His throat bobbed, and my already soft shield grew downright spongy.
“Anyway, one of the times he said it, it got me wondering if you—but you’re so young . . .”
“And too sweet?” Sarcasm coated my tone.
A smile. And then it was gone. “Yes, Nikki. And because of that, I couldn’t imagine you’d want a kid, especially one you hadn’t created with that perfect, preordained mate of yours. And then you said you didn’t want another family, and—”
“I want a mate, Liam. A mate who loves and accepts my family, because they’ll be his too.”
He closed his eyes. Inhaled. “Would you take me?” Opened his eyes. Exhaled. “Even if you get a true mate at nightfall, would you take me as your mate, Nicole Raina Freemont?” There was something so wounded in his tone, as though he pictured the ledge he’d walked out on already crumbling beneath him. “Me and my baggage?”
“Your baggage?”
“My son. My trust issues. My—”
He stopped talking when I took a step forward.
Stopped breathing when I captured both sides of his face, my thumbs dipping into the hollows beneath his cheekbones.
“Do you swear toneverwalk out on me again? If you’re angry or scared, you talk, you yell, but you don’t. Walk. Out.”
He turned his head and placed a kiss inside my palm. “On all the storms and stars, I swear to never walk away from you again.”
His promise snatched up all my heartbeats and compressed them into a giant one that made my body shudder.
“On all the storms and stars, huh? Didn’t peg my rugged Alpha as someone who waxed-poetic.”The lightness of my tone smoothed away his lingering worry.
His hands found purchase on my waist and crumpled the red silk. “Better not tell anyone or I’ll lose all my pack cred.”
I laughed, then pulled his head down to mine.
“My mate,” he murmured against my mouth.
I stopped laughing.
I was someone’s mate.
Not just someone’s.
Liam’s.
“I’ve been feeling sick to my stomach all day at the idea of getting a mate,” I confessed.
One of his hands drifted to my belly, stayed there stroking slow arcs over my T-shirt. “Do you still feel sick?”
“A little, but I doubt it’ll just poof away.”
His eyebrows tilted toward one another. “You’re not pregnant, are you?”
“Pregnant? Ha. No. We used protection.” A little blood drained from my cheeks. “But now you’re freaking me out.”CouldI be pregnant? I listened for another heartbeat, but Liam’s and mine were creating quite the din.
He crouched and replaced his palm with his ear. After a second, he looked up. “No pulsing. Just lots of bubbles.”
“Thank, Lycaon.” A mate was one thing.A baby. . .
He raised the hem of my tee and pressed a kiss against my navel, which seemed to react by throbbing harder. “You should be thanking condom makers.” Liam straightened from his crouch and kissed the tip of my nose but must’ve decided it was too tame a place to kiss, because his mouth coasted lower, sealing over mine.
At the taste of him, my pulse detonated, raining glitter inside my veins. I threaded my hands through his silky hair and tugged him close, and then closer, wondering if he’d ever feel close enough.
