Delivered to My Elves (Mail-Order Matings #18)

Chapter Fifteen

Callon

Misty tried to quell her yawns but they came at shorter and shorter intervals. Our mate was tired. Not only could I see it in the physical sense, but as her mate, I’d begun to pick up cues through our tiny-but-budding bond.

“What?” She laughed. “What’s that look for, Callon?”

“You’re tired, Misty. You’ve been yawning since dinner. I was smiling because you’re cute, trying to hide it.”

Her blush was immediate and struck a chord in my chest. “I’m sorry. I was trying to stay awake. I just got here.”

Aerin reached out and grasped her hand but let go quickly. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. Can we escort you to your room?”

She nodded. “Of course.”

We walked behind her until we reached her room. She stepped inside and turned around. Goddess, my resolve of not touching her until she wanted us to crumbled by the second and would completely obliterate if she gave us the slightest hint of want.

“I…” she started. “Are we supposed to start tonight? Trying to get pregnant?”

With one of my hands, I grabbed the frame of the door. For us, this would be more than getting her pregnant or having a family. She was our mate now. When we had her for the first time, it would be us solidifying the bond—making love to our mate.

She had no idea what she was offering so freely.

“We have time, sweet female.” My body vibrated with need. Not all sexual. I would’ve given anything to simply go into her room, her den, and offer her comfort and safety as she slept. But that wasn’t part of the deal we’d made before she arrived—before we knew she belonged to us. “Get your rest. You’ve had a long day.”

“Oh…okay. Good night, then.”

We stood there for a few moments. We stared into her deep-brown eyes and she flicked her gaze between the two of us. Her blush had spread to her neck and the top of her chest. I would bet it fingered out all the way to her breasts.

“We’ll see you in the morning, Misty,” Aerin said and was the first to break this standoff between us. I followed him. Hearing her bedroom door close made me release a long breath.

“Bourbon?” I asked as we made our way to the living room.

“Please.”

I poured two glasses and handed one to him. Our mate was a shifter and so, in this house, there wouldn’t be a place we could talk with the surety of not being heard. Wasn’t her fault she had preternatural hearing. The burden of privacy, if we wanted it, was on us.

Aerin, of course, read my mind and I trailed behind him out the front door and sat beside him on the front porch.

We sipped from our glasses and let the winter wind chill us out.

“Shouldn’t she know if she was our mate? She’s a shifter. They don’t glow except to us, but they have the sense. She only glows for us.”

Aerin shook his head. I knew my bond brother. “Yes? I don’t know. I’m still reeling over the facts. She came here to be a breeder and now she’s our mate. What if that’s all she wants, Callon? What if being a breeder and a mother to our children is as far as it goes for her?”

I sighed. I’d thought about the possibility as well. “Nothing changes for me.”

“How? How? Everything changes now that she’s our mate.”

Shrugging, I shook my head. “Not for us. We will treat her as we planned to. With love. With respect—honor. Care. Honesty. Trust. In my mind, she’s my mate and I will treat her like we are in a bonded, marked relationship.”

“I will too.” We drank our bourbon and sat there, watching some of the elves around the colony go about their night chores. “Of course, I will. I’m gonna love her as hard and deeply as she’ll let me.”

I chuckled, thinking about how damned lucky we were. “She’s beautiful when she blushes.”

“Fuck yeah, she is. She’s beautiful no matter what. I can’t wait to see her in the morning. All messy and sleepy.”

“Well…” I stood and handed him my glass. I poured so he could return the glass. “The faster we get to bed, the faster we wake up and see our mate.”

“You have a point. Goodnight.”

We parted ways once we were inside the door and I made my way to my bedroom. I got into the shower and couldn’t help but reach between my legs while the images of her conjured in my mind. Her beautiful long hair. How she might look lying underneath me with those blonde locks spread out against a pillow. Making her blush over and over as I licked her from head to toe. I would bet she tasted as good as she smelled. Like marshmallows and vanilla.

Pumping my fist up and down along my cock, I called out her name, spraying the tile of the shower with cum.

Unfortunately, the jerking off did nothing for the edge I was on. I wouldn’t be satisfied until I was inside her. Until both of us were.

Maybe one day, she would let us mark her as ours.

I lay in bed and crossed my hands behind my head and closed my eyes. In the other room, I could hear Misty turning in her bed. Was she not comfortable? Was she not warm enough?

If I was a bolder mate, I would go in there and ask what I could do to make her better but as soon as the thought occurred to me and I sat up, ready to make the move, her breaths evened out.

My mate was asleep in the next room and soon, I fell into a contended sleep—deeper and harder than I’d ever slept before.