Book Smart

Two

It's not the sniffling that brings me out of nodding off, but rather the hot wet tears splashing against my chest as my sweet pup hiccups and bites back quiet sobs.

I tighten my hold around him and draw his light frame flush into a deeper cuddle than before earning a watery gasp. Two fingers under his chin are all it takes to guide his face out of the crook of my neck to look at me. He keeps his deep blue eyes averted and tries futilely to wipe the evidence of his tears off his stained cheeks but it's pointless with him still crying.

Any other time I'd be worried about said tears, but this is his first time getting to process the information I found out last night. It's adorable the way his emotions showcase themselves so clearly on his face. With a single corner of his quivering bottom lip snagged in between his teeth, and most of his pretty face flushed making those eyes of his pop in a way that should be illegal I know he's a bit overwhelmed by our intimate tangle... But Adrian doesn't pull away or try to fight my hold. My scent should be proof enough for him that he belongs right where he is, even if we both have more clothes on than I would like. His body curls into mine is delicious in a way that I don't need to be thinking about right now. My adorable young man is clearly in distress at waking up so entangled with me and it just makes me even more enthralled with him.

Never before have tears and sobbing and hiccups been cute. I'd never had the patience to deal with them. My pack trusted me to take care of them physically but they knew better than to approach me with turmoil. Liam, my beta, is normally the one they turn to for emotional support and if he could see me now he'd be laughing I'm sure. Cold hard me babying my sweet boy while he gives physical release to his emotions, waiting ever so patiently for him to be calm enough to talk. To listen. To start deciding what he wanted to bring with us on the drive home and what we could arrange for Liam and some of the guys to come for later.

....
Adrian
....

"Hey there..."

The husky baritone whisper sends a riot of shivers racing down my spine as the fingers holding my chin in place disappear and then reform as the light caress of his palm cupping my cheek unbothered by the slickness from my tears.

I can just barely manage to choke out a tepid, "Hi..." Before a whimper flows from my lips and a fresh batch of tears escapes me.

His calloused thumb strokes the sensitive flesh under my eye as he stares at me, a quiet, "Hi..." Breaking past his lips in a sigh.

I don't remember when he had climbed into bed with me or if he had been there the whole time but waking up in his arms had pushed me over an emotional edge I hadn't been prepared for. Nothing about last night had made sense until the set of thick strong arms that had captured me so roughly last night were wound around me again, but more protectively than possessively this time.

He's being so gentle with the way he holds me, the way he's fighting to keep his breathing even and calm even though I can smell his mistimed excitement in the air as well as feel it pressing against my hip and it doesn't line up with what I had seen and heard about the friend of my Alpha's. I had heard he was cranky and to be avoided at all costs unless Collin was around to temper his attitude. That he didn't like his own pack much less ours and would have no problem tossing us all around like rag dolls if his wolf simply felt the need when we were in his way. But he's being so patient, his knuckles brushing away my tears as they fall, his expression so sweet I can barely look at him. I wish he'd turn his amber eyes elsewhere but he keeps the deep orbs focused on me, his plump lips surrounded by 5 o clock shadow and pulled into a smirk as I struggle to understand the sparks flowing between us as he presses us close. I don't know whether to be scared or comforted and it leaves me in an odd euphoria of both. Every cell of my mind wants me to run and hide until he leaves and never comes back, but every other cell of my being is content to melt into his heat. To let his hands rub away all the rawness cocooning me at the moment until I'm sane again.

....
Silas
....

"Mates..." Adrian whines, pulling away from my hand. He draws his hands up away from where they had been tucked between us and hides from me. His face wedges it's way under my chin and I feel his juicy lips press a small kiss to my collar bone with a hiccup before settling down into our cuddle and covering his face again.

It's absolutely adorable.

He sniffles behind his palms and it makes me chuckle. An omega is an omega is an omega and Adrian is no different, programmed to feel on a deeper level, the emotional odometer and essential stress ball of the pack. He had to be feeling fifty things at once right at this moment, and right now he can have those private thoughts because soon we'd be sharing everything. The moment my mark is nestled deep in that succulent looking neck of his there would be nothing either of us could hide and just the thought is enough to have my teeth aching.

He starts at my groan, peeking in between his fingers to peer up at my face, the gesture childish and cute in a way that shouldn't be possible for an adult.

"Come out and talk to me, Angel."

"...It's Adrian..." He stays behind his hands but relaxes into me, his head sinking back down onto my shoulder before peeling them away. His tears seem mostly dry, but that doesn't mean that they won't start up again.

...
Adrian
....

The chuckle doesn't make it's way past his lips but I feel it rumble through his chest underneath me and I can't help but press my palm against his pec, tingling warmth seeping up my arm from the contact.

"I know your name, Sweetheart. Am I not allowed to call you pet names?"His voice is whiskey rough, almost a purr as he whispers to me," Just one way of making you feel good..."

He works the hand holding me to him up and down my spine in a way that makes a silent moan build behind my lips and makes me nuzzle into his shoulder to try and escape. He sighs at the feel and his free hand finds itself tangling my hair.

"I don't know yours." It's not an answer but I can't really give him one. The pet names make me so nervous I want to throw up. I don't know how to take them...and he's being so nice. So they also make me feel fuzzy inside like I'm choking on a very determined not to be dislodged hamster.

He wants to make me feel good...what are the other ways?

"Silas Ashwood. Now come here." The need in his voice snaps me back to reality just in time to be mentally present as the hand in my hair tugs until I'm pulled out of my hiding place just enough for his lips to find mine in a demanding...spine-breaking...toe-curling... Show me who's boss kind of way.