Page 39 of Waiting for Fate
I know absolutely nothing about baseball, but I’m obsessed with the way Ridley lights up discussing it. His already sunny eyes sparkle so bright they look like tiny galaxies swirling through the teal orbs. Happiness must be contagious and this alpha spreads it like elementary kids spread germs during flu season.
Mom begins cleaning the kitchen, so I join her, slipping away from the ball talk still happening at the table. She’s silent at first, but I should have known it wouldn’t last. “What’s going on there?” Her soapy hand motions between me and Ridley.
“He swears we have a Fated Connection,” I admit with a shrug.
“You don’t think you do?” Her question is cautious, a little suspicion in her eyes as she glances at my alpha.
“I do,” I rush out, not wanting her to doubt his intentions. “I haven’t felt the connection myself, but the pull is there.”
She raises one eyebrow in question, waiting for me to explain.
“He thinks we have a Shared Pain connection.”
Mom’s mouth falls open, her eyes wide as she stares at me. It’s one of the rarer types of connections, and one of the most taxing. “That’s… I don’t want to say I hope he is wrong, because you deserve the happiness of a completed bond with Fate Matched mates, but to share pain…”
“Yep. It looks like I drew the short straw on this one.”
Mom is a doctor. She understands more than most how rough sharing pain can be. Though it has a perk or two. Like having mates with an intricate understanding of how painful giving birth can be. And always knowing when one of your mates is seriously injured.
“If it ever gets to be too much, please let me know. There aren’t many options to help dull the pain you share, but there are some routes we can explore.”
We finish dishes and she wraps me in a tight hug, whispering how proud of me she is. I squeeze her just as tight, fighting back tears as the stress of the past few days crashes down over me.
Ridley must sense my turmoil because he quickly ends his conversation with Pops and is at my side, pulling me against him and kissing the top of my head. “Ready to lie down, sunshine?”
I give Pops a quick hug before I lead my alpha up to my childhood bedroom. My parents’ room is on the opposite end of the house, so we don’t have to worry about disturbing them. And they’re progressive enough to let us have a sleepover without the door open. Or Mom and Pops are. We’ll see how my father, Phoenix, reacts when he comes home tomorrow. He’s always been a little overprotective of his baby girls.
I swing the door open to my childhood bedroom and cringe. It’s clean, but Candy Courage posters and magazine clips hang everywhere. Literally. Their faces cover every inch of the wall beside my bed.
“If I didn’t know how much you love coming on my knot, I’d be worried,” Ridley jokes as he steps inside. I walk over and collapse onto my back on the bed, letting him walk around and snoop through the small amount of stuff I still have here.
Hands gripping my waist startle me a few moments later. My eyes fly open and meet Ridleys where he’s dragging me out of my jean shorts. Butterflies flit through my stomach as his palms knead my calves, working their way up my right leg before repeating the process on my left.
“That feels amazing,” I groan.
He hums and flips me to my stomach, pushing my shirt up and over my head. My core clenches when he unsnaps my bra, but avoids my breasts, continuing his sensual massage along my back.
I’m a puddle of cooked noodles when he flips me back over. On his face is the softest look, one so full of admiration and… love that it makes my chest ache. The desire to feel his claim on my skin so deep my soul feels untethered without it. He must see what I want in my eyes, because sadness quickly flickers across his expression.
His lips mold against mine in languid swipes, and his hands glide down my body to remove the rest of my clothes. When he flips to the bed behind me, pulling my back against his chest and lifting my thigh to rest back over his hip, perfume floods around us. The stretch of his dick entering me is so wonderful I nearly come from the feeling.
Long, dragging thrusts unhurriedly build us toward orgasm. His arm slips under me, reaching around to palm my breast and tease my nipples as he makes love to me. Each sucking kiss against the side of my throat is the same unspoken promise. Soon I will be his, proudly wearing his bite for the world to see.
Soon.
The festival in Boston is a different world compared to the one we played in Chicago last month. Tensions are much higher among the bands and road crew. We all expected a protest. Some backlash from the state of New Hampshire and its anti-designation cult.
With things going smoothly, it feels too good to be true.
I’m jumpy, snapping at the band members as I try to fight the urge to run and hide coursing through my body. Ridley hovers behind me, vigilant in his guard duties as we traverse the festival grounds. When we’re stationary for more than a few minutes, his purr rattles to life to soothe my frayed nerves. It works until we have to move again, then all the stress pours right back into my body.
“Orbital Somatic!” The stage manager calls for the band, and I rush them to the front. During the past week’s break, I worked with them to improve their stage presence. Their confidence has grown immensely over the past month.
Watching Joey’s girlfriend swirl onto the stage dressed in the image of Fate, I can’t hold back a fist pump as the crowd roars with delight. This is what they needed, something a little theatrical to fit the whimsical nature of their lyrics.
I congratulate them as they cool off behind the stage after their set. Smiles stretch across all of their faces, their joy tangible in the air from their success. We’ll find their groove and rocket them toward headlining in no time if they keep this pace up!
“Ready to head across the venue?” Ridley grunts, warily eyeing the crowd pushing against the rails, blocking them from accessing the backstage areas. I nod and let him guide me across the grass to the stage where Primordial Covenant will perform in an hour.
