For some reason, he found himself passing right by the guest bathroom and rushing into Emory’s room. He thought he was heading to the bathroom, but he found himself stopping in front of the bed instead. He’d felt so safe and warm here the previous night. The sheets were rumpled, and probably cold given howlong they’d both been awake, but his octopus shoved him forward anyway.
He dove under the covers, pulling them up over his head and nestling down inside them. Some octopuses, especially his species, liked to bury or hide themselves when they felt scared or needed to feel safe. He had a huge nest of pillows, blankets, and sheets in his own bed, which he would often crawl into after long days at work. It was possibly another reason why his fated mate’s hugs felt so good. They were all encompassing and made Cameron feel wrapped up and protected.
That is, if Emory ever wanted to hug him again after this. Cameron shuddered, and tears pricked his eyes. He burrowed deeper under the blankets and, for good measure, reached above his head to snatch Emory’s pillow and bring it into his hideout.
He was aware of the irony of wanting to surround himself with Emory’s scent, even though Emory, or at least Cameron’s fearaboutEmory, was the reason he was cowering in here in the first place. Logic meant very little to Cameron’s octopus, and as he lay there, he could feel the line between him and his beast blur.
Time spooled out, and what felt like five minutes later, but was probably closer to fifteen, he heard the soft falls of Emory’s feet on the carpet. He tensed as the footsteps approached the bed, but then they turned and headed to the bathroom.
“Cameron?” Emory called, and he sounded concerned, maybe even a little hurt. The footsteps returned and moved towards the bed before coming to a halt.
“Uhm…breakfast is here, if you’re interested,” Emory said softly.
Cameron didn’t know what to say. He actually was quite hungry, but he couldn’t fathom them going back to the kitchen table and sitting across from each other, casually eating pastries while they determined if their relationship had a future.
“I think I may have upset you with what I said about my mother and aunts wanting us to have cubs. In lion culture, families are called prides, and our pride is made up of a lot of bossy women and a few bitchy aunts who always want more cubs in the family. But…they don’t make decisions for me, Cameron. They can roar and growl all they want, but it’s my life—I mean, it’sourlife.”
Cameron really didn’t want to crawl out from his den, but his heart ached at the tone of his…fuck, hispartner’svoice. He had used that word a bit hopefully at the party, but after spending the night together, he was really starting to believe it.
His octopus was still cowering, so it seemed like it was up to Cameron to make the next move. He wiggled his hand through the sheets until it emerged at the end of the bed.
His gesture was met with silence and utter stillness, and for a moment Cameron wondered if he’d made a mistake. Maybe he was just too weird, toomuch, for Emory.
Then Emory took Cameron’s hand. “Would you come out and talk to me, honey?”
“I’d really rather not. Would you…”
Was this absurd to ask?
More absurd than Emory finding his fated mate hiding in his sheets?
Well, in for a penny, in for a pound and all that. “Would you come in here?”
Emory let out a surprised noise, but a few seconds later, the mattress dipped. “I don’t know where you are in all this,” Emory admitted as he patted his hands around on the bed. Cameron’s octopus decided to be the one to offer a hand this time, thrusting Cameron’s other hand out and waving it, demonstrating where Emory could come inside the den.
After a little bit of wiggling and adjusting, Emory slid under the blankets. The small space immediately filled with warmthand the heady smell of leather. It was similar to the effect that water had on Cameron’s octopus. It felt like being cradled by the ocean. Like he was exactly where he needed to be. That seemed illogical, given all of Cameron’s fear only moments before, but he and his octopus knew it was true.
Cameron grabbed Emory’s hand like he had the previous night, but this time, he used it as leverage to pull himself against Emory’s chest.
“Hi, honey,” Emory breathed, wrapping an arm securely around Cameron’s back.
“Hi.”
Emory huffed affectionately and nuzzled his cheek against Cameron’s neck. Cameron had never before wished he had a scent gland, but he sort of did when he was around Emory. He wanted to experience Emory’s nuzzling the way it was meant to be experienced…by another mammal…who could give him cubs.
“Want to tell me what happened?” Emory asked, shifting so they were face-to-face.
Cameron let out a grumbling noise, and Emory placed a soft kiss on his forehead. “You don’t want kids, do you.”
It was a statement, not a question, so Cameron didn’t really feel the need to answer. Instead, he gazed into Emory’s eyes. They were a flat brown, none of the specs of gold or amber showing through. For some reason, this comforted him. There was no dominant alpha coming out to growl at him. Not like what had happened with Thomas when he found out.
“Do you want kids?” Cameron asked when the silence stretched a little too long.
“Only if you do. Otherwise, I’m not particularly interested in them.”
Emory threaded his fingers through Cameron’s hair, and he let out a surprised but happy groan as he tilted his head into the touch. Some of the curls were still damp, but that didn’tdeter Emory from finger-combing his hair back in a rhythmic, soothing pattern. This was going to cause his hair to poof up like a cloud when it fully dried, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was the feeling of his mate’s arms around him and the rapid beating of his heart as he considered his next words carefully.
“I’m also not particularly interested in kids, but I always told myself I needed to remain open to the idea in case my fated mate, or whoever I ended up with, wanted them. I guess it sort of hit me when you said it, like your family wanted you to have kids, so you weregoingto have kids, that I think I could only go through with raising kids if my mate really,trulywanted them. If that was the case, then I’m sure we could figure out adoption and all that, but if it was just to appease your family… I really don’t think I could do that.”
