Chapter Five

Chasten

My wolf's ears perked up as the words tumbled off my lips. Cum. Orgasm. Pleasure that shakes your cells from the inside out. That got his attention and almost brought him to the surface. He nuzzled against my ribs from inside his inner sanctum as Kirk's big, strong hand ran over my ass before tracing over my hip. I leaned into his mouth, kissing him hard and sweeping my tongue around his demanding mouth.

His fingers wrapped around me, soft at first, then tightened into a fist worth pumping through. I sighed against his lips. The whole bathroom smelled like us now. The steam had been enough to pry the blocker from his pores. He smelled fucking delicious, and his fingers wrapped around me felt even more delicious than he smelled. My wolf sighed happily, still leaning against my ribs. He couldn't reach the wolf inside Kirk yet but that didn't stop the longing burning inside him.

I leaned my forehead against Kirk's shoulder and took a deep breath as his fist pumped over me. I didn't want to be too loud. Sure, Lar probably assumed what we were going to do but I didn't want to open my mouth and confirm his and everyone else's suspicions. Some things needed to stay between us. Shit! My breath hitched in my throat as pleasure spiraled around my dick and down deep into my core. I just met this man and I wanted to keep secrets with him. It wasn't diabetes or sedatives that was going to end me, it was going to be Kirk who did.

"What's your surname?" I asked him, realizing I didn't even know the last name of the man who was currently jacking me off.

"Bowen," he said between kisses. "Kirkland James Bowen."

"Chasten Grelin," I said and fought off the urge to facepalm as soon as the words left my lips.

He knew my last name. He had been my nurse the first time around after all.

"Nice to meet you, Mister Grelin," Kirk said, tightening his grip on my cock.

My knees quivered and I leaned against him for support, but not before calling him an asshole. He smirked and stroked me again. This time his fingers ran all the way down my shaft and let go to shift their attention to my balls. I bit my lip and let the new sensations wash over me. I grabbed for the ‘oh shit' bar and held tight as he massaged his fingertips against my scrotum. He rubbed just hard enough to make me realize how slick I was for him. If he said the word I would've been face down, ass up ready and willing for him. Today had been long and unusual but the magic would keep me whole while I fulfilled my part of the claiming vows.

Just when I thought I'd give in and beg, Kirk took hold of my dick again, still smirking, but his eyes were narrowed in concentration. He was hard too. I almost reached out for him, but he squeezed me and all thoughts fled my mind except for how to breathe through the euphoria this first experience with my true-mate shook up inside my soul. My dick trembled in his hand, warning him about how close I was. His fist pumped quicker over me and I gave into all the pressure building deep inside. I came hard and growling and somehow still desperate for more of him. His fist worked over me until there was nothing left. Then when I was a panting mess, leaning on him to stay upright, he smirked and asked, "Did that work up your wolf's appetite?"

"Asshole," I swore at him, but it had.

***

While my wolf did come out to eat a raw hospital-sanctioned deer leg he couldn't move around well enough to appease the doctor. While Kirk resigned himself to spending the night in the hospital with me, I seethed about it. Then I seethed about him not being as upset as I was. How could he not be pissed about staying here overnight? And tonight, of all the nights, to be stuck here? My balls were going to explode if I really had to stay here all night. My wolf was going to chew someone's face off! After a few minutes of brooding in silence I finally asked him how he could be so nonchalant about it all.

"I'm not. I'm worried about you."

"That's not the part I'm talking about, and you know it," I said, narrowing my eyes on him.

"Which part then?" he smirked.

"Are you really going to make me say it?" I asked, grabbing one of the extra pillows Lar brought in from the chair.

"Are you planning to beat it out of me?" he arched a brow.

"Fucker!" I said and hit him with the pillow. "No one's beating it out here apparently."

"It's cute when you're frustratingly horny," Kirk laughed, taking the pillow from me and pulling me down into the bed next to him.

They'd moved us to a room meant to house couples. I wasn't sure why they had such rooms at the hospital unless it was specifically for true-mates. If someone had tried to make Kirk leave, the doctors would've found out just how capable my wolf was – under the side effects of sedation or not.

"How are you not just as frustrated as me?" I asked, plopping down next to him.

"You're sick or at least unwell right now. So I can wait. I'm patient. It's sort of a requirement to work in medicine," he shrugged and wrapped his arm round my shoulders and I leaned in and rested my head against his chest. It was nice and cozy to be all pushed up next to him even if we were still in the hospital.

"I'd die. I still might die in protest," I laughed.

"You're not allowed to die. There is nothing wrong with you that's going to kill you any time soon," Kirk said and kissed the top of my head.

"Did you always want to work in medicine?" I asked because if I couldn't get inside his head through performing the claiming vows at least I could ask questions to try to do it.

"Not really," he shook his head. "Everyone always expects the answer to be yes when they ask that question, but it wasn't for me. I started in social work, but I wasn't cut out for it. I got too involved."

"Too involved?" I arched a brow. "Isn't that a social worker's job?"

"Sort of, but not in the way I mean," he shook his head again. "I was called out for a wellness check because a kid in grade school had been absent for a week. The family moved a lot back and forth, bouncing between school districts and stuff. Everyone thought it was probably that. Well, I go to do the drop in and it's clear that the kid has been abused – bruises and bite marks and just stuff you don't see on little kids. Sure, wolf pups might play fight but these weren't kid bites. Well, that was because the birth parents had split up and one of them had a new partner who was abusive. They were trying to keep the kid home long enough so that everything healed up and no one would know. Not my best moment but—"

"You beat the shit out of him, didn't you?" I asked, knowing it was the truth before he confirmed it.

"Yeah. The total shit. Took three of the Hemlock guards to pull me off. He had a broken nose and collar bone. I was going in for the killing bite. Should've went to jail or something but my lawyer argued the ‘natural defense of young in wolves' theory and nothing happened to me except for losing my job. I got a decent severance package, and it helped pay for nursing school. I still wanted to help people I just had to be a little less involved. Plus, being instinctively protective and able to back it up comes in handy. You'd be surprised how many times abusers show up to the ER."

"They're dumb," I frowned, furrowing my brow. "I want to say that was reckless, but it wasn't. Not really. It was wolf. It was hot. Well, the way I imagine you looked while kicking ass is hot. Maybe not the actual situation."

"Not hot at all. Kid's doing fine now but it's insane the things people will do to kids who can't defend themselves."

I glanced at my belly. Nothing Kirk and I had done so far would result in a pup, but I couldn't stop myself.

"I'd kill for our pups," Kirk said, his voice keeping that serious tone it took on whenever he talked about work, past or present.

"I would too," I nodded. "For any pup."

He ran his hand over my belly as if he too imagined our future growing inside my body. I was hard and slick again. Okay, hard again. My slickness hadn't gone away. It lingered there, pooling between my cheeks and keeping me all too aware of the fact that Kirk and I hadn't exchanged our claiming vows yet.

"We'll have to be careful," he said as his hand made another soft pass over the flat plain of my stomach.

"You do want kids, don't you?" I asked. "You just said you'd kill for them but—"

"I do. We'll just have to be careful with your blood sugars and stuff," Kirk said, his hand pausing on the center of my belly. "I can feel him there asleep."

"Huh? Oh!" I laughed. "My wolf. I was about to say I'm sure you're great at making babies but you're not that great. No one's that great. You'd have to have invisible sperm with the superpower of swimming through the air or something."

"I don't think I'd want that ability," Kirk screwed up his face, seriously considering the consequences of such a thing. "I definitely don't want that as a superpower. That would be a curse. Not only do you lose the visual of the shot but also they go flying around. How far? Are they sentient enough to hunt down someone or aim for conception?"

"You overthought that one, alpha," I laughed and stole a kiss. "Don't worry. These hypothetical super sperm always aim for me because we're true-mates."

"You'd have to eat birth control at every meal and I'd need to take on all the shifts to afford all these pups," he smirked. "But on a realistic note, yes, I do want a family."

"Even if they inherit the fainting gene?" I teased him.

"I don't think it's debilitating in the long run and it's not for sure they'd have it."

"True. I thought it missed me until today," I sighed. "I'm glad we found each other and all but I'd rather have met you on the Ferris wheel or something."

"Me too for your sake," Kirk nodded.

"But if it had to happen I'm glad you were my nurse," I said and snuggled in close to him.

He was hard now too. It was all over his scent and in the way his fingers dug possessively into my flesh. Goosebumps broke out across my skin and I considered trying for more.

"Your wolf needs the rest," Kirk said, as if reading my thoughts.

"I know. I can't believe he's sleeping again."

"No more of that sedative for him. I've made sure they added that to your chart. There are other ones. Beastout is the most commonly used sedative for inner beasts but you're sensitive to it. Too sensitive to it for my liking."

"Mine too," I agreed. "I think he's sleeping enough for both of us. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep at all tonight."

"I'll stay up with you. Not like I gotta work in the morning," Kirk said, hugging me close again. "You know what I do and what I did before. What about you?"

I blushed. I didn't stumble into many occasions to explain my job beyond ‘artist.' I liked it like that too. Privacy went a long way in saving me headaches.

"We don't have to talk about it. Hell, maybe work stresses you out. Didn't mean to make tonight harder on you, mate."

"It's an unusual job," I said.

"I work in medicine. I've seen and heard it all."

"I'm an artist. A not safe for work artist. Mostly commissions. Sell some prints too," I blurted it all out before I lost my nerve.

"Should've known with all the tats," Kirk nodded.

His scent didn't change. He wasn't ready to run for the hills yet.

"And I'm not gonna change jobs if we have a pup," I added, testing the waters to see how much of an uphill battle I had before me.

"Who said you had to?" Kirk asked. "If you like it and it pays the bills, I say do it. Nudity or erotic or whatever. We're both grownups. It's not like our pup's gonna peek out your belly button and see what's going on. That's not how it works. When the kids are older there is always daycare and me and other options too and then school eventually. I take it someone's said something you didn't like about your job."

"Plenty of people have. From get a ‘real job' to ‘stop being a perv.' They love to ask if my parents know – they do. They love to ask if my mate knows. Well, you do now. Sorry, I couldn't tell you when I started. I didn't want to send letters out to all the single alphas in the universe just to make sure you got the letter."

"Are you trying to be like the Starscales?"

"Huh?" I blinked.

"Oh, that guy who sent out all those letters to get that one dragon to their world," Kirk shrugged.

"Eh, I'm lazy. Well, not really, but compared to that guy I am. I'm not sending letters to everyone. I get enough hand cramps from drawing. I don't need to add mass letter writing to the list of what I do."

"I'm here now. No need for any of that," Kirk yawned.

I glanced at my phone that sat over on the bedside table. Grina and Treg had both sent me a handful of texts each and the time read just after ten.

"Do you get up early, usually?" I asked.

"Yeah. About 5."

"So it's your bedtime."

"I said I'd stay up with you. Let me guess you're a night owl, right? Most artists are."

"A bit. Sometimes. My sleep schedule follows my commissions and inspiration. I know, I know. Sleep at night or at least the same time every day. Everyone keeps telling me but it just doesn't work out for me. Probably not great for my blood sugar but life's meant to be lived, right?"

"I think you have to answer that one for yourself. It's meant to be lived, but the meaning of that is up to each of us," Kirk yawned again.

"Do you want to try to get some sleep?" I asked him.

"Stop smelling so guilty," he frowned at me. "Maybe this is my ‘life is meant to be lived.' If you feel bad every time I stay up late with you, you're probably going to feel like that a lot."

I opened my mouth wanting to say that I'd work on getting on his sleep schedule, but I knew that most likely wouldn't work out.

"I could switch to night shifts if that's the only way we can lineup," he said.

"How are you reading my mind?"

"I'm not. I'm thinking about our future too. I worked a lot of late nights when I was an intern. I could do it again."

"Don't babies need day schedules?" I asked.

"That depends on a lot of things. We're crepuscular, technically, as wolves. So, sort of but not really, I guess."

"Twilight and dusk and such?" I asked, double-checking my vocab.

"Yep," Kirk nodded, his eyes drifting shut.

I twisted around to put my back to him and tugged on his arm until he spooned in behind me. I grabbed my phone and texted my friends back to let them know I was okay. Then I asked Grina to email my one open commission and explain the situation to the client. I couldn't afford to lose work just because my body decided to be a big, fat traitor. Eventually, Kirk drifted off and with my wolf still so out cold inside his inner sanctum I wasn't far behind him.