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Felix looked down at his hands. “Will you shift with me? And can we do that thing we did before?”
“Which thing?” I gave him a sly smile and waggled my eyebrows, which made him smile.
“Not that. At least not until after I’ve spent some time in my otter form.” He reached out and took my hand, and I wrapped it up in my bigger palm. “Can we do that thing where you hold me on your tail?”
There was nothing I wanted more. “It would be my pleasure. I will hold you like that anytime you want.”
Felix’s good eye glistened. “Really?”
“You’re mine, Felix. Soon, I’m going to make sure you’re marked as mine forever. I will give you whatever you need whenever you need it. I love you, Lucky. You’re the other half of my heart. What makes you happy makes me happy.”
“I love you too, Nero.” He turned his head and puckered his lips, and I met them in a soft kiss.
Everything in my body and soul wanted to take more, but after the single chaste kiss, I settled the breakfast tray over Felix’s lap and got comfortable in my chair by the bed while he ate.
When he was finished, I picked up the tray, and Felix flipped the blanket off his lap. He carefully turned his body so his feet hung over the edge of the bed. The process was slow, and Felix was still moving like he was in pain, but this was the first time he’d moved as much without assistance, and even though I wanted to scoop him up in my arms to make it easier for him, I let him do it himself. Watching him struggle felt like a thousand tiny cuts to my heart, but I also knew he needed his sense of autonomy back, so I clenched my fists and resisted the urge to help.
He held out a hand when he tried to stand, and I tucked the breakfast tray under one arm and offered him the other.
“I’m going to take a shower.” He was upright next to the bed, but he seemed a little shaky.
“Do you want help?”
My mate shook his head and squared his shoulders as much as he could without putting pressure on his ribs. “I can do it, but if you want to keep me company after you take that downstairs, I won’t say no.”
I wanted to stay, to force my help on him if only because the thought of letting him out of my sight for even a second made me feel like I was going to vibrate out of my skin, but I nodded. Felix wanted to do this on his own, and I wanted him to have the opportunity to prove to himself that Agent Cooper and his goons hadn’t broken him. Instead of helping him into the bathroom, I gave him one more quick kiss, and headed downstairs to drop off the breakfast dishes. When I returned to our room, Felix was standing in the bathroom, and the water in the shower was running.
“I might have overestimated my abilities a little bit.”
“What do you need?”
“Can you help me take my shirt off? It hurts like a bitch to lift my arms.”
I smiled. “Of course.” I slid my hands under the fabric and stretched it as far as it would go. Felix bent his arms at the elbows and dropped them through the armholes, and then I lifted the shirt off over his head.
“Thanks.” His smile was lopsided from the swelling in his cheek.
“Anytime.” I tried to put as much emotion into the single word as I could. I would do whatever I could to help Felix whenever he needed it from now until the end of forever.
He shuffled to the shower and opened the glass door slowly, then stepped up over the curb and under the steaming spray. I felt his contented sigh all the way to my bones.
I closed the toilet lid and sat down, watching my mate through the foggy glass. This moment was so different than the last time I’d watched him this way. There was no teasing this time. Felix was focused on getting clean, and I was only there to make sure he didn’t fall or pass out. Even if the vibe was different, I still loved seeing him through the glass. I wasn’t sure what it said about me that I enjoyed watching my mate shower, but I wasn’t sorry about it. I loved watching Felix do everything. I loved watching him sit hunched over a computer, his fingers flying over the keyboard. I loved watching him fidget in the front seat of my SUV while we staked out a skip. I loved the way he ate and slept and breathed. I was a man obsessed, and I couldn’t find it in myself to apologize for that.
He made me feel vulnerable in a way I’d never been vulnerable before. My brothers and my grandmother could take care of themselves, and while I felt a certain amount of responsibility to take care of them as the oldest, it wasn’t thesame as what I felt for Felix. The need to protect him and love him was bone-deep—no, even deeper than that. The need was in every atom of my body.
Felix turned off the water, and I grabbed the fluffiest towel I had on the shelf in the bathroom, holding it out to him as he opened the door.
“God, I needed that. I feel better.” He took the towel and ran it over his body. “I’m still sore as hell, but I feel human again.”
“I’m so glad.” Remembered fear from when Cal had called and told me my mate had been taken threatened to crawl its way up my throat, but I swallowed it back. Felix was here with me and safe. Everything was okay.
“Uh, I hate to ask, but can I borrow your robe? I want to shift, but I want to go outside to do it in case it works. If it does, I can’t think of anything that would feel better than a swim. Seems counterproductive to get dressed just to get undressed again downstairs.”
“Definitely.” I went to grab my robe from the hook on the back of the bathroom door, but then I remembered something. “Hold on.” I left Felix standing in the bathroom and went in search of the items my brothers had brought up the day before.
Finding what I wanted, I returned to Felix and handed him the oversized gift bag.
“What’s this?” he asked, peeking inside through the tissue paper.
