Leo shakes his head. “I think my heat is over. It feels like everything has settled.”
“Already?”
“Mhmm,” Leo hums, his eyes unreadable. I’m not sure what it means that he’s finished his heat so quickly but there’s something about his tense body that tells me he knows and is nervous to tell me.
I care about him so much. Nothing he could say could ever push me away. I just need to somehow let him know exactly that.
“Leo,” I whisper, leaning down and kissing his forehead. I hear him give a soft sigh. “Why is your heat over so early?”
“It means my heat caught.”
“Caught what? I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
Leo swallows thickly before his eyes meet mine. “It means that my heat did exactly what it was supposed to do, Jin. It ended early because there’s no more need for it to go on. My scent has already started changing, I can smell it. You and I are now mated. Our family has grown.” There’s a moment of quiet before Leo takes my hand, guiding it to his stomach.
“Oh,” I breathe out, finally understanding, hitting me like a bolt of lightning. “Oh, Leo.”
“Is that okay?”
I hold my mate tight against my chest. “Of course it’s okay,” I say, doing my best to calm my racing heart.
I never really thought much about finding love, let alone having a family. Especially not a ‘traditional’ biological family. I never thought about having kids. I never dreamed of having a mate, especially not after getting my tattoo.
My head is spinning. It’s so hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that my entire life has changed in such a short amount of time. I was content to drift, to experience new things, and live life to the fullest all alone. I was content to just keep doing what brought me joy. It’s not until Leo quite literally bumped into my life that things felt like there could be more, that I was allowed to want more.
I’m elated. My chest feels so full of love that it might actually burst. I might start to crack and sunshine will spring right out of my skin, burning us both. I didn’t know I wanted to be a mate, I didn’t know I wanted to be a father but I do. I want it all. I want them both so desperately that I’d give up anything to keep them for as long as they’ll have me.
I clear my throat. “Are you happy?”
Leo looks up at me, smiling. “Yes,” he says, one of his hands coming up to rest on my cheek. We hold each other’s faces, gazing at each other. “I’m really happy, Jin. I’m so happy you’remy mate, I’m happy I’m pregnant. I’m so happy you spent my heat with me. I’m happy you’re in my nest. I’m happy that I get tokeepyou.” He blurts it all out quickly and it takes a moment for all the words to really register but when they do, I’m bowled over all over again with emotion. I love him so fucking much. “I’msohappy.”
“I am too,” I say simply before leaning down and kissing him. It feels like I’m sealing our declaration with a kiss, solidifying our feelings for each other.
We share soft kisses back and forth but they don’t have heat to them like the previous night. We might be covering each other’s faces and necks with kisses but there’s no need to push it further than that, content just the way we are. It’s soft and gentle and warm and perfect. I can feel his affection for me through our lips and I hope he can feel the same.
“Let me keep taking care of you,” I say softly, “let me bathe you.”
“Okay,” he whispers.
“Stay here. I’ll be right back, Leo.”
I get out of the nest, stretching my arms over my head. My back gives a few satisfying cracks. My entire body is exhausted, my muscles sore from our lovemaking. I can’t imagine how Leo is feeling or how a full heat would leave us feeling. Maybe I should start working out so I’ll have better stamina for the future.
Knowing there’s a future with Leo leaves me grinning as I move through his apartment to his bathroom. I start running the water in the bathtub. Once it’s the right temperature, I plug it and let it fill.
Looking in the mirror, I stare at the bite against my neck. I touch it, hissing as pain runs through my shoulder. It’s bruised and soon, the indents will scar, leaving me marked for life. I don’t think I’ve seen anything more beautiful. No tattoo couldever compare to this mark against my skin. The rest of my body is filled with scratches and bites and hickies. My entire body is a tapestry, showing Leo’s love for me. I’ve never felt prettier, like a piece of art.
Back inside Leo’s bedroom, I dip down and snag a pair of boxers, sliding them on. Then I kneel at the entrance of the nest.
“Let me carry you?”
“Okay,” Leo says softly, his cheeks turning adorably pink. We mated, fucked, and confessed to each other, but somehow, asking to carry him is making him blush. Gods, he’s adorable.
Leo crawls over to me until I can get a proper hold on him. With a grunt, I lift him into my arms, one hand under his knees, the other behind his back. Then I carry him into the bathroom before gently setting him down in the water.
“Feel good?”
“Yes,” he says with a sigh, letting his head fall back against the edge, his entire body going lax. Something inside of me preens at taking care of Leo like this, some buried instinct making itself known now that we’re mated. I want to be the best mate possible for Leo. I never want him to regret picking me.
