If it were possible to stay like this forever, he would have, but he could feel his climax approaching, so he began snapping his hips in earnest. Cameron’s resulting screams pushed Emory over the edge. He slammed into Cameron one last time, and his knot shot forward, pressing right past Cameron’s ring, sliding up to the tip of his cock faster than it ever had before. Cameron had gone completely silent, and Emory pulled him up and back against his chest. The more upright position allowed Emory’s knot to lock in place, and Cameron whimpered pathetically.
“Okay, beautiful. I’ve got you. Do you need to come?” Emory asked. He traced his hands down Cameron’s stomach and was surprised to find it was already sticky with cum.
“I did…when you did,” Cameron gasped, grabbing Emory’s hand and pulling it away from his crotch.
Emory linked their fingers together, and they stayed there, kneeling on his expensive couch as they both fought to catch their breath.
With great care, Emory was able to maneuver them until Cameron was sitting in his lap with Emory’s back pressed into the damp couch cushion. They had no doubt wrecked the couch, which was fine by him. He’d never wanted it in the first place. In fact, he vowed to fuck Cameron on one of those stupid upholstered stools later.
His mind wandered, for just a moment, to some of the other stupid things in his life he needed to handle. First things first, he was going to find a way to get more time off work. The rumors about his cousin also had to be investigated. If he really was back in town, Emory was going to give him a piece of his mind…and then see if he was ready to retake his place in the family business. That would be a surefire way to start making up for the past twenty years.
As if the universe was listening, or maybe it was just fate up to her old tricks again, Emory’s phone rang loudly from the foyer right as his knot deflated.
Cameron volunteered to grab both of their phones and rose from the couch on shaky legs. He returned to Emory’s side just as the call went to voicemail.
Before Emory could even swipe open his call history, the phone rang again. Cameron glanced down at the screen, which read ‘Mother’ with a crown emoji next to it. He gave Emory a crooked grin, pointing to his own phone and then back towards the bedroom. Emory nodded as he swiped to accept.
“I’m assuming if you are answering your phone, your rut has ended,” his mother growled over the line. Her voice had alwaysbeen gruff, but as she’d gotten older, it had turned into an almost constant growl.
“You would be incorrect,” Emory reported. “I seem to be on a momentary break, but I can’t promise it will last long.”
Really, he shouldn’t have been surprised that news of his rut had somehow made its way back to his mother. He definitely hadn’t had the wherewithal, or interest, in alerting her, but someone at the gala must have.
“Then I’ll keep this short. We need to pick a date for you to bring Cameron to meet the family. Clearly, he has triggered your rut, which, aside from reiterating that you two are fated to be together, also means you are a good match.”
Emory sighed and stretched out on the couch, popping his lower back. Emory didn’t think, despite what his mother thought about fate and ruts, that he and Cameron were anywhere near ready to meet the family. He still hadn’t shifted with Cameron, they hadn’t said I love you to each other, and they had only had sex for the first time that night. All in all, they were nowhere near ready to mate yet, so he didn’t see a point in dragging him home to meet his family. He tried to explain all this to his mother, but she was having none of it.
“You don’t need to be ready to mate. You’re coming here so the family can approve of your future mating.”
“But it’s all just ceremony. I told you it doesn’t matter if they don’t approve. I’m falling in love with him, and he’smyfated mate. I’m going to be with him no matter what.”
“Of course it’s ‘just ceremony,’ but it’s important to your aunts, and even a few uncles have been asking to meet him. They want the chance to?—”
“Brow beat him into wanting cubs? That’s exactly why I don’t want to bring him home,” Emory growled, his tone matching his mother’s.
The silence on the other end of the phone was more than enough admonition, and Emory sank farther into the couch cushions. “I was going to say they want the chance to get to know him before he becomes a part of the family, but… Yes, I do imagine there will be some of that as well.”
“They can be so snobby. He’s not a lion or another cat; he’s not even a land shifter. I don’t care about any of that, but some of them will.”
Emory’s mother let out a growling noise that meant she was thinking. “Yes, well, aside from taking over the company, you’ve never let any of their opinions bother you before.”
“That’s because, at the time, it did seem like I was the most suited to take over the company.”
“But you do not think they are correct about you and Cameron having children?”
Emory groaned, leaning his head back to stare at the ceiling. “Aside from the fact that I told you, in confidence, he is unable to conceive, neither of us is thrilled at the idea of having children. I want to continue falling in love with him, working for the company, and…maybe that’s all I want out of life. Children are great for some, but I don’t think they’re what I want. Whatwewant.”
Emory’s mother growled again, and this time, it was almost a laugh. “That is twice now you have said you are falling in love with the boy. When exactly are you planning on telling him this?”
Emory groaned, rolling his neck and eliciting a much more concerning pop. “I…don’t know. It feels almost like pulling a trigger. Once I tell him, it feels like things will snowball from there with our family, his family, actually mating… It’s all so much. We’re only now figuring out intimacy between us, and there are still aspects of our relationship we haven’t figured out.”
“The time is never going to be perfect, Emory. The same goes for if you two ever decide to adopt children. The time never feels right; you just have to take the leap.”
Emory sat up straight. “It’s the fact that you and the aunts and uncles always slip that into conversation that concerns me, Mother.”
Emory could practically hear his mother shrug her elegant shoulders. “There is nothing to be done about it. You must bring him to meet everyone before you mate, or he will never be accepted into the family. I know you don’t want that.”
“Emory?” a soft voice called from behind him. He turned around to see Cameron wearing one of Emory’s oversized shirts. Cameron eyed the phone in his hand and whispered, “Sorry,” before backing away.
