Chapter 76: Steps of mating

Shit, shit, shit...I was trying to heal you...and forgot they... Brinley’s thoughts were a jumbled mess. She had indeed lost track that we had an audience in the other room.

I wasn’t even sure who all was out there because I’d been pretty out of it up until this point, but if I had to guess, I’d say it smelled like Langdon, Jax, Amber, and Ryder.

They hadn’t seen us copulating, but wolves had exceptional hearing. There was no doubt they explicitly understood each play-by-play moment just from our words and the sounds we were making.

I reached down, gathered the discarded sheet, and wrapped it around Brinley’s body, nuzzling into her neck again. “Shh…it will be all right.”

“Easy for you to say,” she said, mouth turned down into a grimace. “You do remember that’s Jax we have to go face out there?”

Shaking her head, she began muttering to herself again, “Of all the wolves to have sex within listening distance, what the hell was I thinking?"

I placed my finger under her chin, drawing her attention back to me. Her heart beat faster when she noticed the heat in my gaze. My voice was gruff, “You were fucking amazing.”

“Okay...” she whispered with wide eyes.

I tugged her to her feet. She tightened the sheet around her chest and gathered the excess fabric in her hands so she could walk unhindered.

Opening the door, I waited while she walked ahead of me into the living room where the others were waiting. But as soon as we entered the room, Brinley ground to a stop, causing me to run into the back of her. I grunted, “Um…?”

Her head whipped around and she hissed, “Wait...you’re naked!”

I found it funny that she just now remembered my state of undress. I grinned, “I’m a Wolf. I don’t give a fuck.”

She pursed her lips. ”Well I do. We’re not having a conversation while you sit here naked!”

“But there’s only one sheet,” I raised an eyebrow, looking pointedly at the white sheet draped around her.

Amber stood to her feet and approached us. She held out a soft knit throw that had been draped over the back of the couch. “Here.”

“Thanks.” I took it from her. Before I could wrap it around my waist, Jax interrupted, “Hold on a second.”

I froze, startled by his words. I had no inhibitions about being naked, but wolves didn’t normally request—or in his case, demand—an exhibition. I waited for his explanation.

He studied me with a quizzical look. “Not that I’m really into seeing you in the buff…but is there something different about you?”

Amber and Langdon wore matching confused expressions, trying to determine what had changed.

Ryder’s mouth dropped open. I could tell from his expression, he immediately recognized what was different, but he didn’t say anything.

I didn’t wait for their final assessment before wrapping the light blanket around the lower half of my body.

“You’re taller,” Amber breathed in shock. ”How are you taller?”

“He’s not just taller,” Brinley interjected. “He’s bigger...everywhere.” She bit her lip but they didn’t notice her slight blush. They must have missed hearing that part of our conversation in the bedroom.

Langdon’s eyebrows shot up. He stood to his feet, beer in hand and walked over to stand in front of me. His eyes roamed over my shoulders and up to my head, comparing my height against his. He took a swig of his drink. “You are taller...and more muscular. How do you feel?”

“I feel great,” I replied and realized just how true my answer was—I had no residual lingering pain from my injuries.

“And your leg?” Langdon’s eyebrows knitted together, his gaze dropping down my body. “How are you even able to walk right now? And with no limp. Even with her skin-on-skin contact accelerating your healing, it still should have taken you days to recover from that severe of an injury.”

“Dude, he’s right,” Jax muttered in amazement. He glanced to Brinley in awe. “You must have one hell of a magical pussy.”

“What?” she squeaked, her cheeks flushing dark pink. “You did not just say that!”

But Jax was serious. They all were. Even I didn’t understand how I could be completely healed.

Langdon returned to his chair.

I pulled Brinley across the room and we settled on the couch. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, not wanting any distance between us. Brinley didn’t resist, lifting her feet, she tucked them to the side of her body on the couch and snuggled into me. Her contentment and happiness radiated through the bond, making me feel about ten feet tall. My Wolf puffed out his chest and strode about in my head, pleased with our mate’s response.

“Okay, so walk us through what happened,” Jax began and then snickered, “Not that we don’t already know, but there has to be a reason you are dramatically healed and an even bigger motherfucker than you were before.”

“What the hell? We’re not going to give you a step-by-step of our mating,” Brinley insisted.

“It’s okay,” Jax purred soothingly. “There’s absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about. We all do it.” He snickered again, his grin widening into a knowing smile. “Although, you just went right ‘for the gold’, straight out of the gate, huh?”

“No! I, I...” Brinley stammered. “I was helping him...heal.”

Jax’s smirk grew. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days? Damn girl, I always knew you were a lil’ horndog,” he waggled his eyebrows, “but shit, you were savage. When I have a mate one day, I’m going to tell her I want her to wake me up like that every day.” The wistful expression on his face made me realize the crazy fucker was serious.

Amber snorted and threw him a look, “Good luck with that. Way to keep your expectations realistic.”

Jax grinned, completely unfazed by her sarcasm and replied, “A pup can dream.”

Amber shook her head. Langdon gave Jax a hard look. “I think we can skip the details.” He turned to Brinley. “Do you feel any different?”

I hadn’t thought to ask Brinley that question but was suddenly very interested in her answer. It made sense. If I was radically changed, was she as well? I hadn’t noticed any difference in her size, but maybe I missed something. Brinley squirmed as we all stared at her. “I don’t think so. I don’t feel any different.”

Langdon’s gaze settled back on me, serious and contemplative. “Okay, even if you can hide the mating, he’s going to notice the healing. What’s your plan?”

Shit. I hadn’t thought about the obvious healing part, although Langdon was right. Many people had seen my devastating injuries. They would ask questions, questions that I didn’t have answers for. I gritted my teeth together, frustration washing over me. “I need more time. I was close…but I lost.”

Langdon eyed me, raising one brow pointedly and nodding his head toward my new and improved physique, asking slowly, “If you challenge him again now, do you still think you’ll lose?”

“I don’t know.” I tried not to grimace. I was already lucky that Alpha hadn’t killed me or Brinley after I attacked him. I never expected to have a second chance and knew beyond any shadow of a doubt I wouldn’t get a third. I was holding both of our lives in my hands, more so now than ever, now that we were joined.

Langdon leaned back in his chair and change the subject. “What happened when you went to see Alpha Mason?”