Chapter Twenty-Six
Linc
“Madden? What are you doing? We still have another hour to sleep.” Linc threw his arm over his eyes. They hadn’t gotten in bed until almost three o’clock, and now, at six, Madden was pulling on her clothes from yesterday.
“I need to go home and change, and I want to go by Corey’s house.” She sat on the edge on the bed, putting her shoes on.
“The clothes I understand.” The walk of shame for a faculty member would probably give Dean McCormick a heart attack. “But why are you going by Corey’s?” He snaked an arm around her middle and dragged her sexy ass back in bed.
Madden spoke into his chest. “I want to tell Corey about Riley before she finds out on her own and gets all pregnancy pissy.”
He made a face, pulling away so he could look at her. “Why the hell would you volunteer for that suicide mission? Keller already said he’d do it.”
She got up and tugged the covers off of him, making him pout in response. “I’ve known Corey nearly all my life. I know how to deliver bad news to the chick way better than any of you.” She reached down and smacked his still naked butt. “Get up, let’s go.”
He groaned into the pillow. He was not looking forward to this little errand at all. Corey was testy when it came to Riley and she was even testier when she found out that they were keeping things from her. So them not telling her that Riley was jumped, and the twins’ dorm room was ransacked? Fucking bad combination.
Reluctantly, he got out of his warm, cozy bed and started to dress. “Can we get coffee first? I’m exhausted.” He didn’t know how she was flitting about like a cheerful little elf. They’d gotten less than three hours of sleep. “Please tell me you aren’t one of those perpetually happy morning people.” That would be an annoying way to spend the rest of his life. But he’d do it, if it meant that he got to wake up every day and be mated to Madden. In the matter of twenty-four hours, his every want and need out of life had changed.
“I fucking hate mornings.” She smiled, letting him know she was mostly kidding. “But for some reason, I’m full of energy right now. I feel like I could run a marathon.” She was bouncing on her feet. “So get dressed, let’s go. We can grab coffee on the way.”
He cocked his head to the side, watching her with his hands on his hips. “I don’t think you need any coffee baby.” She was acting like she’d mainlined a pot already. In the back of his mind he was silently praying that wasn’t another odd side effect of them not completing the bond.
After he was dressed they left the safety of his bedroom. He had a firm grip on Madden’s hand. He was on edge, waiting for Jace or Jasper to come at him, trying to get to her. All three boys were still asleep and Baze was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the news on his iPad. See? Most millennial adults read the paper that way. Keller was weird AF.
“Where are you guys headed?” Baze addressed them over the rim of his favorite coffee mug. It said Black like my Soul. Linc had given it to him two birthdays ago.
He gestured with his head to Madden. “Crazy over here wants to go to Corey’s and tell her what went down yesterday.”
“Why the fuck would anyone volunteer to do that?” Baze jerked back like he was equal parts shocked and appalled. As he should be.
“That’s what I said.” Linc looked over his shoulder at his girl. Well, he hoped she’d be his girl. One day.
“Y’all are all a bunch of pussies. It’s Corey. Not a fucking firing squad.” She stepped like she was headed toward the kitchen. “Is there more coffee?”
Linc held her hand tight in his own, stopping her from going any further. “Oh no you don’t. None for you this morning.” Madden was practically vibrating at his side. “I’ll see you at school, man.” He pulled her behind him, silently passing by his sleeping players, careful not to wake them. He wanted them out cold until he had Madden safely in his car.
Shit. Would all shifters react that way toward her? She was going to be on campus with dozens of them. He let out a sigh as he opened his car door for her. “Baby, I don’t think you’re going to be able to work today.”
“What? Why?”
When she reached down to buckle her seatbelt he shut her door, jogging over to his side before answering her. “Think of how hard it was for us to keep Jasper and Jace off of you last night. There are dozens of shifters that you could come into contact with on campus. It isn’t safe.”
She was silent for a few minutes. She was either processing or she was gearing up to bite his head off in an epic way. “Last night, my scent woke Jasper up from a dead sleep, right? And I was in the kitchen because I’d started to have some kind of horrific hot flash. Maybe the two are connected? Maybe the scent came from whatever was happening to my body at that moment? As long as I feel fine, I should be fine.” She shrugged like she’d just solved all the world’s problems.
“That seems like a precarious thing to hang your safety on.” Precarious. Oooo, look at him with the ten-dollar word.
“I’m not going to hide in my house all day, Linc. It’s the second week of school; how would that look? Plus, I love my job. And I won’t give it up because you tell me to. That’s not how this is going to—”
“Whoa, Madden, chill.” He glanced over at her. Mood swing much? “I would never tell or ask you to give up your job.” Although he had seriously thought about asking her to switch to working in a doctor’s office or a hospital. Anywhere without horny teenage boys. “Geez, I’m not some nineteen-fifties fedora-wearing hardass. But it’s not only your safety I’m thinking about here. Those young shifters will be confused. They won’t be able to control themselves. They could end up fighting each other. Who knows what could happen?” Not to mention that he’d kill them. He’d rip them limb from limb if he saw them on Madden.
“Sorry, I just…” Madden turned in her seat, facing him fully. “Look, I’m assuming the hot flash weird scent thing was because we hadn’t had sex in about twenty-four hours, right? It’s a response to make us finish the bonding?” He nodded to show her he was picking up what she was laying down. “So if that’s true, I should be fine until tonight.”
Her logic was semi-sound, and he really didn’t want to cause any more arguments. “If you start to feel weird at all you’ll go home?”
“Scout’s honor.”
He reached over and took her hand in his, running his thumb over her steady pulse. She may be acting like she had energy for days, but her heartbeat was normal. And he was feeling pretty calm himself, which was all probably because he’d been inside her mere hours ago.
Maybe they really could manage this thing after all. So they had to have sex all the time? Not like that was a punishment.
They could make not completing the bonding their bitch.