Chapter 292: In Between the Brush Strokes, Solnyshka

[FROLO]

Of all the things he should have been expecting, that wasn’t it. It was almost insane to him because everything that had happened earlier had him accused of things that he could never really explain.

Because the video with Kenzo... he’d never talked to Kenzo his whole life. But the fact that it was so real and so implicating had him thinking on overdrive.

It didn’t help that the person he was being accused of messing with was the one man who hated traitors. There was just no hope for him. And slowly, he was accepting that.

"You’re awake," Sergei breathed again, the relief in his voice unmistakable, and Katya knew he could stop hiding under the man’s covers now. He knew why the ceiling was so familiar.

Of course... he was inside Sergei’s penthouse.

But it still didn’t explain why he was in Sergei’s bed.

As if on instinct, Katya looked under the covers... as if to see whether he still had functioning legs or if Sergei had broken them to make sure he never ran away.

Then again, he wasn’t feeling sick anymore, so what the fuck had happened?

"I’d never touch you without your consent," Sergei said, and Katya flinched, lifting his head from under the covers to take a good look at the alpha.

"I know," Katya said before he could stop himself.

Then he looked at Sergei.

Really looked at the alpha, and for a moment, Katya’s heart broke for him.

He had huge bags under his eyes. He looked like he was functioning on zero minutes of sleep. His hands had burn marks, and his palms were cut, probably because he’d been in the kitchen.

And Katya didn’t even need to ask to know that Sergei had prepared the food for him, even when he was half-functional.

"You look like shit," Katya said, his mouth of course leading before his brain could catch up.

It was like for a moment he forgot that he was being accused and that the man before him, who was probably half functional, was still as dangerous as he had always been.

"I... I didn’t betray you, Mr. Moskowsky," Katya said, hoping to buy him time to figure out what the fuck had happened and where Alek was. He needed to know if the bratva had hurt Alek for the explosion and many other things.

But first, he needed to be alive.

And for that to happen, he had to explain himself.

Sergei, on the other hand, just walked inside the room, not even reacting to Katya calling him Mr. Moskowsky.

It was like he didn’t care about titles anymore.

In fact, he looked at Katya like he was just happy Katya was alive. Like everything else could go to shit, and as long as Katya was okay, he was okay too.

"Is it okay if I ask for time to investigate before you kill me?" Katya asked in earnest, and again Sergei just looked at him.

"Thank you for being alive... For... For not dying on me," Sergei breathed instead, like he hadn’t heard a word Katya had said. It was crazy, really, because Katya wasn’t sure what was happening right now.

And of course, his body didn’t get the memo because his stomach rumbled right on time.

"I cooked for you, Solnyshka," Sergei said as he grabbed the food on the mini table and put it over Katya’s lap on the bed.

"You haven’t eaten in four days. Your stomach is empty. Go on. Eat," Sergei said as he adjusted the pillows behind Katya to keep the omega steady.

And Katya...

Shit, he was so hungry and confused.

On one end, he wanted answers, and on the other, the damn pelmeni was clouding his mind.

"Is this my last meal?" Katya asked sheepishly.

"I’ll cook more if you want," Sergei offered.

"Eat with me then," Katya offered, and he could swear he saw a pained look on Sergei’s face for a moment before it disappeared.

"I di—"

"If you wanted me dead, I’d be dead. I know. And I know it’s not poisoned," Katya said confidently, and Sergei looked at him as if to ask for permission. As if he was not sure Katya really wanted that with him.

Sergei wanted to complain, but then Katya smiled at him.

His little wolf smiled at him.

"Solnyshka..."

"You haven’t eaten either, have you?"

"I was fasting."

"Vladimir..." Katya trailed off as if testing the atmosphere, and Sergei felt his heart leap in his chest.

Katya called him Vladimir for the first time in four days.

Vladimir.

"Fasting is good for the body," Sergei said, and Katya sighed.

"Well then, I’ll fast too," Katya said, making a move to set the mini table to the side and get out of bed. But Sergei wasn’t about to let that happen.

"Wait... Please," the alpha breathed.

Katya didn’t know what to say or do, but one thing he was sure of was that a lot had happened in the days that he’d been asleep or unconscious. He honestly didn’t know.

"I didn’t betray you. I didn’t plot against you," Katya said quietly.

"I know," Sergei said, like it was the only fact that mattered.

"But you asked them to bring me to you," Katya said, reminding Sergei of the last words he heard before he gave in to the darkness.

"Because I needed to tell you I knew you wouldn’t betray me. That you had nothing to worry about because I was going to find whoever did that and clear your name.

"I also needed to see you and tell you there’s no woman in my life that you need to worry about," Sergei said, and for a moment, Katya wondered if they were even on the same page.

He was fretting about being a target of Sergei freaking Moskowsky, and the man wanted to tell him there was nothing to be jealous of? What the fuck?

"What?!" Katya asked, somewhere between confusion, laughter, and disbelief, because this was madness.

"I love only you. I don’t want anybody else. You’re my lifeline, Solnyshka. I can’t live in a world that doesn’t have you in it. I’d rather watch you be happy with the senator than... Than never see you again.

"I’d die if I lost you. I’m sorry I didn’t protect you enough. Forgive me, Solnyshka," Sergei said softly, his determined and ashamed eyes holding Katya’s confused ones.

Surely the big bad barbarian of Frolo had lost his mind, no?

"You—"

"Your parents and friends know you’re here. They... They have access codes and security, too. I call them every six hours to update them on your condition. I didn’t isolate you from them.

"I’d never do that to you," Sergei rambled while Katya listened, staring at the alpha’s moving lips like he didn’t believe he’d been scared for nothing.

Like the world was moving, and he was stuck in the one phase that he didn’t understand.

"Vladimir..." Katya said suddenly, making the alpha stop rambling for a moment.

"Solny—"

"Shut up..." Katya said, and the alpha stared sheepishly.

"I love you," Katya added, and before he could let himself think of anything, Katya pulled Sergei into a desperate kiss.

On the lips.

Sergei forgot how to function.

"The food is getting cold, shall we?" Katya whispered hoarsely when they pulled back, lips swollen and spit slick.

Sergei quietly lifted the mini table off the bed and set it gently on the floor beside them.

Then he sat back on the bed, his eyes dark with desire and the kind of hunger that had waited ages for this moment. He knew what he looked like. He knew what this looked like. Yet for the first time, the barbarian wasn’t worried.

"Solnyshka..." Sergei breathed as he gently traced Katya’s full lips with his thumb.

His eyes had stayed on Katya’s as if telling him to say something. Anything.

Even as his left hand raked Katya’s neck carefully, pulling them closer. So close that they could practically breathe each other in.

"Forgive me for this, moy lyubim," Sergei said as he leaned and kissed Katya’s cheek gently.

"What?" Katya whispered, confused.

Then Sergei looked at his lips, those beautiful citrus-scented lips he’d yearned for for so long.

"Stop me... please, moy Solnyshka," he breathed against Katya’s tingling lips.

"Don’t," Katya whispered, pressing their foreheads together.

"Okay," Sergei growled lowly in restraint.

"Don’t stop," Katya added, and that was all Sergei needed to dive back in for another kiss.

And boy was the devil a hungry man.