Chapter 27

The car coming to a gentle stop and the tingles of a kiss being planted on my lips wake me from my deep slumber. Groggily I look around, noticing the familiar street and my house still decorated for Halloween. Tears of joy fill my eyes and slowly trickle down my face while strong arms pull me in for a long hug.

"Good morning, baby girl, welcome home," Tate whispers, kissing the top of my head and giving me a reassuring smile. The door opens, with Rex greeting us as Tate climbs out of the van, still carrying me. The autumn wind breezes by, causing me to shiver from the cold even with the blanket wrapped around me. Taking in the familiar scents and the decorations that I spent a full day setting out, I try my best to stifle my relived sobs.

I was home.

Quickly Tate rushes us inside, the warm air embracing me as I take in the scent of our home, closing my eyes and opening them again to make sure this wasn't a dream. The scent of Tate and I is stale, but Julia's is still fresh in the air, as well as Chris's and Jack's. Right now, the house held no sounds except the two of us breathing. I was happy with having just Tate and a home, not wanting to deal with a crowd of people.

"Can we go for a shower together?" I ask quietly, resting my head on Tate's shoulder and kissing his mark.

"Sure, sounds like a good idea." He answers, carrying me up the stairs and into our bedroom past our comfy bed and to the bathroom, where he set me down on the marble counter with a chaste kiss. Turning away from me to start the walk-in shower, I watch Tate's body move to complete the task. I drop the blanket from around me and carefully remove the long-sleeve shirt from my body, watching as Tate also removes his blood-soaked clothing. I will ask him to have everything covered in blood burned away later, not wanting any memories of Pinepaw left in our home. Tate turns to face me, a smile on his face after checking the temperature of the water.

"Come here, baby." He whispers, opening his arms, and I hop down from my perch, taking those few steps into those safe, familiar arms and burying my face into his chest—the only part that didn't have blood on him.

"Anything you want to do today, we'll do. Don't worry about our pup. Eeva has Julia for the day to give you some time to relax." He whispers, his face buried in my hair, taking in my scent. I feel each of his muscle relax a little more. This past week without me must have been hard on Tate, and I could only imagine the worry and anxiety he's gone through with me gone.

"Okay," I mumble into his warm skin, kissing it gently before I pull away.

"Now, let's get cleaned up," I add with a giggle as I step into the warm spray, Tate following me in soon after. The water starts to turn red from all the blood, and I grab a bar of soap, lathering Tate with it and massaging the soap into his body till all the blood is gone and he stood clean before me. Even his soft hair is free of blood after a long shampoo. I could see the exhaustion and dark circles under his eyes, my heart throbbing with a slight pain knowing he did not get much sleep. We both needed some pampering with each other later.

"My turn to clean you, sweetheart." He announces playfully, taking the soap and putting it on the built-in shower shelf beside him before spinning me around and washing my hair. I smiled as his fingers massage my scalp, leaning my head back and closing my eyes as he rinsed the chestnut locks clean. He repeats his movements with conditioner, and when I thought he was going to rinse it out, he pulls my hair to the side, letting the strands soak up the conditioner, and massages soap into my back, getting the stiff tensed muscles I didn't know I had until his expert hands found them.

Finally, he rinses my hair when he rinses my back, and I turn to face him, but he stops me, pulling my clean back flush against him as his soapy hands massage my chest and stomach before returning to my breasts, where he massages the skin clean, gently tugging and pinching my nipples, causing a flushed heat of pleasure to shoot through my body as I let out a slow sensual moan. His lips are pressed against my neck, where my mate mare is situated, his teeth gently nipping at the sensitive skin, causing my knees to weaken.

"What do you say we go and have some adult fun after our shower?" He whispers seductively into my ear, nipping my ear lobe gently.

"I say hurry up and get me clean then," I reply, my voice laced with lust as my arm snakes up and around his neck. The rest of the shower is a soapy blur as he moves as fast as he can to get me clean, wrapping a towel around our bodies and grabbing a few more that he splayed across the bed before depositing me in the middle, finding his place between my legs and massaging the tip of his hard cock against me, making me moan again as need built.

He takes his time though, kissing every inch of my body, suckling my breasts as his fingers found a steady rhythm inside me until he kissed his way down, swapping his fingers for his tongue, licking and tasting me until I came, screaming his name as I griped the wet towels. When I came back down from the euphoric high, I found him between my legs, smirking as he spread them wider, his tip against my wet entrance.

"Ready?" He asks playfully, and I smile.

"For you, always." He chuckles at my sweet reply and slowly pushes inside me, my moan of pleasure mixed with his as he fits perfectly inside. The base of his cock is pressed to my wet lips as he grinds against me for a few minutes, my body tensing from the pleasure he was building. Finally, he starts moving, my legs wrapping around his waist as he started a slow thrust, building up the speed till he is bent over, nipping my neck and amplifying the pleasure as he bites down on my mark, thrusting hard and fast into me. More orgasms rip through my body as I clutch and claw at his back and shoulders finding my release screaming his name and hearing him moan mine.

Finally, I feel him tense above me, the spot he has been favoring on my neck heating up where he bites down once again, causing me to tumble over the edge of ecstasy with him, his seeds spilling into me as I bite down on the base of his neck where his mate mark already resides, the mate bond strengthening. We lay there panting, me curled into his side, the towels now on the ground as the blanket covers us, and I smile; this is where I belong.

"I love you, Tate," I whisper, drawing small circles on his chest.

"And I love you, Laina." He whispers back, pulling me closer to him. Soon his breathing evens out, and I look up to see him fast asleep and giggle, snuggling into him and joining him for a much-needed nap.