TA chapter 60 - yes

-Emmanuel-

“So there’s no more progress then?” I ask, tracing random patterns into Percy’s abs. We’re curled up in bed together and for once, he’s the little spoon. Percy lets out a small hum, turning his head back in an effort to kiss me. It doesn’t work; he’d have to possess some kind of owl neck to be able to get the angle right, so I meet him halfway and plant a kiss on his lips.

“They’ve been searching for Augusta for ages and there’s still nothing; no sign of her at all. And there’s no indication of the rogues in the north either; the mansion was totally deserted. If Marcus did abduct her, then…I really don’t know how we’ll be able to find her.”

Letting out a small sigh, I continue using Percy as my imaginary canvas, painting invisible designs onto his skin with my fingertips. “I hope she’s ok. As much as I hate her, she- she doesn’t deserve to die and she definitely doesn’t deserve to go through whatever Marcus could do to her.”

Percy is silent for a moment before turning around in my arms and cupping my cheek. “She might just be ghosting everyone. We don’t even know for sure that Marcus is related to any of this; Augusta might have just vanished of her own accord.”

Smiling softly, I steal another kiss from Percy. “Yeah, that’s true. And she’s a strong mother fucker; she can take care of herself. She’s probably living it up with the humans again, which. Fine. If that’s what makes her happy.”

I feel like I’ve come to terms with a lot of things surrounding my mother. I still hate her, and I still hate what she did to me, or rather- what she didn’t do to me. Like love me. Or give me any attention growing up. She only started caring about me when she saw that I could fulfil a purpose, and I mistakingly assumed that that was her way of showing me that she loved me.

And whether or not it was, it doesn’t matter.

Because she still emotionally abused me for literally my entire life, and the effects that had on me will always linger with me.

But things have been getting steadily better, thanks to many people. Mainly Percy and Caro, but also Keye and Jessica and Horatio and Myles - although I haven’t had super serious conversations with every one of these people, they’re still my friends and they’ve always been here for me.

And of course, I’m getting better because of my own damn hard work too. No one can recover from any kind of mental health issue if they don’t have the motivation to do so, but other people are really fucking good at motivating each other.

Percy turns around in my arms again, snuggling into the cuddle and letting out a contented sound. He’s been dealing with everything a lot better since taking a step back; he hardly talks about any of this anymore and when he does, like now…he handles it really well.

We’re both doing a lot better, I can tell.

Leaning over my mate, I smile as he pulls me down to him for another kiss, his tongue darting past my lips and stealing my breath. Hovering over him where Percy is still lying on his side, I slowly extricate my hand from his shirt, instead using it to stroke across his cheek.

Percy leans into the touch, closing his eyes and kissing my palm. Lying back down next to him, I let my hand slip up his shirt again, this time simply resting against his stomach. “What kind of mood are you in?” I ask after a moment, smoothing my thumb in small circles against his skin.

Letting out a small hum, Percy turns to look at me, wiggling his eyebrows. “What kind of mood are you in? Because I’m always down to fuck.”

A laugh zips out of me before I can even think about it. “Wow, well that’s one way to answer my question. And do you even know who you’re talking to? When am I not horny?”

Percy snorts, taking my hand from his shirt and kissing each of my fingertips. “I don’t know; when you’re having a mental breakdown?”

Watching as my mate kisses the pad of my index finger, I blink in surprise as he nonchalantly takes it in his mouth, sucking on my finger and licking up the length of it. He’s trying to turn me on, and god is he good at doing so.

“Pretty sure when I’m having a mental breakdown I’m just sad and horny, actually,” I say once I’ve stopped watching what Percy is doing to my finger and imagining he’s doing the same things to something else.

He knows exactly what he’s doing, and then innocently removes my finger from his mouth, smiling. “You look like you want to ask me to do something, perhaps?” He suggests, still smiling. Swallowing thickly, I clear my throat.

“Are you seriously going to make me ask, and not just volunteer?”

Percy sits up, leaning over me, his loose hair falling in swathes across his shoulders and resting on my chest as he stills right above me. “Of course I’m going to make you ask for it. So tell me, my love…what would you like me to do?”

I lean up and surprisingly, Percy doesn’t tease me for once, instead kissing me gently when I make it clear what I want. Pulling back, I kiss his forehead before stroking his cheek.

“Please, do what you just did, again. But not…on my finger,” I eventually say, still too awkward to just ask him to suck my dick. Before I met Percy, I was pretty cool when it came to this kind of thing. But around him…

I’m just this bumbling, awkward little thing, too preoccupied looking at how gorgeous he is, to really think of much else.

Percy smiles warmly, kissing my temple. “That wasn’t so difficult, was it? And yes, it would be my pleasure,” he says softly, keeping his voice low, sending more tingles down my spine than a fucking voice has any right to do.

“You’ll have to be quiet though; we wouldn’t want poor Harli and Jayce next door to hear anything, would we?” Percy reminds me, like he isn’t the one moaning loudly every time we do something like this. “I’ll try my best to keep it down,” I reply instead, my fingers slipping up into his hair, combing through the long strands.

“Wonderful,” he practically purrs, which is ironic considering the fact that he’s a bloody werewolf and not a cat boy.

Before I have a chance to really think about cat boy Percy, the man himself kisses me again before slipping down the bed and resting himself between my thighs. Smiling up at me warmly, Percy presses a hand to the suspicious shape in my trousers, grinning to himself at what he caused.

And then he pulls down my trousers, revealing said suspicious shape which surprise-surprise, is in fact my erect dick and not some growth like in a shitty alien horror-movie, and then he smiles up at me once more. “Yes?” He checks, his hand on my thigh firm but gentle, holding himself in place. “Yes. Yes?” I respond, tucking a stand of hair behind his ear.

“Yes,” he whispers, his expression bright and his eyes soft.