Aster
My eyes fluttered open and I frowned. It took me a moment to remember I hadn’t gone home last night. The spot Gren had been held an outline of him, like his vines had formed an outer shell around him, encompassing me as well, and instead of calling them back to him, he’d simply shed them, like he didn’t wish to disturb me. Glancing around for my phone, realizing belatedly I didn’t have a single one of my things and had no clue what time it was, I slowly sat up.
Gren’s bed was comfy. Or I should say, Gren was comfy.
His pillow still had an indent from his head.
No matter how hard I tried, I found it hard to reconcile this Gren with the one I’d first met. What if he’d never realized we were mates? What if I’d died from the heartbreak? Why did true mates work the way it did? I was simplifying and overcomplicating all of this at the same time.
I needed to put a lid on all of this together.
He’d realized we were mates. He was sorry. He knew he was wrong. He was trying to fix this.
He was… He was trying.
I still flinched whenever I thought of Before Gren, the male who I realized going over things in my mind, hadn’t seemed particularly interested in me to begin with. If Ben hadn’t set us up, he probably wouldn't have given me a backward glance.
I was just vain enough it hurt knowing I wasn’t his type.
The now Gren, My Gren, he was lovely. But Before Gren still inhabited that body. I quietly lived with a very realistic fear Before Gren might someday come back to pay me a visit.
This nagged at me until I puzzled out just how much this was affecting me. I was a jumble of nerves, more so than my natural shy, standoffishness warranted. I was afraid to rock the boat. Every time I did, there was a moment, however briefly, it felt like my heart had stopped and I thought I might vomit.
The familiar beeping of the early morning alarm on my phone had my ears pricking.
“Oh- Ow, damnit! Would you… shut off already, you blasted thing! You’re going to make me burn the bacon!”
Gren’s emphatically hissed words left me grinning.
Slipping from the bed, extracting myself from the vine tangles cuddling me in his absence, I walked down the hall to the bathroom, making use of it and washing my hands before dipping back down the hall to tiptoe my way to the kitchen.
“Coffee, cocoa, tea?” Gren asked before he could see me.
I didn’t know why I’d tried, I was in his territory. He’dknow.Which begged the question: “Water is fine.” I loved pineapple juice but I wasn’t going to mention it. “How come you didn’t know the ladies were in your house? Wouldn’t you know the moment they set foot in the marsh?” Spotting my cell phone, keys, and purse, I snagged my phone off the table on my way to the counter.
“Katarina smells odd for a Were, doesn’t she? Not everyone picks up on it right away. She’s a Death Bringer, a Wind Elemental. I’d have automatically thought to point the finger at her, but she’s really not so devious, and from what I can tell, rarely uses her powers for much of anything.” Turning to me as I walked to the bar and sat on a barstool, he reached over the kitchen sink and placed a glass of water in front of me. Picking up the fork he was using to flip the bacon, he waved it in my direction. “Bacon?” he asked, watching me eye the growing plate of it he had going.
If I had a tail, it would be wagging. “I like bacon,” I said between sips of water.
“Good.” Picking up a piece, he offered it to me, smiling when I took it, broke it in half, and immediately offered him a piece. Popping the offered piece into his mouth, he went back to the stove to man the sizzling pig slices. Lifting a thick ceramic mug with SheHulk on it, he took a sip of what my nose told me was plain black tea.
“Your alarm went off. I turned it off. Eggs okay? Scrambled, over hard, over easy? Omelet? I can’t say I eat much bread for breakfast, but I can make cinnamon rolls? I have some spinach and mushrooms in the fridge if you like other stuff with your eggs? Oh, and I can take you to work? I could come in today? Your phone rang, by the way, someone named C-Dog, I’m assuming that’s a male acquaintance. It looked like he’s left you a message. Anyway, I was, uh, wondering how much time I get with you this morning. Maybe we could go to lunch today, my treat?” he said casually, so casually I paused, glass in my hands at my lips at his spewed out mouthful and a half, and simply stared. He just slipped it right in there.
“Darling, are you jealous?” I whispered softly, so softly I wondered after a moment if perhaps he didn’t hear me. He gave me his back as he took the done bacon out of the heavy cast iron skillet and put fresh pieces on.
Pausing when he was done, he took a deep breath, rolling his head on his neck, a lovely action as I got to see the tendons in his neck flex, and then he turned to me.
His eyes were rimmed with orange, the centers a glowing green. “Violently,” he muttered, swallowing thickly as he walked over and leaned heavily over the sink. Bracing his hands on the double sinks, he leaned over, until I just needed to draw closer in and I could meet him the rest of the way. “Aster?” he all but growled out. “Who is C-Dog and what is he to you?”
“How do you know C-Dog is a man and not a woman?” My gaze dipped as I set my glass down and began fiddling with it.
His hands came down over mine, his fingers cupping my slightly larger digits, smoothing over them in a soothing action. I had a worker’s hands. They weren’t made to be pretty. “At the risk of sounding like an overbearing ass face, I am insanely jealous of this mystery person in your life that I’ve never heard of until he showed up on your phone.” His hands were trembling slightly, his throat working as he licked his lips repeatedly.
My Marsh male was in a state.
“If it eases your worry, there’s only ever been you,” I told him. I felt no shame in this. I didn’t really understand this whole virginity stigma. Keeping it, losing it, what business was it, really, but you and your partner’s? I’d simply never felt about anyone the way I had for him. I’d known, right away he was my mate. I’d known since the time I was little I wished my one and no other. There was no question of it for me. I’d find my one, or I might not, but either way, I’d settle for nothing but.
“I- You- Really?” Gren blinked, then did some more blinking.
