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Laughing, he tried to push the wolf away, letting his fingers slip into his thick, soft fur. Emmy just pushed into him harder until he’d fallen onto his back with his wolf’s nose burrowing into his neck as his tail thudded against his leg.

“Holy shit,” someone nearby muttered, as Rocco gave up trying to get out from under Emmy, and just focussed on running his hands over every bit of the wolf he could reach as his mate let out a low rumble of approval.

“You could have told us they were mates,” Cal said.

When Emmy finally let him sit up, he ended up with the wolf’s head lying in his lap as Emmy stretched out on the grass beside him.

Wolves’ heads were damn heavy, but Rocco wasn’t going to complain.

This was the most affectionate Emmy had ever been, and it was healing something inside him he hadn’t realised was broken.

“I wouldn’t mention it to Emilio once he’s shifted back,” Marco warned.

“Why the fuck not?” Luca asked. “He’s like a brother to me.”

Cal let out a huff of laughter. “I love how far you’ve come, but you of all people should understand mating bonds aren’t as simple as they seem, baby.”

Luca frowned in concern. “Are you going to hurt him?” he asked Rocco.

“Only if he asks nicely.”

Emmy’s ears twitched, and he growled softly, but he still didn’t shift off his lap. Rocco smirked as the Lunettis around him glared in response.

“Watch it, witch,” Marco snapped.

“You better treat him right. And don’t you dare get in the way of his art,” Luca said.

Rocco shook his head in frustration. What kind of asshole did they think he was? “I would never. I’m probably his biggest fan.”

“What do you mean, you’re a fan? He only teaches. I don’t think he’s ever had a public showing,” Aria said.

Rocco hadn’t even noticed Luca’s twin approach.

She must have been drawn by all the growling and posturing.

He’d been too distracted by his fiancé to notice.

Were they really unaware of how famous Emmy was as Cadmium?

It was an anonymous identity, but surely that didn’t extend to his closest family?

Searching the faces around him, he saw that only Marco and Luca looked wary rather than confused.

Before he could think up a suitable response, shifter magic washed against his senses, and the wolf in his lap changed back into his human form.

His very naked human form. Emmy straddled his thighs and pressed a finger to his lips, shaking his head subtly.

Not that there was anything subtle about what he’d just done.

Pressing a kiss to the finger, Rocco let his tongue slip out to taste his skin, smirking as Emmy’s eyes widened in horror as his cock thickened against him.

His family couldn’t see the reaction yet, pressed as close as he was to Rocco with his leather jacket screening them from view, but they would scent it.

“Rocco,” Emmy hissed in annoyance.

Hooking his hands under Emmy’s knees, Rocco pushed to his feet, wrapping his power around them in a glamour that would hide them from his family’s prying eyes and noses as he went.

Cal’s magic flared beside him in response, but Marco reached out to squeeze the water witch’s shoulder. “He’s just protecting him. You wouldn’t like anyone staring at your mate in that condition, either.”

Emmy groaned in mortification against Rocco’s chest and banged his forehead against his collarbone. “Oh my fucking god. Kill me now.”

“Where’s your room?”

“In the main house,” Emmy said, gesturing vaguely ahead of them to the open patio doors.

Keeping hold of his mate, Rocco strode toward the building.

“I can walk, you know,” Emmy said, shifting in his arms.

“I’m aware. I watch you do it all the time.”

“Creep. ”

“You love it.”

“Fuck you.”

Emmy’s hands had been drifting down his arms as they spoke. Rocco cursed as hard fingers dug into a pressure point on his elbow, forcing him to drop the shifter.

Standing with his hands on his hips, he watched as Emmy started to walk away but paused right on the edge of his glamour like he could sense the boundary of his power. Interesting. He shouldn’t have been able to do that. It must be the potential bond.

“Are you coming?” Emmy snapped.

“Not yet.”

Emmy spun in a blur of motion that ended with their noses millimetres apart as he bared his teeth in a growl.

“Mmm… that noise is so fucking sexy, puppy.”

Emmy snapped at him with fangs that had lengthened in a partial shift, but Rocco didn’t flinch back. He knew the wolf wouldn’t hurt him. Couldn’t hurt him.

Turning away and pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, Emilio searched the sky for something. Patience, probably. “Could you please keep the glamour over us until we’re in my room?”

“I thought your kind didn’t have any hang-ups about being naked.”

“Doesn’t mean I want the pack to see the state my traitor dick is in right now.”

Rocco smirked as his eyes trailed down his fiancé’s stunning form and settled on his cock that was hard enough to cut glass as it stood tall and proud. As he watched, a drop of pre-cum formed at his slit and he reached out to swipe it up and lick his finger clean before it could drip to the ground.

A pained groan left his fiancé. “Don’t.”

“Didn’t think you’d want to leave a scent trail behind us like that. ”

Emmy sighed and bowed his head. “Can we just go inside already?”

The tension in his posture wasn’t the kind Rocco wanted to be there. Taking pity on his mate, he placed a hand on the small of his back and followed him into the house.

“Is this about the packmates who skipped your party?”

Emmy’s stride hitched before he kept moving deeper into the house and up the stairs. He must be off balance because he’d never usually give himself away like that. “They don’t trust witches. And they have good cause not to.”

Emmy had reached a black lacquered door and pressed a combination code into the lock to enter a suite of rooms that were beautifully decorated but lacked any hint of personality.

It was nothing like his loft in town, with its potted plants and custom furniture.

Rocco let his glamour drop as the door clicked closed.

“They don’t trust you . And they sure as shit don’t have any cause for that.”

“I left the pack,” Emmy said, voice too neutral as he headed to another door.

Rocco followed him into a bedroom and watched as his fiancé rifled through some drawers until he found a pair of grey sweats. “No, you didn’t. You just lived somewhere else for a while.”

“They don’t see it that way. They only see what my father did. I should’ve been here to stop him.”

“He wasn’t your responsibility. Do you really think you would’ve seen what even your Alpha didn’t?”

Emmy looked away. “Maybe.”

“Gio made his own choices. And he died by them. He might’ve been a traitor, but he still loved his pack. He still loved you. His final act was to save your cousin’s life.”

Emmy’s eyes met his, darkening with a soul-deep pain. “You were there? ”

“Yeah. I’m sorry I couldn’t save him.”

“Why?”

“Because he was your dad. He was someone you loved.”

“He was a traitor.”

“He can be both.”

“Is your dad still alive?” Emmy asked.

“Yeah. You’ll meet him at the wedding. He and my mum are disgustingly in love.”

“You’re close to them. Even though you had to move across the country for them.”

It was a statement, not a question, but he answered anyway.

“I loved them enough to leave. I wasn’t going to make their lives more difficult than they needed to be.”

“You’re a good son.”

“So are you.”

“I hate him so much for what he did.”

“And despite that, you still love him even more.”

Slipping out of his jacket, Rocco placed it carefully on an armchair before pulling his shirt off over his head and toeing off his boots.

“What are you doing?”

Once all he was wearing were his boxers, he walked over to the bed and pushed the comforter aside.

“Come lie down with me. You don’t have to take your pants off.”

Emmy watched him warily. “I’m not going to fuck you.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

Lying down on his side, Rocco waited patiently, arm out, until Emmy slunk onto the bed and lay down on his back next to him.

“What do you need, puppy?” Rocco whispered.

Emmy closed his eyes, a pained look on his face. “This doesn’t mean anything. ”

That hurt more than it should. But he knew it might take his mate some time to realise he was wrong. “Okay.”

“Just—hold me.”

Stretching his arm over Emmy’s bare stomach and winding his leg over the shifter’s, Rocco nuzzled into his fiancé’s hair. “You smell amazing.”

“Shut up.”

Rocco smirked and pulled Emmy’s body closer. The shifter was relaxing despite himself.

“So, mates, huh?”

“We’re not going there.”

“Why not?”

“You know why. We literally just talked about it.”

“The fact your father’s mate was a witch wasn’t the problem. It was Ethan’s selfish disregard for his soulmate and being brainwashed into a terrorist group that led them down the path they couldn’t escape from.”

“You gonna tell me you’re not selfish?”

Rocco pressed butterfly kisses along Emmy’s shoulder. “That’s different.”

Emmy huffed. “How so?”

“Because I’m too selfish to ever let you go.

I knew you were mine the first time I met you, with paint streaked down your arm from teaching homeless kids.

I knew when I watched you torture a man to death for hurting a vampire sex worker you barely knew.

I knew when I watched you whisper to the plants in your loft while you watered them, and when you paused to breathe in the scents of that patisserie you love each time you passed.

I knew when you stood toe to toe with a fire witch who tried to hurt me, and when I had to restrain you to keep you from killing a man for daring to touch me.

“When you’re in pain, it hurts me. When you feel pleasure, I ache with need.

When you’re away from me, the world is less interesting, less bright.

That’s why I follow you. That’s why I keep my magic on your skin, where I can hear your heartbeat as I drift to sleep.

I would never betray you, because it would be like stabbing myself in the heart.

And I will always give you what you need to achieve your dreams because your happiness is mine. Your everything is mine. You are mine.”

“Fuck, possessive much?” Emmy asked.

“You love it. Now hush and take a nap. You haven’t been sleeping enough.”

“I’m not going to bite you. No matter how much you try and take care of me.”

Rocco resisted the urge to pin his fiancé under him and kiss him until he changed his mind. Barely.

“We’ll see. And there’s no try about it. I will always take care of you.”