods car today. I’m driving ours. I’m about to go to the garage to fetch it, want to come along?”

“Um,” I look over at Amelia, and she smiles at me, looking just a little distant, and I can tell that she is back in keeping-our-secret mode. “Yeah.” I stand up, dying to kiss her good-bye, but all I can say is, “See you around, Amelia.”

“See ya, ‘Dom’,” she says with a grin, emphasizing the little nickname that Theo gave me.

As I turn to go, I glance at her one last time, and see her eyes glowing at me while her fingers brush across my not-mark on her throat.