Page 36 of His Innocent Omega (Sweet Alps Mates Book 6)

June

I had been tossing and turning for hours, restless and unable to sleep when I heard the crunch of tires on gravel, and a vehicle pull into my driveway. Smiling to myself, I listened, waiting.

Grayson wasn’t supposed to be here tonight. We were still doing that thing where we pretended we weren’t actually living together. A couple of nights at his place, a couple at mine, one or two where we each slept at our own places, alone.

More and more, the alone nights were turning into nights that I tossed and turned in the empty bed.

Closing my eyes and concentrating, my shifter ears picked up the snick of the front door as he closed it quietly, then flipped the lock. I still refused to install an alarm system. I usually had my arms full of a chunky baby, and all the baby paraphernalia she required before we could leave the house. I couldn’t be bothered to have to try to punch in an alarm code every time we left or came home.

This was Sweet Alps, where nothing much happened, except for a few one offs. Like the domestic dispute that had turned ugly the day Grayson had been shot. He still claimed the bullet had barely nicked his skin, but my heart squeezed every time I ran my fingers over the red scar on his arm.

Besides, the entire town knew my house was where the sheriff slept most nights, and nobody wanted to mess with Grayson. You messed with Grayson, you messed with Jamie, and most people didn’t want to tangle with the two of them. Honestly, Bash was more dangerous than the both of them combined.

I listened as he made his way up the stairs, his boots creaking on the third step from the top. And I knew with certainty that he would stop and check on Julianna before he made his way to my bed. Through the baby monitor I heard him softly whispering to her, even though she was soundly sleeping. The gentle caress as he kissed the top of her head and fussed with her blankets. She had undoubtedly wriggled out of them, as she did every night. She ran as hot as her alpha daddy did and was like a little furnace.

Finally, it was my turn, as the large shadow of him loomed in the doorway. I didn’t mind that he checked on the baby before coming to bed. I loved the fact that he was so devoted to our daughter. That she had her strong alpha daddy wrapped around her tiny finger. Loved that I knew he would protect her with every cell of his body.

Because I knew he would do the same for me.

He tugged off his shirt, tossing it in the general direction of the hamper I kept in the corner of the room, and I shook my head when I heard the rustle of it landing on the floor.

“Breaking and entering again, Sheriff?”

There was more rustling, the jangle of his belt. The thud of his boots, and the clink of his holster as he laid it on the dresser. “Have to keep my skills from getting rusty, mon petit. But it’s not breaking and entering when I have a key.”

My eyes already adjusted to the darkness of the room, and I watched as Grayson knelt down and punched in the code to the small gun safe he had installed there, securing his weapon for the night. It was within easy reach if he needed it, but he could do just as much damage with his hands or in his wolf form.

Scooting over, I held the blankets up while he slid in next to me. His naked skin on mine was just what I had been waiting for all night. Turning in his arms, I wiggled around, getting his big spoon just how I wanted it. Finally, I was settled, his arm wrapped around my waist and my hand stroking his arm.

His lips caressed the back of my neck and I shivered. “What brought you to town? Did you miss us that much?”

“Yes,” he sighed against my skin, “but no. Had a call I was needed on. Didn’t want to drive all the way home.”

“Everything all right?” Tension radiated from his coiled, tight muscles.

“Has Gabe ever mentioned Asher having a brother in that group chat of yours?” he finally asked.

Shaking my head, I said, “Asher has a brother? Gabe’s definitely never mentioned him. I would remember.”

“He does. A younger, alpha brother.”

“Is that who the call was about?”

His hand stroked my curls, his fingers playing with the ends where I was letting my hair grow out again. “Yeah. He’s in the E.R. in bad shape.”

Alarmed, I turned to look at him over my shoulder, “Is he going to be okay?”

“He will be,” he snuggled into me, letting out some of his tension. “I’m glad I got called in. I missed you and Jules.”

“We missed you too,” I agreed, “I can’t sleep when we aren’t together.”

“We really need to decide where we are going to live. Take the plunge already, since you won’t marry or claim me.”

I giggled at his sulky tone, laying my head on his arm. “I know. So, who is giving up their house? Mine is closer to work for both of us and bigger. But yours has all that land and is really convenient for shifting. And it’s so nice and private, but it’s way too small.”

“I’ve been thinking about it and I want you to hear me out before you say no.”

Brows furrowed, I muttered, “I’m listening.”

“What about us keeping the cabin as a kind of casita, and we build something bigger, with a garage. I’m tired of waiting for my car to thaw when it snows. We have enough land, and we can use the cabin for when your parents visit. If they visit. I mean, I feel like your father wants to visit, but your mother,” he shuddered.

My father called once a week, and even had learned to facetime so he could see Julianna. He talked about visiting all the time. The relationship between my mother and I was still strained, and she still had no interest in Julianna whatsoever. Sometimes I wondered if my father was going to just show up one day with his suitcases and announce he had finally left my mother.

“We can stay here while it’s being built so the construction doesn’t bother us, and we can make it exactly how we want it. Then we either sell or rent this place.” Grayson continued.

“So my parents–specifically my mother–would be in a completely different house than us if they do ever visit us again?”

“You hate the idea.”

“Are you kidding me?” I slapped his arm lightly. “That is brilliant, Mr. Beckett! But it sounds expensive.”

He snorted, “I can afford it.”

“I can help,” I nibbled my bottom lip. “I have money, Grayson.”

His lips brushed my curls again. “I want to do this for us, Wyatt. We can call it an early wedding present.”

A shudder ran through me, my shoulders hunching involuntarily at the ‘M’ word.

“Ew, let’s not call it that. I just don’t feel the need for us to get married. We’re committed to each other and that’s enough for me. A silly piece of paper isn’t going to change that.”

Grayson snorted, but I knew this wasn’t the last I was going to hear about this subject. For someone who had gone most of his life convinced he didn’t want a mate, he sure had been bringing marriage and mate claiming up a lot lately. A whole lot.

“Fine,” he sighed dramatically, “how about we call it a push present? I still owe you one of those.”

“What the fuck is a push present?” Turning in his arms so we were facing, I went through my wiggling routine until I was settled again.

“It’s an expensive present you get when you have a baby. For pushing the baby out. Push present. Get it? I think it’s usually jewelry but a house is much more practical.”

Blinking hard, I stared at his face in the darkness trying to figure out if he was making this up.

“Did Wade come up with this?” I snorted, “Because this sounds like something he would conjure up to get Finn to buy him stuff.”

Grayson barked out a laugh, “It’s a thing, I swear to you. Though, now that you mention it, I wouldn’t be surprised if Wade didn’t have a hand in starting the trend somehow.”

“Mmm,” I thought about it for a moment, “I kind of think I like this idea of getting something for pushing a baby out. Besides the baby, I mean. It was hard work.”

“Yeah, well, next time don’t expect to get another house.”

“Slow your roll, sheriff,” I teased, “who said there was going to be a next time?”

“I’m not getting any younger you know?” he grinned at me in the darkness, his white teeth gleaming, and rubbed his soft beard against my cheek making me giggle again.

“Might need to trade you in for a younger model.” The sharp smack to my ass made me yelp in surprise. Kissing him softly, I whispered, “I would never. And we can discuss another push present. In like five years.”

“Two,” he countered.

“Three.”

“I’ll take it.” He stroked a hand down my back, then rubbed over the tingling spot on my ass from the light spank. “I love you, mon petit cheri.”

“And I love you, my Grayson.”

We were silent then, basking in just being together. Hands roaming lightly over skin, tender touches and light, sleepy kisses. I was almost asleep when I remembered something.

“Oh!” I exclaimed, sitting up in bed. Grayson jerked, having been asleep or close to it.

“Wha’s happen’ng,” he mumbled, not even bothering to open his eyes.

“I added something to my list!”

“The sexy list or the other list?” He was slowly becoming more coherent.

“The sexy one.”

His eyes flew open at that, and he sat up and flicked on the bedside lamp in less than two seconds. Flinging the drawer open, he pulled out my pile of lists, tossing the non-sexy ones back in the drawer, wide awake now. Wincing at the wild way they were landing, I knew I would need to straighten them before I would be able to fall asleep. I had deliberately put the list he was looking for on the very bottom.

“Voila!” he shouted, holding the paper above his head in victory, and I shushed him before he woke Julianna up. He scanned the list, and I knew just when he found my latest addition.

His head shot up and he stared at me, his eyes gleaming in the lamplight. “Wyatt…are you sure? This is a huge step and I know how you feel about this.”

Nodding, I told him quietly, “I know, and yes, I’m sure. I’ve thought about it every time you bring it up. Which is a lot. I know it’s not marriage, but to me, this means more than any stupid piece of paper.”

“You want me to mate claim you? You’ve always been against it.”

“I know,” I whispered, suddenly unsure of myself. I hadn’t planned on him hesitating or questioning my choice. I thought he would be ecstatic that I was finally agreeing to it, but his response wasn’t what I had expected. Suddenly feeling the need to backpedal, I hurriedly said, “If you don’t want to, I understand. It’s fine. We don’t have to do it. Just forget I wrote it, or that you saw it.”

He tipped my chin up with one long finger, caressing over my cheekbone, down the side of my face with a tender touch. “I would be honored to mate claim you, Wyatt. You’re mine. Only mine. My mon petit. And I want the world to know it. I want them to see my mark on your skin and know you belong to me. And I belong to you.”

He kissed me then, a long, slow, hard, breath stealing kiss that lasted for a full minute. Any doubts I had vanished with the possessive claim of that kiss.

This man, this alpha, was mine and I was his. We had belonged to each other from the very beginning, from that very first night in the hotel room. Even as we had both stubbornly tried to deny it. First him, and then me.

I wanted to wear his mark. Wanted to feel his teeth sinking into my mating gland, owning me completely. The same way I would mark him.

And maybe, someday, I would let him marry me.

But for now, tonight, in that moment, I just wanted him, making love to me. Listening to the soft snuffles of our daughter through the baby monitor as she slept. The house as it creaked around us, as the bed rocked beneath us.

He was my home, my peace, the one thing I never thought I needed. The man who made it his mission to see that I crossed off as many items on my lists as possible.

He was my heart, my soul, my Dom, my love.

He was my Grayson.

The End