Page 25 of Oracle
What a strange thought. It felt foreign and wrong on my tongue now to call it that. It wasn’t home, but it was the beginning of my story.
My eyes welled up with happy tears as I remembered how much had changed in my life in such a short time.
“You’re early!” Caleb exclaimed, drawing my eye to where he and Luca stood, stems of what I assumed had been flowers in their hands, sans petals.
I blinked away the unshed tears and asked with my tone full of awe, “You guys did this for me?”
How they managed to find any flowers in bloom while being in the winter season was beyond me. But the sheer thoughtfulness and romantic setting of this entire situation was something I’d never experienced before. It felt like such a grand gesture of their feelings for me, that I didn’t know how to react.
Undoubtedly, my flustered reaction was clear as I looked between the two men and the romantic setting they’d created. My cheeks warmed as their gazes softened simultaneously and prowled towards me.
Stopping in front of me, Caleb reached out to stroke my cheek tenderly. “Of course we did, beauty.”
Luca and Caleb were vastly different when it came to showing physical affection for me, but as I looked into the bright silver eyes of the normally stoic Luca, I saw his uncertainty and hesitation wrapped up in his terse shoulders and set jaw.
The way his eyes trailed over me and his hands clenched at his sides had me wanting to show him that he was allowed to act on what he felt. He didn’t need to keep this wall between us.
I grabbed Caleb’s hand on my cheek and brought it to my lips and kissed it gently before bringing our joint hands down between us. “Thank you,” I said earnestly.
Letting go of his hand I moved forward tentatively towards Luca and barely contained a soft laugh due to the shock on his face before I wrapped my arms under his own and around his core. Resting the side of my cheek against his broad chest, I whispered, “Thank you, both.”
It took a few seconds before I felt his body soften against mine and his arms wrapped around me tightly, holding me snuggly to him. A moment later, one of his hands trailed up my back and to the nape of my neck, slowly running his fingers through my hair. “You’re welcome, precious,” he whispered back as he set his chin on top of my head.
So my gruff man was really a teddy bear on the inside, but with a stoic outward appearance centered around keeping those he loved safe.
“Oh, come on! Don’t hog her,” Caleb joked as he came up behind me and held me, wrapping his arms around both Luca and I in the process.
My heart warmed at the love and security I felt being held between them right now. They felt like home and all of the tension I’d been carrying faded away, allowing me to soak in this heartfelt moment fully.
Luca retracted himself from the embrace just as I felt something hardening at my back, causing me to chuckle. Peering over my shoulder at Caleb I joked, “Cocky Caleb is so accurate right now.”
He grinned at me, completely unashamed as he moved his arms away from me and held his palms up. “Can you blame me? You’re beautiful, Kira. My body reacts to yours.”
Perhaps before my life had an expiration date, I would have felt a bit shy and hesitant with them, but I was loving that my instinct now was to explore all of the possibilities between my mates and I without hesitation.
Turning around and pressing onto my tiptoes, I pressed a kiss to his lips and challenged, “Prove it.”
He kissed me back with eagerness, swiping his tongue into my mouth as his hands went to my lower back, pulling me to his growing erection. I expected him to take it further and I was eager to see where it devolved to, but he pulled back, breathing heavily as he spun me around and spanked my ass lightly. “Get to the blanket, you vixen. There will be time for that later.”
I’d hold him to that promise.
Luca was already settled on the blanket, laying down on his side, his arm propped up, holding his head up as he gazed at us with heat in his eyes. Swallowing down the sexual cravings I had, I did as Caleb said and heard him following behind me.
As we settled in, Luca handed us both our glasses of wine, which I accepted and immediately took a few sips of. Humming in delight at the sweet white wine, I swallowed and asked as I set the glass down, “So, what’s the occasion for all of this?
“There isn’t one,” Luca admitted with a slight shrug of his shoulder that wasn’t holding him up. “There doesn’t need to be an occasion to cherish and show those you care about how much they mean to you. To show that you’re thinking of them.”
Damn, he’s suave. I bet he is an animal in bed, though.
Well, heisa wolf shifter.
You know what I mean.
Luca and Caleb were honestly not the mates that I thought would go to these lengths to show their feelings. It shows how little I knew them, I suppose. Before my mind could drift to how I didn’t have much time left to change that, I grabbed some cheese and munched on it, enjoying the bold flavor spreading across my taste buds. Muttering around the mouthful of cheese, I admitted, “I didn’t know either of you were such romantics. I have to say, you’ve surprised me in the best possible way.”
They both laughed, but Luca admitted, “This was all Caleb’s idea. I can’t take the credit. I just helped him put the plan in motion.”
Color me shocked. Cocky Caleb planned all of this?
