Page 87 of Destined Paranormals: Volume One

“He’s going to love all of you.” Monroe found that perfect spot behind my ears and started rubbing. I groaned until it should be embarrassing. I sighed in my wolf form and looked at my mate. I needed to be back in my other form so I could spend time with him.

I promised my wolf we’d come out more often, especially since I would have more time now. He agreed and quickly let my human half return to be with our mate.

“I’ll gladly let both of them crawl all over me when I can. Later though,” I said, throwing my arms around my mate’s neck. He lay back, and completely seamlessly, we went from the living room to our bedroom—Monroe just as naked as I was. It was going to be amazing having a mate that knew what I wanted and desired those same things just as much as I did.

Chapter 11

Monroe

Iwas nervous. I knew I had every right to be, and I definitely was. Anxious as well. I’d been mated for almost two weeks now. It had been an incredible two weeks. It truly had. The first day was, of course, life-changing. I had thought I would have to wait for some time for Oscar to agree to our claiming one another, but he hadn’t. I was, of course, grateful for that.

Shortly after that first amazing night together, Oscar woke me groaning. He was burning up and covered in sweat—he was in heat. His heats, I’d discovered, would rival those of a fae. Intense didn’t really describe it well. It was five very long, tiring days and nights of intense need from him. I did all I could to meet his every need: physical, sexual, mental, and emotional.

After his heat finally broke, we spent close to two days recovering. Oscar was incredibly weak, and although I recovered much quicker than he did, I wasn’t going to leave my mate when he still needed me. I never would. When he finally felt strong enough to leave our bed, we simply moved from the bedroom to the living room. I often started a fire in the fireplace, and we would spend time cuddling on the couch. I could and did spend hours holding Oscar while watching the flames dance on the logs or the snow falling outside.

But we’d claimed each other twelve days ago. Oscar and I had spent as much time in our little bubble as we could. Not only was I starting to feel guilty about being away from Maelie and Mason for so long, but I also knew they were quite a handful, and I’d basically up and left them with strangers. I knew they would be well cared for, but I was really starting to miss them. Oscar picked up on it, and he, too, had voiced concerns about leaving his sister with Alpha Forest for so long. He wasn’t worried about his brother since Joseph hadn’t shown any signs of rebellion at all.

Which brought us to the present. We were going through a mental checklist of all of the things we felt needed to be covered before we picked up our siblings. It was going to be an interesting day. We had to introduce the older ones to the younger ones as well as get everyone settled. I wasn’t overly worried about Mason or Maelie. They were young and were quite adaptable. Oscar was anxious about Hailey though, and in turn, that made me nervous.

“We should just go, shouldn’t we?” Oscar asked suddenly. He was so incredibly on edge. I closed the distance between us, but instead of just pulling him into my arms, I reached down and picked my mate up. His legs immediately wrapped around my waist, and I held on while burying my face in his neck. I gave it a few quick kisses before I sighed.

“It’ll be all right, you know. We’re a team, and I’d say that over the past several days, we have done an amazing job at working together on things.”

I felt Oscar relax, which was exactly what I wanted. I didn’t like that he was stressing about what was about to happen. Sure, I wasn’t exactly unconcerned, but it would do no good to stress to the point of making himself sick.

“We’ll work things out, Oscar. We have others to help, and it’ll be all right. I know I keep telling you that, but that’s because I truly believe it will be.”

I felt Oscar nod his head against my shoulder. He had his arms wrapped around my neck and shoulders, but his face was buried in my neck now.

“Hey, look at me, please?” Oscar moved, and when his eyes met mine, I pulled him in for a quick kiss. “It’ll be all right. Don’t worry so much. The stress isn’t good for anyone, but especially not you right now.”

That brought a smile to my mate’s face. It was incredibly fast, but I’d used a bit of magic yesterday morning, and, well, Oscar would make both of us daddies come April sometime. We were excited, of course, but there was certainly some worry. We were already busy. Whereas I honestly wasn’t overly worried about taking care of a newborn again, I knew Oscar didn’t have any experience with it. I would be there for my mate as much as possible though. Even if I happened to be at work, I would still be there for him.

“How about we go collect our siblings and bring them home? We’ll see about getting everyone settled and go from there. Sound good?”

Oscar nodded again, then dropped his legs. He gave me a quick hug before stepping back and looking up at me.

“I’m ready. I really hope your siblings like me. I know Joseph will love you, but Hailey…”

I stopped his train of thought with a finger on his lips. “It’s all right. I’ll tell you now that with the way Mason and Maelie came up to you right away, they’re going to accept you immediately. As for Hailey, I’m not worried about her liking me or not. It doesn’t matter. She doesn’t have to because you are my mate—not her. Sure, it would make life easier, but I’m not going to be too overly concerned about it.”

Oscar nodded slowly. “You’re right, of course. I’ve spent what’s felt like forever trying to make her happy, and I just…I want to be greedy and worry about making myself happy for a change.”

“As you should. You’ve more than earned the privilege of being selfish in this case. Let me spoil you, let my siblings love you, and we’ll make a family together.”

Oscar sighed as he leaned his head against my chest. “That sounds amazing and wonderful, but I’m afraid that it’ll never happen.”

I raised his face to look at me with a finger under his chin. “Only if you don’t allow it. But it will happen. Trust me on that.”

Oscar nodded again.

“Good. Now, let’s go collect Mason and Maelie. We’ll have to figure out the older two later since they’re in school.”

“I texted Joseph last night and gave him the new address. He’s going to come up here with the others after school. He said he’d bring Hailey with him.”

“Did he say anything else?” Why hadn’t Oscar told me this?

“No. He said it was best if I talked to her in person because although she’s not as bad as she was, she’s still not her old self.”