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Chapter Three
Tadeo
I turned the shower on and, as soon as the water came to temperature, stepped under the hot spray. My mate would be in here shortly, but I truly was dirty and not in a sexy way. I wanted to at least get some of the sweat and other things that managed to stay on my skin even when I shifted and shifted back again. The water felt good, sluicing over the scratches and bruises of an ordinary day on the range.
Our pack was known for its pasture-raised, grass-fed and finished cattle and buffalo. We sold directly to restaurants and wholesalers at a premium price, and nobody balked at paying it. Not the case when I arrived here from Mexico. The previous alpha, although he’d been to all accounts a kind and loving leader, hadn’t been good with business. Particularly the livestock business. And Sawyer had been fairly new in his position when we met.
Met. A funny way to describe the clash that had been our first encounter.
My former pack hadn’t seen things my way, either, and I had been determined to find somewhere to implement the ideas I learned while gaining my degree at university as well as interning with a pack a couple of hundred miles south of the one where I grew up. The land there was gorgeous and managed so well. My patron taught me that land that is loved and cared for will return the love in the form of bounty to its inhabitants.
They also raised cattle as well as other animals for meat and wool and other products. Only the highest quality, and they demanded its worth. And received it. Until…
“You didn’t wait for me?” Sawyer gave me the smile that sent my heart racing every time and piled towels on the warmer before joining me. He was so good about those things, and, even in this part of the country, the air was getting chilly as the day got shorter.
While I was lost in memories, my mate had finished cooking, stashed the steak and veggies for later, and stripped naked before entering the bathroom to join me. I made some adjustments in the shower settings, bringing other heads to life. One of the disadvantages in showering together, we’d learned early on in our relationship, was that someone was always either drowning under the showerhead or shivering away from it. The custom design we’d had installed by a talented pack plumber, along with other upgrades to the bathroom, ensured comfort for both of us. Along with room to enjoy it. Our home may look like a shack outside, but that was only because we’d started our remodels on the inside.
“I was trying to do you a favor.” Lifting my arms, I sniffed. “Except I got distracted and didn’t do anything useful at all.” I let out a gusty sigh. “I’m still dirty.”
“Let’s see what we can do about that.” Sawyer held up a sponge. “Can’t have a dirty alpha at my table.”
“We’re doing it on the table.” I passed him the bottle of liquid soap. “Good idea. We’ll probably have to clear away a couple of things.”
“So naughty.” As was his chuckle. “I meant for dinner, later, but it’s been a while since we made use of the dining room table for anything other than dining.”
“Remember why?” I did, and it made my already swollen cock even harder.
After he squeezed some soap onto the sponge and turned me away from him, he said close to my ear, “We haven’t tried this one yet. But it was made extra strong.”
I shuddered, submitting to his cleansing me from head to toe, something we didn’t do often enough, but that I loved as much now as the first time he did it. When he deemed my back sufficiently clean, he used the handheld attachment to rinse away the suds and turned me back to face him. My cock bumped his, and my patience was at an end. I closed my fist around them both. “Let’s…now.”
“Mmm.” Sawyer’s dominant side was in full force. “You’re still half dirty.” As a switch, he could be either dominant or submissive at any given time, which kept life interesting in our private time. I did not do submissive, per se, but his strength in either mode kept me hard for him.
And in love with him. From the day we met in challenge seven years ago, I’d been obsessed with the intensity in those blue, blue eyes and the dark hair that was in contrast to his skin that never tanned more than very pale gold. And his body… Everything physical, but more than that, I loved the man who put his pack first. He cared for his people as if each was the most important person in his life, although I never doubted his devotion to me and what was between us.
He’d make the best father, but unfortunately, a child was the one gift I couldn’t give him. We would adopt if it were possible, but a non-shifter child would not fit in well, would always know they were different, and might grow to resent the fact they couldn’t don fur and race over the hills with their pack. It wouldn’t be fair to them.
And, fortunately, there were no children who needed adoption in any packs we knew of. All our little ones had at least one parent or close relative to love them already. No, we weren’t destined to be dads, but we had so much to be grateful for.
Sawyer set the sponge down and fixed his gaze on mine. “Where did you go?”
I flushed. “You know me too well. I’m back now.”
He huffed then gathered me in his arms. “I know, mate, but everyone has some regrets in life. Would you rather have chosen a female to be with? I know you have had lovers of all kinds in the past, and with a female, you’d be able to have the family you want as well.”
“Never!” I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him fiercely. “You are my mate, and I wouldn’t trade you for a hundred fertile females. The Goddess granted me the perfect person for me, and we get to spoil everyone else’s children. You. Are. Mine.”
