Page 21

Imri

Nearly two weeks passed before we saw any sign of Sully’s parents coming around to our mating and the baby. Over that time, I attempted to keep Sully’s spirits up. A test of our fragile bond.

Over and over, Sully reassured me he didn’t regret what we’d done. I tried my hardest to ensure he’d never feel bad about giving up his family for ours, the one we created together with the kids and our growing baby.

I showered him with love and affection. We had dates in and around the house. I drove him towards the next town where we had a picnic under the stars, just the two of us.

Even getting him his own car in this town was an ordeal. Nothing about Haenvale was simple. First, we had to go into town, where the whispering followed us pretty much everywhere we went. Then we had to deal with Cress. His dad owned the biggest car dealership in Haenvale, but he made me wish we’d traveled elsewhere, with his snide remarks to Sully.

He soon changed his tune when his dad had to take over the sale because of his attitude. His father was a far better salesperson and was delighted to find us a vehicle which would hold our growing family. Outside of the staff at Rosie’s and Trisha, he was the first in the town to congratulate us on our mating and the baby. He even got Sully to smile. That alone was worth the price of the car.

I drove behind him in my truck the whole way home, chatting to him on the phone, listening to him rave over how cool the car was. It was the safest model I could convince him to pick.

When we parked, Sully rushed to me, throwing his arms around me in delight. The kids loved the car, though we’d have to work on the travel sickness once we knew they were safe to go to Haenvale.

That night in bed together, I heard Sully whisper the words I never thought I’d get to hear from a mate:

“I love you, Imri. You mean everything to me. I know these few days have been hard, but you’re worth it.”

“I love you, too, Sully. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted and more.”

My old friends would have thought a younger mate would mean we wouldn’t have anything in common, but we found plenty, from our taste in human music and movies, to what we liked to read. There was always something to talk about.

Sully had some experience with alphas from college, yet was open to experimenting, since he was still finding out what he liked. I think I blew his mind the day I asked him to top me. He’d shown me how great my prostate was with his fingers and made me wonder what it would feel like to have him fuck me for a change. I was open to trying anything with my mate, in and out of the bedroom.

“You really want to try this?” he asked, double checking. How hard he was suggested he was fully into the idea.

“After that blow job the other day? Absolutely. I got some lube, just in case.”

His fingers were gentle when he opened me up to take him. He sucked my cock, distracting me from the strange feeling of his fingers inside me. He held the tip in his mouth, teasing it with his tongue .

I caught him squeezing the base of his cock to hold off his own orgasm. Yeah, he was into it.

“This is fucking hot. I love the feel of you inside me,” I panted. Sully stretched me with another finger. “Put it in!” I demanded, desperate to feel him before I came.

He came off my cock with a cheeky smile. “Put what in where?” He tried to play innocent, but the sparkle in his eyes gave him away.

“Your dick in my ass before I blow my load!”

His laughter was the best sound in the world. I’d never get tired of hearing it, nor being the reason behind it.

He slicked up his cock with more of the lubricant, then slowly eased inside. The burn was sharper than I thought it would be.

“Slower!” I urged.

Sully watched my face until I relaxed. Once he was sure I was okay, he pushed in deeper.

We lay there, Sully’s groin against my ass, just breathing while we adjusted to the new sensations.

“This is—“ Sully breathed. He leaned down to kiss me, pouring all he was feeling over our bond. The longer we were together, the better I could parse his emotions from mine .

“Move, please.” I held onto him, fingertips biting into his slender shoulders as he pumped his hips.

Every nerve ending was set alight. He kept nailing my prostate, his breathing growing heavier, sweat dripping with each thrust.

He reached for my cock and with barely a touch, I came, my knot forming so quickly I think I passed out from blood loss. Sully massaged my knot and snapped his hips in the same rhythm, his strokes soon faltering when he filled me with his release.

“Oh, wow!” He slumped on top of me, his hand still working my knot, my come sticking us together.

“Right?” I could barely think about the mess we were making, just how content I felt to have experienced that with Sully.

“Yeah, that’s—“

I held him close. “We can do that again whenever you like.”

His head came up so he could meet my eyes. “You really enjoyed it?”

“Sully, there’s no faking a knot. I loved it.”

“I love you.”

“And I love you. Gimme a minute, and I’ll get us cleaned up. ”

“I’ll do it.” He eased out of me carefully. Petting my hole, his eyes fixed on it, he asked, “Okay?”

“Perfect,” I answered with a grin.

He jumped off the bed and ran to the adjoined bathroom for a cloth to clean us up. “Let me play alpha!” he cried with a giggle.

Life with Sully would never be boring.

The kids kept him busy between his part-time shifts at Rosie’s. He was just helping out over the summer season until his pregnancy neared the end. The café‘s owners were aware he was expecting, so they’d promised to keep an eye on him and not let him overdo it. That made me feel better about having him away from me where I could look after him.

I liked the owner and her mate. Both of them genuinely seemed to care about Sully’s wellbeing. They offered to take care of him without having to be asked. They were also on our side against some of the town who distrusted me for being a dingo shifter. Whenever I went in to say hello, they always had a smile for me.

Sully’s mom was actually the first to call him and apologize. “Honey, I’m sorry about how I reacted. How is mated life treating you?”

“Good. So much is happening here,” he said, a tentative smile on his face.

“I’d love for you to tell me all about it. We owe you both an apology. We shouldn’t have reacted like that.” His smile grew. It felt good for her to admit how she had hurt him. “You deserved a better response, but we let our past cloud our judgement. You’d never be with anyone who was harmful just because they were your mate.”

Being the bigger person, Sully forgave her immediately, holding nothing back. He regaled her with stories about the little things I liked to do to show my love for him. He told her how I made him a strawberry smoothie each morning because he missed coffee, but it made him nauseous. Having something sweet instead of his favorite drink made him feel better.

He also told her all about the kids, well, the stuff he could share without problems. How they needed a tutor for their magic because Ginger had vanished into the wind once more. He told her the kids wanted to go to school instead of being homeschooled because they wanted to make friends.

She pulled through there.

Vicky, Sully’s mom, was a well-connected woman. She knew everyone in town of importance, at least in her opinion. Once she came to visit us at the house with Danny, her mate, I knew she was fully onboard with our mating. She stormed into our little world, ready to make up for the false start. I respected the hell out of her for it.

My moms loved her after a few minutes of tense silence. It only took Berry asking Vicky if she liked to bake, and then the ice was broken.

Rowan was the one who charmed Vicky, though. They just clicked when Rowan impressed her with his plant knowledge. The three of them, Vicky, Rowan, and Berry, were as thick as thieves in the vegetable patch, within minutes of Rowan explaining how he taught Berry everything she knew. Her magic meshed with the plants, making them grow beyond anything Rowan could do himself. Vicky was in awe of them.

She found a magic tutor for them that afternoon. With their help, the kids could be enrolled at the local college and school, giving them the chance to make friends for the first time.

By spending time with his son and Sandy, Danny gave my moms the opportunity to pack, now that we were settled. They hadn’t wanted to leave with Sully upset over how things were with his family. Now both had apologized, they were ready to head home. Besides, the house was almost done, nothing still unfinished was anything I couldn’t manage myself.

The day after his parents’ visit, his sister came by. She marveled over the house, was welcoming to the kids, and warm to me. I liked her instantly. She brought her kids with her and they soon had a game going with their new cousins in the backyard. It gave me hope for their time at school.

When it was just the adults on the back porch, Vanessa announced, “I’ve been talking with Trisha over what she found in the town charter. We’ve called a town meeting tomorrow. We’d like it if you came.”

“Last time I spoke to Trisha, she didn’t have much. Is it worth holding a meeting?” Sully wondered aloud. His best friend was a regular visitor to the house and had helped us find a crew willing to fix up the road. We had a week more of the bumpy track before the new road was laid.

Vanessa’s grin was shark-like. “We had a breakthrough after Orson’s return to Haenvale. His great-great-grandfather was mayor once upon a time. I think you’d be surprised by what we’ve learned.”

“Any hints?” I asked.

“You’ll have to come along tomorrow to find out.”

“Imri, I’m nervous.” Sully’s hand was clammy in mine as we made the walk up to the town hall. Finding somewhere to park had been a nightmare.

“Me too. It feels like there’s a lot riding on this.”

“Sully, Imri!” Trisha called from the front. “I saved you seats over here.”

We took our places and settled in for an eye opening event .

Trisha was running the show. Once the mayor called the town meeting to order, she handed the floor open to Trisha.

“Haenvale’s existence as a haven town is a lie,” she proclaimed.

Gasps followed her announcement. She used a crystal to shine the charter onto the walls of the vast building.

“This point here, a haven for all, has never truly been realized in our town. Until recently, even I believed the lie until I had my eyes opened. Haenvale was supposed to be a place where prey shifters could be free from the persecution they suffered at the hands of predators, but,” she paused dramatically, “that was never to be at the expense of the predator’s animal sides.”

“Nothin’ happens to them. Predators complain’ ’bout nothin’!” someone yelled from the back.

“Have you ever asked a predator, a wolf, a fox, or a lion what it feels like to wear their inhibitor? Do you know there are different kinds depending on what you are?” Murmuring rose in the crowd. “They prevent them from shifting. They can’t access their animals, at all! ”

Trisha waited for the crowd to calm, to continue. “Haenvale has laws to prevent discrimination by species. There were funds and land set aside to create safe zones where all shifters could meet and mix to find their fated mates, to make friends outside of their type. They were designed to teach them how to cope with each other. It can be done. We see it in cities all the time. So why were they stolen from Haenvale’s residents? Greed is why. The money and land were robbed from the town.”

“Stolen?” Sully whispered, his head tucked close to mine. “Somehow I’m not surprised.”

“After all I’ve learned about this place, neither am I.”

The meeting took hours! We had to stop for refreshments halfway through because it had devolved into bickering with one side slinging insults at the other.

Finally, Trisha took a stand at the front. “We need to fix this for the future of Haenvale. I would like to raise a motion to purchase Cliff Park from the town administration for the people to create a place where shifters can mingle in safety.”

The town owned a strip of land which held no value for domestic or commercial properties. Apparently, the bylaws prevented anything from being built on it because the space was earmarked for a park. They hadn’t wanted to draw attention to what they’d been up to. Rather than trust the town to turn the land into the park it was supposed to be, Trisha had a plan.

“I have met with several business owners of Haenvale who have a stake in seeing the town reach its full potential. Together, we have created a trust called the Haenvale Alliance. We have raised funds to buy the land from the town in order to create a safe shifting space for both predator and prey shifters. A place where they can learn to coexist in harmony. Would the town vote on a motion to approve the sale of this land?”

While it was a close one, the vote passed. It was a step forward.