by Amelia Jade
But not Elle. She made him want to take his time, to explore every nook and cranny of her body, to know how she tasted, to feel her pressed against him in every manner. The deep understanding of one another that had been forged through the night was something he wasn’t sure could be put into words. It was so intimate, so personal, that it defied any expectation he’d ever had of a lover. Which made complete sense when he acknowledged the fact that she wasn’t just a lover.
Elle was his mate.
He knew that. His bear definitely knew it. The only one who didn’t was the one who it was most important that he tell. Braden wanted to do that, to do it so badly. Every fiber of his being strained against his willpower, which was the only thing stopping him from waking her now and telling her the truth of what he knew. But he couldn’t. Not yet.
One of the other shifters had told him to be wary of this, if he stumbled upon his mate in Cloud Lake. It was one of the first things that Gray had told him, in fact. That he needed to be aware of the differences between humans and shifters. If his mate were a shifter, there would be no further need to keep it hidden, because they would know it, just like he did.
But Elle was a human, and that meant he had to approach things differently.
“She’ll feel an attraction to you, but it won’t be the explosion that two shifters experience. Instead, think of it more like lighting a fire. You have the tinder and easily flammable pieces. That’s followed by the smaller sticks, eventually working your way up to the big logs that compose the heart of the fire, which in this case is your love.”
Gray’s words still echoed around in his head.
“Now, you’re probably thinking, ‘Well I’m a shifter, isn’t that like adding gasoline or something to the fire?’ And you’d be right. But you need to add it in very small, measured doses. That way it will start the fire faster, but it won’t blow up in your face. If you rush it, there is a very good chance that you’ll scare her off, possibly even permanently. Which I take it you wouldn’t want to do if you found your mate.”
Braden didn’t then, and he didn’t now. So he kept his mouth shut, trying instead to simply add a little more gas to the fire, so that it could burn brighter sooner. When Elle was ready to light up his sky, then, and only then would he reveal the truth to her.
Probably.
It was hard. Everything he’d ever grown up with told him that he should be telling her right now, proclaiming his love and his desire to spend the rest of his life with her. Side by side, partners in crime. Together they could live out the rest of his term here in Cloud Lake peacefully, and then he’d arrange for her and Gwen to accompany him back to Cadia.
It would be perfect. Closing his eyes, he pictured it in his mind, the images bringing a smile to his lips. There was nothing complicated about that at all. The only thing Braden had to do was open his mouth and tell her that she was his. That they were destined to be together. Surely Elle could see that, couldn’t she? It’s not like she was lacking in the intelligence department.
He snorted softly. No, she wasn’t lacking there at all. A post-secondary education certainly wasn’t necessary to gain life skills and knowledge. Elle didn’t have one, and yet she had more poise and class than many shifters her age, who arguably were exposed to much tougher education standards than humans were at a similar age. No, Elle was unique, and that was what attracted him to her so strongly.
Tell her.
But he couldn’t. Not yet. The risk was too great, despite his desire to do so.
“You have a rather serious look on your face.”
Braden jumped slightly as Elle spoke from next to him, her voice breaking the silence and scaring him.
“Sorry,” he said as his leg jerked along with the rest of him, bouncing Elle up out of her peaceful position.
She winced slightly but still settled back down on top of his thigh. “I’ll manage. But I clearly disturbed some deep thinking.”
He gave her a reassuring smile. Or at least, he hoped it was reassuring. While he did, Braden considered his response. The drive to confess to her was so strong. Overwhelming in its power. But Braden knew he could be stronger, that he could overcome it and persevere until the right moment in time, the instant that he just knew would be the one to tell her everything.
And that wasn’t right now.
“Trying to decide on where to go for breakfast,” he said, telling a white lie, and mentally begging for her forgiveness for it.
“You shifters are always hungry,” she said, using the nails of one hand to scratch at his chest as he slid back down to cuddle. A happy sound came from her mouth while she snuggled up even tighter to him, her head now resting on his chest, rising and falling with his breaths.
“Yep. It’s the three H’s.”
“The what?”
He chuckled. “Hungry, Horny, and Horngry.”
Elle went still, then she groaned. “Please tell me you didn’t just combine hungry and horny into one word.”
“Okay. I didn’t just combine hungry and horny into one word.”
“Then what is horngry?”
“It’s a combination of horny and hungry.”
Elle glared. “You just said it wasn’t!”
“You told me to say it wasn’t,” he countered.
“I meant only if it was true!” She started laughing, pulling him in tight.
“Technically it was true,” he mused. “You said hungry and horny. But really it’s horny and hungry, the other way around.”
Elle reached behind her, grabbed her pillow and stuffed it into his face before he was finished speaking.
“That’s not very nice,” he said as he calmly used his greater strength to lift the pillow out of her grasp. Then his hand descended on her exposed rear, leaving a little bit of pink on her soft, tender flesh.
“Hey!”
The little yelp she let out was so adorable, Braden could only think of one thing to do. He kissed her. Elle fought him at first, but eventually she sighed through the kiss and leaned in to it.
Another few minutes of intimacy, another shower, and half an hour later they were clothed and ready to start the day.
“So, shall we go get some food?”
Elle looked away. “I could always make something here.” Her voice was subdued, almost unhappy, a rather abrupt change from the entire rest of the morning.
Braden frowned. “What’s wrong with going for food?”
There was a long pause. “It’s embarrassing.”
“I see.” He didn’t. “Could you tell me, so that I can understand? Maybe I can help?”
Elle sighed, a much less joyful noise than the last time he’d heard it come from her. “I don’t have enough money to go out for food.”
His immediate reaction was to scoff and say that he was paying. Which he was doing. But something told Braden not to react that way, that doing so would worsen the situation. It took him a moment to realize why he felt that way. If he just brushed it off, he wouldn’t be taking her seriously. He would be dismissing her feelings and acting like they didn’t matter just because they were in error.
That wasn’t something he wanted to do, so he thought out a different method.
“I’m not sure I think you should be embarrassed by that,” he said at last.
“What do you mean?”
She wasn’t freaking out or getting mad, so Braden pushed ahead with his counterargument.
“Think of the living situation you’re in. You’ve been a single mom for nine months now, and a pregnant mother-to-be for another nine before that. A full year and a half that you’ve effectively been unable to get a job. Not unwilling, not uninterested, but actually unable. On top of that, you’ve been working that entire time. I’ve seen what you do to raise Gwen, and how much effort you put into that. Anyone who says that you haven’t been working is full of shit.” He paused, considering if he had any more to say, then decided no, he didn’t. “So where is the embarrassment in that?”
Elle considered his words, her expression focused.
“I…I’ve never thought of it that way. I’ve always just considered the fact that I don’t have any money, and whenever I do have a bit of spare cash, it inevitably goes toward something for Gwen.”
“Exactly. You’re putting your child first, which is admirable in more ways than I could begin to describe,” he said, trying to drive his point home. “So why can’t you accept that your…” he almost said mate, then started to switch to boyfriend, then realized he was screwed no matter what he said, and went with something simple and blunt, “man wants to take you out for breakfast?”
There was a pause.
“And he also wants to take himself out to breakfast, because he’s worked up a huge appetite from certain activities conducted in the past twelve hours, and doesn’t want to clean you out of food.”
At that Elle laughed and he knew he had her.
“You’re paying?” she asked sheepishly.
“Of course I’m paying.” He felt that the unspoken ‘That’s how it should be’ was more than implied in his tone. Elle was his mate, or his woman, however he needed to refer to her at the moment. Damn straight he was paying. What was the use in having a family fortune if he couldn’t put some of it to use by stuffing her full of delicious breakfast foods like eggs, bacon, toast, and the like?
“Now, as much as I hate myself for saying it, go put something on to cover up that gorgeous tush of yours, and let’s go.”
Chapter Thirteen
Elle
In the week following his first night spent at her house, Braden came over several more times. Each time she opened the door after his gentle taps, her heart and stomach competed to see which one could freak out more. That butterfly feeling and heart-pounding near-panic that came from seeing someone for the first time? It never faded.
If anything, it grew stronger the more she saw him. Elle came to adore waking up in the mornings next to his gigantic frame. True, she lost out on some real estate in the bed. Arguably most of it. But for a change, compared to most men she’d dated in the past, Braden had no problems with her cuddling up next to him. In fact, he would often reach out in the middle of the night, sound asleep, and pull her in tight to him.
Elle was in heaven those times, curling right up next to him and leeching as much body heat from him as she could. It was glorious, and she woke up feeling more rested than ever before after a night spent asleep in his arms. Her only complaint was that he couldn’t be there every night.
She thought about going to the embassy, to spend the night there when he couldn’t be with her, but so far that hadn’t happened. It was more out of convenience. If he couldn’t spend the night at her place, it generally meant he was working the night shift, so even if she did pack up everything for herself and for Gwenevere, she would still be sleeping alone. Except this time she would be in a different bed, without the comforts of home. So instead she just stayed at home and let him come to her.
Today though, he was working and then had something else going on after, some sort of training seminar or something. He’d been rather vague about it, comparing it to a budget meeting sort of thing. Elle shrugged. Whatever it was, he hadn’t sounded like he was looking forward to it. So she’d decided to head on up to the north end of town with Gwen. As it turned out, plenty of the other women had decided to do the same thing today.
“This is going to get really hectic in another six months,” Kelly remarked.
Elle turned to look at Gray’s mate. “What do you mean?”
The brunette smiled and gestured at the crowd in front of them, her wavy brown hair bouncing lively as she did. “Well, right now most of these little ones are inert, or just starting to fumble their way around. That’s going to change in six months.”
“Ah. Yeah. That’s going to be interesting.”
There were six little ones on the floor. On top of that, there were three other women with stomachs that indicated they were nearly ready to give birth.
“I’m sort of glad I don’t have a house, so I can’t host these gatherings with ease,” she said selfishly. “Because you’re right. It’s going to get crazy trying to run herd on all these little ones.”
Even as she spoke, Elle watched Gwen lever herself upright and walk unsteadily across the floor to where Karlie and Cooper were currently smashing plastic blocks together, trying to make them do…who knew what. Something.
“Think of all the friends they’re going to have though,” Karri said, joining their conversation.
“That’s a good point. And by the looks of it, you’re going to be contributing.”
“Oh yeah. This little one is cooking right along.”
Elle hadn’t seen much of Andrew’s mate lately, but she quite liked her, and made a mental note to try and hang out with her a bit more.
“Do you have a name picked out yet?”
Karri smiled. “Actually we just decided the other day.” Her face took on a warm glow. “We’re going to call him Jet.”
“Aww that’s an adorable name!” Elle gushed, and Kelly joined her. Eventually the others overheard and conversation stilled as they asked what was up.
“We decided on Jet as the name!” Karri announced to everyone. More cheers and compliments followed.
Elle looked around the room. So many familiar faces, friends one and all. She was closer to some than others, but it didn’t matter. Each of them had something in common that most other women would never understand, and that Elle herself was only just beginning to understand as her relationship with Braden grew stronger and more serious. Dating a shifter was not for the faint of heart, despite how easy Braden made it feel. They were strong-willed creatures, and they wanted things their way. So far neither of them had disagreed on anything, but Elle suspected once they did, it would be explosive.
“So, how are things going with you and Braden?”
She turned to see Rachel approaching.
“Yeah, tell us everything!” Madison Koche called out from her chair across the room.
The five Koche brothers were the original shifters to settle in the north part of Cloud Lake, buying up a huge amount of property and then proceeding to build houses upon it for the other shifters that came to join them. All of it was done in secret, because if Cadia found out, they would be in a lot of trouble. No shifters of Cadian origin were supposed to live outside the borders of the territory, by law.
By Elle’s last count, there were over a dozen of them located in the burgeoning community. She knew that Cadia would eventually try to do something about it, but until then, she was determined to enjoy it as much as possible.
“Things are going well,” she said. “We see each other as much as possible, which is generally every day or other day.”
“Are you fucking yet?”
“Oh my God,” Elle ranted with fake anger. “Is that all you filthy-minded people want to know about?”
“Yes!” Karri piped up.
“Well for your information, yes, we are fucking, as you put it. And it’s damn good. Better than any that you’re getting.” She waved her finger around the room casually as she spoke.
The last comment brought forth laughter from all the women, each of them knowing that their man was better in bed. It wasn’t much of a contest, as a group love-in that acknowledged that they were all getting their brains screwed out way better than they ever had in their previous lives. It had become a fun little game at this point, with each woman making up some ridiculous story to try and top the others, no matter how unbelievable.
Elle sobered. “But I need to ask you something.”
The laughter died immediately as the other women recognized a serious question.
“What is it?” Rachel asked, urging her best friend to speak up.
“Okay. I know most of you are mated. And that your mates have bought you a house, which is kinda my question. But I need to know, before that, or after even, have they been spoiling you rotten?
Not with attention, but with physical things?”
“What do you mean?” one of them asked, confused.
Elle looked around. “I mean, almost every time I see him, or that we go out, Braden is buying me stuff for around the house, or for Gwen. Look, even the carrier-carseat thing I brought today. It’s brand new, top of the line. He just showed up with it the other day. And the morning after we slept together we went out for breakfast, but by the time we came home, he’d bought enough food to feed me for a month.” She frowned. “I feel guilty that he’s spending all this money on me. I’ve got new clothes, a new rug for the main room, everything.”
“New shoes?”
Despite the fact she was trying to ask her question without making a joke of it, Elle couldn’t help but laugh. “No, he hasn’t bought me new shoes yet. Which is a problem.” The women all laughed. “But seriously, is that normal?”
“I mean, Andrew bought me stuff, but I come from money,” Karri said. “So I can’t really answer your question very well.”
Rachel shrugged. “Hector bought me a few things, but nothing crazy. Certainly not that much.”
One by one the other women all agreed.
“Hmmm. Well I hope I didn’t just get your men in trouble,” she said at last, trying to lighten the mood.
“I’ll just have Kean take me shoe shopping tonight,” Madison said. “Then I’ll have him buy me ice cream and jalapenos.”
The other women all cringed at the combination.
“Isn’t it supposed to be pickles and ice cream?” Kelly asked, garnering much agreement from the others.
“Nooo.” Madison shook her head. “You guys are missing out! It’s so good. Trust me, this needs to be a boxed flavor!”
“I honestly kind of want to retch right now,” Elle said bluntly. “That’s absolutely disgusting. And I liked cookies and canned cheese when I was pregnant.”
The conversation segued into the more odd and disgusting pregnancy cravings that the women had—or were having—while pregnant. To her surprise, most of the others decried her combination as worse than the ice cream and jalapenos one. Elle wasn’t sure whether she’d won or lost the conversation, since nobody could seem to agree on whether they were trying to be the grossest, or least gross. In the end it didn’t matter.
