Page 83 of Knight With Benefits

It was a long time before I was aware of anything outside the slide of his body over mine, his cock stuffing me full, his mouth doing wicked things to every part he could reach. Before the night was over I wore matching bites on both sides, his mark covering the old scars of my life before coming to Hell.

We finally drifted to sleep around dawn, and when we woke late in the afternoon, I already knew my heat had ended. They’d grown shorter with age, and considering it had been so long since I’d had one, I wasn’t surprised the cycle wasn’t as long or intense as it had been when I was younger.

If anything, I was grateful. My poor cervix had been penetrated twice by his baculum, his shifted cock stretching me to my utmost limit, and I was sore enough I had to ask him to carry me to the bathroom because my legs refused to cooperate. After a quick shower to clean up the worst of the mess covering me, I managed to stay awake long enough for him to feed me a sandwich before passing out again and not coming to until the next morning.

It hadn’t even been two days, yet it felt like everything had changed. The bond was anchored deep in my chest, Carl’s constant presence comforting, and I teased him about having my own special teddy bear snuggling my heart. All was right with the world as I stretched beneath the mutilated blankets, laughing when I realized each limb poked through a hole in a different sheet, making Carl’s cheeks flush pink above his beard as he stood from the bed.

Until a rush of anger and worry poured into me when Carl checked his phone, the emotions instantly washing away my happiness. Fear gripped me instead, and I huddled with a pillow hugged to my chest, waiting to hear what my son and my previous mate’s cronies had done.

Chapter Forty

Carl

They had gone too far, and it was time to end their harassment of Gwyn once and for all.

I replied to David’s message, thanking him for letting me know, then responded to Sebastian’s more detailed one.

“What happened?”

I hated the brokenness in her voice when only moments before our bond had been flooded with joy, and I tossed my phone aside to crawl across the bed. Taking her face in both hands, I smoothed her hair back and pressed my lips to hers, giving her a gentle kiss as I struggled to rein in the raging bear inside.

I could have tried to block my emotions from her, tried to pretend like everything was fine, but I wasn’t going to do that to her. She was mine and I was hers, and that meant sharing everything, the good and the bad. She deserved to know.

“There was another incident with the Purists. Two groups of them this time. You’re going to have to stay here for a while. If you wanted me to move into your place, I’ll have to start on the repairs once the café is up and running, but you’re welcome to make whatever changes you need to here to be comfortable. Or I can buy us a new house.”

She placed her fingers over my mouth, stopping the flow of words. I still felt her worry inside, but she was calmer than I.

“Is everyone okay?”

My heart melted, my shoulders relaxing. I focused on slowing my breathing to match hers, my heartrate slowing with it.

“Yeah, no one mentioned casualties.”

There was a spike of shock through the bond, as if the possibility of deaths hadn’t occurred to her, but nothing less would have been shared in the brief texts I’d received.

“It sounds like there was damage to the duplex, but is the café okay?”

I sucked in more air, our mingled scents calming my bear.

“Yes, the guys caught the group at the café before they did anything. But the duplex—”

She cut me off with a shake of her head.

“I don’t care about the duplex as long as I can stay with you.”

The growl that rolled out as I reached for her and tugged her into my lap was unavoidable. Just the thought that we might be separated had my bear pacing inside me again, claws threatening to burst from my fingertips.

“What’s mine is yours. If you hate this house, we’ll buy another.”

She gave me a sweet smile, only the bond letting me know there was still a mess of emotions rolling around inside her. The way she was handling the news helped me be more rational about it, and I gave her another kiss of appreciation.

“We’ll worry about houses some other time. As long as everyone is okay and I don’t need to change my plans for opening the café, we can figure out the rest after a shower and some food.”

My growl had faded away, so I didn’t miss the sound of her stomach grumbling, my alpha side instantly kicking into gear with the need to take care of my omega. I kept her in my lap as I scooted to the edge of the bed, Gwyn’s arms tightening around my neck as I stood.

“Yes, my mate.”

I couldn’t help that I was hard, my body still craving to be deep inside her, but I pulled on her calm to keep myself focused as I got us both inside the shower. I released her and let her handle the controls, waiting until the water had kicked on and she was leaning her head beneath the spray before touching her again.

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