Mate! Mate! Mate! You’re my mate!
Axel was my mate.
My fox said so.
But how could he be? He didn’t scent me back. Was I going to be rejected? Was I going to lose him once again, only this time for real, forever?
I shifted back, needing answers. He was already on two feet by the time my shift was complete.
”Mate,” I said.
”You scent me?”
I nodded. “You?” The words barely left my lips, the fear of rejection too strong.
”I always have. I could blame it on being young and foolish, but it wasn’t that. Not really. It was fear.”
I understood that all too well. I’d been acting out of fear since I first fell in love with him.
”Are you scared now?”
”I’m a lot of things. Scared isn’t one of them.” He crossed over to me and rubbed his cheek against mine. “Mate. Mine.”
”Yes. Yours. Now mark me so the world knows it.”
There was so much more to say, to figure out. It could all wait. This was something we should’ve done all those years ago, and I refused to wait another day. Axel was mine and nothing was going to get between us again, especially not my own fears.
7
AXEL
“I’ve imagined this moment so many times.” Stan undid my buttons.
My heart raced as his fingers worked their way down my shirt, and I counted the seconds as each button slipped free. Stan was my best friend, the omega I’d adored and still did. But now I knew, we both did, that the universe hadn’t tricked us and we were fated mates.
“Why did we both get dressed after shifting?” I tossed my shirt on the floor.
Stan shrugged, and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “This makes it more fun with us undressing one another.”
I brushed a thumb over his lower lip. He shivered and moaned, and my cock, which was already hard, engorged.
The bedroom was awash with his sweet, intoxicating aroma, and unlike him, I didn’t want to spend precious minutes undressing one another. We’d wasted so many years.
“Can I?” I gripped his tee, ready to rip it off. He nodded, and it was gone. I brushed his nipple with my good hand and it peaked. He moaned, and his head fell back. I’d memorized Stan’s body when we were roommates. He’d dash out of the shower with a towel around his hips or when we spent weekends at the lake. But soon I was going to be inside him, and I slowed my breathing to ward off an orgasm.
“I was so scared our relationship would change.”
I paused and cupped his chin. “It will. Nothing will be the same after today, but in the best, most loving and intimate way.”
His hands wandered over my chest, and he traced the lines of muscle. Goosebumps trailed along behind his fingertips. I pulled him closer. We’d been in crowded trains and elevators, but our bodies pressed together now was nothing like those accidental touches. This was a choice we were both making.
I captured his lips, and the kiss held everything I’d been holding back for years. Tangling my fingers in his hair, I tipped his head back. He moaned, and the vibrations aroused me further.
Stan pulled away, panting, and he clutched my shoulders. “It’s always been you.”
That was my signal, and I scooped him up, making sure most of his weight was on my left arm and laid him on the mattress. He was wearing jeans, whereas the PJ pants I had slung around my hips could be kicked off in seconds.
But Stan was impatient, and he wriggled out of his jeans, leaving the hard ridge of his arousal protruding under his briefs.
