Adea
Ethan lifts me off the window and carries me over to the bed. Laying me down, he kisses me and flexes his thighs. I’m not at all ready for more right now and when he presses his hips forward I groan.
“Noo,” I whine. “I’m all tapped out. He laughs against my lips and my wolf whispers for me to bite his lips.
I’m trying to calm him down not encourage him to keep going, Kor.
Is that what we were trying to do?
Well… maybe for me at least.
“I know, I’m teasing you,” Ethan trails kisses down my neck. “Wait here, I’m going to be right back.”
He slowly pulls out of me and I moan. I’m still sensitive but I feel empty as he walks toward the bathroom. Closing my eyes, I start to drift off when the sound of the water running jolts me awake.
The door opens and closes a few minutes later and I can hear his footsteps as they grow closer. His warm hand is on my thigh now and I want to check and see what he’s doing but I’m too bothered to open my eyes.
My breathing has slowed down and sleep is promising me sweet nothings. My thighs open wide and a warm cloth presses against my center. I sigh with the comfort it brings my aching lips.
My eyes flutter open and I watched the bulking figure above me. Gently, he takes care of me, wiping from top to bottom until I’m clean. He reaches over and picks up another towel. I feel all warm and tingly as he picks up a dry one this time and presses it against me before patting me dry.
When I’m all clean, he disappears before reappearing. The bed dips as he lays by my side and I let out a breath of contentment. His arm blankets me and his hand curls around my stomach. He doesn’t disturb me but his fingers rub little circles on my skin.
“I love you,” he murmurs.
“I love you too,” I whisper. I peek over at him and he’s watching me. Before I can say thank you a yawn takes over cutting it short. When I’m done yawning, I laugh sleepily. “Thank you for taking care of me babe. I appreciate you.”
“You don’t need to thank me for any of that. I’m just taking care of you. My queen deserves aftercare,” he murmurs as his fingers slid up and down my stomach. He continues touching me until I fall asleep.
***
The first thing I see when I wake up is Ethan. His fingers drift up and are warm as they caress my cheek before brushing a strand of hair out of my face. His eyes lingered on my lips until they darkened and he leaned forward so ours could meet. When we separated, my eyes looked past him to look outside. The sun had fully set and the room was dark except for the gentle moonlight that filtered through the window and past the curtains.
“Why are you up?” I asked as my gaze returned to my mate.
“Go back to bed,” he whispered.
“Mm, don’t tell me what to do,” I whispered back.
He was beautiful like this, his dark hair unruly from sex and his lips thick from the anything but sweet kisses we’d shared. His dark eyes calm and the beast in them finally satiated. High cheekbones and a jaw so sharp I was surprised it didn’t cut my finger when I reached out and touched it. My fingers trailed to his lips and I replaced my fingers with my lips. Gently, he kissed me back as his fingers started to train down my neck.
“Ah ah ah,” I said as I leaned backward. “I’m not going to let you distract me!”
“I’m not doing any distracting and you started it,” he teased. “You’re the one distracting me.”
“Mm-hmm. You have to catch me up on the emergency meeting. I’ve been waiting all day for you to come home. You need to fill me in, Mister Alpha.” I reached up and booped his nose. His eyes darkened for a split second, had I not been looking I would have missed it. “Was it that bad?” I asked.
The seriousness of his expression had my nerves flaring and more nervous than I had been all day. He swallowed and retracted his hand from my neck. The way his expression turned grim told me that the meeting didn’t go well. This wasn’t going to be good but I couldn’t figure out what could sour his mood.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush, my love. Ever since what happened at the ball, I’ve done nothing, but try to protect you. As my Luna and lifetime partner, I thought I could keep the bad from you but I can’t hide this from you as much as I would like to.”
“Just give it to me, Ethan. I can handle it. You don’t have to protect me. We are partners and we need to protect our pack. Whatever it is, we will work through it together.” I reach over to him and grab his hand, squeezing it for reassurance.
“I was hoping we would have the evening in peace and I could put telling you aside until morning. Last night, Shane marched with a pack of rogues into Half Moon pack,” Ethan said.
I gasped. I don’t know what I was expecting but that wasn’t it. My mind is reeling at the news. I wouldn’t consider a handful of rogues a pack. There must have been a lot to have been able to take over Half Moon. I’m silent as I try to make sense of this. The packhouse, the people there, are they safe?
“Shane and his pack slaughtered everyone who worked directly under Alpha Joshua and Luna Rose. He also killed those loyal to him after he killed his parents,” Ethan said.