Chapter Thirteen
Three Months Later
“Well, what do you think?”
“What do I think?” Adrian couldn’t believe the home Justin had just shown him. For the past two months, he’d a crew building the cabin. Adrian, of course, knew what the outside looked like and had worked directly with the contractors about the business part of the home—but all else was kept a secret. The man was a vault. Adrian had tried all his wiles to get Justin to let him know what he had planned for their home, to no avail.
In the time since they first met, the lust that drove them together initially only grew stronger. That wasn’t even the best part as far as Adrian was concerned. No, the best part was the ever-growing strength of their friendship. Justin really was meant for him. Adrian had always wished true fated mates had existed like in the novels he loved so much. What he wished for was exactly what he had with the man beside him. The one now walking side by side with him during this journey he called life.
His bear couldn’t agree more. He was pretty much always at the forefront now, and not just during the time of carnal fun. It was a comfort to have him there and something Adrian was still getting used to. He still disappeared while Adrian worked on his healing work, which was probably for the best since he tapped into a different part of himself then. Mariah guessed somewhere in his genealogy was a “pretty freakin’ strong-ass witch.”
“So. Are you going to keep me waiting?” Justin sounded nervous. It was so un-Justin-like and frankly, quite endearing.
“I absolutely love the house.”
“And?” Adrian knew what he wanted to know and was enjoying making him fuss the way he had made Adrian squirm over the past month of construction.
“And I think this room is the perfect nursery, too.”
Justin swept him into his arms and twirled him around.
“Put me down. I am too big for that.” He smacked his arm in faux protest.
“Hardly. I find you deliciously perfect.” He had shown her over and over again how true that was over the past few months. He loved every part of his abundant bear.
“Okay,” Adrian conceded. “Maybe I am not too big now, but in about seven months I will be.”
Instead of putting him down, Justin held him even tighter.
“Really?” he gasped, awe filling his voice.
“Yes. Really.”
Justin’s eyes sparkled as they met his, confirming he was every bit as excited as Adrian was.
“We did it wrong, you know.” The quirk in his eye said otherwise.
“On the contrary, according to the little stick I peed on, we did it very right,” he goaded as Justin placed him on the floor.
“Not that, love. I know we did that right.” Justin winked, and Adrian leaned up to give him a quick kiss. “I meant we aren’t mated yet,” Justin continued.
The subject of mating had come up repeatedly, and each time, the conversation ended with them agreeing to wait until they were settled into their new life. It was hardly settled, considering they were living in a cramped cabin, waiting for their home to be completed, but the timing felt right. The house was finally done and ready for them to move in, and Adrian was far more than ready.
“I think we can remedy that.” Justin leaned in for another kiss, which he ended far too quickly for Adrian’s liking.
“So does that mean you are going to bite me?” The huskiness of his voice had Adrian wanting to do just that, right there in the empty room still filled with construction dust.
“Only if you’re good…or bad.” The exaggerated wink Adrian gave him probably looked silly, but he had yet to master the sexiness he could portray in the gesture. “I’ve yet to decide.”
“Tease.”
“Your tease.” Adrian grabbed his hand, unsure of why they were not getting right to the mating.
“Mine.” Justin kissed him thoroughly, leaving him out of breath when Justin finally pulled away. Oh goodness gracious, why had he pulled away? “You know how you have been pestering me about how unicorns mate?”
“Yes.” It had been driving him crazy. “You, my unicorn, are like a vault.”
“Well…” Justin dropped to one knee, a box in his hand. Not only was he a vault, he was a magician. “This is how.” Adrian just stood there, staring at the handsome man before him as his eyes filled with tears. He had spent most of his life beyond lonely, and now he had his bear, a business partner, an intelligent and powerful niece, a baby on the way, and this amazing man who was now kneeling before him. If this was a dream, he wanted to stay asleep forever. “From the day we met, I knew we were meant to be together, and every day since has only strengthened that knowledge. Will you do me the amazing honor of being my husband, my omega, my everything?”
“Yes.” His eyes blurred with tears. “Yes.” He knelt to meet Justin’s height, grabbing his face with both hands. “Yes.” He kissed his unicorn, pouring every ounce of emotion he could into the kiss. He needed Justin to feel what his words couldn’t say.
“Is that a yes?” he spoke with shallow breath when the kiss broke. “You haven’t even looked at the ring yet. It might be from a gumball machine.” He held the ring in front of Adrian so he couldn’t miss it. It was beautiful. He had no idea what the stone was, but it matched his eyes perfectly.
“That is a yes. Even if it were from a machine.” Leaning in, he kissed the spot below Justin’s ear. “This is where I’m going to bite you.”
“I hope you meant, ‘This is where I am going to bite you now.’” The lust in the air was so heavy, he wasn’t sure if waiting was even an option.
Good thing he didn’t have to find out.
“I think I can arrange that,” Adrian rasped as Justin slid the ring upon his finger.
“Look at this?” Justin held up a little reusable grocery-type bag with the name of the local theater on it.
“Saving the planet?” Adrian could tell by the sparkle in Justin’s eyes it was more than that, but what, perplexed him.
“Look.” He handed Justin the bag.
Justin glanced inside to see a picnic lunch. Or what would suffice as a picnic lunch, anyway. There was a bag of chips, a bunch of bananas, a couple of bottles of water, and sandwiches in plastic Baggies. For Adrian, this was top-notch gourmet cooking.
“You made me lunch?”
“No, my sexy mate, I made us lunch. Shifting always makes me hungry.” He took Adrian’s hand and led them out of the house, along the path to their favorite spot, and stopped as they entered the clearing. Adrian was silent the entire trip, trying to figure out the best way not to disappoint his mate or himself, for that matter.
Adrian was terrified of shifting, or more accurately, terrified of not being able to shift or getting stuck while shifted. He had all the fears of a cub about to shift for the first time, only amplified since they had been building for so many years.
“I don’t shift,” Adrian all but whispered.
“You may not normally shift, but your bear wants out. Can’t you feel it?” He rubbed his thumb along Adrian’s jaw. “He wants to play.”
Adrian could feel it. His bear wanted out. Had wanted out for longer than he cared to admit even to himself.
“But what if I can’t?” Adrian let out the fear that had been holding him back.
“Then I get to see you naked.” Justin winked. “Winning all the way around from my perspective.” He was already depositing the bag onto the ground and taking off his shirt as he toed off his shoes.
“And if I get stuck?” Adrian had yet to make a move to disrobe, allowing his fear to overwhelm him.
“Then, my bear, Mariah will help get you back.”
Having no more excuses, none that would fly anyway, Adrian allowed Justin to help him undress and get ready for his first shift.
Standing there, naked as the day he was born, Adrian let his bear take control. At first his bear protested, as if getting everything he’d wanted wasn’t quite what he was ready for. But a few coaxes later, he was willing to give it a go, pushing through Adrian until he had taken over his body completely.
Adrian stood there, seeing things through different eyes, feeling the wind pushing aside his fur, scenting things he’d never noticed before.
“You are stunning, love.” Justin stepped in front of him, his scent filling Adrian’s nose.
He took three huge steps back before shifting to his unicorn form. Adrian had seen him before—more than once. It, however, never became less awe-inspiring. He stood there all regal, his coat iridescent in spots. He was the one who was stunning.
Ready? Justin’s voice echoed in Adrian’s mind.
Whoa. I didn’t know you could do that. That we could do this. He’d always suspected there was a way for shifters to communicate between each other in animal form, but those surrounding him had always “protected” him from those details—he’d always been on the outside.
We can, and once we are mated, we can talk like this always.
Before he could ask for clarification, Justin bolted across the field, and Adrian found himself needing to follow him, chase him, catch him.
They ran through the woods, across the field, down to the river for a drink, all the places until they could run no more. Adrian was exhilarated, more alive than he could ever remember feeling.
Is it food time? Adrian asked as Justin took the lead, barreling towards where they’d begun.
I’m hungry, yes. But not for food,” he taunted before picking up speed.
Shifting back had been far less intimidating, his bear already falling back, before he’d thought too hard about it. Good bear.
“You’re naked,” Justin’s voice called from just behind him. “Oh no, lookie here, so am I,” he teased as he placed a small kiss on Adrian’s shoulder before wrapping his arm around him.
“From the feel of your cock pressing against my ass, I’d say you are, too.” He rotated until he faced Justin, throwing his arms around the man’s neck. “Whatever shall we do about it?” He stood on his tiptoes, pressing his lips to Justin’s in a searing kiss.
Justin took over the kiss, just how Adrian liked it and held their bodies close together as they explored each other’s mouths and ground into each other. When they finally broke the kiss, both were panting, out of breath.
“Mate me?” Adrian whispered into Justin’s ear when he’d caught his breath enough, his hand snaking down to find his mate’s very ready and willing cock. “Make me yours,” he pleaded as he pumped Justin’s cock slowly before gathering the precum on his finger and bringing it to his lips for a taste.
“I have been yours since you joined me at the dinner, ordering your carryout lunch.” He groaned as Adrian’s hand found his erection once again.
“I want to wear your mark.” Justin took his mate’s hand and brought it lower, settling it just beneath his sac. “Go ahead, feel how badly I need you.”
Justin circled Adrian’s hole, before sinking inside him, earning a moan of pleasure from his soon-to-be-marked mate. “You always are so ready for me,” he praised before going back to his sensual torment—one finger then two as Adrian kept working Justin’s cock. Before Adrian could add a third finger, he began to scream, “I need.”
That was all he managed to say before he found himself on his hands and knees, Justin behind him, lining his cock up with Adrian’s needy hole.
“Now,” Adrian cried out as Justin slowly entered him, reaching around him and giving Justin’s erection the attention it had been wanting.
“You feel so perfect.” Adrian pushed back until Justin’s balls were hitting his ass. “Make me yours. Mark me. Knot me.”
His thinking brain was no longer doing just that—thinking. He let himself be controlled by his feelings, the emotions of knowing he was soon going to be marked by the man he loved, the sensual feelings of being filled so completely, the love he could feel pouring off his mate.
In and out Justin pumped, bringing Adrian closer to climax with each motion. It didn’t take long until Adrian knew he was going to explode, and he bared his neck, offering his mate everything he was. Unicorns weren’t as bitey as bears, Adrian knew that, but he also knew a shifter’s markings were universal, and he would be marked.
He looked behind himself to see Justin glowing slightly and instead of teeth coming for his neck, he saw a single horn. It was far from the glorious one he wore as a unicorn, but it was stunning all the same. Adrian closed his eyes as his cum shot from him and the horn pierced him.
Adrian had never felt so complete as he did in that second, not when he discovered his bear, not when Justin first knotted him, not when he first took his fur. There was so much more to this moment than all of them combined.
Justin roared as he filled Adrian, his knot growing quickly. He took Adrian into his arms before rolling them both onto their sides in the field.
“I am a crappy mate.” He chuckled. “Here I go and mate you in the middle of a field with not so much as a blanket to cushion you.”
“You cushion me with your love.” Adrian was feeling all sentimental and gushy sweet, but it didn’t make the words any less true. Adrian wrapped him in love—always. What more could a man want. “I love you.”
“And I love you. I can’t wait to wear your mark.” His warm breath danced across the mark he’d left on Adrian.
“Your mark, when you do that, it makes me think things, feel things, want things.” It did, too. It was as if the mark had a direct line to his cock which, was already stirring back to life. “It that normal?”
“As soon as we feed you and that sweet baby of ours, I intend to find out.” Justin kissed the spot where he had marked Adrian as his for all of time.
“You did that on purpose.” The chuckle behind him was all he needed in response. “I’m glad I didn’t know. What you were going to do, I mean. It made it more special.”
“I wasn’t sure if I would be able to,” Justin confessed. “I’ve never met a unicorn who mated a non-unicorn.”
“So you would have been willing to sacrifice a mating mark for me?”
“Being with you could never, would never be a sacrifice.” His hand settled on Adrian’s belly, which was no rounder than normal. “You have given me everything I ever wanted and more.”
“So no bitey bitey for you?” Adrian leaned his head back, nuzzling into his mate.
“Oh, I want all the bitey bitey.” He kissed Adrian’s mark, sending a delicious shiver down his mate’s spine.
“Good thing because that’s exactly what I plan to do.”