Chapter 55: Exhausting

ASTRID’S POV

I was still trying to recover from what I had just seen.

Raven. The Minister of Foreign Affairs.

How didn’t I see this coming? He had always been hardworking from the very first day I knew him. I just never believed he’d climb this high, even when all the signs were right there in front of me.

Ethan noticed something was off. No matter how hard I tried to pretend, I couldn’t pull it off convincingly enough. I wasn’t okay ... and honestly, I wasn’t even close.

"What’s wrong, Astrid?" he asked.

"I’m just thinking about the launch we have tomorrow," I said.

"Oh, that? It’s a multi-million dollar project. It’s going to change the trajectory of Bloodmoon Broadcasting entirely," he said with that easy confidence he always carried.

I lied straight to his face. There was no version of this where I came clean. There was absolutely no way in this world I was telling Ethan that my betrothed mate was now the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He wouldn’t take it lightly. Not even a little.

The launch was tomorrow, and I couldn’t stop thinking about Raven. His lips had looked fresher than the last time I saw him. He had advanced ... elevated in ways I hadn’t predicted. But still not up to the level of my boyfriend, Ethan Allen. At least that was what I kept telling myself.

I climbed into bed, and Ethan whispered against my ear, "I’m horny."

The whisper hit differently ... so low and intense it felt like he was already inside me.

I didn’t respond at first. He started trailing his fingers along my neck, slow and deliberate, like he was trying to ignite something in me whether I was ready or not.

"Ethan, I have work tomorrow, please," I said.

"I have work tomorrow too, baby. Why don’t we enjoy ourselves tonight?" He said it like a question but his hands were already on my breasts ... easy access since I had on a lingerie nightgown with nothing left to the imagination.

I guessed the sight of it had him salivating from the moment I walked in. He couldn’t help himself. He didn’t go slow about it either ... he latched on and sucked like he’d been denied for weeks. And what he called foreplay had me almost cumming in seconds flat.

"Ethan, you want to keep sucking, huh?" I breathed out.

He didn’t even look up. Just kept going like a man on a mission.

"Come on, I’ve got something better for you. I want to satisfy you tonight ... make you forget you ever had a care in the world," I told him.

I opened up for him. Clean and smooth. He licked the slick that had already gathered there, slow at first, then deeper. He was good at this ... damn good. He had me squirting before I even knew it was coming.

He flipped me like he was folding something precious, and trust me when I say I was flexible enough to let him. I could bend and twist to whatever angle his body demanded, and I did. He gave me back shots ... bent me forward and went in deep with everything he had. I took every inch of it like a champion.

He was inside me and I was moaning low ... so soft and steady you’d have thought I was in the middle of something spiritual.

I lost track of time completely. We went at each other like the night had no end, like the morning wasn’t something we needed to worry about. We barely slept.

The night ended in heavy breathing, wet sheets, and satisfaction so deep it settled in my bones.

He kissed me deep ... lips, then tongue ... and I felt something fill up inside me that I thought only he could reach. Everyone who had ever been inside me had left something behind, but Ethan took the largest piece. No one had ever touched me quite like that.

We were up early the next morning, moving quickly to get ready.

"Hope you’ll be able to walk after what you received last night?" he said, smirking.

I laughed so hard it surprised us both. Ethan caught the laugh too and it spread to him just as fast.

I leaned into him mid-laugh and kissed him once ... sharp and sweet ... just enough to set his head straight.

"You’re the one who needs to focus today. Don’t let thoughts of me distract you," I said.

We smiled at the same time, like we’d rehearsed it.

"Race! First one to reach the office wins!" I called out.

We scrambled to finish getting ready and bolted to our cars. When we pulled through the gate, we crossed the finish line at the exact same moment. I couldn’t beat him today. He was too fast. You should never give a male wolf what he wants in the bedroom ... he’ll use the energy against you the next morning.

Work that day was exhausting in the best kind of way. We were in full preparation mode ... a dinner to celebrate the launch of the first interterritorial satellite in Bloodmoon’s history was scheduled for that evening at 7 PM. The team had everything set.

Raven was going to be there.

I didn’t go home. I couldn’t ... I wouldn’t have made it back in time, and honestly, I didn’t want to risk it. I’d brought a change of clothes, and by the time 7 PM rolled around, I had transformed into a diamond-coloured gown with a slit running high up the thigh.

"You look good, Astrid," Liam, my boss, said the moment he saw me. He was the first one to catch the look since he hadn’t gone home either. Ethan was still on his way.

The dinner got underway, and I watched Raven make his entrance with his entourage ... sharp in a fitted tux, flanked by his partners, with guests moving to greet him the second he walked in.

We had already settled in at the table when Ethan finally arrived, looking slightly breathless and very much like someone who had lost a battle with traffic. He sat down beside me and leaned in.

"Traffic was a nightmare," he whispered, confirming exactly what I already knew.

"Thank you all for coming. Tonight, we launch the interterritorial satellite in the presence of everyone who helped make it possible. Enjoy the evening," Raven announced from the front of the room.

We all rose to cut the celebratory cake together, and when the last slice was done, soft music filtered through the speakers. The room shifted into meet-and-greet mode.

"If I had known it was going to be like this, I wouldn’t have bothered going home," Ethan said, shaking his head with a grin.

I laughed with him. He poured us each a glass of red wine and we clinked glasses ... to the event, to the night, to us ... and drank. The room was alive with dancing and conversation, and for a while, I let myself get lost in it.

Until I poured wine directly down the front of my gown. Right onto the diamond fabric.

The embarrassment was instant. Ethan’s eyes went wide.

"Go clean yourself up," he said quickly, still half-shocked.

I headed for the bathroom, and in the corridor ... right there in the passage ... I ran into Raven.

The person I had been half-expecting, half-dreading to cross paths with all night.

"Hey," he said.

"Hi."

The air between us was thick with everything we weren’t saying. We stood there in that strange, cold silence until I forced myself to break through it.

"You’ve become..."

"I haven’t become anything, Astrid," he cut me off.

"Congratulations, Raven. I always believed you’d reach great heights." I meant it ... more than I expected to.

"No you didn’t." His voice was even. "If you did, you wouldn’t have left me."

It landed like a slap. I went quiet, turning over every memory of the times I had cut him down, made him feel small, convinced him he was less than he was.

"I’m in a better place now," I finally said.

"Anyway. I didn’t come to talk about that." He stepped past me and walked away.

I cleaned myself up the best I could and returned to the room.

The meet-and-greet had wound down, and Raven took the microphone one last time.

"I hope you all had the chance to meet someone new tonight. I, for one, didn’t ... I already know almost every face in this room." A warm laugh moved through the crowd. I was praying silently that he’d leave it there.

He didn’t.

Bastard.

"Thank you to everyone who contributed. And a special thank you to Astrid Ironheart for putting in the work on the financial routing that made all of this possible."

Ethan turned to look at me. Slowly. With that particular side-eye that said he was filing this away for later.

I was going to have a very long conversation when we got home. I could already feel the exhaustion of it settling over me before it had even begun.