Every Were Gets A Mate

Chapter 14

The sensations pulsing through my body were still too intense even without the friction. Another pull on Cade's hair did nothing to move him. "Cade, please move away. It hurts."

Cade pulled back immediately, removing the pressure. The side of his head was still pressed against my thigh, but I could handle that. We were quiet for several minutes, breathing. The tornado inside me slowly settled down to a F3. Cade removed his hands from my backside, which helped. But he slipped his now-human hands under the hem of my shirt and pulled at the drawstrings on my pajama pants.

I slapped my hands over his, the flannel of my top layered between our skin. "What are you doing?"

He looked up at me, his face no longer shifted. I saw want and vulnerability there now. "I hurt too, Jess. I'm so swollen and hard, I feel like I might pop. If we mate fully, it won't hurt anymore, for either of us."

Sun and rain flashed over my skin again. "I want to. I really want to."

Cade smiled.

"But—"

The smile faded, making me want to finish speaking very quickly.

"I really need to finish telling you everything."

The smile came back with a teasing tone. "We'll have more time to talk after, Jess. I'm not going anywhere like human men might."

That was absurd, but it held a hint towards the problem. "I need you to know everything before we mate fully because..." You might still run away. Fear and worry pushed against me.

"Because?" He rubbed his cheek against my thigh.

I shook my head to clear the negative emotions and braced myself. "Look, we're told rejection is impossible, but I now know that it's not. You may want to fight this, run far away from me, when you know everything."

All happiness and teasing left Cade's expression. "Jessica."

The way he said my full name made me remember my parents calling me 'Jessica Ellsbeth' when I was really in trouble.

"I'm never going to reject you. There's no way I would ever even try. I just met you, and I'm already in love with you. I never want to spend another day away from you."

"I know. I feel the same way. It's just..." I took a moment to decide on the best way to say this while Cade waited patiently. "If I don't tell you everything first, some part of me will feel like I trapped you. It'll haunt me no matter how much you deny it."

He rubbed his face against my thigh as he nodded slowly. "Okay, Jess. Tell me."

He didn't make any move towards standing, which surprised me. "With you down there?"

He closed his eyes and snuggled against my thigh again in a kind of nod.

"Seriously?"

"Yes. I'm listening. Tell me."

I doubted his ability to pay attention. "I could go to the bathroom and try to get rid of that scent."

The look of horror that came to Cade's face would have been much more appropriate if I had just suggested aborting our child. He didn't say anything, the expression enough to tell me what he thought of the idea. It even made me feel a small but very unreasonable bit of guilt. I told us both, "We can make it come back when we both want it to. Very easily, I believe."

He smiled at me. "No, I'm enjoying it, and we're going to make it stronger when you're finished. So tell me, Jess. I'm paying attention. I promise."