Chapter Seven

Jonas woke up slowly. For a moment, he didn’t recognize the bedroom he was in, but he only had to turn to the side and see Kendrick under the covers with him to remember.

His entire body hurt. He felt like he’d been in a fight—and he had. That Kudlak had kicked his ass, but he’d come out victorious, mostly because he was alive. He might not have killed the Kudlak, but he’d never cared about that. He’d just wanted to protect Kendrick and Ryan, and he had.

His gaze lingered on the bite mark on Kendrick’s neck. Jonas was the one who placed it there yesterday. He’d been bleeding all over the place, but he was pretty sure he would have survived even if Kendrick hadn’t offered him his blood. He’d tried to refuse because it would start their bond, but Kendrick hadn’t taken no for an answer, and here they were. The bond was only half sealed, so it felt like something was missing right at the center of Jonas’s chest, but at the same time, Jonas would be fine waiting until Kendrick was ready for more. It had been an eventful few days, and Kendrick had other things to focus on than Jonas and their bond.

Ryan was asleep in one of the guest rooms down the hall. Jonas had suggested he should go home to the house he shared with Caroline when they’d returned to the village after Clay and Rowan had picked them up, but Kendrick had refused. He hadn’t wanted to let Jonas out of his sight, and Jonas was glad, because he’d felt the same. He just hadn’t known how to ask for that without feeling like he was asking for too much. It was already a lot that Kendrick had allowed him to bite him.

But it looked like Kendrick wanted to spend as much time with him as Jonas wanted to spend with Kendrick. They’d both been exhausted by the time they’d arrived home yesterday, even though it was still fairly early in the morning. They’d showered, eaten, and fallen into bed. They’d woken up last night only to eat again and go back to sleep.

And now, here they were.

It was still dark outside, which meant it was early, but Jonas was as awake as if it were the middle of the day. His body was buzzing, which meant he needed to get out of bed and do something before he woke up Kendrick.

He tried to slide sideways to get out from under Kendrick’s arm and leg, which were slung over him as if to trap him there. The arm Kendrick had around his waist tightened, and Jonas sucked in a breath, waiting to see if his mate woke up.

“Where are you going?” Kendrick asked in a rough voice.

“The bathroom.”

Kendrick opened an eye. “You’ll come back right away?”

“Of course. Where do you think I’d go?”

“I don’t know, but you were ready to leave yesterday. I just wanted to make sure.”

He was pouting, which went straight to Jonas’s heart. No one should look that adorable, especially not a grown man.

Jonas leaned forward and kissed Kendrick, then left the bed. He hadn’t done anything but sleep this past day, but he still felt a bit sweaty, so after using the bathroom, he quickly showered.

He’d worn a pair of shorts and a t-shirt Kendrick had given him to sleep, but he didn’t have any of his clean clothes here. What was he supposed to do now?

He looked down at himself. He was only wearing a towel, and he couldn’t go home like this. He’d have to call Caroline and ask her to bring him something. The problem was that his phone was in the bedroom.

Or was it a problem? Did he care if Kendrick saw him like this? Not at all. In fact, he hoped Kendrick would see a lot more of him soon. They’d only recently met, but they were mates, and after everything they’d gone through, Jonas felt closer to Kendrick than almost anyone else. He already knew this was forever.

He left the bathroom, smiling when he saw that Kendrick was still in bed. Now that he was here, he had a choice to make. He bit his lower lip and glanced at the dresser. Would Kendrick be offended if he borrowed more clothes?

“Just get back into bed,” Kendrick grumbled as he sat up. “And ditch the towel. I’ll be right back.”

He hauled himself out of bed as if it was the hardest thing he’d ever done and disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Jonas standing there. Had his mate really just told him that he better be naked in bed by the time he returned?

Jonas grinned. That was perfectly fine with him.

As ordered, he ditched the towel and slid back under the blankets. They smelled of him and Kendrick, and it was a heady mix of scents that went straight to his head. He couldn’t believe everything that had happened since he’d arrived at the village. He’d known that coming here was the right thing to do, but he hadn’t expected this.

Maybe he should have. Maybe he should have known that Kendrick would be here, waiting for him because he’d needed him. He’d needed his mate. If he’d known, he wouldn’t have spent so much time hiding in his house.

“You know, I thought you’d be more relaxed after I told you I wanted you naked,” Kendrick said as he left the bathroom and slid back into bed. “If you’re not ready for this, we can wait. I don’t expect anything from you, even though you bit me. We don’t have to have sex or finish our bond. We can just cuddle or go back to sleep.”

Kendrick thought Jonas didn’t want whatever was about to happen? Jonas couldn’t have that.

He rolled so he could pin Kendrick into the mattress. Kendrick smiled up at him, looking relaxed and feeling warm and solid under Jonas.

“Who said I didn’t want this?” Jonas asked.

“No one, but you looked pensive.”

“I was worried that maybe you’d feel we were rushing. Bonding is a big step.”

Kendrick cupped Jonas’s cheek. “Is it? We’re mates. We’ve been through a lot together, including facing my father and two Kudlaks intent on killing us. I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine myself doing that with anyone else. I don’t want to do that with anyone else.”

“What do you want, then?”

“You, for the rest of my life.”

“I can do that.” Jonas could do a lot more, but this was what he wanted to start with.

Grinning, he raised his hand to his neck. There was just a quick flash of pain before he felt blood trickling from the cut he’d just created. Kendrick’s gaze latched onto it, but he didn’t move. He looked mesmerized, and for a moment, Jonas wondered if this was too much for a human.

He shouldn’t have worried. Kendrick suddenly rolled them so that Jonas was under him. He’d only worn a pair of boxer briefs when he’d come to bed last night, and he was still wearing them and nothing else, which gave Jonas access to miles of warm and soft skin. Jonas had to hang on when Kendrick’s lips landed on his neck, and he felt his mate suck for the first time.

This was everything he could ever have wanted, and he could hardly believe he was getting it. It was the rest of his life, and he promised himself that he’d make Kendrick happy. He wouldn’t settle just because they were mates and they were supposed to be together. He wanted more, and he wanted to give more.

Kendrick sucked again, and Jonas raised his legs to wrap them around his mate’s waist. He disliked the feeling of fabric against his naked body, but he couldn’t find it in himself to take the time to push the boxer briefs down Kendrick’s body. With Kendrick sucking at his neck, sealing the bond between them, there was an urgency in Jonas to be closer to him. There was no time for anything but grinding up against him, clinging to him, and feeling his hard body.

Because Kendrick was hard in his underwear. Jonas could feel his cock as well as he would have if Kendrick had been naked, and while it took a bit of wiggling around, he eventually managed to find the right spot for him to thrust up so that their cocks would rub together.

It was messy, but that was how Jonas wanted things. The first time they’d met, when Jonas had realized he’d found his mate, had been messy, too. He didn’t mind messy as long as he was with Kendrick.

Kendrick never stopped sucking on Jonas’s neck, not even when the bond finally snapped closed between them. Jonas pressed his head against the pillow, crying out as he came. He shuddered in Kendrick’s arms, holding him and moving against him until he felt his mate come, too.

For a long moment, the pleasure moved in a loop between them. Jonas could still feel echoes of his orgasm, heightened by the echoes of Kendrick’s. It went round and round, pushing both of them to the brink between pleasure and pain.

They clung to each other, and by the time things finally settled down, Jonas was exhausted again.

“I have to shower a second time,” he complained.

“We both should. After we sleep a bit longer, though.”

“We’re going to be stuck together if we do that.”

Kendrick grunted and pushed away from Jonas, but he didn’t go far. He slid down his underwear, cleaned himself and Jonas up with it, then threw it in the direction of the bathroom and cuddled back into bed. Jonas was more than happy to snuggle against him.

This was everything he’d ever wanted. For a long time he’d been desperate that he would never find it again. He’d lost everything—his family, his village, all that he’d held dear. It had been easy to listen to his desperation then, but he didn’t have to anymore. He might have lost all of that, but he’d found a lot, too. He had a new village and a new clan, and his mate.

Who was already snoring against his ear. Jonas knew that eventually he’d start finding that annoying, but for now, he’d never heard a sweeter sound.