“I’m not a kitten,” Mathlin protested. But he tipped his head sideways to give Titan more access.
All of Titan’s instincts rumbled, pleased. He closed his lips over Mathlin’s pulse point andsucked.
Mathlin made a low, helpless sound. His pulse thundered in Titan’s ears, and he grabbed Titan’s shirt, pulling him closer. “Wh-what’re you doing?”
“Leaving my claim on you,” Titan growled. He alternated between kissing, sucking, and grazing his teeth over that spot, turning that patch of skin a pretty pink. It would darken into a love bite later, and it was insane how right that felt. How right itsmelled,to have his scent on Mathlin. “Wish I could use my arms. I would pull you closer, take you apart with them.”
He said that louder, for Gonal’s benefit. Mathlin shuddered.
Was it an act? It sure was convincing.
But maybe it didn’t matter, because when Titan moved to plant a matching mark on the other side of Mathlin’s neck, the omega’s pupils were dilated, his lips bitten red.
Titan swallowed hard.
“You’re so gorgeous,” he murmured, hating that he couldn’t touch Mathlin with his hands. He wanted to cup Mathlin’s face;he wanted to brush his fingers through Mathlin’s hair and trace those soft-looking lips.
What would Mathlin’s mouth feel like on him? On his throat, his lips, his cock?
“Oh,” Mathlin mumbled, his face turning pink.
“You look amazing,” Titan confessed.
Mathlin turned pinker. And Titan couldn’t look away.
This feltright.More than Titan could explain.
Someone cleared their throat loudly, startling them both. When Titan turned, he found Gonal still in the bakery’s retail area, watching them with raised eyebrows.
“Oh,” Titan said, embarrassed. Had he really forgotten about their audience? That shared moment between himself and Mathlin felt soreal.“Uh, you were saying, Mr. Gonal?”
“I see that you’re very involved with your omega,” Gonal said approvingly. “You had better bond with him, or someone might steal him from under your snout.”
Titan’s instincts growled.
Mathlin coughed, drawing Titan’s attention back to him. He was just as pink as Titan, and he looked so shy.
“I’ll work on it,” Titan said, unable to tear his gaze away from Mathlin.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Gonal nod. “Speedy recovery, Titan. Your buns will be missed.”
Mathlin choked.
As Gonal turned to leave, Titan fumbled with his words. “I’m hoping to be back in business in three weeks!”
“I’ll help spread the news,” Gonal promised. With a wave, he wandered off, leaving Titan and Mathlin alone in the silence.
“Fuck, I hope they’ll still remember that Twin Buns exists, after three weeks. Or however long it takes me to heal.” The thought of all his hard work slipping down the drain—that was really fucking depressing.
Mathlin frowned. “I can help you bake? If you want to guide me through every single step.”
“Are you sure? That’s a lot of hard work.”
Mathlin nodded earnestly. “As long as I can have Jannie in the bakery with me, I’ll do it. You don’t know how difficult it is to find a job that lets me have her by my side.”
Some of the tightness in Titan’s shoulders eased.
“I’ll have Hamilton borrow a high chair from the pack,” he said. “And a car seat. He’ll get whatever baby supplies you need.”
