Page 156 of Second Chance Mates

My brows clench. “You sure? You were quiet when Lucy and Sebastian announced their news.”

“Yeah.” He gives my calf a squeeze. “I wanted them to have their moment.”

“You’re going to be an uncle. Don’t you think that’s exciting?”

The corner of his lip twitches. “Yeah…I guess it is.”

“You guess?”

He shrugs once, which is not at all convincing.

“Do you not want kids?” I tilt my head.

“Yeah, I do. At some point. Not anytime soon. It feels like I’ve been with you for five minutes, Ava. The last thing I want right now is to think about someone else, other than you. I want to enjoy as much alone time as I can with you before we decide to start the next steps. If we agree to have any.” He smooths his thumb across the fabric on my shin.

I chew on the inside of my lip. “Yeah,” I agree. “That’s true.”

He takes my waist in his hands and tugs me up onto his lap. “Good because I want as much time before we have any little devils running around.”

“Did you just call our unborn children ‘little devils’?” I release a soft laugh.

“Sure did.” He grins.

My forehead presses to his and he leaves a kiss on my lips. “Hey, so I’ve been thinking.”

“About what?”

I clamp my teeth down on my lip as I admire his dark blue eyes. “The next time we have sex,” I pull my head back slowly, “I want you to mark me. I want us to be mated.”

Jaxon doesn’t blink, but he holds me close to him. “Ava–”

“I know what you’re going to say. I’m a human, and you don’t know what will happen if you do it. But I want you to. I want to experience it. Let’s see what happens and pray the mark accepts me.”

“Ava, I am not taking any chances if I don’t know what the consequences are.”

“It’s a bite.”

A slash of pain etches across his face. “I could hurt you, Ava.”

“Or it could be incredibly pleasurable.” I lift one shoulder. “Worst comes to worst, I’ll be healed by the pack doctors. But it’s something I want. I trust you. I trust this world. Why would I be in it if we can’t officially mate?”

Jaxon’s expression warps into one of internal conflict. “I want that, baby. I want to mark you. I want to complete our mating process, but I will never live with myself if I hurt you or do something to you that I can’t change.”

“So, what?” I murmur. “We’ll never be officially mated because you don’t want to take that chance.”

“Ava, that’s not what I mean, and you know it. I want to be marked and mated to you more than anything, but your wellbeing is the priority. That’s the only reason why I’m sceptical.” He laces his fingers through mine.

I sigh in defeat. “Okay.”

“I’ll find out more about it,” he counters. “Do some research because I am not putting you at risk before knowing the outcome. I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what you wanted to hear, but I don’t want to take any chances without knowing the outcome.”

My body sinks back into his with a nod. “I know. I’m just desperate to be closer to you and your world.”

“You don’t need to be a wolf to be close to this world. I promise you. You are already in this world, and you have been welcomed with wide arms,” he murmurs against my head. “Being a human doesn’t make you any different because we know that you’re meant to be here.”

“Yeah, I know. Is it greedy to want more?”

Jaxon shakes his head. “No. You deserve everything good in this world, and I won’t rest until I see you have it all.”

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