11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Pike

Pike’s bear was practically vibrating inside him with happiness as Cora finished every morsel on her plate. Kimble had already had several bags of blood and was sitting as close to Cora as he could get without inhibiting her movements at the kitchen table.

“Damn, that was good,” Cora said, pushing the plate away. “You’re hired, Pike. You can cook all my meals from now on.”

“That’s good because I found out I lost all my other jobs today.” He meant the words to be playful, but they came out hurt instead.

“What?” Cora asked, outraged. “I’m sure you’re the best employee they have. Why would they fire you?”

Her words helped soothe his wounded pride. “I guess that doesn’t matter when you miss two shifts in a row without calling in.”

“Did you tell them you were busy rescuing me?” Cora asked, eyes flashing with anger as she pounded her fist down on the table, making her plate jump. “I bet you didn’t say anything about that. You didn’t have to say anything about vampires or shifters, you could have just said some guys kidnapped me.”

Pike’s eyes went a little wide at Cora’s vehemence. “There was no news about it or police report to show them. They’ll think I made it all up. ”

Cora’s expression turned hard. “I’m going to the Gas Lamp district tomorrow and getting your jobs back!”

Pike covered her clenched hand with his own. “I’ve had to call out sick a lot in the last nine months because of Kimble. All my bosses think I’m flaky. They were probably relieved to have an excuse to get rid of me.”

“Still, it’s not fair,” Cora argued.

“Maybe it’s a good thing,” Pike insisted. “Kimble is steadier now that we have you. I could look for a better job.”

Cora tugged her hand out from under his with a frown. “I’m not ready to do the soul thing yet.”

Pike shook his head, upset that she misunderstood him. “I didn’t mean it like that. Even if things stay as they are right now, you’ve made a huge difference in our lives. You’re helping me keep him fed and accepting his affection. We’ll do everything on your timeline, no rush or pressure.”

“I feel pressured,” Cora muttered, then held up a hand before Pike could apologize. “But the pressure is coming from inside me, not you or Kimble.”

“That’s the magic,” Pike explained, wishing he could make Cora understand something that came naturally to him. “You know how water will always flow to the lowest point?”

Cora nodded.

“Magic is a little like that.”

“Are you telling me I’m the lowest point?” Cora asked with a raised eyebrow.

Pike shook his head. “Magic likes balance, that’s what water and magic have in common. They’re constantly striving for equilibrium, and that’s why you feel the magic pushing at you.”

“Flock,” Kimble added with a sage nod of his head.

Placing her hand flat on her sternum, Cora rubbed it back and forth a little. “I feel it right here when I’m away from you guys. Like there’s a hand pushing here and making it hard to breathe.”

Pike knew from talking to a few people that the pressure would only get worse over time. He didn’t want her to feel like she had no choice, so he looked at Kimble.

“Our mate is uncomfortable during the day when she has to work. I’m going to go with her to help her feel better. ”

Kimble blinked a few times, as if he was translating Pike’s words in his head. Then he looked hurt. “Flock stay.”

“Damn it, he breaks my heart when he looks like that,” Cora muttered, reaching for one of Kimble’s hands and holding it in hers. “But I’ve got to work or we’ll all starve.”

Kimble leaned his body over until his forehead was resting on her shoulder and made a whining sound. Pike had never seen him do that before. When Pike tried to leave him during the day, the vampire would throw a tantrum and threaten to walk out into the sun. Now he was acting like a kicked puppy who only wanted to love his human.

“You’re a lying liar who lies,” Pike muttered under his breath knowing full well Kimble would be able to hear him, but Cora wouldn’t.

Kimble didn’t react, only whined again and snuggled his head closer to Cora’s neck.

It turned out Cora was tougher than Pike.

“I’ll try to make it so we can come back here between jobs and check on you,” Cora said, petting Kimble’s head. “But I’m not giving up my company. I’ve worked too damn hard to build it.”

“You have a company?” Pike asked.

“Perfection Connection Electrics, PCE,” she said, her eyes sparkling with pride. “I’m a licensed general electrician so I can do commercial and residential. I used to do new construction sites, but I’m starting to specialize in updating old houses instead. I don’t make as much, but there’s a lot less bullshit to deal with and women love to hire me. Business really picked up in the last six months, and I’m thinking of taking on another apprentice.”

“You’re an electrician?” Pike asked, easily picturing Cora wearing a tool belt and focused on running wires through homes and installing outlets.

Cora’s eyes narrowed, and she stopped petting Kimble. “Is that surprising to you?”

“No! The opposite. You’re so brave, it makes sense that you’d deal with something as scary as electricity.”

“I think that’s one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to me,” Cora said. Kimble made a soft protesting sound until she went back to stroking his head. “It’s a good thing you’re cute because you’re the neediest guy I’ve ever dated. ”

Pike didn’t comment on her use of the word dating but a little thrill went through him. He couldn’t wait to meet her family and introduce himself to all of them as the boyfriend.

“How did you decide on being an electrician?” Pike asked.

“Family business,” she explained. “Dad’s an electrician too. He half-owns a business, Best Value Electrics. Three of my brothers are electricians too and work for him: Tim, Cooper, and Carson.”

Although he had an idea what the answer would be, he asked anyway. “But not you?”

Cora snorted. “Work for my father? Never!”

Pike could understand Cora wanting to strike off on her own if the rest of her family was even remotely as irritating as Tim. “So you started your own business, that’s amazing. I bet the reason women like to hire you is because they feel like they can trust you.”

“That, and I don’t talk down to them,” Cora added. “About ten percent of my jobs are from women who’ve gotten multiple quotes, but the electricians wouldn’t explain anything to them. By the time I show up, they’re frustrated and full of questions.”

“And you answer them all,” Pike said with approval. “Was your dad upset that you didn’t join his company like your brothers?” If his parents had a family business, he’d love to work for them, but his dad was an English professor, and his mom was a CPA who did forensic accounting. Pike had thought working side by side with his mom would be fun. After only one year of college, he realized he didn’t have the patience for higher education. His parents were kind, but he knew they worried about his lack of career options.

Maybe he could be an electrician. He could learn anything under her guidance! Accompanying Cora on jobs was a perfect place to start.

Standing up, Pike gathered the empty plates and headed to the sink. “Then it’s settled, I’ll spend the day with you, and we’ll come back and spend our evenings and nights together here.”

“I don’t remember agreeing to that,” Cora muttered behind him. “Have you ever worked with electricity before?”

“Nope, but I can carry stuff for you better than anyone,” he assured her as he returned to the table with the apple strudel he’d kept warming in the oven. Cora licked her lips as he set the pan on the table.

“I baked enough to take some with us to work tomorrow,” Pike offered.

Cora looked up at him, her lips pursed. “Well played, Pike. I guess you get to be an electrician’s assistant for the day.”

Pike felt himself grinning like a fool at the same time Kimble made a disgruntled sound.

Suck it up, vampire, Pike thought. Our human needs me more than you right now.

***

After helping him clean up the kitchen, Cora demanded they all cuddle on the couch. Once she was situated between the two of them, she took control of the remote and flipped through a few streaming services.

“Do you guys mind watching this?” she asked. It was a mini-series drama about international politics. Pike normally liked romantic comedies or action movies, but he didn’t care what was playing as long as he got to be close to Cora.

“That’s fine,” he agreed, snuggling down into the couch a little more. Kimble made a dismissive sound, probably indicating he didn’t care what she chose. The moment the first episode started to play, Kimble leaned in close and began kissing Cora’s neck.

“Stop that,” Cora said with a laugh and pushed his face away without taking her eyes off the TV.

Kimble let her move him a few inches but once she let go, he went right back to kissing her. Pike was surprised at how forward the vampire was being with his advances. He’d never wanted more than cuddling from Pike.

Turning her head to face him, Cora tried to admonish him. “Kimble, you need to—”

Kimble ducked his head down and captured her lips in a kiss. That’s when Pike realized what was going on. Kimble hadn’t felt any physical desire during their relationship because he lacked enough blood to feed that part of his body and magic. Now that he’d had multiple days full of meals, he was ready to play.

Cora wasn’t trying to pull away from Kimble or break the kiss. Her eyes were closed, and her hands were held out to her sides, curled into loose fists. Leaning close, Pike pulled her hair off to one side and kissed the back of her neck. He felt her tense before she moaned, the sound muffled by Kimble’s mouth.

“We want you,” Pike whispered before running his teeth over the delicate skin at the back of her neck. “But no matter how badly we desire you, we’d never force you, my mate. A single word from you, and we stop.”

Cora pulled her face away from Kimble, breathing rapidly. He pulled back when she turned to look at him with dazed eyes.

“No!” Her voice was unsteady but firm.

Heartbroken that she didn’t want them, Pike drew away. “As you—”

He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence because she was grabbing him by the back of the head and pulling his face close to hers.

“No, I mean yes. I want this. I want you. I want Kimble.” She tangled her fingers in his hair and tugged. “Don’t stop!”

“We won’t.” His relief was so strong he didn’t care that she’d pulled a few strands of his hair out.

Kimble plucked at Cora’s shirt, then said very clearly, “Need naked. Pleasure my flock.”

“Kimble, you say the best things!” Pike declared.