"Don't get your hopes up, but I'll try..."
I leaned into his neck, close enough that my lips brushed his skin. It was a good excuse to get up close and personal. I closed my eyes to focus, then inhaled a deep lungful of air. My olfactory senses were laughably bad, worse than even a human's, so I wasn't expecting much. But to my surprise, there was a mild sweetness wafting off of Red.
I leaned back, startled, then tried again. Red kept still while I ran my experiment, though he shivered slightly as my lips brushed up against him. I shut my eyes and sniffed him. The same delightful sweetness came up again. It was an indescribable sweetness, different than any flower or fruit. It was wholly his. Inhaling it made me shudder with joy. Did shifters with keen noses experience this all the time? If so, that was a pretty good deal. It was no ability to fly, but it was an excellent runner-up.
"Well?" Red asked. "You've been at it for a while now, and tickling me the whole time, I might add."
"I did smell something," I told him, unable to hold back a smile. "And I think it was you."
"Seriously?" He tilted his head curiously. "And you're not saying that because that's what I just said?"
"No, because I thought it sounded silly when you said it," I teased, gently pinching his cheek. "But when I tried to smell you, there was definitely something there. A little nick of sweetness. Not like anything I'd ever smelled before, so I know it had to be you."
Red smiled. A tinge of pink coloured his cheeks. "Well, I'll be damned. The raven smelled something after all."
* * *
A lazy afternoon passed,in which we snacked on field mice in our animal forms, and then we stumbled upon an abandoned den to spend the night in. As a bird shifter, I wasn't too comfortable sleeping on the ground, but since I'd spent so much time in the alcove, I'd gotten used to it. It also helped that my trusted mate had a keen nose and ears to alert us to any potential danger.
My relief when I lay next to Red was palpable. With Ryker, every night was a struggle, a tangle of stress. I always had to be on my guard for when he was going to get moody and snap, so I wasn't able to fully relax. With Red, I could lay my head on his shoulder and fall asleep almost instantly.
We snuggled just outside of the den together, watching the sunset paint the land in pinks and oranges. I tried to be subtle about it, but I was looking at Red out of the corner of my eye just as much as I was watching the sunset. How could I help myself when he was even more beautiful than the sky?
I could've spent forever with him like this, which was more than I ever thought about Ryker. I spent so much time trying to get away from my ex, but the way I felt about Red was the opposite. I wanted to be by his side forever, and knowing he wanted the same thing made me so happy I could've spread my wings and done aerial back flips.
"Can I ask you something?" I said.
Red raised a brow at me. "What's with the serious tone? Are you already sick of me?”
"What? No!”
He grinned, but looked relieved. "Just checking."
"Don't joke about that," I growled in the best growl I could muster. "For your information, I want to be with you forever. I wouldn't have shown you my mate proposal dance if I didn't."
This pleased him. He put his hand on top of mine to calm me down. "Okay, okay. Sorry. What's your question?"
I gazed back out into the sunset. "I was just thinking about where we’re going to raise our child. I don't have a home to go back to, and I was a nomad for all of two weeks before I met you. So a permanent residence probably won't come from my side of the family."
"But you do want a permanent residence to raise the baby?" Red asked.
I nodded. "I think that would be best."
I already knew what Red was thinking, but I wanted to hear it from his own lips. I was no longer making decisions for myself anymore. We were in a partnership and I wanted his input on all the choices we made together. That was a privilege I didn't have with Ryker. He made all the decisions for me, whether I liked them or not, and that was no way to be a mate.
"Well… if it's okay with you, I rather like the permanent residence that I have," Red said. "The pack’s territory has everything we need to raise a family. Food, water, shelter. Oh, and there's the added bonus that all the couples owe me about a million hours in unpaid childcare debt."
I laughed and put my arm around him. "That is a considerable amount of babysitting. We could go off and have our own little adventures whenever we're sick of a fox cub chewing on our arms, or a raven chick pecking at our eyes."
Red slapped his forehead. "I didn't even consider that it might be a raven. Oh gods, I'm not gonna lay an egg, am I?"
I honestly hadn't thought about it. "I'm not sure. There's a million species in your pack, don't one of them shift into something that lays eggs? What about the shark?"
"His kind gives live birth," Red mumbled.
I rubbed his back reassuringly. "Well, even if it is an egg, at least raven eggs are small. Maybe it'll just fall out of you."
"Thank you for that lovely mental image."
