Page 34 of Wicked

He slides down the edge of the mattress until he’s kneeling in front of me on the floor. “Okay. We can get to know each other before we have sex. That’s perfectly fine.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. If I can still have kisses, that is.”

I lean forward and brush my lips against his. This time I don’t feel guilty or worry about things getting out of control. I can just enjoy how wonderful it feels to kiss Candlewick.

He’s the one to pull away. We stare into each other’s eyes for a long time. I drink him in, marveling that I get to spend the rest of my life with this man. I never thought I’d get to have an omega of my own.

“You should look in the bag,” I finally say.

He grins and reaches back to grab for the bag. “If we’re getting to know each other, I should tell you that I love gifts.”

“Okay. Red wolf shifters don’t buy each other gifts, but I did my best.”

Candlewick beams as he pulls out the burrowing board game. “Oh, this is perfect! We can play together.” His smile fades as he pulls out the stew. “Is this…”

“Animalistic had this shelf in their grocery department for fox shifters.”

Candlewick rolls the jar in his hands. “Gran used to make stew like this in the winter. I didn’t know it was a fox shifter thing. Thank you, Manny.”

I don’t care if it makes me materialistic, but in this moment, I want to buy Candlewick the world.

“Do you want to play the game?” I ask. “We have to go visit Buddy soon, but we have time.”

“Yes, that sounds perfect.”

He gives me a kiss that feels like a promise. Not for just his heart but for everything I’ve ever wanted. For the longest time, I thought I didn’t get to have a normal life, that I wasn’t worthy.

Now the world is full of possibilities.

10

Candlewick

I’m nestled in Manny’s arms playing Burrowing Bliss. Manny kisses my cheek and runs his fingers down my arm with the lightest of touches. He nuzzles my ear and inhales the scent of my hair.

With him, these gentle touches feel more intimate than sex has with anyone else. For the first time since I met Manny, I’m at peace. We’re no longer at odds with each other. We can just enjoy each other’s company and let our relationship unfold at a healthy pace. It’s such a relief.

“Okay,” I say, shielding the next question card from his view. Every card in Burrowing Bliss has several categories to choose from, so you can ask about whatever subject you want. After the question is asked, both players write their answer down, then try to guess the other player’s answer. “How many children do you want?”

That’s a question I don’t know the answer to myself. I’ve always wanted kids, but I wasn’t sure if that was in the cards for me, and I was okay with that. It was never integral to my happiness. But now my fated mate is a red wolf shifter, and they have huge families.

I write down two. That’s a good, reasonable number.

The problem with Manny holding me while we play this game is that it’s far too easy for me to see his answers. He writes down eight.

“Oh my God, I am not bearing eight children,” I say.

He smiles at me and kisses the tip of my nose. “I know. I was hoping we could adopt a few kids from the sanctuary. The compound won’t accept the kids who have already presented as their secondary gender, and it’s hard to place those kids in foster care. Especially the omegas with a thrall. Most of them end up spending their teen years at the sanctuary.”

This man doesn’t ever stop surprising me.

“Are you saying you want to foster teens?”

He shrugs. “Yeah, but if you don’t want to—”

“I definitely want to! That sounds amazing.”

---