Chapter 25
His kisses become needier after I agree I’ll move in with him. Alaric backs me into the kitchen island, the counter digging just above my lower back. I run my hands up his shoulders as he takes hold of me, his erection pushing against my belly button. I love kissing him, his lips are soft and warm and just right, and this is no different. But we’ve both only touched each other waist up, and I squeal a little when I feel his big hands glide down my sides, one hand pressing on my jean-covered pussy.
Alaric breaks the kiss and trails his lips towards my ear, kissing and scraping his teeth across my skin. My body tingles in delight and I feel my core flush in heat, all the nerves firing up.
“Alaric,” I moan. His teeth scrape against his mark and I swear I could melt into a puddle with how turned on I feel right now.
“I want to mark you again, Evie,” Alaric murmurs by my ear, his hot breath sending another wave of warmth to my core.
“Yes,” I moan.
“I want to claim you as mine. Be mine Evie,” he whispers before smashing his lips against mine.
I feel him step away and I whimper at the loss of heat, when the next thing I know, I’m being lifted and placed on the island counter. Without thinking, I open my legs and let him step between them, allowing him to slide my pelvis towards his waiting erection. I can’t help myself as I intentionally rub myself against his hardness. I want this.
Alaric pulls away and I almost cry, my chest heaving as I try to catch my breath.
“We should go,” he murmurs, his voice husky.
“No!” I whimper, pulling him by his shirt back into me. Our mouths smash against each other as our tongues tangle.
“Evie… Evie… if we don’t stop now…” he says.
“I don’t want you to stop…” I murmur, my hands pulling him closer as I continue to rub against him.
“You want to stay here?” he asks.
“Yes,” I whisper. I feel his lips turn upwards as he grabs me and lifts me off the counter. Squealing, I quickly wrap my arms and legs around him like a koala so I don’t get dropped on the floor.
I nestle my head into his neck as he carries me back into the first bedroom, where he slowly kneels on the mattress before letting me slide off of him.
Alaric prowls before me, hovering over my body before kissing my lips.
“What do you want, Evie?”
“I don’t know,” I whisper, making him startle.
“Do you want us to go?” he asks. I shake my head. No. No, I don’t want to go. I want to stay here, with him. I want him to do more, so much more than kiss.
“Take your shirt off,” Alaric orders—bossy man. But I do what he says, lifting my t-shirt over my head, revealing my singlet underneath. He groans, making me chuckle in response.
Alaric sweeps a finger along the top of my singlet, creating a trail of goosebumps and sparks in his wake.
“And this. Take this off,” he says. My eyes don’t leave his as I lift my singlet up and over my head as well. I lean back on my hands, watching for his next move with a half smile.
“This? This I like,” Alaric says, his finger trailing the top of my breasts.
“These are mine,” he says, cupping my boobs and lifting them up and together. He then kisses the top of the crease between my breasts. Alaric licks the material over my hard nipple, and I gasp, throwing my head back.
“This is mine,” Alaric says, pulling the material of the cup downwards and kissing one nipple.
“And this is mine,” he says, pulling the material of the other cup down and kissing that nipple. I fall onto my back and stare at the open ceiling, my chest rising and falling in anticipation.
“What, what are you doing?” I ask as he begins to kiss down my centre towards my jeans.
“Do you want me to stop?”
“No, no,” I reply, watching as he smiles. Alaric undoes my jeans and tugs them down my legs. Like magic, they’re dangling off my feet, and I quickly toe my shoes off, kicking them to wherever.
Alaric plants a kiss at the top of my knickers before placing his nose in my crotch and taking a deep breath in. I feel embarrassed at that, although my body disagrees, flooding my core with heat.
“Fuck you smell good,” Alaric comments, making me whimper.
“Alaric!” I cry out when he licks me from bottom to top.
“Tell me if you want me to stop baby.”
“No. Keep, keep going,” I murmur. It’s hard to speak and think at the same time with his head between my legs.
“Good. These are coming off,” he says. I watch as his claws extend and he rips my panties off in one move, putting the material to his nose before they disappear.
“Alaric.”
“Hmm?” he murmurs, licking me from hole to clit.
“Fuck,” I cry, his hot tongue giving me an insurmountable amount of pleasure that I’ve never experienced before. Alaric doesn’t give me any time for respite before he’s at it again, his warm tongue licking me in my most private of areas.
“Alaric! Oh!” I scream as he swirls his tongue around my clit. I try to move, to get up and move away from where I am when he places an arm over my waist, holding me down.
My words become less articulated and dignified as Alaric continues his onslaught on my pussy. I’m withering under his arm as he makes work on licking and sucking on my clit. I try to move, but I’m pinned down by his arm, so I’m left to wither from his hot pursuit of my pussy.
The more he works at my seam with his tongue, the more sensitive that area of my body becomes, and before I know it, a wet warmth flows from my pussy down my bottom. It’s a sensation that is all very foreign and new to me, and I feel like I’ve weed myself.
Alaric moves his head from between my legs and wipes his chin with his hand. I’m too embarrassed to see what happens next, so instead concentrate on my regulating my breathing.
“I’m just going to brush my teeth,” Alaric murmurs. I nod but don’t look at him. I can’t believe what just unfolded. He, my mate, just had his head between my legs, smelling and licking my most private place. Of all things. I don’t know whether to be embarrassed by that or to relish in the orgasm he gave me.
But I am lying here naked.
I find my plum-coloured shirt and put it back on just in time for Alaric to come out of the bathroom.
“I like you naked,” he smirks.
“Well. I’m cold,” I complain, making him shrug.
“Get under the covers and I’ll warm you up.”
I nod and lift the covers, avoiding the wet patch that I am not going anywhere near. Alaric chuckles and follows me under the blankets, pulling me towards him so that my back is flush against his front.
“That’s… I’ve never done that before…” I admit.
“What, had an orgasm?”
“Yes. But all of that. I’ve never done that before…”
“Are you still a virgin?” Alaric asks. I nod my head, feeling too shy to reply.
“So you’re all mine?” he asks, pulling me tighter to him.
“Only if you choose only me,” I reply, thinking. I don’t want him to put her first.
“I only want you, forever,” he replies.
“Okay,” I reply, half believing him.
I’m tired from all that excitement, and I find my eyelids falling heavily down, forcing me into a deep sleep.
We’re standing in the food court, Alaric and I having a staring competition with each other.
“Don’t make me choose between us. I will always choose her,” he says, before walking away and fading into the distance. My heart hurts from the pain of rejection, and wetness floods my eyelashes. I wake with a start, Alaric’s arm still possessively wrapped around my body.
My eyes are wet from the spring of tears, but as I look around at the dark room, shapes from the trees outside decorating the walls, I realise I’m not there. I’m not there and he’s not choosing her.
“Babe, are you okay?” I hear Alaric ask.
“Yeah, yeah I’m fine,” I reply, still sitting up.
Alaric kisses my neck from behind, his warm lips sending tingles through my body.
“Sure?”
“Yeah,” I sigh, laying back down on the mattress. Alaric falls back down too and pulls my body closer to his, lulling me back to sleep.
I’m going commando in just my jeans, but at least I’ve put my bra back on. I tried looking for my knickers when I got dressed, but then I remembered Alaric had completely destroyed them. The odd thing was… is that I couldn’t find them at all.
We slept in, Alaric telling me he’d linked his sister about it already. There was no food in the house, the fridge not even being switched on, so we were heading out the door to go back to the pack house for breakfast.
“You know what would be cool?” I ask as we’re in the car.
“What?”
“If outdoor lights were pointing at the trees. You know, from different angles like from the ground to illuminate their trunks,” I muse.
“I could set them up. The house is solar powered so it’s just a matter of hooking it all together.”
“The house is solar-powered?”
“Yup”
“But it’s in the middle of the forest.”
“It’s also up high and gets a lot of natural light. You’ll see when we move in properly.”
“We’d have to get furniture first,” I murmur.
“Yeah, we would,” Alaric snorts.
“It feels weird, moving in together,” I admit.
“Why?”
“Because only a few weeks ago you kept me at arm’s length. I thought you didn’t want me.”
Alaric stops the car when I say that, pulling over to the side of the road.
“What?” I ask.
“Evie, there is no way I wouldn’t want you. You are the person I see when I think of my life. I want you. I will always want you. Okay?”
I nod and look at my lap.
“Okay,” I reply, but I know I don’t really mean it. I don’t trust it. I don’t trust her.
“Okay then,” Alaric says, turning the car back on and pulling back out into the street.
The food court was busy by the time we arrived. It was already eight-thirty and there weren’t many tables free. Alaric and I got our usual before finding a place to sit at. Bad move, I know, but we were lucky. All the time I scanned the place, hoping that Dharia wouldn’t present herself to us.
We finished just before nine and Alaric walked me to the Tracker’s office.
“I’ll see you at lunchtime,” Alaric says, giving me a quick kiss on the lips.
“Okay,” I reply.
“Evie!”
“She’s back!”
“Come give me a hug!”
“Welcome back!”
The chorus of cheers put a smile on my face.
“Hi everyone,” I grin.
As promised, I only had to do a half day, so instead of finishing the afternoon training, I looked for Rhiannon to hang out with her instead.
I know she’s in her office, because I can sense her scent trail, and it’s fresh. But I don’t know if she has time for me. When I get to her office, which is down the hall from Alpha Jed’s, I knock and wait for her to call me in.
“Hey, are you busy?” I ask.
“I was. But not now. How are you?” Rhiannon asks, gesturing me to sit on one of the two sofas in the room.
“I’m okay. Good. I’m good.”
“How did you find last night?”
“It was nice. Growing up, my family dinners were always strained, and formal,” I say, remembering all the times Granny would look at us down her nose.
“Why is that?”
“My Dad isn’t from the same class as my Mum, and her parents always thought she could do better,” I explain.
“Are they chosen or fated mates?”
“Fated. Which I think, made it worse,” I say sadly.
“Have you eaten lunch yet?”
“Yeah, I had lunch with Alaric and our friends. I think Erin likes that,” I muse. Rhiannon smiles.
“Erin. I like her, but she’s so different to Isabella!”
“I know, right? They’re like opposites!”
“So, so much,” Rhiannon agrees.
“How are you and Alaric getting along? You two look good together,” Rhiannon continues. I look down at my hands.
“We’re good, but something keeps nagging me,” I reply.
“What?”
“Dharia. I keep expecting to see her come out and talk to him. I have nightmares of him choosing her over me,” I admit. And it’s getting me down.
“What do you mean, him choosing her over you?” Rhiannon asks. And I told her about the time Dharia and I fought with the staff and what Alaric said to me at the food court when I saw them together.
“He hasn’t told you, has he?”
“Told me what?”
“You know that day when you threw his shake against the wall in the hospital?” Rhiannon asks.
“Yeah. You came by that day,” I say, remembering.
“Well, Alaric had the contents analysed. Dharia was poisoning him, honey.”
“What?” I cry out. Rhiannon nods.
“I probably shouldn’t have told you, but yeah. You know Lisa, Dawn’s mum?” she asks.
“Well, when the ingredients were identified, Lisa had a look at the cup it was in. Underneath the label was a love spell. It was a love potion.”
“No wonder it smelt funny,” I murmur. Rhiannon nods again.
“Do you want to know what I think? I’m pretty sure Miss Dharia has been poisoning my brother for years. I mean, how could he not have known Teresa was his mate until that day in battle.”
“He would have smelt her,” I agree.
“Yeah. And I think Dharia knew, but gave him the potion anyway. Only this time around, with you, it wasn’t as effective.”
“But he did end up forgetting me.”
“Not entirely. He marked you, didn’t he?” Rhiannon asks. I nod.
“I’m a strong believer in fate, you know. I believe fate wants you two together,” Rhiannon muses.
“I hate fate,” I admit.
“Can I tell you something?” Rhiannon asks.
“Yeah.”
“My mate rejected me as well,” she says. I gasp.
“Raven?”
“No. My mate was my best friend. I’ve known him since I was a baby. He rejected me for another girl, who looked nothing like me. Got her pregnant, too.”
“What? I didn’t think that was possible after you rejected your mate!” I exclaim. I read that somewhere, hell, I learnt that in Sunday School. Rhiannon shrugs.
“Like I said, fate has a way. He didn’t get pregnant with her until after I met Raven though. Yeah. I knew Raven before he became my second-chance mate. Like I said, I believe in fate. I believe she has a plan. Nothing is impossible where fate is concerned.”
“I wish fate let me know of her plans,” I comment.
“Yeah, don’t we all,” Rhiannon laughs.
“Where is Dharia now?” I ask. Rhiannon sighs.
“That’s what I’ve been working on, actually. Dharia’s been held at Silva Ignus, our closest coven, but she’ll be back next week. I want her to go back to our Little Rock branch, but her parents want her here with them.”
“Oh,” is all I can say.
“And also, the boys who brought you here, Kaelan Iceblood, Michael Thunders, Jovic Rider and Trent and Thorian Olson will have finished their suspension from Delta training, so they’ll be back training on Saturdays next week too,” Rhiannon explains.
“Oh,” I say again.
“Yes, so that’s what I’ve been doing. I think you need to speak to Alaric about this,” Rhiannon says. I nod.
“I need to speak to Alaric about a lot of things,” I agree. Like, my real name.
“You know, watching him with you, he loves you, you know,” Rhiannon smiles.
“Already? Sure it’s not the bond?” Because I feel like it’s the bond talking.
“Maybe. Your bond and fate put you together, but the choices you make, once you meet, are what join your souls. I think it’s why we get a second chance mate.”
“And Alaric’s not drinking that potion anymore,” I muse.
“No, He’s not. I think you both share a strong bond, which is why it took so long for that potion to work. How has he been with you since?”
“He’s been everything. Loving, caring. A rock.”
“Everything you need,” Rhiannon concludes.
“Yeah. He’s my everything. And I’m scared to lose him,” I admit. Rhiannon takes my hands in hers.
“You won’t. I promise,” she says.
