I hadn’t knotted her or claimed her, but inside, I still called her ours. She belonged to us. I didn’t know how long I’d be able to hold myself back from that one thrust, but I managed to do it this round.
One step at a time. That’s all we could do.
But fuck, I didn’t know how many more steps I could take before I would lose control and the beast claimed what was his.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Lyla
I was still in a cloud of bliss even after we made the freezing trek back home. Ozzi had offered to take the packages I needed to mail to the post office while Jason pulled me on his now empty sled to Primrose House. I protested, saying that I could walk, but they weren’t going to let me challenge what they believed was best for me.
And, if truth be told, I was thankful I didn’t have to walk back. I wrapped myself up in the blanket and hid my face from the freezing winds. It was nearly dark by the time Jason drew me up onto the porch.
My legs were still weak as we went inside. I cranked up the temperature in the house and soaked in a hot bath. I tried to convince myself I felt absolutely normal afterward, but it was a lie. A big fat Santa sack of lies.
Actually, that sack was full of hope and joy. I didn’t know exactly what I was feeling, but some of the emotions greatly resembled those things.
But it couldn’t be. I had so many dreams. I refused to live in anyone’s shadow, especially an Alpha’s. I would not lose myself to this heat, to these incredibly sweet and hot Alphas.
Ozzi’s kisses had altered my world, and being in Jason’s arms, I felt like I’d found exactly where I’d belonged.
It was time to lose myself to something much more productive. Christmas baking!
There was no danger there.
“Stay out of the kitchen.” I shooed Jason as he came up behind me while I put on my holiday apron. “I’ll cook up some macaroni and cheese with three cheeses and broccoli for dinner, but I need to make more cookies.”
“I’m an expert helper. I make the best naughty gingerbread men in all of Fond du Lac.” He grinned and waggled his brows at me.
I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. He was the exact sort of person I imagined that would put boobs and dicks on cookies. And I kind of wanted to do that with him. Hell, more than kind of.
Jason had showered too, and currently wore an extra large t-shirt I sometimes slept in and a pair of basketball shorts which were super baggy on Emberlee, but clung tightly to his fine ass. His uniform, which was the only clothes he had, had come out of the wash and was in the dryer. He was mismatched and adorable. Which translated into still smoking hot.
Crap. There was danger in Christmas baking.
“All right. You can stay for now.” I gave him a stern look that meant to say this was just temporary, but the way his face lit up, I felt my resolve melting. I took out a recipe card from the box and put it on the counter. “You collect the ingredients and bowls. I’ll get dinner started.”
“On it.” Jason read over the card and went to search the cupboards with military efficiency. “Mac and cheese is one of my favorite cold weather comfort foods.”
I filled a big pot with water and put it on the stove. “Mine too. I use sharp cheddar for the taste, gruyere for the pull, and monterrey jack for the creaminess. The broccoli is me pretending to be healthy about it.”
Jason’s laugh filled the kitchen. “Mm, that sounds great. Ozzi does most of the cooking at our place, and he’s really good about making healthy stuff. Me, I add bacon to everything, or just have bacon itself.”
“Please don’t tell me you add bacon to cookies too.” I teased as I took out a box of elbow macaroni, and then lined up the cheeses from the fridge beside it on the counter.
We worked around each other with conversation coming easily. Neither of us bonked into the other. Not even close. It was a natural rhythm and flow as if we’d been together forever and instinctively knew how one another moved. While so many things felt right when I was lying in his arms, this felt good too.
Danger, Lyla Berg! Danger! Don’t think about these things.
Jason had gathered everything and started mixing the dry ingredients once I had the water boiling and the pasta in the pot. I turned on the oven so it could pre-heat and glanced at the clock. My smile flattened.
“It’s been over an hour now.” I went to one of the windows where I could see onto the street. Darkness had blanketed our neighborhood. My usually merry inner voice was screaming at me that something was wrong. “Ozzi should have been fifteen or twenty minutes behind us.”
“No worries. I bet he placed every single package you had slowly and carefully into the drop box. He probably cleaned the snow from the front of the post office too.” Jason seemed to laugh it off, but he picked his phone up from the counter and his thumbs tapped across the screen, clearly sending a text. It was faint, but his forehead furrowed.
He said no worries, but he was concerned. Being too long out in this freezing weather would even batter the toughest of Alphas. I added the butter in for the cookies with my stomach churning. What if Ozzi had an accident? What if I stepped wrong and sunk down into a big snow drift and was trapped? No one would be able to hear him calling for help. He’d freeze to death.
I dropped the wooden spoon and started to untie my apron. “I’m going to get a flashlight and go out to find him.”
“No.” Jason put his hands over mine, stopping me from taking off the apron. “Ozzi’s fine.”
