Seeing him like that, Cooper was driven by an instinctive need to claim—toown—and he surged upward. He grasped Nate’s head and tilted it to one side, managing to choke out, “Can I—” before Nate was nodding frantically.
His fangs sliced through the skin of Nate’s throat with shocking ease.
Nate gave a high-pitched whine, eyes wide, and Cooper felt it—the bond between them snapping into place. It was heat and static electricity and champagne bubbles and the depths of the ocean on a hot summer’s day all rolled into one. Running through it all, thrumming with life, was a shimmering silver core that couldn’t be anything but Nate. It pulsed in his chest, warm and solid and impossible to ignore.
Nate’s hand flew to his throat, then to his chest. “Fuck,” he choked out. “Is that—”
Cooper could sense everything Nate was feeling through their bond, and it was a heady mix of awe, curiosity, excitement and shock—but one emotion stood out, overriding them all, lighting Nate up like a Christmas tree. It was the same one that surged through Cooper’s own veins.
Joy.
* * * *
Cooper woke to the warm, steady rhythm ofmate mate matepulsing in his chest, and to fingers running through his hair. When he opened his eyes, Nate was gazing at him, and he could feel a thread of worry through their bond. “Hey, baby.”
Nate gave a smile, but it was a poor effort. “We, um. Need to talk.”
Panic flared, there and gone again before Nate’s eyes widened and he pulled himself upright in bed, hand flying to his chest on instinct. “No! Notthatkind of ‘we need to talk.’ Just practical shit. Am I moving to Sydney? Do youwantme to move to Sydney? Because I feel like with the bond, distance would suck, but I can’t just pick up and move next week, you know?”
Cooper propped himself up on one elbow and dragged Nate in for a kiss, and Nate responded, relaxing against him.
When Cooper pulled back, Nate’s smile was more genuine. “That’s cheating, distracting me from my freakout.”
Cooper shrugged. “Did it work?”
“Well, yeah. But you didn’t answer any of my questions.”
Cooper settled his elbows on his knees and ran a hand through his sleep and sex-tousled hair. “Nate, I’ll tell you what you told me. Whatever being your mate involves, I’m in. I want it all. I wantyou.”
“Smooth fucker,” Nate muttered. He reached out and tangled their fingers together. “But we do need to make some plans, because my brain’s a mess right now.”
Cooper reached out and pulled Nate close, an arm around his shoulders. “How about this? We spend the rest of the week in the Swan Valley like we planned. We visit some wineries, eat some chocolate, fuck like bunnies and figure shit out.”
“Figure shit out,” Nate repeated. “Is that the kind of stellar problem-solving that got you where you are today?”
Cooper grinned, a lazy, fucked-out smile. “Baby, I can work out of Perth or Sydney. As long as we’re together, it doesn’t matter to me. I just meant we’d work out the nuts and bolts of it.”
“That sounds like a pretty bloody perfect plan, then,” Nate said. “Especially the fucking like bunnies part.” He traced a hand over Cooper’s pec, and Cooper could take a hint. He rolled them so Nate was underneath him and kissed him, tongues entwined and hands roaming over skin. The bond thrummed with shared satisfaction as they rutted against each other, unhurried. He slid his hand between them and jerked them both off, slow and lazy, until Nate’s back arched and he came with a soft sigh, eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks and his mouth a perfect O. The sight was enough to have Cooper following right after.
He stayed there, face buried in the crook of Nate’s neck until he’d caught his breath, then rolled off to the side and wiped his hand on a corner of the sheet.
He closed his eyes and floated. He had a vague awareness of a cool cloth wiping his belly and his hand, but after that he must have dozed, because the next thing he knew Nate was shaking him awake and was saying, “Wake up, sleepywolf.”
When he opened his eyes, Nate was propped up on one elbow next to him, watching him. His hair was sleep-tousled, his cheeks were pink, and he was perfection. He was also grinning, like he had a secret and couldn’t wait to share it.
“Hey,” Cooper said, giving a lazy smile. “What’s up?”
Nate beamed at him. “I had a revelation while you were napping, Coop.”
“Oh?” Cooper reached out and brushed the hair away from Nate’s forehead, unable to stop touching his mate.
“Yeah.” Nate ran a fingertip through Cooper’s chest hair, tracing patterns. “I’m guessing you own your house in Sydney?’
“It’s an apartment, but yes. In Rozelle.”
Nate nodded. “Uh-huh. And I live in a shitty fibro share house in Balga. So it occurred to me that it makes more sense for me to come to you.”
Cooper’s heart raced. “Really? Just like that?” The very thought of Nate in his space filled Cooper with warmth.
