Torn Between Tides

Chapter Nine

Roman helped Colt clean the dishes, he rather insisted on it since Colt was the one that made them breakfast. Colt didn't really like having guests over. He was a wolf, and he was very territorial over his space. In fact, Roman was the only person who had ever stepped foot in Colt's bedroom without the Alpha feeling uneasy at best or wanting to tear his throat out at worst.

On the contrary, when Colt saw Roman curled up on his bed with his sheets wrapped around him...he felt warm. He had spent a solid ten minutes standing at the door and looking over his mate until he cursed at himself for being a creep and made himself comfortable on the couch.

He barely slept the entire night. Even with a wall separating them, he could hear the soft breathing and the occasional groan that left Roman's lips. He could hear him turning and twisting, he could smell his delicious scent and his mind kept betraying him by fantasizing about things he shouldn't even be thinking about in his wildest dreams.

Then seeing Roman in his clothes, almost drowning in Colt's shirt and their scents mixed together made Colt almost not care about his stance on true mates. Almost.

When he touched Roman, when he held the other man close...for a second Colt couldn't help but wonder how things would be if he were to simply change his mind and give in. Take up Roman's offer and fuck him so good that Colt would become the only thing Roman could ever think about. No other man would take his place.

But Roman made his boundaries clear. He didn't want a relationship. Colt wasn't going to push that even if he was to pursue the swimmer. He was going to respect Roman's choices, even if they brought a void to his chest that he couldn't ignore even when he tried his level best to.

Now there they were, Roman washing the dishes as he dried them. Despite having known the swimmer for less than three days, he was already feeling at home with him. So much for ignoring the mate bond, huh?

Colt was glad that he had his own house. Long gone were the days of massive pack houses. There were still some packs that preferred to live more traditionally, a few lived in forests and generally away from people. But most packs were well integrated in cities and lived among humans. Colt's pack was one of them.

There was only one common house with some unmated wolves and orphans of the pack along with a few couples without children that volunteered to take care of them. Other than that, most pack members had their own houses in a gated community so that they could have their own space while also staying close to their pack.

"Do you want to stay for lunch?" Colt asked, surprising both himself and Roman. The swimmer seemed interested at first, even excited, until he checked his watch.

"Fuck," Roman grunted. "I'd love to, but I need to head to work."

"I didn't know you had a job," Colt said.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, babe," Roman grinned. "I work part-time at the hospital. Just some administrative duties, data entry, filing, all the boring shit."

"Do you need a ride?" Colt asked, ignoring how his heart seemed to react to Roman calling him 'babe'.

"Just drop me at the bus stop," Roman answered. "I need to head home and change first."

"I can drive you home too if you—"

"Nah, you've already done a lot for me. A ride to the bus stop is more than enough," Roman cut him off.

A part of Colt didn't like the fact that Roman was leaving so soon, but it wasn't like he could do anything about it, so he nodded begrudgingly. Within the next ten minutes, they were in Colt's car, and five minutes after that, Colt had dropped the man at the bus stop.