Page 28 of Accept Me (Fate’s Choice #4)

HUNTER

On Wednesday, I woke up in Star’s warm, sex-scented arms and heard the faint vibration of my phone.

I carefully slipped out of his embrace and padded out of the bedroom to take the call from Arnold.

He told me that for the past five days, they had been trying to figure out where Dino had gotten the explosives, but neither his phone records nor those of his father and two brothers had led to any clues.

They had also gone through his laptop, every email, and every message on his social media accounts—which weren’t many—but found nothing that could reveal the source of the explosives.

Arnold’s working theory was that Dino had been in possession of them for a long time.

If he had them, say, for three years, tracking down the source at this point could be impossible.

I felt a flicker of disappointment, but I was still grateful that he had tried to tie up every loose end in the investigation to give us some peace of mind.

Arnold also asked that Star and I stop by the nearest station together to submit the results of our True Mates compatibility test, which was required to officially close the case.

Only at the very end of the conversation, with some hesitation, he added that the lab had also finished analyzing the remains of the mechanical cat.

One of the technicians thought it looked as if the drone had been operated by two separate control units, though he couldn’t be entirely sure.

A few components were duplicated, which could be interpreted in different ways, but he believed that was one possible explanation.

The question was whether that was part of the drone’s original design, maybe an unusual model, or if someone had modified it that way.

There was no clear answer, since it wasn’t a commercially available unit.

The micro memory card had been too badly damaged to recover any logs of the drone’s remote communication, so that lead had reached a dead end.

When I came back to the living room, Star was already in the kitchen, standing in front of the coffee machine like he’d forgotten what to do with it.

When he heard me, he turned, and for a split second there was… fear in his eyes. He started toward me, then stopped himself, so I closed the distance instead.

As soon as I reached him, he lowered his head, almost like he was bowing. "Whoa, Star." I hooked my fingers under his chin and tilted his face up to meet my gaze.

Then I just pulled him into a tight hug. He was stiff at first, so I kissed the top of his head and leaned in. "How are you, my perfect…ness?" I murmured in his ear.

"Not so perfect…" he whispered back.

A pause lingered between us. He looked up, his eyes searching mine, and I knew exactly what he was going to ask before he even spoke.

"Is… what happened yesterday… does it change how you see me, Hunter? Because I don’t want it to mess with what we’ve started building."

I pressed a finger to his lips. "Shhh, baby. Everything’s fine. You’re amazing."

He glanced away. "That’s not who I am, Hunter. It’s not what I want between us. I left all that behind, and I don’t want it to ruin—"

"Star, it was just roleplay. That’s all. We had fun, and there’s no reason to dwell on it. We’re good. And this… what I told you yesterday… I meant every word. My feelings for you are even stronger today. Nothing was ruined. You have no idea how much I appreciate you, baby."

I leaned in and kissed his soft lips. Star kissed me back with sudden ferocity, with a passion so sharp it caught me off guard.

"Do you really accept me? With my past?" he murmured, pulling back slightly, breathless.

"I do. I accept you , Star. You’re mine. Forever. No other star in my sky."

His eyes gleamed. He let out a small gasp and then… suddenly turned away, bending over the kitchen counter.

"Perfect. Then… can you just put your dick in me, Hunter? Now. I need it so bad. I’m clenching."

It caught me off guard, but dear Fate, it was just… adorable.

This needy side of him was something new, and I was sure it surprised him too. Maybe it was part of his process of accepting himself, allowing a bit of naughtiness without shame or fear of my reaction. And I loved it.

I yanked his sweats down in one motion and spread his cheeks, taking a lustful look at his hole, inspecting it with delight. It was slightly swollen and flushed, opening like a blooming flower, glistening with wetness.

I licked over it greedily, making him moan, but I knew that wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted much more.

I rose, pressed my cock to his rim, and sent him an AO call asking for sex. He accepted instantly, and I pushed into the blistering heat of Star, pun again intended.

Leaning over him, I pressed my palms over his on the counter and started to fuck him, thrust after thrust, wet and pounding, the sound of my hips slapping against his perfect ass mixing with our moans.

Sweat slicked our hands against the counter…

and just as I was about to explode inside him, I noticed something that made me suddenly stop.

"What… what…" Star mumbled, teetering on the edge of orgasmic free fall.

"Something’s not right, Star…" I murmured.

"Not right?" he gasped.

I shifted my arm so he could see the tattoo: Property of Olaf .

Silence crept over the kitchen, broken only by our breathing.

Then my eyes landed on something within reach, a set of kitchen knives. One in particular, the biggest and sharpest, caught my attention.

Slowly, I reached for it. Star held his breath. With a metallic hiss, I slid it from its stand. Our sweaty faces reflected in the polished blade.

Then, unhurried, I brought it to my forearm and set the edge over the tattoo.

Star huffed and whined, "Hunter… no! It’s not safe—"

"Life’s not safe."

I clenched my teeth and pressed down. Pain exploded white-hot behind my eyes as I peeled the strip of skin bearing the mark that just didn’t belong here anymore.

Star whimpered, snatching the knife from my weakening grip and tossing it away.

"Stop, Hunter! That’s insane!"

He wanted to turn around and separate our bodies, still joined by our intimate parts, but I didn't budge.

"No, Star… The bleeding will stop. Thanks to the Joining. Watch."

He froze, staring at the mangled patch of my forearm.

The quiet was deep, but intense.

And then… within a minute, the bleeding stopped entirely.

Before our eyes, the raw flesh began to knit together, a faint sheen of lymph covering it. The pain faded to nothing.

"It doesn’t hurt anymore… You’re healing me, Star. Your pretty hole is a miracle. It gives me energy to regenerate… Do you see it?"

"Yes…" he whispered, still sounding incredulous.

Euphoric, I gave him a test thrust, drawing his attention back to what we were doing before. Needless to say, I was still hard, which was a miracle in itself, considering I had just mauled my own body…

"Oh, fuck," he muttered. "Don’t tell me you’re just going to keep fucking me after that… madness?!"

I kissed under his ear, skimming my lips over his gland.

"All that matters is—did you like it?" I breathed hotly. "Becasue I’m not his anymore. I’m yours, Star. Only yours."

His breath quickened as I started moving faster, the blood smearing across the pale counter, making a gory mess I didn’t care about.

"I… I kind of loved it…" he admitted, breathless. "In an unexpected way!"

A minute later, we came hard, bodies shuddering and voices breaking. And it was such a gooooooood feeling. I was free, after all.

We fucked three more times over the next two hours, and my wound almost completely healed.

The tattoo was gone forever.

Star was here to stay.

◆◆◆

On Thursday, Star and I went to one of Malden Pharmaceuticals’ local labs, and after spending two hours in isolation rooms, we finally got the long-awaited test results confirming our TM compatibility without any doubt.

Both of us showed a clear spike in the separation hormone, veriadol, visible on our charts.

We took the results straight to the station so they could be passed on to Arnold and added to the case file.

On Friday, I woke in the beautiful nest Star had built the day before, something that had taken him a solid two hours.

He’d worked on it with quiet focus, the soft expression of bliss on his face never fading. The only breaks he took came when I heard that high, sweet, melodic tone of his AO mating call drifting up from downstairs, drawing me to him.

Each time, I found him in the classic omega presenting position, hips high in the air, head resting on a pillow, his hole clenching subtly with need.

Discovering that wild, unrestrained side of him had been an unbelievably pleasant surprise, and sinking into him again and again each day felt intoxicating, while he seemed insatiable…

◆◆◆

In the morning, I stayed curled up against his back for a while before becoming awake enough to notice a new note in the air.

At first, I didn’t understand what it was because it seemed so impossible, the last thing I would have expected to happen for so many reasons…

It was faint, barely there, yet distinct enough from his natural scent that there was no mistaking it.

I knew it because I had caught it before on Olaf: subtle, sweet, like vanilla.

Pregnancy!

The realization hit me like a wave of heat rushing through my whole body. Wow. Shock.

Careful not to wake him, I eased away and sat up on the bed, the fragrance still lingering in the air. When I leaned closer, brushing my nose against the scent glands on his neck where I had marked him, it grew stronger.

A rush of emotions made it hard to breathe. I stood as quietly as I could and slipped from the room, taking care not to disturb him, and then lingered for a moment in the hallway, staring blankly ahead.