Magnus

Lachlan and I were in the shower. His was a little cramped for two people and I felt bad for taking up so much space, but Lachlan insisted that he liked the excuse to press up against me.

Lachlan watched me watching him as he washed himself, and his hands lingered in the most interesting places. He took special care with the dark trail of hair leading down to his crotch and on the surprisingly defined muscles in his arms and chest. When he reached down to lather his semi-hard penis, he gave it a few long strokes that I knew were designed to drive me crazy.

I reached out, happy to do the work for him, but Lachlan shook his head and carried on with his washing, the jerk.

Okay, he wasn't really a jerk, but could you blame me for wanting my hands on him? Especially now that I was intimately aware of just how incredible his body really was.

Lachlan paused and an odd expression crossed his face. He rinsed off and stepped out of the stream. It took a little maneuvering for us to switch spaces, but soon I was standing under the warm rush of water.

"Magnus?" Lachlan said as I reached for the soap.

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering..."

Lachlan's tone was uncertain. I glanced at him over my shoulder, then turned around to face him when I saw how he was nervously biting his lip. Lachlan was so confident most of the time, but every once in a while, that confidence would evaporate. "Go on," I encouraged gently.

"You just... it didn't seem to hurt when I, um, when I entered you. Is that a werewolf thing?"

I stared at him while my heart pounded in my chest. This might get uncomfortable. I wanted to squirm or hide my face, or maybe to find some way to put off his question. This was my mate, though. I didn't need to hide anything from him. "Not exactly," I finally whispered.

Lachlan saw my discomfort and nodded slowly, then reached for the soap. He took my arm and gently washed it in light, calming circles. Then he did the other arm, then my chest. As he carefully washed my entire body, I couldn't help relaxing. While he washed my calves, I found the nerve to explain. "You're the same size as my favorite vibrator."

Lachlan looked up at me and his eyes were so wide I had to laugh. I continued, "Since I'm used to it – and since I had a little me time this afternoon – it didn't really hurt."

Okay, yeah, Lachlan's expression was really funny. A giggle escaped me and he snorted, then shook his head. "So you're saying I'm your perfect size?" he asked, smiling a little.

"I guess so."

We shared a laugh and finished up, drying each other off and snickering the whole time about how ridiculously clingy we were being. Then we climbed naked back into Lachlan's bed, uncaring of the soiled sheets. I covered us with his comforter and snuggled in against him, humming in satisfaction. It was late and I was exhausted, but I took a few minutes to just cuddle with my mate and enjoy being near him.

"Magnus?" Lachlan said, sounding sleepy.

"Yeah?" I asked, yawning.

"I'm moving in with you tomorrow. Just so you know." I snorted in amusement, but amusement quickly gave way for the warm glow of love and pure happiness.

I squeezed my mate tighter and burrowed even more snugly into his side. "I can't wait."

--

Anita and her awful assistant were coming to Tourmaline today to conduct their own interviews. Since Jason was on my side – a fact that was firmly reinforced by his mating with my sister, since she would never stand for treachery from him – he was allowed free access to pack lands. No escort needed, no time restrictions, and private interviews with my pack members as long as they were comfortable with it.

Anita would be another story. She would have an escort with her at all times, always either Felix or someone he trusted. She would have to schedule interview slots with my pack members and both Roy and Jason would be present during their questioning. Neither was allowed to interfere unless she broke any rules – such as leading them to slander me, intimidating them, or manipulating them – but just knowing what information she was gathering from my pack would give Jason a huge advantage in preparing my defense.

Oh, we couldn't shut her completely out. She had to be allowed at least five hours of interview time per day and we were not allowed to withhold any records she asked for, but I only felt a little sick about the idea of letting her onto my territory.

Thankfully, Anita wasn't coming until this afternoon. That left the morning to move everything Lachlan needed short-term into our house while Jason and Roy held a pack meeting to discuss Anita's visit and how we were planning to cooperate with her. It felt odd to have someone else host a meeting and odder still not to attend it at all, but both Jason and Roy, along with Felix, Everett, and Mel, agreed that anything I said at the meeting could look like pandering. It made a sad kind of sense... and at least it gave me the morning with my mate.

Or... it should have given me the morning with him, but I was currently sitting in the hallway outside the bedroom door Lachlan had shut between us. I could hear him moving around our bedroom, opening and shutting drawers and humming to himself as he unpacked the bags he had brought from home. It was going to be a gradual move for Lachlan. For now, he had just brought enough to last him for a few days, and when we had time we would make another run to his house to move over more things.

As for why I had been relegated to the hallway... well, I might have possibly been a little over-enthusiastic when Lachlan first started getting settled into our bedroom. It's just that I had dreamed of this day for so long, ever since I moved into this stupidly big house. Finally, my bedroom wasn't just mine. The extra desk and dresser wouldn't be a waste of space. I'd have someone to hold at night... and maybe best of all, I was pretty sure I could talk Lachlan into trying some of my shower fantasies. It was either going to be a disaster from all the slipping or it was going to be really, really good.

So excuse me for being excited.

The front door opened and I checked the time on my phone – almost noon. I'd been out here for almost an hour. Mel jogged up the stairs and froze when she saw me. A slow smirk twisted her lips and her eyes lit with amusement. "Already in the doghouse?"

"I was distracting him," I confessed.

See, it's possible that in my excitement, I might have taken every possible opportunity to kiss my mate and run my fingertips along every inch of exposed skin – and some that was under his clothes. After weeks of holding back and avoiding contact, shouldn't I be allowed some leeway?

I heard the front door open and shut again and lifted a questioning brow at my sister. "That'll be Jason. He had to run to his car for something," she said.

I nodded and leaned back against the wall, relaxing for about two seconds before horror struck me.

Last night, Jason had heard that Lachlan was shifting and based on how my sister and I reacted, he had to realize that was a big event. Jason was going to have questions and I had no idea how to answer them without giving up Lachlan's family secret.

"Mel?" I said quietly.

The amusement immediately left her and she crouched down next to me so I could whisper quietly enough for the sound not to carry to the kitchen, where Jason was rummaging in the fridge. "What does Jason think happened to Lachlan last night?"

Before she could answer, the bedroom door opened and Lachlan stood there with big, worried eyes. Mel looked between him and me, then sighed. "I'll be down in a minute, hun!" she called down to Jason, who grunted in response, probably around a mouthful of food. Dude was a beast when it came to eating.

Mel grabbed my wrist and pushed me toward my bedroom. Lachlan backed up to make room for us, then shut and locked the door.

Mel took a deep breath and slowly released it. "He had a lot of questions when I got back last night," she said.

"You told him?" Lachlan asked softly. He was so distressed I could feel it leaking through our bond and I hooked an arm around his shoulders so I could pull him securely against my side.

"No way," I said. "Mel promised she wouldn't tell anyone, so she didn't."

Mel shot me a quick smile in thanks, then looked back to Lachlan with grave eyes. "I didn't tell him – I said it wasn't my story to tell and that I had promised not to share it. But he's going to want to know."

Lachlan sagged against me in relief even though the worst was far from over. "Thank you," he said.

"A promise is a promise," Mel said. She absently rubbed the heel of her palm against her chest and said, "I didn't like keeping things from him, but I'll respect any decision you make."

I kissed Lachlan's forehead and released him so I could hug my sister.

"What do we do?" Lachlan asked.

"I think we wait to tell him," I said with an apologetic grimace toward Mel. "He's family, but we can't explain everything while the case is open. This can't go on record. Is that okay with you, Lachlan? Telling him when all this is over?"

He nodded slowly. "But what do we tell him now?"

"The truth: that for your safety, we can't explain yet," I said. Jason might press the issue and he might write up that something strange was going on with my mate, but I wouldn't give in.

"Okay," Lachlan said.

I looked to Mel – even though this wasn't her decision, I wanted to make sure she was on board. She looked unhappy but nodded. "He'll understand. Now that that's settled, I'm getting some lunch. I'll try to hold off the questions for now – shouldn't be too hard to distract him until Anita arrives."

Mel flounced out of the room and shot us a mischievous wink as she left.

I immediately turned pleading eyes on Lachlan, who snorted. "You're shameless," he said.

"Can I stay here with you? I'll behave, promise."

Lachlan looked warm and amused and I knew he was about to tease me, but that he would give in. He didn't get the chance, though. The door was open, so I heard when Jason asked Mel, "What's Lachlan's last name? I need to pull his record."

Lachlan and I both froze. Lachlan thawed quicker, darting to the door and gently shutting it before turning back to me. There was an urgency in his expression I hadn't seen from him before. "Do you have a laptop here I can use?"

I was so startled that I mechanically went to the satchel that was next to my desk and pulled out a laptop. Lachlan took it from me and sat down at my desk. I watched as he booted it up and gave him the password when he hit the lock screen. From there, I had a hard time following what he did. I knew he pulled up the Summit website. Then there was a black window with white writing and Lachlan's fingers flew across the page. The window shut and Lachlan went to the login screen. He typed in a username and password and it let him in.

I couldn't watch. Lachlan had just hacked into a Summit official's account, and I knew what he must be doing – creating some kind of record for himself. Any search they performed now would find no personal history whatsoever in their database. If they started searching elsewhere, they would eventually find a human with Lachlan's name and face.

So... he had to fix it. I knew he did. But knowing how dangerous this was had me stressing out hard.

"Calm down," Lachlan muttered, still typing. "Your anxiety is affecting me."

"Sorry!" I squeaked. I climbed under the blankets and scrolled through my phone looking for a distraction, but nothing could possibly take my mind off the danger Lachlan was putting himself in right now or the danger he would face if he didn't.

What if he hadn't studied computer science? And what if he hadn't developed these hacking skills, wherever they came from? I would have been completely powerless to stop the Summit from catching wind that something here was strange. They had no cause to investigate Lachlan, or they wouldn't have cause to investigate him if it weren't for his connection to me.

"Magnus," Lachlan whispered.

I poked my head out from the blankets enough to see him. He still had that intensity in his eyes, and it would have been a major turn-on if I hadn't been so scared for him. "I'm almost done filling in a profile for myself. I'm basing it off yours. What pack should I say I transferred from?"

It only took a moment for his words to process before my head was shaking a vehement no. "If we said you were from a pack and they interviewed its members, they would find out your profile is a fraud. You would be in massive trouble. Say you were a lone wolf instead."

"Do you know the name of a lone wolf? I need to know how their profiles look."

There had been one in my high school for a year. His family liked to move around a lot and would get permission from the local pack to stay in the area without ever joining. I wracked my brain until his name surfaced. "Frederick Yates."

Lachlan's fingers instantly resumed their furious typing and I retreated back under the covers, where I felt a strange sense of safety. I always used to hide under the blankets as a kid when I was upset, believing up to an embarrassing age that no one could find me there. Sometimes Mel would slide in with me, but I always thought it was because she knew me so well. Kids are dumb.

The clock approached one and I started getting even more anxious. The longer this took, the riskier it seemed – and I would have to leave soon to greet Anita. I didn't want to leave before Lachlan was done.

I was on a really excellent Fruit Ninja run when Lachlan pulled the blankets off of me, screwing up my hair and blasting me with air that felt chilly. I sat up and wrapped my arms around my legs for warmth. "Is it over?" I asked, the pleading all too obvious in my tone.

"Yeah. I stuck to the truth everywhere I could. The only lie on my profile is that it says my parents were unknown. Technically, I am a lone wolf right now since someone needs to add me to his pack."

"You just need an induction," I said.

Lachlan lifted a brow in mild curiosity. "Will there be a ceremony?"

I snorted at the idea. "No way, this isn't the kind of pack to stand on ceremony. We'll fill out some paperwork and throw a barbecue.

Actually... that sounded like a great way to cap off the day. Anita was scheduled to leave at five and come back in the morning – no way was I having her stay on my property overnight. Lachlan was planning to stay here for the day, so he would have no idea if I planned a last-minute party for him.

And just like that, the anxiety from his hacking dissipated as I started mentally making a list of everyone I had to contact to get this moving. This was so exciting! Not only was my mate moving in, but my pack would officially meet him and he would finally be one of them. They wouldn't be surprised to learn he was my mate, I thought – not after how clingy we had been at my send-off party.

"Earth to Magnus!" Lachlan said dryly.

I blinked up at him in confusion.

"I asked if your pack throws barbecues for everything."

"Rain or shine," I said. "If the weather's particularly bad or if we get a freak snowstorm, we order pizzas instead."

"Or if someone incompetent is working the grill," Lachlan said, laughing.

My ears burned and I wished I had never told him that story. "Meanie," I accused.

Lachlan laughed and climbed onto the bed in front of me. "I think it's cute that you can't work a grill," he said.

I stuck out my tongue at him and faster than a blink, Lachlan leaned forward and captured it between his teeth. I was stunned still for about a second and a half before I pulled my tongue back and pounced on him, pushing him down and straddling his lap with my lips pressed to his. My tongue probed into his mouth and I ran it along the sensitive roof, giggling when Lachlan shuddered beneath me.

Lachlan's hands ran up my sides and it was my turn to tremble, the anticipation building up in me. We had time for a quickie, right?

But like a responsible alpha, I sat up and checked the time, then sighed. I rolled my hips against his just once, since no way was I getting him in this position without taking some advantage of it. "Let's pick this up later?" I offered.

Lachlan's eyes were hazy with lust and I felt giddy knowing I had this effect on him. "Later," he repeated, and I wasn't sure he actually understood a word I said since his tone was so distant and his hands were tracing patterns up my thighs.

Sighing, I climbed off him and straightened my clothes. Just a few hours of babysitting Anita, I promised myself, and then we'd go to Lachlan's initiation party.

Then after that... I'd have him all to myself.