Page 17 of The Russos
Leaning down, my hands on either side of Cassie, I nuzzle into her neck, pressing a soft kiss to my mark on her shoulder that’s already healing.
“Why are you crying, baby?”
“I’m not really sure,” she laughed. “I think it’s all just hit me that I’ve found my mate where I least expected him to be and he’s not only gorgeous, but he’s also kind.”
Frowning down at her, “Why wouldn’t I be? You’re my mate and you’ll always come first with me. It’s my honour to take care of you. Just wait until you’re with young. Between my family and yours, you’re going to be spoilt as fuck baby.”
“Young?” she rumbled in surprise.
Grinning at her, I lie back down on the bed and pull her up until her head’s resting on my chest. “I’d better tell you what you are in for. I hope you want babies, Cass, because we won’t be leaving this tent until you’re knocked up.”
“What?” she spluttered.
“Yeah, we best be having a talk about how my animal works,” I inform her. “My brother and I are hyena shifters, and along with being strong and loyal to a fault, family means everything to us.We’d do anything for our family and our friends. Once you’re in our circle it takes a lot to break that loyalty.
“Our mates, on the other hand, will have to put up with us being fiercely protective and possessive. Baby, just so you know, I’m going to be all up in your space all the time, so you best get used to it now.”
Cassie laughs huskily at my words.
“I’m not kidding,” I tell her.
“I’m fine with that,” she assures me, tilting her head back to smile at me, brown eyes sparkling with laughter.
Happy that she seems to be taking it all in her stride, “We’ll see how you feel in a few years’ time, when you want to get together with the ladies for a night out and I tag along,” I tell her.
She snorts with laughter, burying her face in my chest, shoulders shaking. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Still laughing she wipes at her eyes, “What else? Tell me about this baby thing.”
“Yeah, that,” I mutter, running my hand over my face. Wondering how to explain it in a way that she won’t freak out. As far as I was aware, we were the only shifters who needed our mates pregnant to be fully mated. “We have sex as often as we can until you’re pregnant, only then will my animal be able to let you around other males that aren’t my family.”
“Holy fuck,” Cassie exclaimed, sitting up. “Say what.”
“I have to fuck you often, and I’ll knot every time until you’re pregnant. Once you’re pregnant, my animal will ease up some. I warned you that you didn’t know what you were getting. Possessive, demanding, loyal, and I’ll constantly want to breed you for the first few years,” I tick off every point.
“But,” I hold up my hand at the shock on her face, “you will also be loved like you never have been before, I’ll never cheat, and you and our young will always come first in my life. My brother and I would lay down our lives for you.”
“Oh shit,” Cassie flops back down on the bed and my attention is diverted from her trying to wrap her head around everything I’ve told her to my need to be inside her again as her breasts bounce at her movement. Leaning over, I wrapped my lips around her nipple and sucked hard before moving onto the next. It doesn’t take Cassie long to reciprocate, and by the time I’d kissed my way down her body to her already wet folds, she told me she was okay with me fucking her until I put my young in her.
It was late in the night when I finally let her up because we were both starving and thirsty. Anton had come earlier and dropped off a cooler box; rifling through it, I found sandwiches and water.
Settling back against the headboard, we devoured our food in short order, replenishing our energy for what was going to be a long few days. Already Cassie’s scent had changed, and I knew by tomorrow she’d be fertile and ready for my seed to take root.
“So, tell me about this breeding thing and how it works. When I eventually fall pregnant and have our young, will you need to breed me again as soon as possible?”
“No,” I reply, shaking my head, then taking a long drink of water. I think how to best answer her question, “According to my parents, it’s just the first time. Once we’re mated fully, my animal will be in tune with yours, and between them, they’ll know when you’re ready. Don’t forget our animals live within us. My mum was content just with my brother and me and as such, they never had any more. I’m not hundred percent sure how it works, but I can already smell that you’re more fertile now than you were when you arrived. There’s something in my sperm thathelps make you fertile when I knot. Knotting doesn’t happen unless we’re trying for young, and honestly, I’m not in control of that. More my animal is. He’s built to breed his mate, but he’ll also take her feelings into consideration.”
Cassie is quiet as she thinks on all that I’ve told her. I get it. It’s a lot to take in. Most people think shifters are all the same, and for the most part, we are, but we also each have our idiosyncrasies for each breed; it just so happened that my type was very family-oriented.
“Is that why Hannah and Anton haven’t fully mated yet?”
“Yeah, Hannah’s body isn’t ready yet. But she’s getting stronger, I don’t think that it will be much longer before she’s ready. Anton is struggling more and more to hold back the stronger she gets. I admire the fuck out of him for being able to. By the time we’re back home, it will be my turn to make sure they are fed and watered.”
Cassie smiles at my words, “You and Anton are close?”
“We are,” I agree. “There are others that we are just as close to, though.”
Setting the leftover food back into the cooler box, I put it on the floor. Patting the bed next to me, I say, “Come and get comfortable and I’ll tell you about the four families and what you can expect. Oh, and also about Miah and Renee, although he’s under the impression that Renee and I have something going on.”