Our chests heave as we catch our breaths, our foreheads pressed together, enjoying our newly joined existence.
“We should go inside,” Ember murmurs once his heart has slowed and his breathing calmed.
I nod sleepily, unable to string together a coherent thought.
When he stands, his knot shifts inside of me, but it’s not uncomfortable like I had pictured it would be. Instead, it’s soothing and wonderful, and I wish I could have him in me like this forever.
I love it.
I love him.
I tell him as much, whispering it over and over as he carries me inside and up the stairs to our bedroom. I continue telling him as my heat flares up again, and we continue fucking with his knot still inside of me. I tell him again the next morning when the heat is completely gone, and I can finally speak in more than grunts, whines, and whimpers. I’ll continue telling him for the rest of our extremely long lives.
“I love you,” I whisper before falling into a deep, sated sleep.
Chapter Twenty-three
Ember
Isee a lot of interesting things going through our funeral home. Grief. Closure. The occasional family feud that turns into a casserole-themed food fight over a grandmother’s old heirloom trinkets.
But the most interesting thing that has ever walked through the front door is definitely Eric Stanton.
I can sense Sunshine bracing himself for whatever ridiculous antics the man has planned this time.
We see him and Geraldine at least once a month for some reason or another. Sometimes it’s the death of another incarnation of some relative that came back as a random animal, and sometimes it’s for a friend of Geraldine’s who passed away from old age. She never seems too broken up about her friends, explaining that she’s trying to win the bet to be the last person alive in their little group. Sounds morbid to me, but I can’t die, so what do I know?
“Good morning!” Eric calls cheerfully, striding up to the front desk with a little hop in his step.
“You look cheerful this morning,” Sunshine comments with an affectionate grin on his porcelain face.
“I’m flying out to meet Ewan tonight and I can’t freaking wait!” he swoons, a dreamy glint in his soft gaze. I’ve never seen such a large man giggle like a pre-teen girl before. “I haven’t seen that beautiful hunk of man in far too long. The second I see him, I just know I’m going to jump his…”
“That’s so great! What can we do for you today?” Sunshine cuts off the dramatic man before he can give us details on his sex life. He loves making people uncomfortable by explaining everything they plan on doing explicitly.
“I’m here to pick up the jewelry made from Sir Squeaksalot for Geraldine. She isn’t feeling well, so I thought I would pop in and grab it for her. Plus, I miss you two. I feel like we haven’t spoken inages.” He emphasizes the last word by lying across the front desk and dropping his forehead onto it with athud.
“I’ll go grab the necklace and the rest of the remains of Miss Geraldine’s hamster,” Sunshine chuckles fondly, walking out of the reception area.
Eric props his chin up on his hand, still lying across the front desk, and studies me with a serious look that seems out of place on his normally cherubic and cheerful features. It makes me uncomfortable for reasons I can’t quite pin down, and I shuffle uneasily from foot to foot as I wait for him to say something.
“I hear you guys got mated,” he finally says, a devilish smirk spreading across his chubby face.
I release a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and nod my head vigorously. “Yeah, last week.” He nods and tilts his head, studying me with what I can only describe as a psychotic gleam.
Sunshine, thankfully, returns from the back, and Eric is once again distracted from whatever he was thinking. I don’t know why, but I get such a weird feeling from the beta sometimes, like he knows more than he’s letting on and covers it by being ridiculous. Sunshine says it’s in my head, but I don’t know. I get a vibe from him, and I can put my finger on what exactly that vibe is.
“Here you go, Eric,” Sunshine says, opening the jewelry box containing the sterling silver ash jewelry from Sir Squeaksalot, also known as Parrain Sean. It’s a beautiful magnolia brooch that Miss Geraldin insisted would look amazing with any outfit.
“Oh wow, that’s so perfect. She’s gonna be so excited. Thank you, Sunshine!” Eric fawns over the ash jewelry, complimenting my mate until he blushes delicately.
This is why I don’t make a big deal about how uncomfortable Eric makes me feel sometimes. Sunshine loves him and thinks of him as a good friend now. Once a month, Eric flies in for some event or another to support Geraldine.Turns out, they are the only betas in a family full of alphas and omegas, so they stick together in solidarity. It’s sweet. He’s a good person, but I would like him so much more if I could put my thumb on what bothers me about him.
They gush over the brooch choice for a minute, switching over to Geraldine’s health, and then landing on our bonding ceremony.
“It was magical,” Sunshine twitters. “The lanterns made everything glow and the sunset cast a mystical feel over the whole experience. I honestly don’t think it could have gone any better.” Sunshine emphasizes his words with his hands, throwing them about wildly as he describes each detail.
Eric, still leaning against the front desk, looks enraptured by the conversation, oohing and ahhing at all the right moments. He has a soft smile on his face as he encourages my mate to go into more detail.
