“Mmmm. He wants to meet me.”
Lycan smiled then, “Oh, yes.” He tapped his chest. “Definitely.”
Seath covered Lycan’s smaller hands in his. “Listen, sweetheart, that’s going to happen. And you can —” Seath paused, then turned Lycan so they were facing, eye-to-eye. “Fated mates isn’t some magic that cures everything between two lovers. I don’t believe that. We have to talk to each other. Be honest and vulnerable.We have to meet the magic halfway.”
“Yes.” Lycan agreed, leaning in to press a soft kiss to Seath’s lips. “Being Alpha-Mate means duties and responsibilities. I need to learn, Seath. Learn what the Pack needs, what skills I have that can be used for the good of the Pack. I know I am much healthier than I was when I arrived months ago, but I still have a long way to go if I am going to be what you and this Pack need.”
“Youarewhat I and this Pack need.” Seath’s voice was firm and commanding. “We have time. Time to sort Donovan. Time for you to learn. Greene is still Alpha of the Northwest Pack and will be for some time more. And if you want to learn, we will teach you. Do you know what I thought when I found you in the woods?”
Lycan cringed. “I can’t imagine.”
“Don’t.” Seath’s voice cracked, the image of the broken man in the woods a difficult one, rendered all the more difficult when he considered now that it was his mate. But, he did remember. And he remembered the omega who bared his neck to an Alpha against whom he would have no chance and demanded the manner of his own death with Death itself waiting in the wings.
“I knew that you were the bravest wolf I would ever meet.”
“What?”
“It’s true. And I stand by it. You might not think you are ready, but I know you are.”
Lycan’s features drew into a fierce determination. “Yes. I can do this.”
“You can.”
Seath let Lycan relax and finish his meal, not wanting to keep his mate from recovering from the heats. Heats were quick and intense, forty-eight hours or so of wanting nothing but needing to be filled by a lover. Tonight, he would take Lycan to the hot springs at the grotto and let the warm water carry away the last of the heat’s effects.
“There is another matter.” Seath pulled Lycan close. “Where I have to be truthful.”
Lycan looked at him expectantly, turning his head in a wolf-like gesture. Seath had been noticing more of those and he hoped he was right in thinking it meant Lycan was in tune with his wolf more and more.
“You are going to have to set boundaries with me, mate. I want to demand you move into my den. I want to tell the world you are my mate. I’m going to move too fast, be too much—“
“Hey.” Lycan shifted, so he straddled Seath’s lap the best he could. His hips were no match for Seath’s larger frame. “Is that what you want? Me in your space?”
“It’s alreadyourspace.”
Lycan kissed his nose. “And you already marked me, mate.”
Seath’s heart thumped to hear Lycan call them mates. He loved the acknowledgement of who they were to one another. He nuzzled Lycan’s mark.
“You marked me as well, Lycan, don’t forget that. The house responds to you as Alpha-Mate. So does the pack, or at least parts of it. Even from your first heat.”
“And I smell like you.”
“There will be no hiding it, if that was what you wanted. If that’s what your worries about being Alpha-Mate are about.”
Lycan shook his head. “No. But there will be those who will say I am not worthy.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Seath pulled his mate closer, kissing him deep until Lycan was glassy-eyed.
“Jesus,” Lycan whispered, “even without the heat.”
Seath laughed into his mouth, loving the feel of his aroused omega pressed against him and knowing it went so much deeper than the desire of a heat.
Chapter twenty
Pack Life Goes On
