Bailey’s eyes hit mine and she’s crying too. But she looks so fucking happy it makes me wish I could frame this moment and preserve it forever.
They hug one more time, promising to talk soon before Cicely gets back into the car.
I lift the bakery box and the coffee tray as my barefoot, smiling mate (who is about to get sticky whether she wants to or not) passes me to walk into our house.
“Good news and bad news,” I advise.
She looks over her shoulder questioningly.
“Good news: Jared doesn’t have a scent, or it’d be on you since you just hugged his mate. Bad news? You’re about to get sticky again because you don’tjustsmell like me and that’s what I need. So, go on up and take a shower because even though he doesn’t have a scent, I want Cicely’s scent off you.”
“That’s mighty bossy of you, Jason Creed.”
I slap her backside. “And?”
Her eyes are lit up. Fuck yeah, she’s also aroused.
“And… I’ll go take a shower,” she advises. “But I also want a hot bath to soothe my muscles and feel my feelings, so I’m taking my coffee and a muffin with me. If you want to join me, you may.”
“I may?”
“Yes. Provided that you bring that cinnamon coffee cake.”
She grabs one of the take-out coffees from the cardboard tray and snatches the bakery box from me before climbing the stairs.
I’ve got zero interest in eating breakfast while in the tub, but I am very interested in bathing with my mate.
My girl was riding such a high from mating me that telling her best friend she has a wolf after all was an afterthought she almost forgot about.
Fuck, I’m a lucky guy.
***
“This isn’t making me salivate,” Bailey says, unimpressed eyes on the platter of raw meat I’m about to cook.
“Maybe once it starts cooking,” I suggest and drop the steaks on the grill.
Not even a minute later, she says, “Yep. Now I’m hungry.”
“Good sign.”
“Very good,” she agrees. “The smell of meat got this started last night. Oh! I’m feeling something. It feels funny in my chest. Cicely once told me she didn’t feel her wolf until she’d shifted a few times, and then the connection was there, getting stronger and stronger until it didn’t feel strange anymore. Is that what it was like for you?”
“I remember the newness of the sensation just as I was shifting the first time or two, but I was real young, Bay.”
“Hm,” she ponders, watching me flip the meat on the grill.
“Won’t be long and your wolf won’t be a stranger, baby. She’ll just be part of you, part of your instinct.”
A minute later, I deem the meat sufficiently seared and add the steaks to our plates before moving them to the patio table.
It looks good back here since Bailey’s mom came over and spruced up the yard. It feels like our space back here. I decide I’m buying a hammock and putting a swing out back, changing the fencing, which needs doing anyway, giving us a better view of the river behind the house.
“Do just what you did last night,” I suggest, sitting across from her.
“What happened last night wasn’t intentional. I just saw the red and felt drawn to taste it. So…” She dips her fingertip in the red liquid pooled around her steak and looks at her finger, scrunching her face like she doesn’t want to do it.
“Close your eyes if it grosses you out,” I suggest.