Chapter Twelve

Aziz

"I need to check on Bryant. I'll be back," Jack whispered into my ear. While I knew he had to check on his pup, I also wasn't ready to let him out of my sight yet.

"Can I come with you?" I asked.

"Of course. If he hasn't taken a nap yet, I am going to lie down with him. It's been a day."

I nodded. It was too soon for me to offer to get in bed with him, but I could walk him to his room at the very least. Maybe shift and take my own nap outside his door. Guard him from anything and everything that would disturb him.

"I understand. He's with Pop-Tart?" I asked as Jack tangled our fingers together and led me down the hallway. Pop-Tart, King, and I were all taking turns sleeping in the same room—the designated guard room.

"He is. But sometimes he fusses if I'm not there to take a nap with him. He's spoiled rotten."

"He's treated like a prince, as he should be," I replied. "As you should be as well."

He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me. "I've never been anyone's prince. A survivor, yes. A prince, never."

I chuckled, already making plans in my head. I had this chance to make Jack number one and I wouldn't squander it. "Princes are overrated anyway. Let's find that little monster of yours."

Jack gasped. "You were listening."

Nodding, I put my hand on the small of his back. "I was always listening, Jack. I knew I shouldn't have been. I knew I couldn't have you but I hung on every word, omega."

Jack knocked softly on the room's door and when there was no answer, he walked in slowly. Pop-Tart was sitting on the recliner we'd put in there with Bryant on his chest, his little head on the big alpha's shoulder.

They were both out cold.

"That's the only time you see Pop-Tart quiet," I whispered, making Jack put his hand over his mouth to stop his laughs. "How about that nap?" I continued, hoping to get another stolen moment with my mate.

"Just you and me?" he asked as a blush crept up his face and to the lobes of his ears.

"Just you and me. I'll be the perfect gentleman. I promise."

He nodded as we left the room. "I know you will. Let's go. My room?"

"Of course."

We got to his room and I found the place just as I expected. I'd watched Jack all this time. He was neat and tidy, always cleaning up after himself and moreover, after others. Little Bryant was always dressed and his sweet, soft hair combed.

"This is it." Jack's nervousness poured over from his wolf to my hyena. My animal let out a growl, low and possessive. There was not one reason for my omega to be trepidatious around me, not anymore. But I supposed old habits died hard.

"Just sleeping, okay?" I said, trying to reassure him.

"Okay. But I'm taking my shirt off. I can't sleep with one on. And, um, you can…I mean, can you…"

"You want to feel my skin against yours?" I asked. "Say what you mean, Jack. There's almost no limits to what I would do for you."

"I have waited so long to feel you next to me. Craved it like my next breath."

I stroked his reddened cheeks with my thumb. "Then let's not make you wait any longer."

We took off our shirts at the same time and, while I'd seen him undress earlier, this was different. I couldn't explain why, but there was a difference between undressing for shifting and undressing in front of your mate, right next to their bed.

We lay on the bed, facing each other. We were clothed from the waist down, but with our shared breaths and his belly pressed against mine, it was nonetheless intimate.

I'd never mated with an omega. Only with Bella.

I wanted him so badly, but we had to take it slowly, at his pace. I'd inadvertently tormented him. The last thing I wanted was to bring him any more emotional turmoil.

We stared into each other's eyes, neither of us sleeping. "What's wrong, omega?" I enfolded him closer to me with my hand around his back, draping over his waist.

"I'm afraid," he whispered, but his eyelids were already drooping.

"Of what?" I asked. His lips beckoned me. I bet his kiss would taste like the best dessert.

"I'm afraid that if I go to sleep, I will wake up and you won't be here. That you will have changed your mind. That you will realize I'm too much, and I have a son who isn't yours, and…"

"Hey," I interrupted him before he could go down a path that would lead to nowhere good. "Listen to me, omega. I know who you are. I know you even though we have only come together today. You have been through so much, and Bryant is a gift. I would never view him as anything but a beautiful little boy that hopefully I will get to treat as my own son if you allow it. We're going to take a nap here, with you in my arms and I swear to you that when you wake up, nothing in my mind will change. I might have some dreams about you but my feelings aren't going to change. You and I are fated. I belong to you, Jack."

While he smiled at me, tears also spilled from his eyes. "I believe you."

I wiped the tears with my discarded shirt and pulled him to rest his head against my chest. "Listen to my heartbeat, Jack. It belongs to you now. Let's get some rest."

That nap was the best sleep of my life.

We woke up and Jack checked the time. Bryant and Pop-Tart would surely be done with their nap as well.

"How do you want to proceed with Bryant? Is it okay if I get to know him?" I asked.

"Of course," Jack answered, putting on a fresh shirt. "You two need to get along if we're going to be a family."

A family.

"Thank you. Let's go get our boy."