Then he melted down into the sheets.
“Feel better?” Race snuggled in, cleaning his lips with that sweet tongue before pulling the blankets up over them. “Nap, and we’ll have lasagna after.”
“You’ll be here?” He didn’t want to sound so whiny, but he worried.
“Where am I supposed to go?” Race tweaked one of his nipples gently. “Silly Bear. I’m right here.”
He hoped so. He was Race’s, balls to bones.
Chapter
Seven
“So how’s he doing?” Nolan and Race were sitting in Ryder’s living room, both of them sipping a cup of tea and having a bear claw.
Connal was honestly doing well. The bullet wound was a barely pink scar now, and the soreness was fading quickly.
The issue was more that winter was coming.
Race had no idea if his mate was a hibernator.
“Better, he’s getting better.”
“Good. I’m so glad. We were worried about him.” Nolan leaned forward, touching Race’s leg. “How areyou?”
Race shrugged. “I don’t really know. I’m not even being a bummer; I just don’t know what to say exactly.”
Nolan tilted his head. “But you like him?”
“I more than like him. That’s not a thing. He makes me incredibly happy, but I’ve never lived with anybody as an adult. I don’t even have my own pillow. I have a backpack. He has this amazing house.”
“I bet he’d get you a pillow.”
He glared at his brother. “That’s not what I mean, and you know what? Seriously, I worry that I’m going to be the world’s worst mate, and he’s gonna regret picking me.”
“He’s not.” Nolan arched an eyebrow at him, squeezing his leg. “I’m not sure he picked you anyway, but that’s probably not very comforting. What I mean is, he’s not going to regret it. You might regret him, though.”
His immediate response to that was hot anger. “No way. He’s Con. I’m not gonna regret that.”
Nolan arched an eyebrow, gave him a glare. “Sounds to me like you’re mated.”
His cheeks started to burn. “Oh, shut up.”
“No, you shut up.” Nolan shook his head. “You gave me shit about Ryder forever. Now I am going to ride you like a prized pony.”
He did have an answer for that. “That’s Connal’s job.”
“Ew. Don’t be nasty.”
“You’re the one who started it.” Although to be honest, Race was extremely happy to see Nolan have a spark to him these days. He’d been so downtrodden and sad and unhappy, and Race didn’t blame him. He felt guilty about it because he left Nolan in that situation far longer than he wanted to, but wallowing in that did no good. He would just be happy for his brother now.
“What can I say? I start all sorts of shit. You do know that Con doesn’t hibernate, right?”
“What?”
Nolan nodded sagely. “When I first met him, Rye told me he doesn’t hibernate. He just putters around all winter making art and stuff while Rye and War sleep. He likes to cuddle, and he loves to nap, but he doesn’t actually hibernate.”
Now, Race liked to hear that. He was way too restless to hibernate. He spent the winters riding his bike, playing in thesnow, and gearing up for the next runaway season. Always there were omegas who needed rescuing.
