Page 44 of Game Over

I huffed a laugh before sitting next to her. They were very fluffy purple stools, with short half backs that did not look like they were made for an alpha. It creaked more than I would have liked, but didn’t give as I put my weight on it. My feet could sit flat to the ground easily, so I planted them and leaned on the counter. As I did, Tara put her hand down on my thigh. When I glanced at her, she offered me a warm smile.

Though I’d known a bit what it felt like to be under her warmth, that hit me like the sun in my face at the beach. A pleasant ray I wished to bask in for hours.

Her continuous contentment made me hopeful that maybe she didn’t hate what had happened between us. I had always heard mate bonds took a bit of time to settle, but it felt like ours was already there. The clawing need to be near her, to neverleave her side, was intense. But the connection felt instantly strong, at least stronger than I expected.

Jesse plonked a plate down in front of each of us before taking his own to his chair on the other side of Tara.

“Thank you for breakfast lemon drop,” she said, leaning in to kiss them.

They leaned towards her easily, giving her a loving kiss. “Of course.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

They gave me a terse nod, and I turned back to my food.

Breakfast was… tense. At least for us. Tara was sat there, kicking her feet and chattering away about the newest OVWatch update and a giant plush she wanted that I made note of. It seemed to me this was a one bedroom apartment without a nest, and a bed as a makeshift one, which wasn’t acceptable. As much as I wanted to, I knew suggesting buying her a whole new place right now could jeopardize our already precarious peace.

I might have been a bit different from other alphas, but I wasn’t obtuse.

When I finished, Tara was just about done as well so I grabbed her plate. I stepped behind Jesse to grab his, my feet padding on the cool linoleum floor.

“Thanks,” he barely mumbled.

I nodded and brought it over to the kitchen. Gathering all the breakfast dishes, I rinsed them and got them into the dishwasher. She had one of those half ones that were in a lot of apartments so the small amount of dishes we had were enough for a whole load. The front of the metal washer had a few magnets on it, one or two OVWatch ones and a few anime girls I didn’t recognize.

I was searching for the dishwasher pods under the sink when Tara said, “to the left.”

I rotated, and sure enough they were there, before popping one in and starting it. As I stood and turned Tara threw herself at me, her hands wrapping around my neck. I caught her easily, bending at the waist so she could reach.

“So…” she trailed off.

“So?” I asked.

“I guess we’re… I mean…” she gestured to my neck where I was sure her teeth marks were red.

“Mated?”

She bit her lip and nodded.

“We are,” I confirmed with a nod.

“We should… probably talk about that. All of us.”

This was the first time I’d felt anything from her other than contentment. Her stirring emotions were understandable, but didn’t help my own nerves.

I nodded. “Is your heat over?” Normally they lasted at least a few days, but she seemed mellowed out. Had I been asleep that long?

“I think so?” she said. “I heard sometimes mating your… I mean getting mated can shorten them a bit, at least at first. When we sync up it will probably be… less short.”

From her flush I could tell she didn’t hate that idea. And neither did I.

“But we should talk,” she continued, getting back to the topic at hand. “With Jesse especially.”

I nodded, dropping a chaste, casual kiss to her lips. She returned it, easy as breathing. So this is what being mated was like?

We moved to the living room where Jesse was looking at something on their phone. Tara dropped beside them on the smallish gray sofa. I opted for the fuzzy round chair across from them. A slight shock of disappointment hit me through the bond, but she didn’t say anything as she leaned into Jesse.

I cleared my throat. “So yesterday… didn’t go as planned.”

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