Page 13 of Jacked-up Mate (Alphas of Whisper Grove #1)

Jack

I woke late, the sun well up in the sky, and my pumpkin head already gone.

Before I could shut my eyes again, reality struck. I wasn’t alone in the bed.

My mate was here.

And I had no pumpkin head. No jack-o’-lantern for Jack.

So I did what any pumpkinless, mated and marked alpha would do in my situation. I jumped up and did a little dance.

“Oh, that’s a dealbreaker, alpha. Dancing before coffee?” Foster, despite his words, cracked up while I showed off exactly how weird I could be. The omega had seen my head transform into a Halloween icon, I knew he wouldn’t mind this.

“Yes! Dancing before coffee. It’s the new morning routine. Didn’t you hear?” I laughed along with him.

“I hadn’t. You’re giving me a big head, alpha. Oh. Big head. Not like…I’m leaving that one alone. You’re making my ego swell…no, not that one either.”

I collapsed onto the bed next to him, bouncing us both. “Make all the big-head jokes you want. I don’t have it anymore.”

“I’m not joking about that, Jack.” I scooted closer to him to cuddle. “What are you doing?”

“Kissing my mate.” Our lips met and his love surged through me. I could feel it as though it were the blood in my veins.

He sighed. “Last night was incredible.”

“More than incredible.” My alpha instincts kicked in. I was forgetting some things. “Are you sore? Did I hurt you? Did you want to shower? I’m gonna make breakfast.”

Foster chuckled and cupped my face. My non-pumpkin, very human face. “Slow down. I’m fine and we’re all good. You’re going to join me for a shower and then let’s make breakfast together, okay? I’m not ready to let you go yet.”

I laid my head on his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. “Okay. Shower first.”

We took a shower together in my tiny, only-made-for-one shower. When I moved into the house, I made no renovations, since I thought I would probably never have an omega, but now, I regretted it. We barely had room to wash each other.

Once out, Foster borrowed some of my clothes, and we kissed and hugged while I made coffee and prepared breakfast. Everything was joy with Foster.

Joy. Care. Love. Much-craved affection. I knew it wouldn’t be like this forever.

Every couple had their moments but, for now, we were in a nest of love and I never wanted to leave.

“Whoa…” he said through a mouthful of pancake. “These are better than the diner.”

“No, they’re not. They’re from a mix. I just doctor them up. Add eggs and melted butter. A bit of maple syrup in the batter.”

“Well, whatever it is, they are amazing.”

“I think you’re just hungry.”

He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. These are great.” My mate ate double what I did, and I watched him in awe. He was a wolf shifter, and that kind of came with the territory. I needed to keep more meat in my stores.

“I have to go do the chores. Do you want to come with me?”

He was on his feet in seconds. Adorable omega.

“I do.” Feeding the chickens had never been more fun.

Foster spoke to them and fed them from his hands.

His smile when he collected eggs was one for the books.

He emitted joy no matter what he did, drawing me into his sunshine.

When I turned on the sprinklers to water my modest garden, he danced in the well-water droplets like it was a miracle rain.

He even crouched down and spoke to the plants.

“Do you have to work today?” I asked, hugging him as we basked in the sunrise.

“I do, but it’s a late shift. How about you? You have anything going?”

“I want to spend the day with my omega. That’s all. How could I want anything else in the world?”

He broke out of my hold and began to run across my land. “I’ll leave before he gets here. Don’t worry.”

Ah, omega. I didn’t know I had a mini chase kink until that moment.

“Don’t make me chase you, omega,” I called out, counting on his shifter hearing.

Stopping, he turned. His smile ended me. Every damned time. “Come catch me, then, alpha.”

For the rest of the day, I wrapped my head around having a mate. Around not having a pumpkin head and, for the first time in a long time, facing the sunset without fear.

I drove Foster to work after washing and drying his clothes for him. There were lots of unanswered questions between us, but we could answer them later. Would we live in my home? Would he want to live closer to town? Did he want children?

I wandered the library and stopped in the kitchen for a coffee while waiting, this time the praline latte. My flavor for extra-happy days.

And this time, I waited for my omega not because at sunset I had to run but because I wanted to spend it with him. It felt like my first sunset.

“Longest day ever,” he said later when he got in my truck.

“You worked four hours.”

“Yeah, but now that I have an alpha to come home to, it was a very long day. It seemed that way, at least.”

I held his hand. “It was a long span for me too. I will pour you a coffee and we can watch the sun go down together.”

“That sounds incredible.”

My mate and I had supper together on my back porch.

Our back porch. Maybe we didn’t have to find answers to questions like where would we live.

With Foster, everything was natural. I got a little twist in my tummy as the tangerine globe dipped low into the sky, making way for the moon and the night to take over.

Foster sat in my lap for the last of it. “Don’t be scared anymore, alpha. I’ve got you, no matter what happens, and you have my love.”

He was right, but I held my breath until there was no more sun in sight. And I was the same as I had been. Human head. No triangles. No webs of goop and seed. No orange fruity head.

Just me. Finally.

And all of it was because of the gorgeous omega in my hold. He’d saved me from myself with nothing else but his love.