“That’s it,” Cal whispers. “You keep doing that.”
He tugs away Luke’s pajama bottoms with his other hand, and then just like that, Cal’s hand is gripping Luke’s bare dick.
He doesn’t give Luke any time to relax, just starts tugging with a slow, hot rhythm that leaves Luke gasping into the pillow.
“Look at me,” Cal commands, voice dark and smooth. Luke meets green eyes gleaming with greedy desire. “Yeah, you keep looking. Let me watch you come.”
And that’s enough to push him over the edge. It’s embarrassingly fast, but Luke has been denying himself for months. There was no other way this could end.
His hips shudder forward, pulsing into Cal’s hand as he comes with a gasping cry. He loses eye contact with Cal and leans forward breathing hard into Cal’s shoulder. It takes him a minute to catch his breath and come down.
He can’t remember the last time he came so hard, if he ever has.
When he’s recovered, he knows exactly what he wants to do next: return the favor.
He kisses Cal gently on soft lips and slips his hand between Cal’s legs, where he finds a sticky mess that definitely does not belong to Luke.
Cal smirks. “I do have two hands. Not really used to using them both at once though.”
“We could practice,” Luke says, grinning. He likes the thought of that.
“That we can. Probably need to clean up. I’m kind of gross. You too.”
“Mmm, clean up later. Kiss me now,” Luke says, kissing him again. He can do this for the rest of his life. “Are you going to stop running away now?”
“Are you going to stop chasing me?”
“Never,” Luke says, bending down to kiss the curve of Cal’s neck and breathing in the uniquely Cal scent of lemon and mate that he finds there.
Cal turns suddenly. Serious green eyes meet Luke’s. “Claim me then. Give me your mark.”
Desire flushes through Luke’s body. He imagines it: a small scar at the base of Cal’s neck, right in the scent glands. A mark that tells everyone that Cal belongs to him and he belongs to Cal. A mark that will be there forever.
No more running. No more chasing.
“Are you sure?”
“Completely,” Cal says.
“I’m serious. You can’t take it back. Are you really sure?”
“Just do it, you big dope.”
Luke grins. “Okay.”
He’s never done this before, but he knows how it works. It feels instinctive.
Cal leans back and bares his neck, and if it wouldn’t break the moment, Luke would want to photograph it so that he has this moment captured in perfect detail forever.
Instead, he leans down and sniffs at Cal’s exposed neck, finding the scent gland that makes Cal smell like Cal.
It’s there, just below the pulse of his neck, under smooth, slightly sweaty skin. Luke lets his teeth lengthen just enough, then bites.
Cal cries out, and for a micro-second, Luke panics, worrying that he’s hurt him, but only for that long, because the ecstasy in the sound comes apparent almost immediately.
The scent of Cal fills Luke’s nostrils and the taste of him fills Luke’s mouth along with the copper taste of blood.
And then it is done. Luke licks the mark, darting out the tip of his tongue, pleased with his work. “That’s it. You’re mine now.”
Cal turns and looks at Luke with exuberant eyes. “Yes, I am. Always.”
CAL
mint and unicorn paper
Now that Luke’s let Cal off his leash and isn’t treating him like he’s made of china, life is much easier.
Or it would be easier if he didn’t have to waddle everywhere like an overweight penguin or need a forklift to shift him over in bed.
Luke’s bed. The bed he’s been sleeping in for the last five months. He imagines that when the baby comes, they won’t be able to have as much sex so Cal’s making sure he’s getting his fill now.
Or he would be if Luke were in the damn bed. Cal rolls over with not a small amount of effort and heaves himself to a sitting position. Nope. No Luke. The bastard got up before Cal and has left him alone in the bed.
Luke has, however, left a single yellow rose in a vase and a big mug of the mint tea that Cal developed a taste for during the early morning sickness days.
There’s a note folded against the mug: gone to open up the store. Gregor said he’ll give you a lift down. xxx
Cal drinks the tea. It’s still hot so Luke can’t have been gone long.
Luke insisted on making him promise not to pick up anything heavier than a magazine, but Cal’s back in the store making himself useful.
And by ‘useful’, he means sitting in the little armchair in the corner with a mug of tea and reading all the books to make sure they’re good enough to sell. Occasionally, he watches the register when Luke has to run an errand. It’s an important job.
He stretches and maneuvers himself onto the side of the bed. Damn Luke. He’s supposed to be here to help Cal get upright. He waddles into the shower, then gets dressed into the stretchy, flowing paternity clothing that he’s going to secretly miss when the baby comes.
He finds Gregor stacking clay pots in the greenhouse round the back of the packhouse.
The big alpha looks up when Cal enters, “Ready to go?”
Cal nods. He’s got to know Gregor better over the last months. He’s definitely still got the same enforcer-vibe that he had when Cal first met him, but it feels more protective than threatening now.
The big man runs a landscaping business that has quietened down now that winter has started, but he seems to find ways to keep himself busy anyway. He’s always outside chopping wood or fixing the boundary fence or taking down a rotten tree. Cal thinks that Gregor is the type of man who will only stop moving when he’s dead.
While Cal has been in town, the weather has turned from bitter snow, to bright summer and now the leaves on the oak trees are turning again, painting the town in a riot of brilliant reds, oranges and golds.
They drive on a carpet of gold down into the town. Gregor pulls up around the back of the store and turns off the engine.
“You’re coming in?” Cal says surprised. The few times Gregor has given him a lift in, he’s never popped in.
The big bearded alpha is the only Winterstoke not to spend much time reading.
Gregor hesitates, then says, “I’ve just got something to collect.”
He pulls open the back door and waves to let Cal in first. Cal waddles in through the back storeroom, already thinking about the book he’s going to pick out.
“Surprise!”
Cal just about jumps out of his skin. The bookstore is filled with blue and pink balloons, and there’s a giant cake made out of diapers where the window display usually is.
Everyone he knows in Aylewood is there, as well as a bunch of people he doesn’t. Luke is standing to the side with a big grin on his gorgeous face. This almost makes up for the lack of sex this morning. Almost.
Luke crosses the room and envelopes Cal in a big hug, then kisses him hard on the lips. Someone wolf whistles, and Cal hears laughter. Luke bends down and whispers in Cal’s ear, “I love you. You and me, today and always.”
Then Luke moves, and hugs Cal from behind and holds his hands over Cal’s stomach. The pup responds by giving both his dads a good hard kicking.
“Thank you,” Cal says to the room. He means it. He should have known Luke would organize something like this, but somehow it hadn’t occurred to him at all. He feels completely overwhelmed. Tears begin welling up again. He’s like a leaky faucet these days.
“Ah, don’t cry,” Jax’s at his side with a stupid smile on his face. “Adam was up half the night making cupcakes. Wouldn’t want to think they’re going to go to waste. There’s a surprise inside them too.”
Cal looks to where Jax is pointing. The cupcakes are ridiculous. They’re huge and covered in snow white icing and every kind of decoration: silver
balls, color sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, and little sugar animals: everything from sugar pigs to robins and little wolf cubs.
Adam must have emptied out half of his bakery to make them. Cal feels his jaw drop. “Wow!”
Cal spots Adam hiding at the back as usual, on his own and looking awkward, but with a slight smile on his face.
Out of all the Winterstoke brothers, Adam is still the one Cal knows least. You’d think it would be the brother with the bookstore who was the biggest introvert, but Adam puts Luke to shame. He gives Cal a soft smile.
Cal thinks Adam is going to be the reliable uncle. Not Uncle Gregor who’ll take them roaming the mountains and roughhouse with them in the meadows behind the packhouse, or uncle Jax who they’ll go to for romantic advice about the boy he or she will have a crush on.
No, Adam will be the one they’ll call in the middle of the night to bail them out of trouble when they’ve done something stupid and don’t want their dads to know. Adam will be the one who’ll just be there, quietly and reliably and probably taken for granted.
He’s the kind of big brother Cal imagined having when he was growing up on his own.
“What’s the surprise?” Cal asks, as Luke guides him to his reading armchair which has been centered between two massive mounds of presents. He settles into it with a bigger huff than he should have. Luke is going to have to help him out of it again.
“Well, you know how you and Luke couldn’t agree at the first ultrasound as to the sex of the baby?” Jax says. “Adam baked the color into the cake. I know it’s stupidly stereotypical, but the insides are either blue for a boy and pink for a girl.”
Cal has to tease him. “What if we still want it to be a surprise?”
Jax’s mouth drops open, but he recovers quickly. “Then we all eat them with our eyes closed, except Adam because he already knows. He gets to clean the crumbs off the floor before we open our eyes again.”
“Good luck with that,” Adam says dryly.
“The cakes are perfect, Adam,” Cal says. “I love it.”
Cal recognizes most of the people in the room. Most of the Aylewood town stops by the bookstore occasionally, if only to talk to Luke.
There’s a couple of Warwicks and Fosters, and beside them there’s Elyse from the Grand Hotel, and a man Cal recognizes as Dan Callister, the sheriff who came to interview him about Reed.
The only person Cal doesn’t recognize is a handsome dark-haired alpha who’s been staring at Jax with dewy eyes and can only be Jax’s latest conquest.
Gregor claps his hands. “Presents first. And mine first of all.”
He picks up a present from the pile and passes it over to Cal. “I hope you like it.”
Cal unwraps it carefully. The contents of the parcel turns out to be a little yellow onesie and a night clock: the type that turns to a sun in the morning when it’s time to get up.
Cal looks at the tiny onesie. In just a few weeks, there’s going to be a baby in it. He still finds it hard to believe.
Gregor is looking uncharacteristically nervous and Cal realizes that the alpha is really hoping he’ll like it.
“It’s gorgeous. Thanks Gregor,” he says.
Jax’s present turns out to be the ridiculously wrapped parcel right at the top of the pile. The paper is covered in unicorns and Jax has stuck little bows and ribbons all over it. One look and Cal can tell that the tape is going to be impossible to pick apart.
“I’ll get the scissors,” Luke says.
There’s a pretty white baby blanket inside, and a stiff envelope sealed with red wax.
Cal breaks the seal and pulls out the contents. There are two: the first is a savings account set up in both their names as trustees. There’s already a hefty sum in it.
“College is going to break the bank. You never know, my little niece or nephew might want to follow Uncle Jax to medical school,” Jax says. “Best get started now.”
The other paper is an expensive looking piece of parchment, also with wax seal and signed by Jax in a big flourishing hand. It promises babysitting services whenever Cal or Luke need to call on him.
Luke bursts out laughing. “You’re asking for trouble with this one. What if you’ve got a hot date?”
“Well, then I’ll just replace it for a better one. I know it’s corny, but it’s a present for me too,” Jax confesses. “You’re going to pick Gregor or Adam first to babysit, but I want in too.”
Cal wants to cry. This time last year, something like this would have felt like an impossible dream and he’s not going to cry here in front of everyone. He also can’t get out the chair easily to give Jax the hug he wants to.
Fortunately, Jax comes to him instead. He smells of cherries and the reassuring scent of family.
The other presents are just as thoughtful. It turns out that all the brothers had contributed to the money in the savings account and Jax has to deal with some gentle ribbing that he’d included the certificate in his parcel and not the others.
Finally, it’s time for cupcakes and Cal finds himself oddly nervous. He doesn’t mind what sex the baby is. That doesn’t really matter. They’re going to grow up loved and with two parents who adore them. Still, this is one thing he doesn’t know.
Adam brings a tray of cakes over. “Here you go, Papa. Put us all out of our misery and let’s find out what we’re getting.”
Cal has spent the last half an hour being fussed over which has been wonderful, but he thinks the other parent-to-be deserves a turn.
“Luke, do you want to do it?”
Luke lights up. “Are you sure?”
“Definitely,” Cal confirms.
Luke takes his time choosing a cupcake even though they’re all still the same flavor. In the end, he goes for one with little silver stars.
He makes a big production out of taking an enormous bite, then turns the cupcake towards them.
It’s pink. Cal feels warmth flush through his body. Luke is grinning like an idiot, mouth full of cake.
As if in confirmation, the baby in his stomach kicks him hard. Cal is going to have a daughter.
LUKE
red and gold
Luke’s phone rings halfway through packing the gifts away in the new nursery. Luke pulls the buzzing phone from his pocket and checks the screen. It’s Dan Callister.
He holds up a finger to Cal, and ducks out of the room. “Give me a minute.” Luke swipes up and stalks down to the common room. “Hello?”
“Hey Luke, it’s Dan. Just wanted to give you a heads up. I’ve had word that Reed has started sniffing around Cedar Falls looking for your boy. He got a tip that Cal was working a diner there.”
The blood in Luke’s veins turns to ice. “Does he know anything else?”
“Not as far as I know. That’s all I’ve heard.”
Luke thanks him and hangs up, head buzzing. Cedar Falls is a couple of hours away and as far as Reed’s concerned, Cal could have gone in any direction months ago. They might have nothing to worry about. Or they might.
Cal hasn’t been hiding. It’s a small town and everyone knows the Winterstokes. It would only take one of Reed’s wolves to come into town and ask around, or sniff around, and that would be it.
Luke takes a deep breath and heads back to the nursery. He finds Cal and Jax discussing the color of the walls. They’ve gone for a pale blue, with yellow highlights around the windows and doors.
“We were hoping it’ll be a nice soothing color to help the baby sleep,” Cal is saying as Luke walks in.
“Ha ha, good luck with that,” Jax replies.
Cal shrugs and stands up from the dresser where he was putting away the gifted baby clothes. “I’m not so worried. We’ve got you to take over the night feeds. You put it in writing and everything.”
Jax pretends to pull a face, then laughs. “Oh right. I might not have thought that one through.”
Cal’s face brightens when he sees Luke but falls when he sees Luke’s expression. “What’s wrong
?”
Luke explains what Dan told him over the phone.
The scent of fear fills the air. Cal starts breathing in quick sharp gulps of air. “It’s okay,” Luke says, taking Cal’s hand in his. It’s trembling. “We’ll deal with this.”
Cal doesn’t answer. He just wraps his arms around Luke and buries his face in his neck, breathing in the scent of his mate. Luke hugs him tight and runs a soft hand through Cal’s hair. feeling the baby bump between them.
Inside, Luke is kicking himself. He should have dealt with Reed months ago, the very instant he knew that the man was a threat to Cal. “It’s okay. He’s got no reason to know you’re here.”
“He will,” Cal mumbles into Luke’s neck. He’s breathing in deep between each word. “Or one of his pack will. My scent is all over the town.” Cal raises his head. Bright green eyes look into Luke’s. “What if he goes to the bookstore? Oh God, I feel sick.”
Jax is there by Luke’s side in an instant and the two of them help Cal into the armchair beside the crib, the pretty soft one that they’re going to use for night feeds. Jax takes Cal’s wrist, two fingers on his pulse, counting softly until he’s sure that there’s not a bigger problem.
Cal starts rubbing at his belly with both hands. It’s almost absent-minded, as if he needs to be reassured that the baby is still safe in there.
Every protective instinct Luke has hit fifth gear at the tremble in Cal’s voice. He wants to scoop Cal up in his arms, baby and all, and just carry him to safety. He just doesn’t know where that safety is.
“Then he won’t find you there. Or here for that matter,” Luke gets to his knees in front of the armchair and lays his hands on Cal’s knees. Cal is still shaking, and Luke can’t stand it. He keeps talking, the words tumbling out. “We’ll make sure everyone in town knows to look out for him. Even the slightest hint that he’s anywhere nearby, and I’ll stick a pin in a map, and we’ll start driving.”
Luke’s mind races. There must be somewhere they can settle. Somewhere without a wolf pack. Somewhere it will take years for Reed to stumble on. The man’s resources aren’t infinite.
Winterstoke Wolves Collection : An MM Mpreg Shifter Romance Bundle Page 13
