Page 27 of Fated
She imagined their bond blazing into life. The rush of his love and adoration flooding her through the connection. She saw herself writhing beneath him, surrendering completely as he spilled inside her, marking her as his in every way.
“My alpha.” Her voice broke as she came. Her body shuddered as waves of ecstasy washed over her, slick coating her fingers. She pressed her face into the pillow, muffling the sounds of her release as her muscles spasmed, her breath hitching in the aftermath.
Even as the physical pleasure rippled through her, an emptiness remained that her climax couldn’t fill—a spiritual vacancy where their bond should be completed. Their lovemaking would be merely a vessel for the sacred communion that would make them one entity in two bodies. Forever bound by Selene’s design.
Lena lay there boneless as the high faded, her wolf purring in the back of her mind.
“He will come, Lena.”Elara’s voice resonated through her marrow, the wolf’s certainty settling into her bones like an infallible truth.“He is ours.”
Lena sighed, rolling onto her side and pulling the blanket back around her. She didn’t know what the future held, didn’t know if she and Kai could overcome the barriers between them, but as she drifted off to sleep, one thought lingered in her mind.
I will find a way to reach him. Whatever it takes.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
KAI
Kai slammed the door to his hotel suite, the muffled noise of the reception fading into the distance. The tense confrontation in the private room had been suffocating, and he’d fled to escape Darius’s gloating and machinations. Politics, alliances, and Bloodstone’s future drove the alpha, never Kai’s feelings.
Now, alone in his suite—skin still burning where Lena had touched him, her scent hovering like a stubborn echo—the party’s vibrant energy might as well have been on another planet. He wouldn’t risk returning. He didn’t trust himself to maintain control around Lena, and he didn’t want to endureanother of his father’s self-indulgent monologues about destiny and divine matches.
He’d been avoiding Ava’s calls as well. What was he supposed to say to her? How could he possibly explain what had happened without lying—without admitting that Orion howled for their mate?
Instead, Kai drowned his turmoil in whiskey, the half-empty bottle dangling from his fingers. The smoky flavor scorched a familiar path down his throat, its warmth spreading through his chest. He leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling. While the alcohol dulled the edges, it couldn’t silence the whirlwind in his head. The evening had been chaotic—worse than that, it had been an absolute disaster.
He’d come to the summit expecting negotiations, politics, and his father’s smug commentary. Nother.
Lena.
His fated mate.
The thought of her alone made his pulse race. Heat pooled low in his belly even as his stomach twisted with guilt. His muscles coiled with restless energy, caught between the desire to reach for Lena or punch a wall. Every moment spent with her replayed in vivid detail, each memory sharpening Orion’s focus.
Her cranberry and rosemary scent had engulfed him, sweet and intoxicating enough to make his wolf howl. It clung to his senses, binding Lena to nearly every thought.
Her golden-brown eyes locking onto his, wide with wonder…
The perfect fit of her body against his…
Her fire, her strength, her affection—even as he’d dismissed her…
Kai huffed a frustrated breath. He refused to be forced, but Orion fought back against each denial.
Ava’s face flashed in his mind, reminding him of his promises, but the bond’s relentless pull chipped away at his resolve with every breath.
His phone buzzed on the coffee table, Ava’s name lighting up the screen for the eighth time tonight. He stared at it as it rang, the sound grating against his frayed nerves.
She’d texted, too. The messages piled up, one after the other.
AVA
Did you get to the summit ok?
AVA
I miss you.
AVA
