Destined Bear (Windridge Den #3)

17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Finn

I sent Corey home, told him I was fine—because I was—but after the fight I had with Patrick, I was feeling guilty about it. I understood why my mate was overprotective, I did, but also, it was smothering me.

The grown-up thing to do would be to sit down and talk it out with him. But anytime the topic came up, we’d get emotional and either give up or stew in our frustration. That wasn’t good for him, it wasn’t good for me, and it wasn’t good for our baby.

I headed into the kitchen and pulled out a bowl of cookie dough I’d made earlier, then preheated the oven. Some days required cookies, and today was one of those days. I didn’t even really want to eat them either. That was the weird thing—I wanted to smell them. I’d been that way lately, just loving the way foods smelled.

Food-wise, one of my favorite things was when Patrick came home from work, and I could inhale his shirt and smell the hamburger grease and fries. It was probably considered gross by most people, but for some reason, that’s what this pregnancy called for. Which, honestly, was better than some things—like when I needed to sleep all the time or have help getting up and down. If the worst side effect right now was me wanting to smell cooked food, so be it.

It was getting near lunchtime, and I thought about going over to the diner. I could easily get someone to walk me, but there were only a couple batches of cookies left, so I decided I’d go later.

The front door clicked open, and I thought for a second that maybe Corey was back, that possibly my mate had seen him and guilted him into returning. But then I scented him—Patrick. He was here. I hurried over to him, hugged him, and then unashamedly scented his dirty clothes.

Pregnancy was so weird.

“You done with work already?” I asked.

“Yeah, something like that. Baking cookies?” He kissed the top of my head.

“Yeah, I thought maybe we could, I don’t know, give them to some of the people who’ve been helping us?” The den had been so wonderful to us.

“You don’t want them? They smell delicious.”

“No, I don’t. It’s that weird smell thing again.”

“I was guessing with the way you inhaled my shirt.” He hugged me a bit tighter. “I was thinking—you could send Corey home, and maybe we could maybe talk about my work.”

That hadn’t been what I was expecting. Work was one area Patrick felt most confident, and here, he hesitated as if something was wrong. But now that he said it, he had been feeling pulled in lots of directions lately.

“Corey isn’t—Corey went home.”

“Home?” He was clarifying, not upset. Interesting.

“Yeah, I sent him home. Sorry, I was feeling so smothered.”

“I get that.” There had been a time not too long ago that this would’ve led to an argument. Baby steps.

The oven timer went off, signaling it was time to take the cookies out. “I’ll be right back.”

It was nice to have a few seconds to think about our conversation before it started. I wanted to be as supportive as I could be with him. And if by some strange reason he was getting in trouble at work because of the time he was spending with me, I wasn’t sure I’d forgive myself. But whatever it was, I was going to stand by his side. It was the only place I belonged.

Cookies on the cooling rack, I joined my mate on the couch. He held up my blanket, knowing exactly how I liked to sit—all snuggled, my feet on his lap, covered in a blanket.

I waited for him to begin.

“Alpha came in today, and I quit my jobs.”

“What?” I hadn’t meant to blurt it out like that, but out of all the things I guessed it might be, not a one of them was that.

“Don’t worry, he didn’t listen to me.”

“I feel like there’s a lot of that conversation I’m not quite understanding.” Like all of it.

“I did talk to him about how I’ve been feeling—like I haven’t been doing any of my jobs right. I haven’t been a good mate, I haven’t been a good chef, I haven’t been a good Beta.”

“You are good at all of those. I hope he told you that you were full of shit.” He was the best mate I could ever ask for and nothing said he was anything less than the right person to be one of Aydan’s Betas. And not being a good chef… I wasn’t even justifying that with a stitch of brain time.

“Yeah, he told me his version of that. But I was thinking… I was thinking of maybe switching my hours around a little bit so I could be home with you more.”

“Is that what you want?” It sounded heavenly to me, but I wasn’t going to push it on him. This needed to be 100% his decision.

“Yeah, because at the end of the day, Finn, I choose you. Always.”

He talked to me about his ideas for hours and days of the week he’d be at the diner and some ideas about hiring, and then it was my turn to talk about what was on my heart.

“I need to feel like I’m not being babysat,” I told him.

“You’re not being...”

I shook my head, cutting him off. “That’s all I wanted to say. I know you mean the best for me, and I know your bear rides you hard—and so does mine. But when I do things that go against what you think I should, it’s not me trying to be a dick. It’s because I’m feeling suffocated.”

He intertwined his fingers with mine. “Is that your way of saying you don’t want me home more?”

“No, absolutely not. I do want you home more. But maybe… could we cut out the babysitters?”

“They aren’t—”

I gave him a daring glare.

“Yes, that means we don’t need them anymore. As long as you promise me that if you ever feel like you do, you let me know.”

“I can do that.” I snuggled into his side. “What are you thinking? Do you want some cookies, or do you want to come with me to help deliver them?”

“Could I do both?”

“Yeah, I think I could handle us doing both.”

I kissed his cheek and then tried to get my legs off his lap and onto the ground so I could get up again. I failed miserably. “Help?”

My mate helped me all the way up and pulled me in for a kiss. “I love you, Finn.”

“And I love you, Patrick. So much.”