Page 10
CHAPTER 9
“I ’d feel better if you went to the pack house, too,” Xavier said as they watched Dare drive away with Rance.
“I’ll be fine. Like you said, they’re looking for Rance. No one outside the pack knows how close we’ve become. Kidnapping me won’t do them any favors.”
“That doesn’t mean they won’t try.”
“Then they’ll find out that I’m more trouble than I’m worth.” Kat flexed his claws in and out of the tips of his human fingers.
“It’s impressive that you can do that. Can all shifters change small portions of themselves?”
“I can’t speak for everyone, but most of the ones I know can.”
“Huh.” Xavier always enjoyed learning new information. Like many supernatural creatures, shifters transferred most of their lore verbally. You will never understand much if you weren’t a shifter or married to one.
“Now let me see those runes again.” Kat tugged at Xavier’s shirt.
“Is that your idea of a come-on?” Xavier pulled Kat into his arms.
“If it gets your shirt off, then yes.”
“Maybe I’m just waiting for you to take my clothes off. I took yours off last time. Or do I have a lazy cat as my mate?”
Kat flexed his claws again. “If I take them off, they might not be in any condition to be put back on.”
Xavier quickly stripped. “I don’t have the budget for clothing,” he muttered.
“We can be cash-strapped together,” Kat soothed Xavier’s ego while he removed his clothes. “Does that mean you’re moving in here when you're free from your apprenticeship?”
Xavier snorted. “You don’t have to make it sound like I’m being sprung from jail.”
“Isn’t it a type of indenturement?” Kat tilted his head.
“I suppose, but I'm being trained instead of paying off a debt. I’ve learned recently that it could’ve been much worse.” He shuddered over what Jared had told him.
“From who?”
Xavier kissed his mate. “Why do we always get into these deep conversations right before sex?”
Kat hummed. “Good question. We do have better things to do.”
“Common goals.” Xavier nodded. “I plan to use most of your lube before leaving this house.”
“It’s a good goal,” Kat agreed. “Luckily, I can make more.”
“You make your lube?”
“Would telling you it was my grandmother’s recipe put you off?”
“A bit.” Xavier couldn’t imagine his high society grandmother making lube. “We have completely different types of grandmothers.”
Kat snickered. “I’m sure we did.” He grabbed Xavier’s hand and pulled him down the hall.
Xavier looked at the garments scattered around the room. “Should we take our clothes with us?”
“Nah, they will still be there when we come back.” Kat disregarded the piles in the middle of his floor and dragged him off.
Xavier allowed it because he found it hilarious that his small mate physically tried to move him. He laughed when Kat attempted to push him through the doorway.
“You’re like a mountain,” Kat complained.
“Is that a good or a bad thing?”
“It’s an ‘I better get fitter if I plan on pushing my mate around.’” Kat outrageously batted his eyelashes.
“Honey, you can tell me where you want me, and I’d be happy to comply.” He leered at his sexy kitty.
Kat beamed up at him. “On the bed.” He pointed to it like Xavier couldn’t find it on his own.
“And how do you want me?” He cupped Kat’s erection and bit his shoulder, relishing the fantastic sounds he got.
“I-um-I want you on your back.”
Xavier nipped Kat’s ear. “Sure thing.” He stepped away from his sexy mate using all the self-control years of working under Melcori had gotten him. He sat on the end of the bed and kept eye contact with Kat as he slid until his head met Kat’s pillow.
He didn’t get a chance to ask ‘what next’ before his sweet mate was pressed against him. Kat lay on Xavier from his sternum to his ankles, not tall enough to cover Xavier completely. It was so damn endearing.
“You are amazing,” Kat whispered against his chest. A quick kitten lick across Xavier’s right nipple had him sucking in a breath.
“Keep that up, and it will be you on your back,” he warned.
“I’m open to any position you want.”
Xavier flipped them over without giving Kat a chance to change his mind. He desperately grabbed the lube from its hiding place, noticing for the first time the homemade label. “Your grandmother?”
“You don’t want to know the details she left in her diary.”
“You read your grandmother’s diary?” He didn’t know if he was more appalled or amused.
“That’s where she left her recipes,” Kat protested.
Xavier burst into laughter. He couldn’t catch his breath as he imagined Kat reading about his grandmother’s sex life while trying to copy down the critical information. “That’s hysterical.”
“Glad I can amuse you,” Kat said dryly.
It took him a few more minutes before he could reply. He put the lube on the pillow beside Kat’s head. “Sorry.”
“No, you’re not.” Kat pouted.
“No, I’m not,” he agreed. It was the funniest thing he’d heard in a while. “But I am sorry I ruined the mood. Let me make it up to you.”
“I suppose I can let you.” Kat sighed as if he were doing Xavier a big favor.
“That is very kind of you.”
Kat nodded. “It really is.”
Xavier kissed his way down his mate’s body, making a mental note of his most sensitive parts. Nothing remained untouched. When he reached Kat’s ankles and nibbled the bone to Kat’s screeches, he kissed his way back up, ending at Kat’s lips. “Do you want to roll over or face me?”
Kat reached down and ran his right hand up and down Xavier’s shaft. “I’d best roll over the first time. The Gods were kind when they endowed you.”
Xavier’s cheeks burned as he smiled. He was slightly larger than average, but his mate was a small man. “I’m glad you think so.”
“So am I.” After another cheeky smile, Kat rolled over.
He was never going to get tired of his mate’s sass. Now that Kat had mentioned he had made it, Xavier paid more attention to the lemongrass-scented lube. It had a smooth, slick texture and coated his fingers nicely. “You could make a fortune with this.”
Kat looked at him over his shoulder. “Could I? I’ve never used store-bought. We can discuss the business aspects after you fuck my brain out, if you don’t mind.”
He said it so politely that it took a minute for the words to register. With fully coated fingers, Xavier pressed inside his mate’s warm hole. It sucked him in like he was coming home. “You’re so perfect,” he whispered.
“Perfect for you,” Kat agreed.
“Yes, for me.” If the words came out more possessive than before, neither mentioned it. Xavier enjoyed prepping Kat. His purrs and groans were a sexy symphony that encouraged him. When he pressed a spot that gave him a catlike hiss, he hid his grin by pressing his lips to Kat’s shoulder.
“If you don’t fuck me right now, I’m going to go get Mr. Happy.”
Xavier couldn’t stop the loud laugh that escaped. “We wouldn’t want that. Mr. Happy isn’t going to be so happy now that he’s being replaced.”
“He won’t be replaced if you don’t get a move on,” Kat said sharply.
“Yes, mate.” Xavier slid out his fingers and pressed the tip of his penis to his mate’s hole. He planned to enter carefully, but Kat had different ideas. As Xavier carefully pressed in, Kat pushed back until Xavier breached him entirely.
Kat hissed.
“That’s why I was being careful.”
“You were being too careful. I’m not going to break.”
“I wasn’t worried about breaking. I was worried about tearing. You’re smaller than me.”
“The lube has a healing property.”
“That doesn’t mean I should hurt you, and I hope you used your claws on any lover who thought otherwise.” Xavier pushed in farther before sliding back and beginning a hard, fast rhythm that had them sweaty and screaming. It took a ridiculously short time before they spilled their seed and collapsed, still joined, on their sides.
“You are amazing,” Kat panted.
Xavier kissed Kat’s shoulder before sliding out. “You’re not so bad either.”
“Not so bad.” Kat rolled over and screwed up his face. “Eww, wet spot.”
Xavier laughed. “You’re adorable. I don’t think I’ve laughed this much my entire life.”
Kat cupped Xavier’s cheek. “That’s my new goal, to make you laugh as much as possible.”
Xavier turned his head to kiss Kat’s palm. “You’re doing an amazing job so far.”
“Good. Now, can we get up and strip the bed?”
“Yes.”
Xavier was called back to the castle thirty minutes later.
“I think he can sense when I’m happy,” he told Kat as he hung up.
“Blood Magic Happiness Radar?”
Xavier nodded seriously. “Exactly.”
“What did he want?”
“For me to return to the castle. I don’t know what he’s doing now, but I can’t deny him. Mind if I come back tomorrow night? Do you think you can find a new Grove spot by then?”
“We should have a few picked out by then. Hopefully, the forest will guide Rance. It should work with him if he truly is a Green Man.”
“Call me if you’ve reconsidered moving into the main pack house.”
“I’ll call you, anyway.” Kat’s light, teasing tone didn’t reassure Xavier, but he couldn’t make Kat leave without damaging their budding relationship. He had to trust his mate’s ability to judge his safety. It didn’t mean he had to like it, though.
Xavier kissed Kat goodbye and returned to the castle. The dryads were an issue he still needed to solve, but it wasn’t the only one.