“I love you,” Felix whispered against the side of his neck. “I’d follow you to the end of the earth.”
“I love you too. And you might have to—I’m apparently going on the campaign trail with the senator after the baby comes.” Assuming he didn’t get fired for using the senator’s name without his approval.
Felix huffed a laugh. “You didn’t finish.”
“I will.” Felix patted his mate’s ass—beautiful ass—and said, “Get up.”
“But—”
This time, he swatted his mate’s ass. “Up, I said.”
Reluctantly, Felix got to his feet and stepped out of the tub. “Are you sure?”
“Hand me my leg,” Kaden told him and let the water out of the tub. What was left of it, anyway. They’d put most of it on the floor, it seemed.
Silently, Felix handed him his leg and watched as Kaden dried off his stub and settled the thing in place. It still had the shoe on it, which was funny, but it only held Kaden’s attention for as long as it took for Felix to start gathering up towels to soak up the puddles on the floor. “Uh uh,” Kaden scolded gently and pushed his mate in the direction of the vanity.
“What?” Felix gave him an odd look, then understanding dawned. “Oh.” He grinned and braced himself on the vanity, his five-month belly hanging heavy beneath him. “Well, soldier, what are you waiting for?”
“Nothing,” Kaden growled and pushed inside.
Felix watched him in the mirror, his face flushed with arousal and triumph. Between that and not having made love since before Nevada Ashes, it took an embarrassingly short time before Kaden spent himself, but the look of satisfaction on his mate’s face made up for the blow to his alpha ego. And then he gained ground when Felix turned around and kissed Kaden all the way out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, ignoring the mess of the floor in a very un-Felix-like way.
They tucked themselves in under the covers, the green satin comforter turning Felix’s skin to summer gold. Kaden made sure Felix had a pillow behind his back so he didn’t roll onto it. He’d heard it was bad for someone this pregnant to lie on their back, but with the baby taking up so much more space, it was hard to manage their usual wrapped around each other embrace in bed.
Felix hummed under his breath, a puppy song that Kaden vaguely remembered from his own puppy days. He’d have to brush up on all of that soon.
The baby stretched languorously between them. Kaden put his hand on Felix’s belly, trying to guess which part of the baby was which. Adelaide had told them at Felix’s last appointment that soon the baby would turn and stay head-down for the rest of the pregnancy. He tried to picture him—little head, legs, arms. Would he be born with hair or would he be bald? Weren’t most babies bald?
Impulsively, he wiggled out of Felix’s embrace and squirmed down the bed under the covers until he could press a kiss to the top of the bulge of Felix’s belly. “Hey, there,” he said, then felt silly. Just what exactly did you say to a belly once you’d gotten yourself into this situation? Sound paternal advice, he supposed. “Sorry about the bouncing around there, pup. Hope you didn’t get motion sick. Only a month more of being jostled like that, then you can hang out in your crib while your Dad and I do our best to break the bed.” He kissed the baby again and wiggled back up the bed to the sound of Felix’s poorly hidden laughter.
“You’re going to be a great Da,” his mate said with a kiss. “A little unconventional maybe, but I like that about you.” He settled in with his head on Kaden’s shoulder again and tangled their legs together. “Best mate ever.”
“Glad you waited for me.” Kaden closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of his mate and the smell of summer forest rising off his skin. “How do you feel about tattoos?” That odd thought from the bath just wouldn’t go away.
“Tattoos? What of?”
Kaden stroked his mate’s side thoughtfully. “I wasn’t joking back there when I said I was a possessive asshole. I want my name on you. Somewhere. Wherever you’ll let me put it.” His cock twitched hopefully, but he ignored it.
Felix raised his head and regarded him with curiosity. “You’re serious about this?”
“I told you I was an asshole. Forget about it. It was a weird whim.”
Felix put his head back on Kaden’s shoulder and snuggled closer. “Do I get to put my name on you?”
“I don’t see why not. Do you want to?”
Felix bit him.
That’s gonna leave a mark. “I’ll take that as a yes, then. Maybe after the baby comes?”
“Sure. Now sleep. We have to go get Hunter soon.”
“Uh huh.” Kaden smiled to himself and let the warmth of his mate’s body coax him down into dreams.
C H A P T E R 1 0 8
M innie came to Mercy Hills the next day. I’d been expecting Julius to fall apart, but he was incredible—calm and cheerful, chattering away as she limped her way into the main pack building. She had her own ankle monitor, on an even smaller distance than Julius’s. I could tell Holland was furious, but there wasn’t much he could do.