Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Thick black smoke basked beneath the dark clouds, masking the scent of agony in the air.

I heard their voices, and I quivered in my unsteady stance.

"Save us, Alex."

"Alex!"

Their screams revealed the horror of the night, carried by the sound of crackling fire and rattling metal bending beneath the heat.

Then, the euphoria came.

I almost felt it. Almost tasted it.

The One Tree’s residence.

"Aetherblood..." Its voice trailed off.

It called to me.

Not once, yet it echoed from a distance I couldn’t locate.

The vision I found myself in was torn, split between horror and peace.

Then reality sank back in. I expected to fall, to crash against the rocky ground, but something caught my arm when I had almost given up hope.

Forcing my eyes open and blinking upward, I realized it was Kai. Shock was practically etched into him, evident in the way it sparkled through his expression as he held his breath.

He pulled me back onto the attic swiftly, his eyes inspecting me at arm’s length.

"Are you crazy?" he blurted once he realized I wasn’t hurt.

The harshness in his tone startled me, causing me to recoil and bite the inside of my mouth.

"For fuck’s sake, what were you trying to achieve?"

"I..." I tried to speak, but he cut me off before I could form a single word.

"Do you want to kill yourself?"

"No. No, Kai. Please calm down. You’re shaking."

His muscles were tense, nerves stretched thin, and without even touching him, I could tell his pulse had increased. His face was drained of blood as though he’d just lived through his greatest nightmare.

"I’m not trying to kill myself, okay?" I sighed, glancing away. "I was merely attempting what I did back at MoonBlade. As you can see, it didn’t work."

"At the expense of hurting yourself?" he questioned, still aggravated.

My small fingers barely wrapped around his arms, the hard contour of his biceps pressing against my thumbs.

"I didn’t mean to. It was... I don’t know how to explain it. One minute, I was in a dream... or a nightmare. I can’t really say. And the next, I tripped. It was like something got ahold of my body."

"This was meant to be a vacation. A getaway, Alex. Not another reason to worry," he tried to reason.

But I couldn’t keep deceiving myself.

"Kai, please," I said softly.

There was a time when I’d have prolonged this conversation by trying to make him see things from my perspective, but it was clear now that Kai’s way of loving me was by convincing me the love we shared mattered so much that we had to ignore everything else.

Yet it bothered him. Yet he was a hypocrite about it, always trying to clear the bitterness from my path while refusing to let me do the same for him.

No more. It was time I found myself by myself, so then I could help him too.

But to conceal that thought, I held out my hand. "I’d like some water."

Kai stopped me, carrying me in his arms and taking me to the kitchen. Seated on the footstool, I finally watched him with a sinful gaze.

He wasn’t only shirtless, but his V line teased me, trailing down the beauty of his happy trail where hard abs stood firm, his bulge evident as the midday sun in a hot afternoon. Its length curved to the left, almost following the rope tied at the hem of his pants.

When he brought the cup of water before me, my tongue was salivating for something else entirely. I twisted the rope around my finger, pulling him closer effortlessly.

For the strongest Alpha I knew, he weakened easily when it came to this.

With hungry eyes, I glanced at him briefly before focusing back on him, my hand slowly stroking him through the fabric. Kai grabbed the edge of the table as though trying to stop himself from jerking forward. Wrapping my lips around him, I let the tension between us consume the air as he tangled his fingers into my hair.

Kai clenched hard, his grip tightening while he lost himself in the sensation. My breath staggered, my body heating beneath the intensity between us, yet I refused to push him away.

Then, out of nowhere, Kai carried me in his arms and placed me atop the table. Footsteps approached, revealing Butler Hector.

"Master Kai. You’re awake. Do you need something?"

"No, Hector. Leave," Kai growled, his tone lacking its usual playful edge. He sounded completely serious.

Well, considering the scent of my arousal in the air and the ruined state of my appearance, he had every reason to be overwhelmed.

"Yes, Master Kai." Butler Hector hurriedly turned around, making sure not to linger on the scene before him.

"Goodnight, Hector," I said, my voice tiny and breathless.

I could’ve sworn I heard Hector chuckle.

Kai focused back on me, his eyes hungrily taking me in before he buried his face against my chest, overwhelming me with heated kisses that pushed me further toward the edge. Sensitive already, I was driven to my limit.

Not long after, Kai turned me around, tugging my underwear down before pulling me back against him, the heat of his body making my slick spread along my thighs.

"Oh, God, Kai." I bit down on my tongue to keep my voice low.

"Nah, I’m doing this to you, baby. Not any god."

"Yes, Daddy." The word slipped out before I could stop it.

Kai, having teased me enough, finally pressed against my entrance before easing inside just enough to make me feel his fullness. Once he’d gone halfway, he pulled back deliberately.

"Oh, fuck. Please..." I begged sincerely, my arms reaching behind me as though trying to drag him closer.

My back remained turned toward him. One hand pinned the back of my neck while the other pressed against my spine, forcing my hips upward properly. Then he moved again, harder this time.

My face reddened from the pleasure, my body tightening before pressure began building deep inside me.

"Yeah... yeah, like that. Like that, Daddy. Please, yes..." I cried out, unable to hold back anymore. Kai increased his pace, continuing in the same devastating rhythm. "Yes... yes..."

My cries heightened, my brain floating somewhere above reality itself. The sensation intensified until I couldn’t contain it anymore and collapsed forward against the table, my body convulsing. But instead, Kai pulled me back up, refusing to let me recover before moving inside me again.

My eyes shot open as another cry tore from my throat. He turned me around so I faced him now, my legs lifted and held firmly by him while he continued with enough force to make me fear my body would give out beneath him.

I attempted to clutch my stomach, almost as though apologizing to my insides, but he slapped my hand away. His hand wrapped around my throat instead before he kissed me deeply, swallowing my cries while the pressure inside me continued building.

One final thrust and he jerked hard, holding me close as warmth spread through me. My back arched instinctively, my fingers digging into his skin as though transferring the overwhelming sensation somewhere else.

We remained tangled together for several minutes, our breathing slowly evening out. Eventually, Kai carried me back to the bed. He curled around me from behind.

"I love you, Alex. We’ll get through this together, yeah? Whatever it is."

I nodded faintly. "Yes, together."

Not long after, Kai drifted into slumber, but my eyes still caught the final traces of moonlight as I reached for my phone from the cabinet beside the bed.

Just enough movement not to wake Kai.

After scrolling for a while, I found Leo’s contact. I pressed the message icon, and as the keyboard appeared, I swallowed hard.

Then, I began typing...