His throat constricts. His own father has never smiled warmly and said You’re my son, and it feels like he’s returned to a home he hadn’t realized he left.
“I guess I know that now,” Felix says, his voice hoarse. He loves Kade’s mom as his own, and it’s sheer relief to know that she still accepts him.
Mrs. Brentwood pulls him into a hug, and tears well in his eyes.
41
Kade
Kade sits down to dinner some hours later, his mother and Felix waiting for him at the table. Felix had knocked on his bedroom door ten minutes ago, poking his head in, and his nostrils had flared as he breathed in the scent of Kade’s room.
He sits next to Kade now, his eyes very slightly red-rimmed. Kade frowns. “You okay?”
Felix nods, his mouth curving up. “Yes, I am.”
Kade carves the steaming pork roast into slices, dishing it out: first to Felix, then his mom, and finally himself. Felix spoons peas onto his own plate. He hesitates, then dishes some onto Kade’s, too. Kade stares. His omega hasn’t done that in a long time. Not since five years ago, and his pulse quickens.
Felix looks away from him, cheeks flushing pink. He hands the peas over to Kade’s mom, and Kade wants to kiss him, all over again.
“Felix helped with dinner today,” Mom says, dishing some peas for herself. “He taught me a new recipe he learned from Highton.”
“Really?”
Felix nods, meeting his eyes for a second. Kade wants to brush the slope of his nose with his fingers. “It’s the pork. We roasted it with beef stock and powdered onion soup. I think you’ll like it.”
Kade bites into a slice. It melts on his tongue, savory and meaty with a hint of onion, and he could probably finish the whole damn roast by himself. How had he not discovered this earlier? “Not bad.”
“Isn’t it? We’ll have you cooking more often, Felix,” Mom says.
Kade can’t help looking at his bondmate. Are you...?
Felix blushes. He pokes around at his food, scooping some peas into his mouth. “I think I’ll take you up on moving in,” he says, looking first at Kade’s mom, then at Kade.
Kade’s breath catches. “When?”
His mom laughs. “Finish your dinner first, at least,” she says.
A wave of scarlet sweeps through Felix’s cheeks. “Whenever you’re free, I guess. It’s not as though I have a job right now.”
“So... you’re sleeping here tonight?” Kade swallows, and maybe he’s a bit too transparent right now. He doesn’t care. His mom knows, anyway. And Felix can’t tell how much Kade wants him here. “I mean, if you’re moving in before your lease ends.”
“I can stay tonight,” Felix murmurs, glancing sideways at Kade, and he blushes all the way to his hairline.
Kade reaches up, running the back of his finger against Felix’s cheek. Felix’s skin is velvety and soft against his fingers, and he wants to touch his bondmate for days, hold him in his lap and kiss him senseless. “I’ll take the couch.”
“No!” Felix pulls away. Kade looks back at his food. Did he push too hard? “I-I mean, it isn’t fair if I take your bed,” Felix says. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“But you’re pregnant.” Kade can’t help looking at the bump of his belly again, wondering how big that baby is right now. “You need to take better care of yourself.”
“Just one night,” Felix says, looking between Kade and his mom. “If the couch is bad, I’ll sleep in your bed.”
Something in Kade’s chest roars. Felix will sleep in his bed, and that’s the best thought he’s had in a while—his omega curled up, safe from everything else. So maybe he can wait while Felix sleeps on the couch for a night.
“Sure,” he says, a grin creeping up on his face. “We’ll ride down and get some of your things tonight, then we’ll get you moved in tomorrow.”
Across the table, his mom smiles. Kade thinks there might still be hope yet for Felix and him.
The next morning, Kade steps out of his bedroom into a heavy lavender scent.
It washes over his skin, up his nose, lighting his mind. Then it goes straight down to his cock. Felix.
He hasn’t smelled Felix’s scent this strong in a while, since... the day he discovered his bondmate was pregnant. Kade gulps, following the scent. And it figures—Felix hasn’t taken any scent suppressants since yesterday. The scent is mellow, laced with honey. Kade trails through the hallway to the living room, searching for its source. He’d find Felix anywhere, just by his scent alone.
In the living room, Felix has curled up on the couch, one arm over his belly, his back to the rest of the living room. Protective. And Kade can’t help stepping closer, admiring the peace in his face, the fall of blond hair over his eyes.
He slows at the end of the couch, wondering if he should wake his bondmate. Felix’s eyelids flutter open.
“Hey,” Kade says, his voice still husky with sleep.
Felix blinks, his attention fluttering around him—the couch, the living room—and his eyes snap open. But his gaze falls back on Kade, and the tension in his shoulders seeps away. “Morning,” Felix rasps, sucking in a deep breath. “I forgot where I was.”
“Slept well?” Kade steps closer, eyeing the spare pillow under Felix’s head, the blanket he’d tucked under himself. It can’t be comfortable like that, especially if Felix has been used to proper beds all his life.
“It was good,” Felix says. He squirms around, his gaze raking over Kade, lingering at his hips. “Need something?”
Kade glances down at the tented fabric of his own boxers. He doesn’t care about that, when Felix’s scent is lush and heavy and familiar. He drops to his knees next to his omega. After months of barely-there lavender, it’s now almost overwhelming. He wants to fill his lungs with it and hold it there forever.
“You smell good,” he says, lowering his head to the crook of Felix’s shoulder, where his scent
