The candlelight reflecting in Emory’s eyes distorted whatever emotion he was feeling. Cameron held his breath, wondering if this would be the breaking point he’d been waiting for all night.
“That actually sounds quite beautiful,” Emory said slowly, and Cameron’s octopus sagged in relief. “While it is a bit outside the norm for my shifter culture, I’m very amenable to that. With my father’s passing, I’m also not in any rush to mate. My family has undergone a lot of change and heartbreak, and I would never want to add to that by rushing into a mate bond I wasn’t ready for.”
Cameron could feel that spell settling around him again. The one that made him get lost in warm pools of brown and swirling shards of amber.
Thankfully, the server arrived with their check, and Cameron roused himself enough to pull out his wallet. Emory was much faster, even one-handed. Cameron had learned from Thomas that he should always attempt to pay for a meal. While Thomas often insisted on paying, if Cameron didn’t try, there would be hell to pay in the form of harsh words, rough hands, and cold silences on the way home.
Watching Emory pull out his platinum credit card, Cameron felt a new insecurity rise up. He had insisted in the airport that he wasn’t a gold digger, but he wanted to make sure Emory believed him. As the server swiped Emory’s card, Cameron fidgeted in his seat, crossing and uncrossing his legs until he finally blurted out that he could pay the tip.
Emory agreed with a slight furrow in his brow. When the server walked away, Cameron saw the bill and understood why. It was quite hefty, more than Cameron would spend on a week’s worth of food, but it left Cameron feeling a little more in control, being able to contribute. He emptied all of the cash from his wallet and was just barely able to make the twenty percent tip.
After Cameron stuffed his wallet back in his pocket, Emory used their entwined hands to help Cameron to his feet. He kept their fingers tangled as they left the restaurant, and when they approached the curb, Emory tried to offer Cameron a ride home, explaining that he had the company car for the evening. Cameron was tempted to agree just to avoid more accidental conflict, but he was sort of looking forward to putting on his headphones and getting lost in a podcast on the commute home.
Emory accepted this with little fuss but insisted on walking him the two blocks to the bus stop.
“Thank you for tonight, Cameron. I had a lovely evening,” Emory said, huddling against the cold as they came to a stop under the bus awning.
“Thankyou! I actually had a really nice time as well.”
Cameron’s octopus scoffed at the word “actually” since he’d been sure they were going to have a good time. Cameron ignored him. He wouldn’t apologize to anyone, especially not his own omega, for being cautious.
Emory also didn’t seem to mind, because he grinned a big, toothy grin at him. Was he really not a wolf?
“Are we still on for coffee the week after next?”
To his surprise, Cameron found he wasactuallylooking forward to it. He had enjoyed opening up about his family, and every small morsel he collected from Emory was coming together to form a pleasant image of the man. “Yeah, we’re still on. I’ll meet you there? And…maybe we can figure out logistics for New Year’s Eve?”
Emory’s grin lit up the night more than the dull fluorescent light over the bus stand. He took a step closer to Cameron, pressing their chests together, and Cameron tipped his head up, anticipating maybe a goodnight kiss, or at the very least a hug.
Naturally, his bus pulled up right at that moment. Emory cast the bus a sideways glance before bending down to place a soft kiss on Cameron’s forehead.
“Please text me as soon as you get home,” Emory murmured, and Cameron nodded against Emory’s lips.
The bus hydraulics squealed as it lowered, and the door rattled open. Cameron didn’t have time to consider whether his octopus made him do it, or if it was his own choice, but he threw his arms around Emory’s neck in a quick hug.
Emory let out a surprised breath but wrapped his arms tightly around Cameron’s lower back. Cameron’s octopus jumped up and down and then rolled over, exposing his belly to the air. Cameron groaned softly, fisting the fabric of Emory’s jacket before he pulled out of Emory’s grasp and ran up the bus steps without looking back. Only when he was settled in his seat did he look out the window and see Emory waving goodbye, a somewhat lopsided grin on his face.
Chapter Six
Emory
Emory couldn’t help but feel like a desperate schoolboy with a crush.
He’d thought the feeling would pass the more he chatted and got to know Cameron. Instead, he felt like Cameron was keeping him on the edge of his seat, giving him tiny glimpses, but hiding his full self from Emory. He’d gotten a hint of it at the restaurant when Cameron admitted to having horrid biological parents and a tough time with conflict and confrontation. Emory had been torn between encouraging him to open up further or wrapping him up in his arms and telling him he didn’t have to say another word. By the end of the date, he’d gotten the sense that Cameron was finally opening up to him, initiating a hug and pressing their bodies together in front of the bus.
The days that followed, however, saw Cameron retreating into his shell, reverting to memes and flirty banter over text.
Emory didn’t know what to expect from their second date. He showed up at the coffee shop a few minutes early and decided to wait outside in the surprisingly bright December sun. Beforehe had time to overheat in his heavy overcoat, Cameron came scurrying around the corner. Unlike at the restaurant, Cameron didn’t pull up short. He hurried directly to Emory’s side and grabbed his hand.
Emory’s lion chuffed happily, and when Emory tried to shush him, he began to purr instead. He wondered if Cameron could feel it as their hands stayed connected all the way up to the register, through ordering and receiving their drinks, and to the table they snagged by the window. His lion was going to end up losing his voice–if that was a thing that could happen to shifter beasts–because he purred even louder as Cameron launched into a funny story about his sister’s most recent misadventures in online dating.
It felt good to laugh together. Their first date had been a little intense, at least at the beginning, and he loved to see this more jovial, almost playful side of his fated mate. When Cameron’s story ended, Emory smoothly moved into a story Christopher had told him about a fated mates party, and Cameron followed with a story of Shay getting stranded on an island with a tech-bro she met on a dating app.
Cameron admitted, somewhat hesitantly, that he had a sparse dating history compared to his sister. When Cameron’s college ex came up, his eyes skirted around the room, jumping from one rustically designed table to another, finally landing on the handmade coffee mug he was drinking from.
“He…wasn’t a very good guy,” Cameron finally admitted into his mug, and both Emory and his lion’s hackles raised.
His aunt, Corin, had dated someone who ‘wasn’t a very good guy,’ and she still had the scars, both physical and emotional, to show for it. Emory had been too young to do anything, and his father had always been cautious not to use his alpha power to control the lives of anyone in the pride. They’d watched as the light slowly faded from Corin’s eyes until finally, one day,she’d had enough. She was now happily mated to her fated mate, Ariel, who was one of the nicest women Emory had ever met. He thanked fate every time he was with them that Corin had weathered the storm and made it out on the other side. It seemed like Cameron must have done the same thing, but it didn’t stop Emory’s blood from boiling or his lion from gnashing his teeth together.
