The one thing I was pleased about was the huge walk-in shower, standing beside a bathtub wide enough for two. Elisha shivered, his body trembling harder from the cold air. Making soothing sounds, I reached into the shower and got the warm water flowing.
Reluctantly, I settled Elisha on a built-in bench inside the door. He curled right up, his knees flush against his baby bump as he huddled and rocked. I rested a hand on the top of his head. "Shh, easy now. You're safe, little wolf. Give me two seconds to get my britches off, and we'll get you cleaned up."
If I'd thought to grab my bag from the storage compartment on my bike and had a change of clothes, I wouldn't have even worried. I winced at the thunk when my jeans hit the floor and remembered my phone in the pocket. Oops. Good thing I hadn't walked into the shower fully clothed.
As soon as I had my shirt over my head, I let it drop behind me and went straight in. Scooping Elisha back up, I put him under the water and tried to get him to stand. "Come on, honey. Lower your legs and get on your feet so we can get you clean." I tried to get his body to respond, gently pushing at his knees as I murmured in his ear, “Please work with me, Elisha. We need to get this shit off your skin.”
Nope. Nothing. He burrowed his face into my shoulder as he tried to curl into a tighter ball against my chest.
Even though I tried again, no amount of alpha persuasion in my tone worked. "Sorry, little wolf. I know you’re in pain, but we really need to get these feathers off your body. I don't know if you can hear me, but your wolf can. I need you to stand. Do it for me now."
Still nothing. My own wolf paced desperately. We were on a tight clock to claim and save our mate, but I couldn’t stomach doing it covered in an allergen causing him pain. No. I would save him, but I would make it as painless as possible. There was time. If there wasn’t, surely the fates wouldn’t be so cruel as to have brought me here.
Lowering myself to the floor, I decided to come at this from another direction. I cradled him in one arm, grabbing the detachable sprayer and rinsing the detestable feathers away. Thank heavens the drain had big openings, or we probably would have had a flood to deal with, based on how many clumps washed off.
Shifting his body this way and that, I managed to get every bit of his skin feather free. I was glad to see a bottle of the odorless body wash preferred by shifters, naturally hypoallergenic thanks to its pure, organic formula. While it might not have been his preference if he were awake, I also used it to shampoo his hair after his body was clean.
I sat him up between my legs and crossed my ankles over his, holding them in place while I gently massaged the lather into his hair. My wolf paced faster, anxious for me to move things along and claim our mate. Especially while his life force was hanging by a thread. A frayed thread I could feel unraveling.
My gut said I had time, though, and I needed to take it, to know the sick smell and any lingering allergens from his feather exposure were gone. Plus, I felt much better about what I had to do next after taking a few minutes to gently cleanse his body.
Elisha might not have been aware, but I was. Brute force was not my style. Neither was nonconsensual sex. This small bit of tender caretaking was necessary if I was going to have a chance of carrying through. Of doing this permanent deed under such unthinkable circumstances.
You're waffling again. Knock it off! It's time.
Elisha started shaking, so hard his ass vibrated against my cock. Shameful though it might have been, damned but if it didn’t get me hard. Wondering if the body wash could double as lube, I wrapped an arm around his waist and bent him forward as I lifted him.
His cheeks parted barely enough to reveal a pink hole. Blinking in confusion, I realized it was glistening with something thick and viscous… and definitely not the body wash.
What the hell? Hadn’t I cleaned him well?
As I slowly understood, a smile spread over my face. The slick I'd always heard an omega’s body released if they were ready to be mounted was a relief to see. At least I could take comfort in knowing I wouldn’t hurt him.
As I lowered him, I held him firmly by the hips with both hands while using my fingers to spread his cheeks.
My breath caught in my throat, and I grit my teeth against the onslaught of pleasure when the head of my cock pierced through his tight ring of muscles, entering his slick heat at last.
Shaking harder, Elisha bucked back and forth, hands flapping at his sides. I jerked my head away to avoid getting hit when his head suddenly flung backward, aiming right at my face.
With my cock partially inside him, I quickly moved my hands as his body continued lowering onto mine. Wrapping an arm back around his waist, I held my other hand against his chest, settling him tightly against my shoulder so neither of us would get hurt.
While I fought to restrain my mate's shaking body, I somehow got him fully seated. Heart racing, I froze when Elisha's heavy panting stopped, along with the shaking, as his small frame slumped against mine.
Shit! Had I wasted too much time washing his hair? Fuck me, please tell me I hadn't waited too long to act. Immediately, when I started to really panic, my wolf nudged me, and I realized Elisha’s heart was beating beneath my palm.
It was faint. Weak, even. But it was there.
The reassurance sent me into a frenzy, and I bucked my hips, thrusting fast and sure. I could make love to my mate another time. A time when he was alert and aware of what was happening. Right now, Elisha didn't need more from me than the quick, hard fuck to save his life.
Hugging him tightly, I fucked into him with such quick, firm movements the muscles in my own ass and legs would be feeling it tomorrow.
As his silky heat gripped my cock like a velvet glove, the walls clenching around my shaft so perfectly as if we’d been designed for each other, my inhibitions faded. My hips continued to rock, my muscles trembling from the exertion.
Ignoring the fire sliding through my veins and the lightning shooting down my spine, I kept going. My balls grew tight, pulling against my body, and the base of my cock tingled, stretching with my bulging knot.
The knot grew fat, completely locking me inside my mate. As my laniary teeth extended with my canines, I dropped my jaw. Both sets were needed, my wolf and I each providing part of the claiming bite.
Shifting Elisha to the left, I held his hair out of the way while I bit over the scar of his first mating, replacing his wrongful mark forever with my own. As my teeth pierced his flesh, Elisha gasped, his back stiffening and his head dropping forward as if welcoming my bite.
My balls clenched, and my seed shot inside his tight, welcoming heat. A sharp pain arced through my sinuses as the aconite flowed from the pinpoint-sized holes at the tips of my laniary fangs. While my body was motionless and stiff as Elisha's, my wolf delivered the poison, not merely saving his life but tethering it to mine.
Now, in this moment, I was finally okay with the idea. The bond settled between us, forming an unseverable connection. Even if I would never be able to understand why biology had provided us with this lover's poison, my possessive wolf was proud we had claimed Elisha.
But that wasn't why I was okay with it.
No. The softly whispered words, spoken in a raspy voice filled with wonder, settled my remaining concerns. "Mate. You… came. You saved me."
Carefully, I retracted my teeth, first licking the wound to hasten healing before pressing a gentle kiss to the bite mark. My biceps were relieved when I relaxed my tight grip and gently hugged him as I murmured in his ear.