13. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Bennett

"Daddy's sleeping again," Lucas commented as he moved his plastic gingerbread man to the next orange square.

Glancing over at Shay, he had his head tilted back resting on the back of the couch, his eyes closed, soft snores echoing with each breath. Smiling at the sight, because he just looked so…adorable, I nodded. "He is. His body needs lots of rest, but he's getting better. He's not wheezy anymore."

It was Thursday night, and tomorrow Shay would meet with Alex Ortega, the family law lawyer. Then he and Lucas would be moving into the house next door, and sadness washed over me at the thought of them no longer being with me.

He's going to be right next door, Benny , my wolf chided gently. Not like you aren't going to see him ever again .

Not the same though, and we haven't even talked about us being fated mates. We have barely even touched.

Which, in all honesty, might be a good thing. Shay was keeping his distance, and I couldn't blame him for that. He needed to get things settled between him and his…mate–and fuck if that didn't leave a horrible taste in my mouth–before we could possibly think about moving forward with anything between the two of us.

And even though I knew that Shay and Edward were over, each time my eyes landed on his mate claim scar, it was like a flashing neon danger sign. It basically screamed at me ‘do not touch, doesn't belong to you'.

But he does belong to us , my wolf huffed. He's our mate. Our fated mate. That trumps everything.

He's already mated , I argued, absently picking a card and moving my blue plastic piece to the next purple square.

Bah, my wolf grumbled, is he though? Really?

That mate claim scar says he fucking is. Let it go.

"Bennett. Bennett, it's your turn again," Lucas's voice finally broke into my silent arguing with my wolf. Shaking my head to clear it, I picked another card, glancing at the clock on my phone. "I should wake your dad up. It's getting late."

It wasn't that late, but for a six-year-old, it was already past his bedtime. And Shay would sleep better in his bed–my bed–the bed.

Pushing up from my spot on the floor in front of my coffee table, where we had the board game set up, I knee crawled over to where Shay was sprawled out. All long legs and loose arms.

Standing, because I was too short to wake him while I was still on the floor, I leaned over him. Gently shaking his shoulder, he jerked violently, knocking me off balance. With a squeak, I fell forward, stopping my descent into him with one hand falling firmly on his thigh and the other on his bicep. Goddess, the man had hard muscles beneath his skin.

You could tell Shay didn't spend hours in a gym, but his shoulders were wide, his limbs long, and there definitely wasn't any extra fat on him. There were hard, defined muscles in his arms and his legs. At least from what I could feel under my hands, as they flexed, the faintest ripple of movement running through him.

His eyes flew open, staring into mine. We were barely an inch apart, my hair falling over my forehead and almost touching his face. My eyes were glued first to his blue, blue eyes, and then his lips.

We were so close I could feel every breath he took against my lips. Like he was touching me without actually touching me.

His scent overwhelmed me, wrapping around me like a soft blanket. All musky spice, and clean earth after a summer rainstorm.

His arm came up, his hand falling to the back of my neck, and he pulled me closer to him. His eyes stared into mine, then moved down to stare at my lips. My lips suddenly felt dry, all moisture from my mouth vanishing, and I licked them with my tongue.

Shay's pupils dilated, his eyes glued to the motion.

"Bennett, it's your turn!" Lucas's tone indicated he might have said that more than once, and he was growing impatient.

Without turning to look at him, or breaking away from Shay, I mumbled, "Can you go for me?"

A rustle of cardboard, then an exclaimed, "Oh man! You got the popsicle card! You're going to win for sure! "

Shay swallowed and his Adam's apple bobbed, and when the fuck had that become something sexy? I needed to get off of him. I needed to move away from him–far away–where I couldn't smell him. Or see his blue eyes. Or his full, kissable lips. Or touch all the hard goodness that was his muscles.

I did none of that.

I wanted to kiss him. Or for him to kiss me. For us to kiss.

Was it wrong for me to want one kiss, to taste my fated mate?

Instead, I did the right thing. The good thing. The thing that he needed me to do, especially with his son not a foot from us, playing an innocent child's game.

"I'm so sorry," pushing off and away from him, I apologized. "I just wanted to wake you up so you could go to bed. You need a decent night's rest for tomorrow."

Shay looked disappointed, before quickly masking his features. Rubbing his hands over his face, he shook his head. "How long was I asleep? I feel like all I've done the last couple of days is sleep."

"Not long," I told him, resuming my spot on the floor, putting distance between us.

"You were snoring." Lucas looked over his shoulder at his dad. "You've slept bunches and bunches, Daddy."

"Because your daddy has been sick, and he needed all that sleep to get better." Obediently, I moved my game piece closer to the candy castle and a win.

Lucas wasn't wrong. Shay had spent the better part of the last few days not doing much more than taking his medicine and sleeping. The plus side was that he hadn't needed a breathing treatment at all today, and his coughing was much better. He was still prone to random coughing fits. But instead of the dry, hacking coughs from before, it was much more productive. Trying to pull out some of the nasty stuff that had settled in his lungs.

The upside was that I had gotten to spend time getting to know Lucas, and what an amazing boy he was. Smart, funny, and well-behaved, he made me long for things I couldn't have. At least not anytime soon.

Thankfully, I had remembered the bag of new board games I had stashed in my closet. They were waiting for me to drop them off at the battered omega shelter, and I hadn't had time yet. I had told Lucas he could pick one game from the bag, and it would be his to keep and take to his new house.

Often, the children that stayed in the shelter ended up taking some of the toys or games from the shelter when they left. The volunteers and shelter workers never discouraged it, as most of the kids left their homes with next to nothing. Toys and games were easily replaced.

Lucas and I had spent every night racing our gingerbread men to the candy castle on the board.

And when Shay was awake, he was a hands-on dad, taking over Lucas's care. Giving him his baths, watching a movie with him, joining in to play the board game, and helping him make Play-Doh ice cream treats. He wasn't up for reading to him just yet, as he still got short of breath quickly. But Lucas knew the two stories he had with him by heart, and he would read to Shay each night before he went to bed.

It was one of the cutest things I had seen in a long time, and it made my ovaries scream. Seeing the two of them on the bed together, Shay's arm around Lucas as he ran his little finger over the words and made sure his dad could see all the pictures, made me want . Watching Shay with his son made me want .

If there was such a thing as single dad kink, I had surely discovered a love for it. Yes, please, sign me the fuck up. Because watching Shay with Lucas was one of the sexiest fucking things I had ever seen.

"You can head to bed, if you want." Sliding my piece closer to a win, I made a funny face at Lucas, when he huffed after his card had him going backwards. Lucas was never a sore loser, but he definitely had a competitive streak in him. Since I did too, we often ended up playing several games each night, as tie-breakers. I loved spending time with the little boy, so it was never a hardship.

To say I wasn't looking forward to them moving out was an understatement. Even if it was just next door. Even though I knew it was for the best. We were playing house, and I was starting to love it just a little more than was good for my own well-being.

Deep down, I knew I was not what Shay needed right now. It was never, ever, a good idea for someone in his situation to jump into another relationship so quickly. Not that we were in a relationship or had even talked about what we were to each other. Because we had not. There just hadn't been a good opportunity to do so. Either Shay was sleeping, or Lucas was between us.

Knowing he needed to get things settled with his ex, and knowing we should wait for all of that to be settled before we even thought about what it meant for us to be fated, didn't mean I was happy about it.

My brain knew what I should do; my body was on a completely different path.

Shay shook his head. "You guys are almost done. I'll take him to bed, and head there myself. But thank you. I really wish you would let me take the couch, now that I'm almost completely better. I've put you out long enough."

This wasn't the first time he had offered to sleep on the couch, since he had realized I only had two bedrooms and the Pierce men were occupying both beds. I doubted Shay would even fit on the couch if he stretched out, and he hadn't needed to be uncomfortable. Besides, keeping a child entertained during the day caused noise, and he needed the sleep. It was easy to shut the bedroom door against any noise.

When the game was finished–me winning–Lucas hugged me tight to say good night. Closing my eyes, I breathed in the strawberry scent of his shampoo, wanting to savor this moment. This very well might be the last good-night hug I got from him for a while, and my heart was aching.

Hours later, stretched out under the blankets on my couch, I was still staring up at the ceiling. My mind just wouldn't shut down tonight, and sleep wouldn't come. Tomorrow, everything would change. I could feel it like I could feel a summer storm on the wind.

Shay would meet with Alex, and then he and Lucas would settle into their new home. They would start their new life, and I didn't know what would happen between us. I wouldn't blame Shay if he had no interest in dealing with our fated status. The Goddess had made it so fated couples could walk away from each other. I knew that. But that never happened in any of my books or movies.

"This isn't a fucking book or movie, Bennett." Rolling onto my side, I tried to talk some common sense into myself. "Maybe you should do some research on fated mates. Get some insight into it. And not from Seth. He's not a reliable source." Maybe I should talk to actual fated mates, like Asher and Gabe. Or my landlords, Finn and Wade Sinclair. They were fated too. "It would be better than you talking to yourself in the dark."

A cry broke the air, jerking me out of my thoughts. A few seconds later, it came again, and I jumped up, nearly getting tangled in my blankets to get to him.

Shay.

It wasn't the first nightmare he had had. He had them almost every night, though he seldom remembered them. If he did, he never mentioned it.

Thankfully, I didn't need any light to see down the hallway or locate the furniture in my room. My wolf had excellent night vision.

Shay had pushed the blankets down to his waist, and from the peek of bare hip I saw when he thrashed, he'd stripped his boxer briefs off. Again. The chords of his neck were taught, his head thrown back, fighting an invisible monster I couldn't see,

"Edward!" The cry was loud in the room, and I shut the bedroom door with a soft click. Lucas did not need to wake up and see his dad having a nightmare.

"Stop!"

His cries, the way his body thrashed helplessly, it tore at my soul.

And like every night he had been gripped in the throes of a past he couldn't escape, I eased onto the bed next to him, and put my hand on his chest. "Shh, I'm here, Shay. Shh."

He stilled beneath my touch, like he always did. Instantly. Whenever I touched him, he would immediately calm, often slipping straight into pleasant dreams. At least I hoped that's what he did. The thrashing and shouting always stopped.

Tonight, touching him felt different. The skin beneath my hand tingled, like it had that first night we had touched. My own skin felt hot and stretched tight over my bones. Sweat broke out beneath my hairline, and my heart pounded. Desire coursed through me like a freight train, slamming into my gut, then traveling lower. My cock hardened, filling with blood, and my hole fluttered. Aching. Needing to be filled. Slick dampened my sleep shorts, and the scent of sweet cinnamon filled the room.

If I didn't know my heat wasn't due for another four months, I would swear I was going into it now. But that was impossible. The type of birth control I was on made it convenient to know exactly when my heat would happen.

Shay's eyes flew open, staring at me intently.

"You were dreaming," I whispered, giving him an explanation for why I was on the bed next to him, in the middle of the night, touching him.

His heart pounded wildly beneath my hand, his chest fluttering. My own breaths were coming in panting gasps. His scent was everywhere, all around me, and I couldn't concentrate on anything else. Just him. Shay. My mate.

Swallowing, my tongue traced my dry lips, much like it had earlier in the evening. Heat raced through me, amping up, and I felt like my insides were on fire.

Shay's hand caught me by the back of my neck, and he pulled me down to him, stopping just before our lips touched.

Staring wide-eyed at him, I didn't blink. Didn't close my eyes. Didn't move a single muscle.

"I want to kiss you, Bennett." The words were like sandpaper scraping against a piece of wood, and I shivered. "It's wrong. Edward is still technically my mate. But we haven't been…intimate in a long, long time."

"I know." Thanks to his tendency to shout out and talk during his nightmares, I probably knew more than I had a right to. His hand flexed on the back of my neck, and I turned my head, leaning into his touch.

Like I needed water or air, I needed him. I needed him to touch me. Some place, any place, besides my neck.

I needed his hands on me, and his lips on me. And I needed his alpha cock in me, knotting me, filling up my aching, slick hole.

Nothing else mattered. He was my fated and I was his.

Nothing else fucking mattered.

"I need to kiss you," he repeated, pulling me just enough that I sprawled on top of him. His naked skin burned through the cotton of my pajamas like I wasn't wearing them. He was everywhere I touched. Everywhere I breathed.

His hand on my neck, his chest pressed against mine, his hard cock pushing up against the sheet, digging into my thigh.

"Do it." Even as I said the words, I was leaning into him, pressing my lips into his.

There was no stopping it. It was meant to happen. It was fate.

The kiss was more than I imagined, more than I dreamed.

It was every fantasy, and fairy tale, and wish I had ever made in one touch of our lips.

And as our tongues tangled, tasting and teasing, waging a battle with each other that neither of us could win, I was sure of one thing.

This man, this alpha, was mine.

And I would fight every nightmare out there to keep him.