I can’t help it, I lean down and press a kiss against her lips, this one much softer than the fevered one at the start of all of this. She moans, parting her lips for me automatically. I taste her like she’s water, drinking her in in the same way I had her body.
Curling my arms around her, I roll us until I have her pressed flush against my body, every inch of her touching me in some way. The fact that I already don’t want to let her go is a little… concerning. But I try to not let that thought linger too long and ruin the moment.
For now, I’ll push those worries to the back of my mind and deal with them later when I have more time to obsess over my own feelings, or what I thought I’d lacked before Raine came along and destroyed all of that.
She gently peels her mouth off of mine, another soft smile gracing her lips.
My fingers card through her hair gently until her lashes flutter closed. Slowly, her breathing becomes deep and sleep claims her.
I watch her for a long time, letting this moment last for as long as possible until the sun finally rises and I’m forced to leave her curled up in my bed.
55
Raine
He’s gone when I wake up.
I try to not let it bother me, talking myself into believing that he’s been called away on another border matter that needs his attention far more than cuddling me for the rest of the day and lounging in bed without a care in the world.
Except, even as I head downstairs to eat because I’m starving, and Rose keeps me company while chattering on about whatever crazy thing she saw in the human town the last time she went there, I’m left feeling completely isolated.
We never made any promises to each other before or after having sex. It isn’t Nyx’s problem that the second I let someone in like that, I become attached. For him, this could all be a simple case of convenience. I am, after all, his breeder.
Perhaps he’d seen me throwing myself at him as an opportunity to get what he paid for.
“Earth to Raine?” Rose calls out to me, waving her spoon in my face. “Damn, where did you go? Mars?”
I force back a wince and keep my eyes shifted down toward my bowl. I’ve barely eaten anything. No amount of delicious food placed in front of me or how tight my gut twists in hunger, is going to get me to actually force down a couple of bites.
I can’t. Not without it wanting to come back up.
“You don’t look good.” Rose slides her chair back to stand, leaning over the table in order to get a good look at my face. “Wren told me about that fight you got involved in. Are you hurt anywhere? I know Eris checked you out but—”
“I’m fine,” I mumble.
She shakes her head at me. “I can’t believe you were crazy enough to get yourself involved like that. Wren said he saw you pulling some beta off of Nyx while he and that other one were fighting.”
Honestly, it’s all a blur at this point.
The most that I remember—and unfortunately with crystal clarity—is the blood coating Nyx’s face, neck, side. How in the world he was able to pull through like that, I’ll never know. Sure, alpha healing is a lot different than ours, but his recovery was impressive.
Not to mention his damn stamina afterward…
Shaking my head to rid myself of the thoughts, I push around my food with the fork in my hand. There’s no point in dwelling on this when Nyx has made himself very clear by leaving no note behind this morning to explain himself.
He doesn’t need to, anyway. Far from it, actually.
I hate that my mind can’t simply grasp the concept that he doesn’t want me the way I want him to. He has enough on his plate besides dealing with me and coddling my emotions. I’m supposed to be a big girl here, not some female that needs her hand held through every difficult task known to man.
“Are you sure?” Rose asks.
“Yeah. I’m all good. Just a lot to process.” I pause for a second, and then ask, “Does that happen a lot to you guys? The border disputes?”
Rose rolls her eyes. “It never usually gets that bad. That pack alpha has always been trouble for Nyx though. Nothing can ever be done to make that male happy, I swear. We could gift him the fucking moon and he’d find some way to be pissed about it.”
“Guess he won’t be a problem anymore,” I mutter.
Rose grins. “I know. Good riddance, right?”