Page 30 of Kitten Kisses

As they entered the living room, her gaze darted around curiously before settling on Slater. “Where’s the tiger?” she asked, eyebrows raised inquisitively.

“I put him in his cage.”

Slater could hear his mate laughing even more in the kitchen.

As she opened the front door, she pointed at the wall. “If you’re making holes that big while renovating, you may want to use a smaller hammer.”

It seemed his mate had covered all the bases.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for trying to help Alex and for not tranquilizing my tiger.”

“It was a close one.” She walked out.

Slater stood there until she slid into her car and reversed from his driveway.

He closed the door then turned around, raising an eyebrow at Alex, who stood behind him, cheeks flushed from laughing. “You were going to let your mom sedate an unconscious tiger?”

“She’s the one who wanted to do it,” Alex defended. “I told her the tiger wasn’t going to hurt me.”

He walked to his mate and slung an arm around him, capturing Alex’s body against his. “I’m sorry my tiger burst free. It probably scared you half to death.”

Alex smiled, mischievousness glinting in his eyes. “He was an oversized pussy cat.”

Slater laughed as he hugged his mate. “How badly did your mom freak out when she saw my tiger?” he asked curiously.

“She was completely chill,” Alex replied with a grin.

“While wanting to dope up my cat.” Slater chuckled. “It wouldn’t have worked anyway. The drugs would have burned too quickly through my system.”

Unless she’d given him enough to take down an elephant.

“We should try to clean up the mess in here.” Then Alex was gone from Slater’s arms, and damn if he didn’t want his mate back immediately.

Alex was walking around the room, picking up things off the floor, a nervousness in him now that they were alone.

Just because Alex had agreed to mate with him, Slater wasn’t going to rush him into it. If his mate wanted to clean, he would just help, trying to set his mind at ease at the same time.

He would do whatever it took to help Alex relax and ease him into this.

“I still can’t believe Kijani attacked you.” He picked up a book and set it on the mantel, his fingers remaining on it.

“He thought I threatened my mate.” Slater grabbed the heavy sofa and yanked it back to where it was supposed to be, telling himself he’d find a way to get rid of the deep scratches in the floor later.

Alex’s blue eyes looked at him, his gaze lingering for a second before he started cleaning again. “So that makes it right for him to attack you?”

Slater watched him with a slight smile and envisioned Alex being there on a permanent basis, filling his bed, his life, his heart, with endless joy and contentment.

“Mistreat a mate and you deserve even worse,” Slater remarked as he grabbed a broom and trashcan from the kitchen. “I’m damn lucky he didn’t swipe my head off my shoulders.”

Together, they cleaned up the mess, working side by side like a happy couple restoring their home.

When they were done, they headed into the kitchen. Slater was starving from healing, and as far as he knew, his mate hadn’t eaten since their early breakfast.

“I have to work tonight.” Alex insisted on cooking the ground meat, so Slater simply leaned against the counter, arms crossed, and watched him at the stove.

A nice sight he wanted to see more of—Alex making this his home as well. That image was now stuck in his head.

“What time?” Slater was on duty tonight. It was time to head back to the real world. So much had gone on in the past two days it felt more like a week.

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