Kade growls, lifting Felix’s wrist to his lips. He licks over the silvery scar, sniffing at the intense lavender scent, and when he presses his teeth against Felix’s scent gland, Felix stiffens, his breathing coming short and fast.
“Gonna be my mate again,” Kade whispers, dragging his teeth over Felix’s wrist. With his other hand, he slides his fingers over Felix’s pulsing cock.
“Yes,” Felix whines. “Yes, please.”
Kade sinks his teeth down hard, breaking skin. Felix cries out, his back arching, cock throbbing as he spurts all over the bed, his body tight. Kade barely tastes the metallic tang of blood. He’s marking his bondmate again, and Felix is his, and Kade loves him.
He strokes Felix through his climax, savoring the heat of his body, the sweat between their skin. Mine. Desire surges hot in his body, makes the pressure in his cock spike. Kade fucks hard into his bondmate, cradling his belly. “Gonna come.”
“I want your knot,” Felix purrs, and Kade roars, fucking in deep, pleasure crashing through his body as he spills into his bondmate, filling him, marking him.
Felix moans beneath him. Kade leans forward, supporting his omega as he rolls them onto their sides. Before his knot swells, Felix squirms. Kade rolls over onto his back, and Felix shifts, so he’s straddling Kade, his balls resting lightly on Kade’s abs, his belly round, his lips curved in a smile.
“I love you,” Felix says, his gaze warm.
“Love you too,” Kade murmurs, catching his wrist. Blood glistens across the new bonding mark, and Kade licks it clean, a coppery tang on his tongue. How did they get from crying on the kitchen porch, to his knot swelling inside Felix, a new marking on his wrist?
Felix stretches around him with a moan, his eyelids fluttering shut. Kade swallows. Even though he’s put on a bit of weight, Felix is still slender, his lips pink, his belly growing with child. Kade can’t voice how much his bondmate means to him.
He curls his fingers around Felix’s wrist, examining the line of dried blood crossing over the old silvery scar.
Felix blushes. So Kade exposes his own wrist, where Felix had left his own mark two decades ago.
“You wanna?” Kade asks, his pulse pattering. Felix could still decide not to, and—
“Yes,” Felix says, his eyes gleaming. He curls his hands around Kade’s forearm, and Kade’s heart quickens when Felix licks over his scent gland, a soft, wet touch. His nostrils flare.
Their gazes meet. Felix sinks his teeth into Kade’s wrist, breaking skin, and pain and pleasure winding through Kade’s body. Kade grunts. Felix marked him. Felix chose to mark him, and it means he wants Kade back in his life. Their eyes locked, Felix drags his tongue over the wound, his hands gentle around Kade’s forearm.
Kade swallows, his throat tight. It feels like another part of their relationship clicking back into place.
“You’re sure about this,” Kade says, a little tendril of uncertainty whispering in his mind. For so long, he had believed himself unworthy of his bondmate, and this...
“I’m sure,” Felix murmurs, setting Kade’s hand on his belly.
Kade’s heart expands, his chest too tight. He looks at his bondmate, Felix’s body locked with Kade’s, his belly swollen with their child. Kade sits up, cradling Felix in the gap between his chest and his thighs. His knot shifts in Felix, and Felix moans. Kade grins.
“I can’t believe this,” he says, brushing his thumb over Felix’s abdomen. “I’m gonna be a dad.”
“You’ll be a good dad,” Felix says, covering Kade’s hand with his own. “I’m sure of it.”
Kade closes the inches between them, kissing his omega slow and sweet. Felix cups his face, his lips gentle.
When they eventually pull apart, Felix slides his arms around Kade’s shoulders, just holding him. “I’m sorry for everything,” he murmurs. “I’ve put you through so much.”
Kade kisses his shoulder, sliding his palm down Felix’s spine. Maybe they could have changed the past. But they’re stronger now, better people for what they’ve been through. “Just don’t do it again,” he says. “I told you, I’m staying with you and protecting you. And our baby.”
Felix draws a deep breath. “Really? Is that enough? Sometimes... it feels as though I’ve made too many mistakes. Sometimes I don’t... don’t know if our past can be repaired.”
So Kade turns his wrist up between them, Felix’s marking a thin curve of dried blood on his skin. “And I asked if you wanted to be my mate again. Says enough, doesn’t it?”
Felix stares at the marking, his eyes growing soft. “You’re more than I could ever deserve, Kade.”
And that calms something in Kade’s chest. Felix thinks Kade is enough. “I’m glad you came back,” he says. “And I’m not sorry about the child.”
He kisses along Felix’s jaw to his chin, then up to his lips. Felix smiles, and Kade presses their foreheads together, enjoying their newfound peace. He never thought they’d return to this; their bond reestablished, Felix smiling, his gaze affectionate.
A little later, Felix pulls away from Kade, looking down at the bed. “Oh. I was going to wash the sheets.”
“We don’t really wash them,” Kade says.
“That’s because we’ve been using towels.” Felix grins. “But we forgot last night, and there’s dried cum everywhere.”
Kade grins. “Want more?”
“Maybe later.” Felix laughs, swinging his legs off the bed. Then he bends and scoops something off the floor. “I guess I shouldn’t have poked under the mattress.”
Felix hands him the chain. Kade sighs, looking at it. It had kept the ring safe with him all these years, and everything the chain set off had turned out better than he expected. “Where’s the ring?”
Felix blushes. He reaches under the mattress, pulling the ring up after a moment. His expression turns pensive. “I never thought you held on to it.”
Kade’s pulse thrums. He takes the ring back from Felix, rubbing his thumb over its edge. Along its inner surface, the carved names glint in the sunlight. Felix Henry. Kaden Brentwood.
“Do you want it?” Kade asks.
