Page 17 of Manifesting a Mate

“Something I’m sure you would know nothing about.” I fire back as I move to stand in front of him, blocking his obvious attempts to get further into the cabin.

I do not expect him to throw back his head, a loud guffaw filling the otherwise quiet space. My eyes flick toward the stairs, there is no way that didn't wake Henry up.

“I like you. You’re perfect for my best friend. The yin to his yang.” Austin tells me, still chuckling to himself as he wipes moisture from the corner of his eyes and holds out his hand to me. “It’s really good to meet you.”

“I wasn’t trying to be funny, jackass.” I huff but all malice has drained from my voice as my cheeks heat at the compliment. I suppose if this really is Henry's best friend, and he thinks I'm perfect for him, I can’t be mad about it. “Everett,” I offer accepting his handshake.

“Get your filthy fucking mitts of my mate, Aussy.”

Henry’s voice, rough from sleep, has my cock jerking under my stolen t-shirt. Thankfully, Austin has the sense to lift both hands in surrender as he moves away from me as my mate descends the stairs and comes straight for me.

“I like you in my clothes, sweetheart.” He growls, nuzzling against my neck, making me whimper. God, that is so hot.

“That being said,” I rise to my tiptoes and kiss his cheek, “I’m going to put on more of them while you take care of your friend.”

Turning around, I wave my fingers at Austin and make my way to the stairs.

“Don’t stay long up there, I want to introduce you properly.”

“Sure thing, alpha.” I wink, getting far too much enjoyment out of the way Henry's eyes flare with heat as he watches my every step.

A naughty part of me wants to walk around for the rest of my life with my alpha’s scent clinging to my skin, his spend dripping down my thighs. Sadly, that isn’t yet socially acceptable, even within the magic of Valleywood. So, I reluctantly head to the shower.

Not wanting to leave my mate waiting too long, I make quick work of lathering up Henry's lemon and bergamot shower gel, working it into every inch of my skin. If I’m going to remove the scent of his cum, at least I can share the scent of his soap. Which is weirdly making my cock twitch. Gods, if all it takes is smelling his soap to get me worked up, I'm never going to get anything done. He doesn’t even need to be in the same room, apparently.

Thinking of Hen’s voice, all raspy from sleep, sounding so possessive when he came downstairs has my hand edging toward my cock. I don’t want to jerk off though. As fun as a solo session can be, I have a mate now, and I haven’t even begun discovering all the ways he can make me cum.

A shiver runs down my spine and straight to my balls, making my decision to save my erection for my mate waiver. Even with my heat gone, the desire to always be touching Henry is strong. I get out of the shower, pointedly ignoring my cock, which is painfully hard and jutting out from my hips like it's trying to point toward Henry. Who knew finding your mate would make your dick semi-sentient?

I’m going to need Austin to leave sooner rather than later so I can deal with this problem. I doubt it’s going to get any better when I go downstairs, in fact, it will probably get worse once I'm in Henry's orbit again.

“Sweetheart?”

I pause, towel in hand, head tipped upside down as I dry scrunch the water from my curls. I expect Henry to be in the doorway, large body leaning on the frame with a lecherous grin on his face as he takes me in, naked, wet and hard as granite. Except I’m alone. What the hell? Did I imagine that?

I hear a low chuckle. What’s happening?

“It’s the mate bond, Ev. We can communicate like this now. Can’t you pick up on how I'm feeling right now?”

Well, that's going to take some getting used to. I vaguely remember hearing Henry's voice in my head during that first round of my heat after he marked me. I think I was too far gone to really process it then. Now that I've returned the marking bite, and my heat is over, I can spend some time cultivating our connection. The fates allow mates to communicate like this so nothing can be misconstrued. We will always feel each other even when we aren’t together. It's a beautiful thing. I can’t believe I haven’t picked up on Henry before now. Probably because Austin rudely burst into our first proper day as mates.

Now that I’m aware of it, I can feel the thread of fate winding around my heart and leading to Henry. Pulses of humor come through it, an underlying vein of love and adoration that almost gets stronger now that I'm focusing on it. Ohh, I wonder if I’ll feel everything Henry does when we’re in bed? That could be fun, double the pleasure.

“Sweetheart,” Henry groans in my head. Oops. I guess he’s as excited for this new development as I am. “Come down here and get this over with so I can send Austin home and spend the rest of the afternoon kissing your sore hole better.” Oh my fucking gods, that absolutely did not help my current predicament.

Pre-cum beads at the tip of my cock, slick leaking between my cheeks. Hearing Henry's filthy words whispered inside my head is hotter than it ought to be. A pleased rumble comes through from Henry, clearly liking the effect this is having on me, sends tingles right to my toes.

Giving up on trying to tame my hair, I leave it to air dry and pray it doesn’t take on a life of its own. Next, I go looking for clothes. I can see my discarded shorts and t-shirt from yesterday laying in a heap on the floor. Remnants of dirt from our brief emergency in the forest cling to the fabric. I definitely can’t wear that. Guess I'm raiding Henry's closet.

My choices are limited, of course. My mate is a man mountain. Every one of his t-shirts could be a dress on me, the hems brushing my knees. His pants are longer than my entire body, I mean, technically I don’t even need pants, all my good bits are covered, but it would totally be weird to sit my bare balls on Henry's couch with his best friend right there. What if I left a damp patch or something? That would be embarrassing.

I’m about to just give up and steal a pair of his boxers and call it done when the last drawer I open is full of basketball shorts. Score. Grabbing the first pair that will match the black Howling Grizzly t-shirt. I pull the tie as much as I can to secure the waist.

When I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror a laugh bubbles out of me. I look absolutely ridiculous, like a kid playing dress up.

“I bet you look phenomenal sweetheart, don’t worry. Breakfast is ready and we are waiting for you.”

I smile at the reassuring nudge Henry sends my way. Rushing downstairs, I’m surprised by the platefuls of delicious smelling omelettes and bacon. Was I even upstairs that long?