Regrets? Oh no, that wouldn’t do. It was far too late for regrets now.
Pavel followed him, cornering him against the sink after he’d dropped his plate into it.
“Back off,” Zane ordered, but Pavel simply moved in closer, caging him in with his arms at either side.
He turned his nose into Zane’s hair and inhaled deeply, moaning before moving to nuzzle his cheek and then his neck when Zane tried to turn away. “I’ll be so good to you, bashert, I promise. So good. You won’t regret.”
“I already do.” He tried to elbow him but there wasn’t enough room for him to do more than tap him. “Move so we can discuss this face to face.”
“No, I’ll stay right here. I’ll keep you locked in close. I can soothe those doubts, just give me a chance to do so.” Shamelessly, Pavel humped forward, letting Zane feel how hard he was for him.
“Oh, hell no,” Zane snarled. “Absolutely not! You are not fucking me right now! Keep it in your pants!”
“But if I fuck you into submission you’ll feel better,” he reassured. “If I breed you and fill you up you’ll—”
Suddenly, Zane moved his head and then whacked it back, his skull connecting with Pavel’s nose.
He swore and shot away, instantly covering his face. There was blood, but he didn’t think it was broken. With a growl, he glanced up to find Zane had turned and was rubbing the back of his head.
“Gods damn it,” the doctor hissed. “Your damn Yurn urges are a fucking nightmare sometimes, you know that?” He huffed and then straightened but didn’t risk moving closer, giving Pavel a cautious once over. “Did that snap you out of it or do I need to get my knives and try again?”
Pavel frowned at him, wordlessly asking for an explanation.
“Your eyes were glowing and you were clearly losing your cool,” he informed him. “I’m guessing hearing me say I would marry you got you overly excited and your instincts to mark your territory and claim your mate got the best of you.”
He tested out his feelings and found that a lot of the overwhelming drive to pin Zane down and spear him on his cock had dwindled, at least enough he could see the other man was correct that right now they should be talking and not fucking like animals.
“You seem very calm about all of this,” he observed, only for Zane to laugh.
“Calm? I feel like I’m about to pass out, actually. It’s hard enough trying to figure out what the hell I was thinking without needing to also navigate your thought processes.” He took a deep breath and said, “Which is why we’re going to lay down some ground rules.”
“Okay.” There really wasn’t anything else he could say to that, so he didn’t bother.
“I agreed to marry you because it really is my best option. It’ll get me away from Lyra and—”
“I love you.”
“Could you not interrupt right now?”
“You’re being kind of mean, Doctor.” Pavel took a step toward him and immediately thought better of it, holding his hands up in surrender when Zane reached behind him and grabbed a frying pan. “Okay, okay. No touching. Justing talking. Got it. Continue.”
“I like you,” Zane blurted, seeming just as surprised as Pavel felt once he had. “I like you a lot, I think. Enough to marry you, in any case, but I can’t promise you anything more than that. I don’t know if I want forever with you, or if I even fully buy that you want it with me.”
“Don’t be stupid,” the harsh words snapped off his tongue before he could stop them. “I’ve gone above and beyond to prove to you that I do.”
“What if…” He hesitated, then seemed to try again. “What if I’m not really what you’re after?”
“What?” That didn’t even make sense.
“What if you only want me because you think I’m that kid from the orphanage? What if, because of what you are, you’re clinging to this idea of me that no longer exists?”
“I thought I was the crazy one.” Pavel shook his head. “Baby, no. I know exactly who it is I want. It’s not some version of you trapped in my head, it’s you, right here, the man standing in front of me shaking like a leaf.”
Zane sneered at him. “Am not.”
“Are too,” he teased. “Are you really that scared that I’ll change my mind? Haven’t I already told you I’d never abandon you? There’s nothing more I can say here, Zane. Words clearly aren’t enough to convince you, so,” he risked another step closer and pulled the velvet box he’d brought with him from the study out so the other guy could see it, “let me show you.”
“Like…a trial period?” he sounded both hopeful and wary, cluing Pavel into the fact he’d been gearing up to suggest this since the start of the conversation. Hell, maybe even since the start of breakfast.
