Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Kai’s cum pumped deep inside me. His cock pulsated, massaging the rims of my hole and stretching me clean. I muffled into the bedsheets, biting into them as my nails dug deeper into the master bed.

Eyes shut, he knotted me and emptied all his babies inside my hole, warming me up. The thick pulse of each spurt forced another soft sound out of me, my body clenching around the swollen base of him as if it could keep every drop locked away. Heat bloomed low in my belly, heavy and full, the kind of fullness that made my thighs tremble even after the sharp edge of climax had already passed.

Finally, when his cock slid out of me, I turned around to face him, snuggling my face into his chest. The sudden emptiness left a dull ache, but the solid warmth of his body against mine made up for it. I pressed closer, breathing in the mix of sweat, sex, and his natural scent that always settled something restless inside me.

"I think I might be getting used to this daily routine of fucking," I said with a snicker. I felt Kai’s chest rumble as well, stifling a laugh of his own.

"Oh, you better. I don’t plan to stop tasting you every now and then," he commented. His hands delved into my hair to massage my scalp and soothe me.

The feeling helped lull me further into the sleepiness I was already feeling. His fingers moved slow and steady, working through the tangles, pressing just hard enough to ease the tension that always gathered at the base of my skull after long hours of being taken apart. I let my eyes stay closed, listening to the quiet rhythm of his breathing and the occasional soft click of his throat when he swallowed.

After a while, Kai spoke. "Clawface has been bugging me about these reports from the Court. Says it’s something I’m supposed to check out."

My voice came out more like a slur.

"Is it something we need to worry about?"

"Not we. I’ll get it resolved. I’ll be meeting with him this morning."

My brows perked up even though I didn’t open my eyes. "Oh..."

The single sound carried more disappointment than I meant it to. I felt the slight shift in his body, the way his arm tightened around me for a second longer.

"Yeah, I understand, baby. I’d have loved to stay with you too. I promise."

I wrapped one arm over his stomach, his shadow twitching as his cock hardened again, pressing against my navel. The sensation excited me even when I was sore and needed at least a two-day break. The soft, insistent weight of him made my hole flutter in memory, still slick and open from the knot that had only just gone down.

"Then don’t go," I muttered into his chest. Kai roughened my hair as he cooed.

"Aw, my sweet peach is already missing me. Don’t worry, I’ll be back by evening, and then I’ll do anything you want."

I pouted when Kai slid himself away from my side, leaving me alone on the bed. The mattress almost felt cold in his absence, the sheets still warm where his body had been. I listened to the quiet sounds of him moving around the room—fabric shifting, the soft thud of bare feet on the floor, the faint click of a door somewhere farther away. Before I knew it, darkness swallowed me whole, my eyelids too heavy to stay awake for anything else.

∆∆∆

The sun was above the horizon by the time I woke up. Its beams stretched across the sky. With the clouds dispersed, the heavens were left clean and bluish, and the heat was what awakened me.

Beads of sweat threatened to slide down my face as I tossed off the duvet and rolled out of bed. The air in the room felt heavier than it had at night, thick with residual heat and the lingering scent of us. My legs carried me to the wardrobe, where I put on one of Kai’s shorts that looked baggy on me, stopping just below my knees. The soft fabric still held a faint trace of his cologne. Then, I wrapped a silk robe around my body, tying it by the side in a messy bow that slipped a little every time I moved.

The rest of my trek transitioned me to the kitchen, where I picked a bottle of yogurt and a cookie from the fridge, biting into it as I stared out the window. The sweetness of the cookie mixed with the cool tang of the yogurt, simple and grounding after days of richer, heavier meals. Outside, the light was almost too bright, painting the edges of the garden in sharp gold.

Not long after, I emerged into the garden. The honeymoon suite was like a mansion... or a hotel. I really couldn’t say, seeing as I was practically illiterate when it came to architecture, but one thing it never failed to tell me was that it was splendid. Wide paths of pale stone wound between carefully tended beds. Tall windows reflected the sky. Somewhere deeper in the grounds, water moved.

I was in the greenhouse. It stretched into the garden, where a fountain rested in the middle. The tinkling sound of the water captured my attention, but the flowers did even better. Glass panels arched high overhead, catching and softening the sunlight so that everything inside glowed with a gentle, filtered warmth. The air smelled of damp earth and green things growing.

I crouched and placed a hand on one of them. A daisy.

It was bewitching to watch. Its grace bestowed itself upon my sight, my fingers brushing past its petals as I continued to gaze and capture the intricate details of its structure. The white petals felt almost fragile under my touch, yet they held a quiet strength. Then, I gasped when something tickled me.

A frequency of some sort.

I calmed myself and touched it again.

The flower spoke to me, in a sense. Peaceful. It felt peaceful in this place. It felt worthy, and it believed it was meant to remain here, so it was thankful for the clearing of the weeds. The clean water from the fountain reached the soil and helped nourish it, allowing the flower to bear more children, and for that, it was indeed thankful. The sensation was soft, almost shy, like a thought that didn’t belong to me yet settled easily into the quiet spaces of my mind.

"You believe it, don’t you?" I muttered, more to myself. The resonance finally made sense to me. "You deserve to live in this place. That’s what you believe."

The clicking footsteps behind me snapped me back to reality. Marcellan came into view in a jean outfit and black shades. He looked like he was just returning from a hangout—shirt slightly wrinkled, hair a little wind-tossed, the kind of casual that still somehow looked deliberate.

We sat by the curbside, letting the crisp air of the garden blow past us. The stone was cool under my bare feet. Somewhere nearby a bird called once and then fell silent.

"You reek of sobriety. Is something wrong?"

My brows furrowed. "That’s one way to start a conversation, isn’t it?"

Marcellan said nothing. It was like he was waiting for me to answer him. The dark lenses of his shades hid his eyes, but the set of his mouth was unusually still.

I stirred. "And when did you start being serious?"

Marcellan sighed. The sound carried a weight I wasn’t used to hearing from him.

"I’m here to check up on you. I like you," he blurted out, his voice turning slightly pitchy toward the end.

My cheeks reddened, a flush spreading across my face with no restraint whatsoever. The honesty of it caught me off guard more than any of his usual sharp remarks ever had.

"That’s dovey," I said. "I’m good. I just don’t know how to feel."

"About what?"

"About all of this. A larger part of me, more than the part that wholeheartedly loves Kai, still believes I don’t deserve any of this. And perhaps that’s why I lost something very dear to me."

The words came out quieter than I intended. I kept my eyes on the fountain, watching the water catch the light and scatter it in small, bright pieces.

Marcellan hummed, mewing afterward.

"We all feel like that at some point in our lives, don’t we? Especially during a huge change, and becoming the Luna to a Pack such as SilverFang is certainly one," he reasoned.

"Do you think I deserve this position?"

Marcellan’s lips tugged to the side.

"Alex, you can only live on someone else’s belief in you for so long. Your own beliefs are what will make you stand strong and remain standing forever. Do you deserve Kai, these people, and everything else?" He paused and glanced at me. "It’s yours to answer."

Then, Marcellan stood up, stretching his hand for me to take. "What is that thing you’ve lost?"

I took his hand, and together, we walked back inside the house while I answered his question. His palm was warm, steady, the kind of casual contact that still somehow felt deliberate.

"A muscle, really."

"And when did you start speaking in parables?" he questioned, and I laughed. The sound came easier than I expected.

"No, that’s not what I meant. I mean it’s more like a muscle. What I’ve lost is a part of me I recently began to understand, and I fear that if I don’t figure it out, I’ll never be able to find my parents."

"Hm." He nodded, slightly impressed.

As the sun cast our shadows behind us, Marcellan finally spoke.

"I’m not a wise man, but if there’s something about muscles that I know, it’s that they can be massaged and repaired. That takes time, but surely, they can be reawakened simply by exercising them."

I frowned deeply at that, wanting to say something, but my words got caught in my throat, and I bit the inside of my mouth.

Exercise my link with the One Tree?

It nearly sounded absurd, but in the face of cluelessness, it also sounded worthy enough to try.