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“This is Mick, Sen—” Nerida said, beginning to introduce the others.
“We’ve met,” Sen said smiling as those grey eyes burned into mine. “You’re trying things out in the kitchen?”
“Um…yeah,” I said. “Kade’s started at school, and I figured it was time to start pulling my weight. Ophelia thought it might be a good opportunity, working here to…” Mick, Sen, and Shaun, the guy with the cereal from this morning, all went very still for a moment, hands pausing mid slice of their food. “To meet some of the guys before the full moon.”
“Thinking of adding to your pack?” Mick was a big guy, very similar in colouring to Finn, with those grey eyes and auburn hair. Eyes that seemed to take all of me in with one sweep, a smile indicating just what he thought about that. “You’re Mon—Peter’s mate?”
“Yeah, she is,” the man himself said, appearing by my side and sitting beside me with Aidan on the other, until I was sandwiched between them. Something that reminded me of what had happened the other night, the two of them stroking me while I worked each one of them in my—
“Congrats, Pete,” Mick said. “Couldn’t think of anyone more deserving. Your mate is beautiful.”
This was said more to me than him, Aidan’s hand dropping down to take mine and rub my knuckles with his thumb.
“She’s everything,” Peter replied. I felt him turn and press his lips to my temple, but my attention was on the wooden tabletop, my eyes following the whorls and twists of the wood grain. They had to, as today, his words, Aidan’s hand around mine—right now, it was all too much.
The guys in Rick’s friendship group had a weird relationship with their partners. They sat around constantly deriding them over beers. From domestic chores to work to sexual performance, they used to talk at length about their shortcomings, mine included. It seemed almost a currency within the group, to share a ‘fucking missus’ story, something guaranteed to get the guys laughing at our pathetic foibles. The sound of Peter’s voice, the almost reverent tone, was so alien that I struggled to get my head around it.
“Well, congrats, you big lunk!” Nerida said. “Now, let’s get our girls something to eat. They’ve been on their feet all morning.”
Nerida was being nice, I knew that, but I felt curiously naked when they all got to their feet and went. I could feel the ghost of Aidan’s hand against mine, even after they were gone.
“So, Flick, tell us about how you met our Pete,” Mick said.
Obviously, he hadn’t gotten the message, if the pained looks Sheila and Sen gave him were any indication. Shaun kept his eyes on his plate, methodically mowing through the food, as if we weren’t here. But I straightened. I could talk about this, I already had countless times with Ophelia.
“My husband beat me and my son,” I said, proud of the way my voice cut through the background chatter. “I was on the run in his car, when Aidan and Peter found us. I thought…” I paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. “I thought my Tirian was some kind of delusion, but when I got out of the car, I walked up to Peter and I bit him. Somehow, I just knew that’s what I—we needed.”
Silence fell across the table. Mick regretted asking, I could see that, his eyes stark against his now paling skin, but he was not the most stricken. Shaun had given up all pretence of eating, his fork landing on the table with a clatter. He looked like I had slapped him, his face as white as a sheet. He swallowed, dragging his staring eyes away, and then blinked as if to bring himself back to the here and now. He drew out his phone with a shaking hand, unlocking it and scrolling through the screen before getting to his feet.
“Sorry, I need to get going,” he said, putting his cutlery neatly across the plate and picking it up. “A thing’s… It’s been nice meeting you, Flick.”
And with that, he strode off.
“Fuck,” Mick said, “I’m sorry, Flick—”
“Just go and grab us some sandwiches,” Sen said, shoving the other man gently with his elbow. Mick nodded and then got to his feet.
“Flick, I’m—” Sheila started to say.
“It’s fine. Not everyone will have gotten the memo yet,” I said, and as the words came out, I realised they were true. I saw myself approaching Rick with the ashtray in hand, almost as if it was happening to someone else. Why wouldn’t she strike back? I thought. He just kept on going and going. Calling the police would have done little. He was friends with one.
Sen nodded, as if he could see my mental dialogue and he agreed with it.
“Shaun, he’s a little touchy about the whole mating thing,” Sheila said. “We thought… It looked like Jules was going to take him as hers but…that didn’t end up happening. It’s one of the risks. Sometimes, our Tirians doesn’t accept some of the potentials. Mine loves Nerida,” she said, giving herself a little hug. “I never thought I’d pair up with another woman but…”
Sen smiled and shook his head at her expression, but that faded away when he met my eyes.
“So, my beast might reject Aidan?” I said.
That would not happen. He is good for the cub and for you. You should mark him before someone else sees his mate potential, she replied.
“We have a thing we call heat fever,” Sen said. He reached across the table, slowly, taking my hand when I didn’t flinch away. That same tidal wave of warmth went up my arm, rushing through my body. Perhaps he’d be offended, but it wasn’t him I thought of as it washed through me. I felt my nipples pebble under my clothes, my body softening and swelling at his touch. No, it was the boys, on either side of me, kissing every inch of me, right up until…
I gasped, something that had him smiling slowly.
“You can feel attraction, have great sex, like Jules did with Shaun, but becoming someone’s mate takes a whole lot more.”
The raspy tone of his voice sent shivers up my spine. Well that, and he was still holding my hand. Sheila’s eyes went to the size of saucers as she glanced from one to the other of us.
