Going down the bumpy dirt road, Xael gazed out the window into the woods. She was missing her boys and knew that given time, things would get easier. Now she just wanted to spend the rest of the evening with her Mate. Adam felt her zoning out again.
"Skylar said building a fire was fine. Both the fireplace and woodstove are ready for winter."
"Yay!! I was thinking..." Xael leaned towards him, her arms resting on the center console. "Let's sleep in front of the fireplace tonight!"
"On the floor?"
"Yeah?"
Adam just gave her a strange look. Sleeping on the floor in front of the fireplace was not something he had ever done before.
"You mean you've never slept in front of a fire before?"
"No? Why would I?"
"Ohhh, hon. Me and Grams slept in front of her fireplace all the time when I was a kid, especially in winter. You use too much wood trying to heat the entire house. Plus it's so warm and cozy."
"I see. I'll give it a go."
"Woo!"
Much to Adam's surprise, Xael stayed awake the entire way home. Pulling into the town, it had already closed down for the night. Streets quite, store fronts dark, all that remained on were the street lights and lights from the above store apartments and homes. Xael had forgotten to check her phone after leaving the apartment earlier. Taking it out, Eli had messaged that they were staying overnight to finish packing. They would load up their trailer in the morning and head back to town. Xael decided to call them to let them know about the change in their living arrangements.
They were thrilled to have an apartment with a sleeping area separated from the main living space. Chris yelled in the background that they would call when they were almost in town. With that out of the way, Xael quietly enjoyed the remainder of the car ride home.
Entering the gravel drive, both noticed how dark it was surrounding the house. They had forgotten to leave the porch light on but it wasn't an issue since they could see in the dark with no problem. Adam's big city police training kicked in.
"We need to make sure we turn the porch light on when we leave."
"Okay." Xael wasn't even going to argue with him.
Jeep parked, the couple walked up the steps hand in hand. After rooting around in that wood pile at Ms. Emma's, Adam wanted another shower.
"I'm going to hop in the shower real quick."
"Okay, I'm going to get a fire going and set up a place to sleep!"
Adam kissed her on the forehead and headed to their bedroom. Xael went up to the loft for the futon mattress, they could sleep on that for the night. Xael swept the area below the hearth to make sure it was clean. Pillows more pillows and blankets, she set up their 'den' for the night. Giving it a test, it was comfy, cozy and perfect. The night was only chilly and not freezing so Xael kept the fire small, placing the safety screen in front to prevent anything from flying out. Everything taken care of, she got ready for bed. She would just sleep in her tshirt and undies, the rest of her clothes she tossed on the couch. With the comforting sound of the fire, Xael stood at the back patio door and gazed out into the night. Soon, strong muscled arms wrapped around her midsection and a low growl was heard. Adam began caressing the crook of her neck with his nose. Xael relaxed against him as she held onto his arms, the warmth coming off of him was comforting
"Love you."
"Love you too babe. How's your headache?"
"Almost gone." she turned around and put her arms around his neck. His eyes had changed again to that strange amber color. "Your eyes changed again."
"Yeah, I noticed that after getting out of the shower. I don't know what's going on with me."
"I think we should go and see your Great-Grams. I have a feeling she knows more than she says."
"Ha ha ha, I got that feeling too. We'll go tomorrow."
"Mn."
Xael rested against him, her arms now folded against her as he rubbed her back. Nuzzling into her neck, Xael relaxed as Adam growled at being surrounded by his Mates scent again. Xael backed him towards their temporary bed. She hadn't noticed that all he had on was a towel wrapped around his waist. Adam quickly took the hint from his Mate and swapped positions with her. Off came her shirt followed by him ripping her underwear off and her casting his towel to the side. All they could feel was each other.
Down onto the bed, the pair laid in each other's arms. Intimate conversations, kiss, nuzzles and caresses. Adam wasn't planning on taking things any further than what they were since Xael wasn't feeling 100% but she had other ideas. Kisses intensified and caresses lingered. The rest of the night in front of the fire in their own home was spent in gentle lovemaking. They eventually fell asleep with him holding her.
Before the first rays of the sun streamed into the small cabin, Adam felt something soft and furry against his face. Pulling back a little and looking down, a pair of black furry ears were sticking out of Xael's hair. Not only that but the more he woke up, the more he could feel something equally furry against his leg. Lifting up the blankets, Xael's huge furry tail was wrapped around him. Adam thought she was being cute as she did look adorable when she was in this state, but he also remembered her saying that she was vulnerable while like this as well.
Not thinking much of it, he playfully nuzzled into the soft appendages on her head and growled. He heard a soft giggle followed by a gasp. Xael immediately sat up, bare chest and all as her hands shot up to her head, fondling her ears. She threw the covers back, exposing her large bushy, jet black tail. Xael ran to the bathroom to make sure she wasn't imagining things. From the back of the cabin, Adam heard her yell out.
"What did you do!
He got up, still naked and walked back to their room. "What are you yelling about? That's all you babe."
"Oh not it's not! I am not the one that did this! And why are your eyes still like that?!"
"Well just pull them back in, and my eyes are fine."
"No they're not!"
Adam moved next to her and looked in the mirror. "Whoa, that's not natural." Adam took his attention off his eyes and back onto Xael. "I thought you were pulling those back in?"
"I can't!"
"What do you mean you can't?"
"I mean, I'm not the one controlling this!"
"Look at me?" Adam held the sides of Xael's face as her eyes slowly faded from their beautiful grey color to the same golden color as his. "Shit, something is definitely not right."
"Let's get dressed, Grams might know what's going on."
"Yeah, neither of us are going into work like this, especially you!"
Xael dressed as best she could with her tail so she opted for a loose pair of sweats. Dressed, they went back out to the living room. Xael searched for her phone and called her Grandmother but she didn't answer. As Xael curled up on the couch next to him, Adam tried calling Skylar.
"Adam? Wait, has her heat started already!?"
"No, where are you guys?"
"On our way to the diner."
"We need you to stop by the cabin... something's happened."
Skylar had put the call on speaker phone so Ms. Emma thought something was wrong.
"What's wrong? Are you two okay?"
"Uhh...I'll tell you when you get here, we're okay."
"On our way."
"Thanks." Adam ended the call and turned to Xael who had her ears pinned to her head. Adam already knew she was worried but so was he. Adam reached out for her and she moved over to him. Having her ears and tail out was finally taking effect on her as she snuggled up to him for safety. Xael's large tail went around his waist. Seeing how her tail was pushing down the back of the pants she had on, she put one of the blankets over her lower half.
"Xael, see if you can link your other Grandmother?"
"I already tried, no one is responding. Try your Grandmother."
Adam searched through his phone for her number. Finding it, he hoped she would answer.
"I knew you were going to call me!!"
"Grandma how do you even know what I want?"
"I saw it in my dreams last night!"