Chapter 80: 80. Taking Erik Home (Erik & Liona)
Erik was very uncomfortable with this situation. Even though he hadn't done anything with Liona yet, her siblings had a point. If he was caught here, especially after her siblings could tell something he could not, he might get Liona in huge trouble. Not to mention that he was still technically a minor, so he would undoubtedly have his mother called about this situation. "Liona, I think I should leave now…"
'What was I thinking? I only meant to watch a movie with Lia, but instead I started something I swore I wouldn't until we were ready!' Erik beat himself up as he stood up from the couch in a hurry. He was going to head home and it was a long walk. It at least would give him time to cool his head further and think about how he was going to keep his hands to himself going forward.
"Erik? Where are you going? Wait. I'll drive you home if you want to go…" Liona felt inexplicably sad as she watched the sad look and felt the sour pheromones of her fated mate, heading toward the front hall.
"You guys could have had more tact! It's nothing that the ventilation system can't handle! Seriously!" Liona huffed at her siblings as she started after Erik, flipping a switch on the wall as she went. The faint whir of their ventilation system kicked on as it started to clear the pheromones from the living room.
"Well, we did have news for you, but I guess Miss Attitude doesn't want to hear it!" Ariel stuck out her tongue at her as she walked by.
"Hey, I'm not the one that upset Erik! Be nice to him!" Liona practically growled at her siblings as she tried to catch up with Erik. Slipping on a pair of garden shoes in the foyer, she grabbed Erik's hand before he could leave, out the front door.
"This way, or I'll have to explain to my parents why you were leaving when you weren't picked up, arriving, on our security system." Liona tugged Erik toward the garage, grabbing a light jacket as she went. The hooks on the wall and the hall bench with storage under it for shoes had been here since her grandparent's era. Apparently, it had originally been placed as a spot for her mom and her aunt and uncles to place their school bags and shoes so that they were out of the way. But now it was just used as their version of a hall tree, like her Aunt Noel had at her home.
"Are you sure you should be taking me home? I mean, I can walk home. I don't want you to get in more trouble than it sounds like you'll be in when your parents get home." Erik said as Liona tugged him toward the mud-room door.
"I'll be back before they get home. Despite my siblings' tactless comments, they were telling me that our parents weren't going to be home tonight. Otherwise, they would have made a bigger deal about you and would have tried to help me, at a cost, to make sure you weren't caught before they got home. As it stands, though, it is almost my curfew and if I'm caught out and returning past it on the security system, it will notify my parents…"
"But!" Erik tried to protest.
"So you see, it's actually a good thing that I'm going to take you home now. Besides, I don't want you walking home in the dark, that's like a two-hour walk! You've already told me you were exhausted enough earlier to fall asleep on the bus, I'm not taking any chances, even if it meant breaking my curfew, to see you home safely!" Liona fussed over her mate's attempted protests.
Erik sighed in defeat as he was ushered into Liona's tiny car. It was so small that it barely looked as if it had room to sit two people, let alone the four that it had the seats for.
"Liona?" Erik asked, after a long silence, as the car drove down the street. "Are you mad at me?" Erik didn't know how he knew, but it was a feeling that accompanied the red flecks of pink in his vision edges.
"I'm not mad. I'm a little upset, that's all."
"Why are you upset?" Erik didn't know what to do, but his heart stung a bit at those words.
"I'm upset because you tried to leave without saying goodbye and for treating me like I couldn't take responsibility for my actions. Despite my omega clamoring for more of you, I had it in check and was enjoying your attention quite a bit. If I felt like we were going too far, then I would say something."
"Oh." Was all Erik could say. He didn't realize that would hurt his beautiful mate. He hated that he made her upset, but he was sure if he tried to apologize, she might really get mad at him. He could almost hear her saying something about their spending time together would be demeaned by his apology. She was like that, he just knew.
"Erik, we have a lot to get to know about the other. I'm not in a rush, but there may be times, that I demand more from you. You like to clam up and keep your thoughts to yourself. I've seen it time and time again as I've observed you. That serves you well at work when you deal with difficult people around you, but I'm your girlfriend. I would appreciate it if you spoke to me more openly and not just to apologize for existing. I want to be able to talk freely with you, without having to pry it out of you. I also want you to know that I have a temper, but I've never struck someone out of anger. I have ways of calming down, but there may come a time I get angry on your behalf, and I'm not sure whether I'll be able to calm down at that time."
Erik actually chuckled at the last part of Liona's statement. He had seen her temper in action and he loved it. She was a little spitfire. She was his spitfire. His thorny rose. He smiled as he thought that suited her. "So you're my briar rose?"
"What?" Liona scrunched up her nose at that title. "I may have rose pheromones, but no one has so accurately described me! That's cute! Yes, I'll be your thorny briar rose that protects you, Erik, and that's because I love you." She smirked at Erik as the car pulled into the park. She didn't have to ask where he wanted to be dropped off at, since this was his default destination. She had no idea why here, of all places, this late at night. The park gate would close soon, and she still had no idea where her mate lived at.
"Er? Will you trust me enough someday to tell me where you live? I don't feel good about dropping you off in a park at the edge of town with a whole lot of nothing out here."
"I'm fine, Lia. I promise that I'll tell you where I live someday. Until then, here is fine. It's very close to my home, so don't worry so much."
Liona could only nod in agreement.
Erik leaned across the car when it came to a complete stop. He gave Lia a peck on her cheek, before she turned and grabbed his face before kissing him square on. She quickly deepened the kiss, like she would rather not let him go without thoroughly invading all his senses with her very being. Everywhere he was surrounded by roses and it was so wonderful. He never knew that the scent of roses could be so pretty and not feel overwhelmingly cloying like a garden in full bloom at the end of summer.
Liona took a few minutes to thoroughly scent Erik from head to toe in her scent. She was sending a strong message that this alpha was taken. Her pheromones weren't as free flowing with her suppressant, so it took a lot longer to fully cover him in them. Although she did enjoy the act of scenting him, since she could explore his mouth leisurely in the process. Once she deemed him covered enough, she broke from her kiss, slightly out of breath and left wanting more. She chided her omega for being so stupidly horny.
"Goodnight, Erik, I love you." Liona said, hugging him as best as she could with the center console in the way.
"Goodnight, my thorny Lia, I love you too." Erik gave his girlfriend one last hug goodbye before he reluctantly got out of the car.
Liona watched as Erik slowly disappeared into the inky black, overcast night. She tracked him with her eyes as long as she possibly could, but his dark clothing, soon melded into the night, before disappearing entirely from view. After another minute, Liona sighed. She had to go home, or she really would be late and breaking curfew might get her grounded.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SimMermaid
SimMermaid An update on Book 2 leaving this platform..
So I have decided to hold off on removing Book 2 until after the new year when I can get the ball rolling for my contract. Minimum requirement to apply for a contract is 5k published words, so New Years Day, Book 2 goes live on MFR! After that, I wait for staff to return from Holiday and then apply for my contract.
What does that mean for it on this platform? Well once I recieve word that they are processing my contract, I will then remove book 2 from it's listing here. That means all comments and all ZERO reviews on here go with it.
Honestly I'm a bit disapointed in you all for reading it without leaving a review, even though it's been completed for months! Those of you that have had the pleasure of reading it for free ought to give a little curteousy and leave the book a review on MFR to make up for that!
As for this book? Well I have enough chapters to last until just before Christmas, after that, I may decide to hiatus this book while I finish the final edits for Book 1 and mark that book as complete on MFR and then work on building up my stockpile of scheduled chapters for Book 2.
This is in addition to working on designing my promotional content for Book 2. I was not exactly pleased by the dirty they did to Lionel's design for it's promotional content, so I will design all my characters for the promotional content going forward so that the designer doesn't have to guess what I mean when I say a fiery redheaded Irishman for a character description.
Stay tuned for sneak peaks at Midjourney's design of familar characters!
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