Chapter 43

A/N: Part of this chapter is available in You are the Answer, but there's also some new content including Rhys daydreaming while Riley and Kennedy are away. I hope you'll enjoy it ^_^

*****

"Want to race on the way down?" I asked, closing the door to my bedroom.

"I doubt I could ever outrun you," Riley replied, looking at his feet.

"Let's see." I nudged his shoulder with my arm and his eyes found my face. His teeth were lightly biting his lip; he was hesitant, but it was obvious he wanted to try it.

"We run on three," I said. "One... Two..."

The moment I uttered "three", Riley dashed towards the stairs and then to the first floor. I laughed and followed him.

He wasn't fast - not at all - and it would be easy to outrun him. Nevertheless, I kept behind him. I wanted to give him this victory and cheer him up, to distract him from the previous evening.

Once he got to the kitchen, he stopped and turned to me. He sighed and slightly shook his head, letting me know he realized I'd let him win. He didn't reprimand me though; he probably thought it was a nice gesture.

I smiled and extended my arm to motion him into the kitchen. My mouth was already watering at the smell of fried bacon, a crispy batch filling a plate on the table.

Our chef for the morning had donned on one of mom's long pristine white aprons, the fabric reaching all the way to his ankles. He was currently flipping a pair of eggs in the pan.

"Riley only likes the yolks," I told my baby brother as my mate and I took our seats.

"You can cut them out for him when I'm finished." He shrugged, then shook the pan to prevent the food from sticking to its surface. "Which will be pretty soon. Put the bread in the toaster," he ordered. Beta or not, my little sibling still thought he could boss me around. Not when it came to serious matters, but chores?

As far as Kennedy was concerned the hierarchy in the family went like this: mom, him, dad and I sharing third place, Everett and Lisa coming in forth and Carter was at the bottom.

Perhaps we humoured the boy too often, but he had charm in abundance and a winning personality; neither my parents, nor I could help ourselves.

And Riley - our hopefully not distant future addition - seemed just as likely to follow and pamper the bright-eyed little devil.

"I thought you wanted to make the breakfast all on your own," I teased him.

"I already took care of the bacon and now I'm making the eggs; you take care of the toast," he replied in an even tone, showing off how confident he was that I'd do as I was bid.

"I can do that." Riley began to rise and Kennedy and I shook our heads.

"No, you are the guest of honor; you sit there and we'll take care of everything," Kennedy insisted, making no move for the bread so I got up and placed two slices of it in our toaster.

"And by we," Kennedy turned the stove off and put the pan aside, "I mean that I cook and Rhys will clean the dishes while you and I take a walk, Riley. We have so much to talk about." He narrowed his blue eyes at me, adding: "Finally, we can talk."

"First of all, I couldn't just tell Riley 'hey, I'm a werewolf and you are my mate'. Second..." The bread jumped out of the toaster; I placed the slices on a plate and put two more in the machine.

"Second," I went on, "you are cooking so you are doing the dishes."

"We'll see." He shrugged again, then positioned the eggs in front of my mate before bringing two empty plates and leaving them next to the eggs. "Dig in."

"The toast isn't..." I began to say, but the next two slices leapt up. I sat them with the others and returned to Riley's side.

"I hope we'll be alive and well after this," I jested with my little brother while pointedly sniffing the bacon he'd prepared for us.

"Oh, just eat already so I can take Riley for a walk." He slumped on an empty seat with his arms crossed over his chest.

*****

I ended up doing the dishes.

My mate and my brother had been so eager to go out that I couldn't find it in my heart to delay their walk.

Being alone gave me time to think over what had happened... And what could have.

I almost dropped a soaped up dish as I remembered the anguish I'd felt when I'd thought Riley was going to leave me.

But it was okay now.

More than okay.

He still had a lot to learn about our world, but he was taking it well; I just had to be patient and not overwhelm him with too much information at once.

The walk with Kennedy would help; I was sure of it.

My baby brother's charm would work in my favor. He was easy to talk to and a good listener; Riley liked him and seemed to trust him.

Yes, my mate spending time with Kennedy was beneficial for the relationship between us.

I wiped the last plate and put it away before heading to the laundry hamper to dispose of the now damp cloth I used to dry the dishes with.

Then I found myself in the living room, resting comfortably on one of the sofas, my thought on my mate.

I envisioned us sitting together in our house. In my mind, it was winter and Riley was neatly snuggled against my chest, a hand-woven blanket draped over our feet.

I imagined running my fingers through his soft hair, then caressing the smooth skin of his cheek...

I imagined Riley's eyes shining bright as he looked up at me, smiling...

I imagined leaning down and kissing those so desired lips... Him parting them for me.

He'd taste like sour cherries.

He'd smell heavenly.

He'd move to sit on top of me and I'd wrap my arms around his delicate frame, neither of us breaking the kiss.

It will be slow and gentle.

His hands would be on my face and mine would go up and down his back, carefully massaging it.

A couple of minutes later, this fantasy wasn't enough.

The Riley in my mind was now slowly rocketing his lower torso back and forth as he sat on my lap.

His hands were no longer on my face; they were in my hair, pushing my head towards his.

Mine had found their way under his shirt and over his slender torso, sliding from his back to his front. His abs were a little bit more defined then they were in reality; in my dream, he'd been training with us Bullets and grown stronger, but he was still lean and supple.

He deepened the kiss and we both moaned. My hands slid down, finding the button of his jeans...

The front door opened and I jumped from the sofa, my hand adjusting my pants. The sudden sound had brought me back to the real world and startled me enough not to have an embarrassing bulge under my belt as I headed for the hallway.

"You two are back quickly," I'd barely noted when Kennedy said:

"Callum is at Keri's. Has something happened?"

I frowned.

"Not that I know of."

"Aren't you going to check?" My brother impatiently inquired.

"If I'm needed, Keri will call for me." I puffed my chest and crossed my arms over them. "And if something really bad had happened, she would've told me so both of you should calm down and one of you should stop being so pushy."

"Pulling rank on me, are you, bro?"

"Yes. As the Beta, I'm telling you not to stick your muzzle into the business of grow-ups and as your older brother, I'm telling you to go do your homework."

"That's boring." Kennedy waved his hand to chase the idea away. "Besides, what will Riley do?"

"I'll keep him busy." I smiled, begging my conscious not to take me where I'd been just moments ago; it was too soon for that, even if it only happened in my head.

I glanced at my mate and noticed how his lips had curled up and his eyes shone mischievously as he was looking me up and down. Perhaps his thoughts matched the ones I'd been having in the living room...

"Time for naughty stuff, huh?" Kennedy grinned and I couldn't help my blush.

"Go do your homework," I ordered and he ran up the stairs, laughing.

He wasn't in a hurry to obey me, I was sure of that; he just wanted to leave me alone with Riley.

"Kids," I muttered.

"Just for the record," my mate took a step towards me and placed his palm on my chest; my heart sped up. "I wouldn't mind the naughty stuff."

I sucked in a deep breath and looked away.

It was too soon.

Riley had a lot to learn about us and I... I was too inexperienced.

I realized that I'd stay that way until I actually did it with him, but I wanted to...

I didn't know what I wanted.

Do some research perhaps?

To prepare myself, to make it special.

"When you are ready, I mean," he added, sensing my unease.

"Riley," I took his hands in mine, "I want our first time to be romantic. I've waited so long to find you that wherever and whenever it is, it will be special, but I still want to prepare the scene."

"Prepare the scene?"

"You know..." My face burned. "Have a nice dinner, talk, hug and then... Kiss and the rest."

He giggled.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be after the ceremony..."

Fuck!

I dropped his hands and covered my mouth.

"Ceremony?" The smile had left his face. "What ceremony?"

I lowered my arms and looked him straight in the eyes. My anxiety was mirrored in his gaze.

"I planned to tell you later," I started. "You've been through so much the last twenty-four hours..."

"Rhys, if this introduction is supposed to help, it's not; I'm getting antsier by the second," he stated. "Just say it already!"

"But..." I pulled my lips into my mouth and bit them. "It's not romantic this way."

"Rhys, just tell me!"

"I want us to go through the mating ceremony," I shot out.

Riley was silent for a moment, and then:

"What's a mating ceremony?"

I sighed.

"That's why I didn't want to tell you now. Let's go sit down, okay?"

He nodded and followed me into the living room. I purposefully ignored the sofa I'd been on before. My mate and I sat sideways on the couch, looking at each other.

"My plan was for you to get a grip after what you found out about us... You are taking it surprisingly well, by the way; much better than I expected."

I began to smile, then remembered what we were here for.

"The alternative is to be without you," he muttered. "I don't want that."

This time I couldn't help myself; the smile was on my lips before I continued, still nervous, but encouraged by his words:

"So, I wanted you to have a few days off from our folklore and shifters in general and then I was going to tell you about some of our customs, the mating ceremony included." I made a small pause. "And after a while and on a special occasion - maybe the anniversary of our first month - I was going to prepare dinner for you at my house and ask you... to... go through the mating ceremony with me."

"And I still have no idea what it is," he reminded him.

"It's something like a marriage ceremony, but according to our customs."

"M-marriage?" He squeaked.

"Not exactly... Well, yes..." I fidget with my hands.

I was making it sound so big, so official. But it was big. Maybe one month would've been too soon. Not that I had a choice now that we were already having this conversation.

"It's to show the pack that a couple is truly in love and is ready to start a family," I went on. "Not right away, it's not necessary for it to be right away... Do you want some water? I think I need some water. I'll be right back."

I jumped from my seat and sped into the kitchen. Standing in front of the sink, I leaned my hands on its cool surface.

Get a grip, Rhys! You are only making things worse this way!

I pulled two mugs from the shelf and immediately dropped them.

"Damn it!" I cussed aloud.

So much for keeping it cool.

I hurriedly cleaned up the china, poured water in two new mugs and brought them to the living room.

"Here." I placed the larger one in front of Riley, braking him out of whatever reverie he was in.

He gulped all the water at once and handed me the mug back.

"So, what is the mating ceremony?"

"Well," I placed both mugs - mine still untouched - on the low square coffee table and sat next to him. "The whole pack gathers in front of the sacred tree... No, wait, you don't know about those."

I cleared my throat.

I had a lot to tell him!

*****

A/N: What do you think about Rhys' daydream? Did you enjoy it?

What about the rest of the chapter?

Please support it with a VOTE if you like it!

Do you want to see Rhys and Riley mated?

That is for them to go through the mating ceremony, not do the deed... Then again: how many of you want to read a naughty scene with the two?

PS: Here's a little something from Riley and Kennedy's conversation:

Do you like Kennedy's quote?

Have a great time wattpadding and thank you for reading, voting and commenting on my stories! x