Page 24 of Sandro

Sandro stared intently at me a moment before he nodded. “And your heat. It’s going to happen sometime, but we don’t know when. Do you want me to wear condoms and hope for the best or not to worry about it?”

That…surprised me. “Do you want a baby? I’ve always said I wanted a family one day, but if you’re not ready, I’m good either way.” I understood the reasoning of waiting. It gave couples time to get to know each other better and, in cases like mine, to get their life together to prepare for a baby. But Sandro was older. He’d already mentioned he was in a position to take care of me and any family we had. But was that what he truly wanted?

“Then we’ll take no precautions and let things happen if they’re supposed to,” he said just before he leaned down and kissed me again.

Apparently, he did. But any thoughts I had of heats and babies left when he moved from my lips to my neck.

Chapter 11

Sandro

Iwas an idiot. I was aware enough that I was and willing to admit to the fact. It meant that I would need to work even harder to get my beloved to trust me completely. Sure, he would allow me to claim him because that was basic biology. He was wired to be claimed by his fated mate, and I was wired to find, claim, cherish, and protect fiercely my beloved.

Well, he’d found me. But it was time I stepped up and stopped letting my past control how I was living my life. If I was meant to die in that warehouse, I would have. I hadn’t though, and although it was true that I was still physically healing to some extent, I’d not done a whole lot of living. I’d bottled everything up, refused to talk to anyone about what was going on, and that all needed to stop now. I had Leo in my life, and he deserved a mate who was present and available. He deserved more than that, and I was going to give it to him.

First, I needed to get us upstairs to the loft because I was over two hundred years old, and I was not going to claim my beloved on a sofa. Not when there was a perfectly good bed upstairs.

Leo suddenly pulled away and looked up at me with a serious expression. “I need a direct answer, Sandro. I can’t…” He shook his head. “There’s no bond connection yet, but I don’t want to get excited about having a baby, only for there not to be one. I need to know that we’re on the same page.”

I leaned down and kissed him quickly before standing back up. “We’ll have a baby if we’re gifted with such a treasure,” I told him. “I am open to as many children as you would like. I’ll take care of you to the best of my ability while you are pregnant, but I know that Rio has more abilities than I do for care during pregnancies. You will have the absolute best care, and yes, I would very much like to have children with you.”

Leo smiled up at me. “Really? Children?”

“Yes. More than one. Every child, if at all possible, should have a sibling to grow up with.” I kissed his nose quickly. “Not that any of our children will ever grow up alone. There are plenty of playmates in the coven already. Marcello and Abel have twins, and Naldo and Mazzi have one as well.” Ours would be the fourth for the coven, and although I hadn’t exactly expected to be adding to the growing number of children in the coven, I wasn’t going to deny Leo anything.

“Well, then maybe you should claim me?” he said suggestively.

I winked at my beloved. “I was working on that. But I would prefer to move this up to the loft. Would you like for me to carry you up there, or are you good to walk on your own?”

Leo’s smile fell a little. “I’ll walk. I know it hurts you to walk, and I can’t imagine how much pain it would cause you if you were to carry me.”

I sat up but didn’t move completely off Leo. “I can carry you,” I told him. “I’m not completely incapable. And Rio did his magical thing while he was here and gave me a pain-relieving boost.” I hadn’t asked, but he’d done it anyway. I wasn’t going to complain because it truly did help.

Leo opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again before he shook his head. “Should I be concerned?”

I chuckled. “No, you shouldn’t. He uses magic to take some of the pain away. Specifically in my thighs, where I had several deep stab wounds and a broken leg that had to be repaired. It is much like he does for omegas when they give birth, but not to the same level.”

I stood, and without waiting for him to protest, I bent down and scooped him up into my arms. Leo gasped before he wrapped his arms around my neck.

“I’m heavy, and I’ll hurt you.”

I sighed. “No you aren’t, and no you won’t.” I hurried to the stairs, and with ease that I’d not felt in some time, I climbed them with Leo in my arms. Once back in the loft, I carried him over to the bed, and although my first thought was to place him on it, I was being a bit more practical, and I set him on his feet just beside it. We were both fully dressed, and although I would love to kiss him while on the bed, it was much more challenging to get undressed when we were lying down.

I cupped his face and smiled down at my beloved. “We will take this at your pace,” I told him.

Leo’s eyebrows rose. “Mine? If that’s the case, I should still be in bed, naked with you downstairs. At this point, we’d be asleep because we would have already claimed each other this morning.”

I sighed and dropped my hands to place them on my hips. “I messed up,” I told him. “I’m trying to fix it. Please work with me here. If not, then we’ll do it another way.”

In response, Leo grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up and over his head. He tossed it to the foot of the bed, then undid his pants and pushed them down. I stood there, a bit stunned that he’d gotten undressed in under a minute. Not only that, but he wasn’t wearing any briefs.

“Do you often go without undergarments?” I asked. Certainly not the most romantic thing to ask in the moment.

“Really, Sandro? You just said you wanted to claim me, and you have a naked beloved standing in front of you, and you focus on my lack of underwear? Really?”

“I apologize. That was…” I cleared my throat.

“If you don’t want to claim me, tell me now. I’ll call Rio and ask for a lift back to Italy.”