#Chapter 406 – Meet Me There
Cora
Roger’s silent for a long time, smirking at me, making me answer.
“I make no promises,” I reply after a long moment, shaking my hair back in a lofty way that makes him laugh. “But seriously, what is it?”
“Well,” Roger sighs, letting his shoulders drop and looking at me squarely now that some of the tension is gone. “Sinclair wants to give us more than a house now. He also wants to give us…a wedding.”
My jaw drops a little. “A wedding?” I ask, baffled. “But we’re…we’re wolves,” I say, wrinkling my nose. “Or at least – mostly wolf,” I say, glancing down at my belly where my little hybrid baby is growing.
“Yeah, he wants it to be a wedding and a mating ceremony at once – a symbolic uniting of the wolf and human worlds. Because I’m a wolf,” he says, pointing to himself, “and you’re a human,” he continues, pointing to me. “Or at least, sort of.”
I still shake my head, confused.
“And he wants it to be on TV,” he says, grimacing as he drops the final bomb, “like a royal wedding, for the entire world to see.”
And, just as Roger predicted, I immediately get very, very pissed off.
“This is such bullshit,” I murmur, pulling my cell phone out of my back pocket and immediately starting to text Ella to tell her precisely what I think of this plan.
“Wait,” Roger says, laughing a little and reaching for the phone, “just give it a minute -”
“Are you seriously on board with this?” I snap, looking up at him, my anger transferring immediately from my sister to my mate. “After I’ve told you, like a thousand times, that I want our mating ceremony – whatever it is 1 to be special, and meaningful? I mean, if we were just going to do it any old way we would have done it by now
“Cora,” Roger says, drawing my attention away from my tirade and covering my phone with his hand, stepping close to me, “I am on board with whatever it is you want, all right? So, let’s put the phone and the rage away for a few minutes and just talk about this. But no one is going to force you to do anything you don’t want to, okay?”
I take a deep breath then, turning towards my mate and putting my phone on the counter, sliding it away from me. “Okay,” I agree, nodding but looking down at the floor.
“What’s up,” he murmurs, putting his hands on my hips and pulling me close, resting his forehead against mine. “Why did that make you so angry? It was just an idea.”
“Because,” I sigh, sorting through my emotions as best I can. “Because what we have, Roger,” I continue, putting my hands on his chest, “it’s so important to me. It’s – it’s the best thing I’ve got, and so much more than I ever thought I wanted, or could ever have.”
Roger makes a soft, sweet noise of understanding then, drawing me closer and wrapping his arms around me.
“And it’s not that I don’t want to help Ella,” I say, my voice slightly muffled against his shoulder, “and like…the nation, or whatever. I just…this is important to me. I want it to be right, just this one thing.”
“All right,” Roger murmurs, his arms wrapping me up even tighter, making me smile. “I understand, and I agree. It’s a no for us.”
“I’ll tell her, okay?” I whisper, and I feel him nod his head. And then, sighing with relief that I have him on my side and that I just have him at all – I let my body relax against Roger’s and breathe in his warm, rich, comforting scent, letting it wrap all around me.
“So,” he says after a few long moments of relaxing against each other, “can I just give you the mark now?”
“What!” I shriek, going tense in surprise.
“I mean, if we’re not going to do it publicly- why wait -”
I pull back from Roger, staring up at him, trying to ascertain whether or not he’s serious
But the moment I see the big wicked grin on his face I scowl and smack him on the chest, knowing that he’s teasing me. “No, Roger,” I growl. “I still want it to be right! I’m not going to just let you bite my neck when we’re hanging out in the kitchen and I still have noodle -breath!”
“I like noodles,” he murmurs, stepping close and lifting a hand to slide his fingers under my shirt to the place where my neck meets my shoulder, where he intends to mark me. “And you smell amazing right now – ”
I laugh, shoving him away. “I smell like dirt and field hospital,” I reply, shaking my head and stepping away. You’re just listening to your wolf too much-”
“Well he won’t shut up Roger groans, tilting his head back even as he laughs. “Seriously, Cora, it’s bite her now, do it! On a constant refrain, whenever you’re around!”
My own wolf perks up inside of me, raising her snout smugly to the sky and giving a little howl of triumph. I want it too, she says, giving a wolfish little grin, but I know how to contain myself.
“Well, my wolf,” I say smugly, crossing my arms over my chest, “says your wolf is being an impatient brat.”
“Yes,” Roger growls, grabbing me by the waist again and pulling me close, obviously. Like man, like wolf. This is implied.”
“Well,” I reply, laughing and smiling up at my handsome mate, my eyes sparkling. “Your wolf had better take some lessons from mine. Because he still has some waiting to do.”
“I’d like to meet this wolf of yours,” Roger murmurs, kissing me swiftly and then nudging me with his nose. “She sounds judgmental. And cruel. Like someone else I know.”
“Excuse you,” I growl, giving him a little shove on his chest that doesn’t move him at all. “She is beautiful and refined and self-contained.”
“Well, I want to see this for myself,” he says, giving a happy sigh. “Do you want to show me?”
“How?” I ask, suddenly eager. Because if there is a way – then yes, I absolutely want to do that. I mean, I know that Roger can sense my wolf- but to really see her, to meet her, this part of me that I have to keep inside because I’m half human? What does he have in mind?
“I’ve been thinking,” he says, cocking his head to the side, “about this little thing they call the dream state. Did Ella ever tell you about it?”
“Yes,” she says, my eyes going wide.” Yes, she did!”
Unfortunately, we don’t get to the dream state for a long time because we’re too excited about it to actually sleep. So we go through our evening routine as best we can, with both of us showering, and then relaxing quietly in the bedroom, and then laying in bed reading boring books until we’re drowsy enough to actually drift off.
I glance over at Roger pretty much every two minutes or so to see how he’s doing, and then suddenly between one glance and the next – I see that he’s breathing deeply, with his eyes shut and his mouth slightly open.
Eager, but feeling my body getting ready to shut down, I put my book away and switch off the light, leaning close to Roger to press a kiss to his cheek before I put my head on my pillow. Then, after reaching out to place a hand on his slowly-rising chest, I close my own eyes.
As instructed, I keep myself focused on the goal: to open my mind enough to allow Roger to come in, to send him a little invitation down my mating bond.
And as I feel myself begin to drift off, I do my very best. Come with me, Roger, I say internally, in half of my own voice, half my wolf’s. Meet me there.
