Alpha Luciano’s POV
When I woke up, my mate was asleep in my arms. My mate. Arabella. It felt like a dream. One I didn’t want to wake from.
I lost count of the number of times we’d woken up and gone at it again like a couple of bunnies unable to keep our hands off each other.
I was sated and my wolf for once was calm and settled within me. I wrapped my hands around her tightly and buried my head in her hair inhaling her sweet scent. I was at peace.
Looking back on it, I wondered why I had waited so long to mark her and truly bond with her but I knew the truth. The truth was that if I had done it earlier, it wouldn’t have had as much significance as it did to me now after everything we had been through together.
I couldn’t believe she had forgiven me so quickly after all I had done to her. It went a long way to reinforce the belief I had of her being a good person. I couldn’t believe I’d once put her in the same category as her father. One thing life had taught me was the fact that heredity had little to play in character.
She might have been Vitalio’s daughter but she was nothing like him. She was good and pure. The same way I was my parents’ child but I was so far from their pure attitude. Hopefully, I could still become someone they would be proud of. I didn’t deserve her but I would do my best to be worthy of her.
She stirred sleepily in my arms, humming under her breath, her ass rubbing against my morning wood.
“Goddess, how can you still be hard?”
I felt her laugh vibrating against me and she turned to face me.
Her dark hair spread like silk over the pillowcase and her dark eyes twinkled with mischief. I found myself wanting to kiss her, and I did, capturing her lips with mine and drawing her into a kiss that left both of us breathless afterwards.
Arabella blushed and pulled back, her cheeks aflame. I wondered how she could still feel embarrassed after everything we had done to and with each other.
She wrapped the duvet around herself and moved as though to leave the bed. I pulled her back to me, not expecting it, and she ended up on top of me with her head on my chest.
She tried to push herself up and away from me but I wrapped my hand around her.
“Luciano, let me go. I have morning breath.” She struggled half-heartedly.
I tipped her chin to look at me. “I had my tongue in your mouth mere seconds ago, does it look like I care?”
She blushed prettily and buried her head in my chest. “But I do. Luciano please for the love of the goddess, let me up.”
My dick acting of its own accord pulsed against her bare thigh.
“Seriously, is that all you can think of now?” Arabella said primly but I could hear the unspoken laughter in her voice and feel it in our bond.
“You have to go do whatever it is that pack Alphas have to do and I have to use the bathroom now.”
It was like she splashed me with cold water. How could I have forgotten that I have duties waiting for me? It was a surprisingly easy answer. I was with Arabella and she was like an intoxicating drug that I couldn’t get enough of.
Even now the urge to call Mikah and tell him to hold down the fort today was unusually strong. I wanted us to stay here today. To have the whole day to ourselves. To explore and discover even more new things about each other.
“You are so distracting, Arabella. You make me forget that there is a world outside you.”
She ducked her head against my chest. I knew she was blushing even though I couldn’t see her face. I could feel it down the bond. Threads of embarrassment entwined with want and something else more profound.
“Will you let me go now?” She said again. Her mind was annoyingly on one track. “I’m surprised your uncle hasn’t come to drag you out of your room–”
Arabella looked around as though she was just realizing that we weren’t in my room.
“Where are we anyway? I noticed it looked a bit different yesterday before we got ahem… distracted. I don’t recognize this place. It seems quieter.”
I let her up fully and she hesitated before climbing off me. I would have smiled at her reluctance to leave me if she hadn’t brought up a sensitive topic.
She seemed to feel it in the bond or see my reluctance on my face because she quickly followed it up with another statement. “You don’t have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable, I just wanted to know–”
“Don’t worry, it’s fine. This was our former pack house. The one where my parents lived and ruled from. It’s been deserted for years now, that’s why it’s so silent. I get it cleaned monthly so everything is still in good shape. I brought you here so you could recover better and to protect you from the mole we had in our ranks.”
“Why would I need to recover… the mole? Oh, the mole.” Realization lit up her features. “It is Emery, she was the one who–”
“I am aware and she is currently undergoing interrogation until I decide on her sentence.” I reassured Arabella who had started looking worked up at the thought that her assailant was just roaming free.
“Wow, that was fast. How did you get everything sorted out so quickly?” Arabella looked stunned.
“Quickly? You were out for close to three weeks.”
“Three weeks?” Arabella’s eyes were as large as saucers in disbelief.
I grasped her hand. She looked at where we connected and then looked at me as I spoke. “Yes. I thought I had lost you. That I would be unable to tell you how much I want you and regret everything I ever did wrong to you. That I’d never be able to make up for my mistakes.”
Arabella softened and came close to me embracing me with the duvet and bedding between us. Her head barely came up to my shoulders.
“This is our second chance and we will do right by each other this time. I believe in you. I believe in us. We are the most stubborn people that I know. If anyone can do it, it’s us.”
I smiled. That was something we could both agree on.
Arabella pulled away and sat on her legs, her dark hair like a halo around her, her lips looked soft and kissable. I had to stop thinking about sex with Arabella. It was extremely distracting.
“So what now? What do we do next?” She didn’t seem to be bothered about our morning breath or lack thereof anymore.
“Next?” I intoned, not quite following.
“We are mated now. I am technically the Luna of your pack and I can feel your pack’s mind link here.” She tapped her forehead.
“Your uncle doesn’t like me, neither do your pack members. How do we work with that?”
I inhaled and pulled her to myself, dropping a kiss on her forehead. It was so cute and perfect. Like every other part of her.
“Luckily, you are not their mate but mine. Their opinion doesn’t matter to me.”
“But they matter to you. I want them to be my people too.”
“Then you will have it.” I said seriously and she shook with silent laughter against me.
“You say it like it’s that easy.”
“But it is that easy, I would move the heavens for you.” I considered it. “For now though, it might be prudent to keep this information from Uncle Tommaso. For the sake of his health.”
“For his health? Or for yours?” Arabella cocked a brow, her lips twitching like she was holding back a smile.
I kissed her in response, and although she fought back hitting my chest, she soon relaxed into the kiss and neither of us spoke for a long long time.
Micah would have to deal today.