She yawns, and I smile at her. Reaching for a couple of blankets, I pull them over us.
“Get some rest, sweetheart,” I murmur. Without another word, Polly curls up next to me, drapes one arm over my chest, and promptly falls asleep.
The fact that she trusts me to just sleep with me after sex is totally overwhelming and wonderful to me, and again, I can’t help but thinking that when this is all over, I hope she doesn’t go. My inner-bear feels sated for the first time in a very long time. All of me feels sated.
All of me feels tired.
And slowly, I drift off to sleep.
Chapter Seven
Polly
“I think the storm is ending,” I whisper.
We’ve been in the bedroom for a long time. All night, I’m guessing. I can’t believe I fell asleep with Jace after sex last night, but...damn.
I can’t even coherently think about what we did.
All I can think is damn.
It was total perfection.
Now I’m lying in Jace’s arms, cuddled up like nothing else in the world matters except us being together, and I’m wondering what’s going to happen next.
Anything could happen.
“I think you’re right,” Jace whispers, and he strokes my arms gently with his fingers, touching me. Each touch sends me into my own personal happy place, and I never want to leave, but I know that I’m going to have to.
Soon Brandon is going to wake up and I’ll need to go feed him breakfast. He’s a heavy sleeper. It’s one of the most fantastic things about having a little baby bear. Alexis warned me that when Brandon hits puberty, he’ll most likely start shifting into a bear on a regular basis. Most shifters aren’t actually able to change their form until they’re around 12 or 13, but despite this, shifter babies are naturally quite different from their human counterparts.
For example, bear shifter babies can sleep really hard.
Like, really hard.
Brandon can sleep through just about anything, but I still need to go check on him and see if he’s up, or if he’s hungry, or if he’s bored.
Suddenly, I’m starting to feel a little worried about what will come next for me and Brandon. Last night with Jace was fantastic, but I’m not sure what we’re going to do when the weather looks better. Are we safe here? Are any of us safe here? Even if the storm is totally clear now, the roads are going to be muddy and getting to Storm Haven, if we decide to go, is going to be impossible.
Then again, maybe we don’t need to go to Storm Haven.
I don’t know what we should do or where we should go.
I don’t know what our next moves should be.
When I took off running, it was because I knew I had to find Jace and keep Brandon safe. Now, in just one night, I’m realizing just how very different the world actually is from what I thought. For starters, Jace is much kinder and gentler than I imagined. I actually thought he’d resist the idea of letting us stay with him. I didn’t think he’d want to help us.
I didn’t think he’d want any of this.
But he doesn’t seem opposed to the idea of being a dad, of raising this little bear. In fact, he seems like he actually wants to be involved.
“Let’s go check,” he says. He slides out of bed and I move with him. I reach for my clothing and start pulling it on. It’s hard not to notice or pay attention to just how fit Jace really is. In fact, everything about him seems hard and toned. I’m not sure if it’s a bear thing or if it’s just because he’s been living up here, working out and exercising for a very long time.
He gets his own clothing on and together, we move to the living room.
“Storm’s hardly over,” he says, peeking out the front window.
“But I don’t hear rain anymore.”