“At some point, I want you to see yourself the way I see you, babe. I think you’re perfect. Every inch of you.” Gage nestled his legs against Ulric’s, and cuddled him close. “Everything I see here, I’m proud that it’s mine.”
Ulric swallowed hard, glancing at his belly, and his arms, and the rest of himself.
Maybe... he could be beautiful. Maybe he already was. He just had to see himself differently.
“Here, I’ll prove that I didn’t mark you only because you made me crazy horny,” Gage said. He took Ulric’s hand, bringing it closer. Then he sniffed at Ulric’s unmarked wrist, found a spot, and kissed it. Ulric’s heart fluttered.
“You’re okay with this, right?” Gage asked.
Ulric swallowed hard, nodding. “Yeah.”
Gage sank his teeth lightly into Ulric’s skin. “This is how much I want you to be mine,” Gage whispered.
And he bit down hard, breaking skin, sending pain and pleasure twisting through Ulric’s body. Ulric gasped. When Gage released him, droplets of blood beaded on his skin. Gage kissed them away. “Mine,” he growled. “Never leaving you again.”
Ulric’s chest squeezed tight. “Will you—let me do the same?”
Over his shoulder, Gage smiled. “Thought you wouldn’t ask.” He gave Ulric his hand; his knot had begun swelling in Ulric’s body, a heavy presence inside that locked them together. “Later, when we aren’t knotted together anymore, I want you to mark my neck, too.”
A smile threatened to burst across Ulric’s face. Gage really wanted him. He turned Gage’s hand over, sniffing carefully at his wrist. One spot in particular smelled most strongly of pine—Gage’s scent gland.
Ulric licked it. Behind, Gage sucked in a deep breath. But he didn’t pull away.
Ulric bit down hard, enough that Gage jerked and swore against him. When Ulric released his alpha, he found a set of teethmarks on Gage’s wrist—the broken skin would heal into a bonding mark.
Gage was his.
Gage growled, pressing himself flush against Ulric’s back. “Yours,” he whispered. “It feels kinda strange.”
“Strange?” Ulric frowned. “How so?”
“Never belonged to anyone before.” Gage smiled against Ulric’s shoulder. “You’re my first. And last.”
Ulric’s heart tumbled. He wanted to hold Gage close, he wanted to show the world his alpha. But he didn’t know who else would be happy about his news, though. He didn’t have much of a family to return to.
“What’s wrong?” Gage whispered.
Ulric twitched his shoulders. “I don’t think my family wants this. You and me.”
A growl began in Gage’s chest. “You’re coming to visit my folks with me,” Gage told him, anger edging his voice. “You’re welcome there, babe. All of them want to meet you.”
“Even if...” Ulric looked down at their linked fingers.
“You’re my bondmate,” Gage told him. “That’s all that matters. You’ll get a whole new family where no one will say shit about you.”
That also sounded too good to be true. Ulric settled back against Gage, imagining it. Then he looked down at his belly, wondering if Gage would ever want a family in the future. If either of them could get pregnant, what would Gage say?
It was too soon to think about it.
30
A Family...?
The children giggled as they chased each other around the pavilion, sunlight glinting off their hair, their snake-skirts fluttering in the breeze.
They looked so happy that Ulric couldn’t help smiling.
“Something you haven’t told me?” Gage murmured, slipping his arm around Ulric’s waist.
Ulric leaned into him. It had been months since they’d become bondmates. Wilkie had moved back into their parents’ place, and from Gage’s conversations with him, Wilkie had been up to some questionable things that Gage wasn’t too happy about.
That aside, everything was good. Ulric had met Gage’s family on a few occasions—Gage’s mom fawned over him like one of her own, and Gage’s dad had taken them out on some bike rides. Ulric had discovered that he enjoyed going cycling outside the gym, too. It was more fun when he had company, when he wasn’t thinking of exercise as work.
This past Sunday, Debbie had joined them—she’d finished the last rounds of her chemotherapy, and she was slowly recovering. Gage no longer minded that Ulric had contributed to a significant portion of her bills.
“Papa! Papa!” A child ran under the pavilion. He seemed about nine, one of the boys who had waved around some snake streamers months back. Going by the snake skirt he now wore, the child seemed just a little obsessed.
“What is it, Caleb?” one of the off-duty firefighters asked.
“Can Izzy and I go treasure-hunting?” Caleb bounced on his heels, looking so enthusiastic that Ulric would’ve caved and let them go play. Another boy hurried up next to him, also his age. “There’s a magic house in the woods,” Caleb said. “I think that’s where all the snakes come from!”
“We’ll hide some eggs in there,” Izzy whispered. “It’s pretend-eggs. One day, there’ll be a whole family of snakes all tangled together!”
A few of the firefighters laughed. By this point, Ulric was familiar with the trouser snake joke drifting amongst the team.
Caleb’s dad exchanged a look with his omega, before grinning. “All right. Let’s race to the forest. You all right with that, Izzy?”
Izzy nodded, linking his fingers with Caleb’s. “I think so. I can’t run so fast, but I’ll try.”
“I’ll wait for you.” Caleb gave his friend a fond smile. Hand-in-hand, the three of them set off for the nearby woods.
Ulric watched them go. What would it be like to have a family? To have excitable children who were so happy when you joined them on an adventure?
“What’re you thinking about?” Gage murmured in his ear.
“Those kids.” Ulric’s heart thumped. “They seemed nice.”
“Yeah?” Gage’s smile widened. “You want a couple?”
Ulric’s neck heated up. They hadn’t been officially dating for so long. But the more time he spent with Gage, the deeper in love he fell. And Ulric... kind of wanted to have Gage’s babies.
But he was an alpha. He couldn’t really give Gage a child. Worse, he hadn’t even mentioned children to Gage. Did Gage want a family? With Ulric?
“Your—your cousin mentioned something
