21. Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-one
Dylan
T his was shaping up to be one of the greatest Christmases of my life.
Axel King loved me.
I felt like I’d been choking back the words for weeks, desperately trying not to scare him off before his feelings had caught up with mine. If that was even a possibility.
We all gathered in the living room before Christmas dinner to open gifts. Mine, of course, were the beautifully wrapped ones in craft paper with tasteful little red reindeer stamped on, complete with white ribbons that I’d curled using scissors.
I tried not to grimace when Cooper handed me my gift from him. It looked like it was held together with electrical tape. Scratch that, it was held together with electrical tape.
Tearing into it so the evidence of his dreadful wrapping would make it quickly into the rubbish bag, I smiled when I saw an early edition of one of my favourite children’s books, The Wind in the Willows.
“Oh my god, Coop. Where did you find this?”
“I had a job a few weeks ago over in Vixon Willow; they have that rare bookshop on the town street there.” He smiled.
“Thank you, it’s beautiful.” I ran my index finger down the cover carefully.
“Here you go, Axel.” Mom passed him his gift from me, and I bit down on the edge of my thumb in anticipation.
“Is it safe for him to open in front of your family?” Cooper teased, and I rolled my eyes.
This gift was.
Axel opened the present carefully, tugging off the ribbon before picking at the tape so the paper didn’t tear. When he folded back the paper, he brushed his hand over the soft item before holding it up.
“Wow, Dyl. You really made this? It’s beautiful. I can’t believe how soft it is,” he said reverently. I’d never made Axel anything before, and I wasn’t totally sure why. Maybe I had, in fact, had some self-preservation when I was growing up, although I suspect it had more to do with feeling like my skills weren’t up to par to make anything good enough for him yet.
“It should fit. I stole one of your jumpers to get the sizing right.”
He got up immediately and pulled off the charcoal grey zip-up he’d been wearing to put on the dark copper-knitted jumper. It fitted him perfectly like I knew it would, and the orange hue suited his complexion, bringing out the amber tones of his brown eyes.
“It’s perfect, love. Thank you.” He tugged me to stand and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. It was chaste, but the fact he was happy to be affectionate with me in front of my family lit me up brighter than Abbie’s gaudy Christmas tree. “Open mine next,” he said.
Abbie passed me over my gift, wrapped neatly with candy cane wrapping paper, and I dove into it not very gracefully at all. My eyes bugged out of my head when I recognised the wool.
“You… how? You got this from Clarissa’s shop?” I bumbled out.
“Of course you know the owner of the yarn shop by name.” He laughed.
“Obviously, I’m probably her most loyal customer. This wool is the green-dyed version of what I bought to knit you that jumper.” I pointed at his chest.
“Well, now I feel bad because I only got you the wool, and you bought wool and turned it into something lovely.”
“No way, I was pining after this yarn, but I couldn’t justify getting both. Now I can make myself a matching jumper.”
“More matching outfits for you two, how cute,” Cooper mocked.
“You can return it if you’d prefer something else?” Axel asked.
I clutched the wool to my chest, guarding it from them all. “Absolutely not,” I said, rubbing one of the twists of wool against my cheek.
So fucking soft.
My face ached from beaming like an imbecile since the second I woke up. Something as simple as sitting on the sofa, holding Axel’s hand while my family all nattered away, was somehow even more satisfying than all the scenarios I’d dreamed up over the years.
I looked down at where our fingers were interlinked and squeezed. Axel continued his conversation with Abbie but stroked his thumb over the back of my hand in acknowledgement, and the small gesture released a weight I hadn’t even realised I’d still been carrying. The tiniest, most insignificant interaction and yet I’d never felt more seen. And that was all I’d really wanted from Axel, for him to truly see me.
Best Christmas ever.
“What on earth are you wearing?” Axel asked.
I’d popped into the pub on my way to meet Adam.
“The 80‘s called, and they want their sweatbands back,” Milly chimed in.
“I stop by to say hello, and this is the thanks I get? I’ll have you know this is perfectly respectable badminton attire.”
“Who are you going to play badminton with?” Axel enquired.
“Adam. He’s home for a few days and wants to burn off some of his festive indulgences.”
“You are not wearing that to go see Adam.“ Axel practically choked on the words.
“Excuse me? I’m going to give you a chance to walk that right back and say something a little less, ‘psycho-controlling boyfriend.’” I scowled at him, and he thankfully had the sense to look embarrassed.
“They’re just… very tiny shorts. I’m sorry, I take it back. Aren’t you cold, though?”
“Apology under review. A little but I ran here, and I’m running to the leisure centre, so I’ll be fine. Adam’ll feel bad and drop me home after.”
“Home home or coming here?”
I not so secretly loved that he thought home could also mean here. It felt like a step closer to me getting to officially move in.
“I’ll have to go home home first so I can put on my monk’s habit. Wouldn’t want to offend your newfound sensibilities at the sight of my bare skin,” I said sarcastically.
Axel stepped out from behind the bar and made his way towards me. Cupping my face in the palm of his hands, he kissed me on the lips. “I’m sorry I got all jealous and possessive. I know It’s dumb that Adam is still a sore spot for me, even though I know you were never together. You look gorgeous as you always do, whether you wear tiny shorts or a habit, although I have to admit that I do prefer the tiny shorts. You have very sexy legs, love,” Axel said quietly so only I could hear.
“Well, he’s one of my closest friends, and we’re both in love with other people, so I think you need to get over that sooner rather than later. However, your apology was cute, so I’ll let you off. I better head, or I’ll be late.” I gave Axel another quick kiss before saying bye to him and Milly and scampered out the door, back into the cold.
By the time I’d run to the town leisure centre, I was feeling warmed up, although my nose was guaranteed to be bright red from the cold. I found Adam sitting on a bench outside.
“You know it’s December, right?” he greeted me.
“That really helps explain all the Christmas trees. I didn’t anticipate my attire being so controversial today; we’re exercising!”
Adam laughed and stood up to give me a hug. “You have a good Christmas?” he asked.
“The best! What about you?”
“Slightly awkward one this year, I’ll tell you inside.”
Colour me intrigued. We headed inside and down the stairs to the badminton courts. Adam had brought rackets and shuttlecocks, so we were good to go.
“So? Don’t keep me in suspense.” I pestered while Adam changed into his gym trainers.
“Me and Lei finally told the family that we’re together… on Christmas Eve.” He winced.
“And they were shocked? Honestly, I thought you two were like the worst-kept secret ever.”
“I think we underestimated our parents’ willful ignorance. They aren’t mad or anything, but they aren’t thrilled either. I think they’ll be alright once they’ve fully processed, but Lei is fretting about it, which means I’m forced to fret alongside him because, apparently, that’s what you do for a boyfriend. All I know is that me being calm about it was the incorrect response and I haven’t heard the end of it.” Adam sighed.
“I think it’s called empathy, hun. Like he just wants to know that you understand why it matters and why it’s stressful for him. I know you do care, but sometimes, if you react too calm and chilled about it, it comes across like you’re not as invested, and that’s probably what bothered him.”
“You’re weirdly insightful sometimes. Ready to play?” he asked.
“Just call me Yoda. Of course I’m ready. I have sweatbands on my wrists and head. I couldn’t look more ready if I tried. I hope you’re prepared to get your arse whooped.” I swished the racket through the air for emphasis and took my spot on the far side of the court.
It turned out that Adam and I were surprisingly evenly matched. He was better at the actual game than I was, but I was like a Duracell bunny, and he got tired long before I did.
He won the first game by a small margin; we’d gone to 26-24. During our water break, Adam asked, “I’m actually mildly concerned that you haven’t voluntarily waxed lyrical about you and Axel yet. Is everything good?”
“Aren’t you proud of my restraint? I’m really working on not being insufferable about it. But since you brought it up, things are great! He told me he loved me on Christmas day, and I’ve pretty much been on cloud nine ever since. Like, sometimes I could throw up at how perfect everything is,” I gushed.
“Vomit seems like a strange response to that, but sure. I’m happy you’re happy, little omega.” Adam smiled and ruffled my hair. “Jesus, your head is a lot sweatier than it looks.” He wiped his hand on his shorts.
“That’s because my littler legs are having to work much harder than yours ‘Mr can-get-from-one-side-of-the-court-to-the-other-in-one-step.’” I huffed.
“Ready for another game, or do you want to bitch some more?” Adam arched his eyebrow at me, and I stomped back onto the court.
I’d like to say that I handled winning the next game gracefully, but when the final score was 21-18, I might have completed a victory lap around the court and sung We Are The Champions.
“It’s your humility that Axel loves so much, isn’t it?” Adam rolled his eyes at my antics.
“Axel knew exactly what he was signing up for. A winner. An athlete, you might say.”
“Does the athlete want a lift home so he doesn’t freeze to death?”
“Yes. I’m tired from the winning. Thank you.” I grinned and skipped all the way to the car, high on the sweet taste of victory.
I kicked Axel’s front door several times because my arms were full. It was a few minutes before I heard the thud of his footsteps on the stairs and I was getting impatient. When he opened the door, he looked sleepy. He and Milly had been on the closing shift last night.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. Then he sniffed the air. “Oh shit. Your heat?”
I nodded and then barged past him with the five bags of my nesting material I’d brought from home. In his bedroom, I set to work on building my nest while Axel stood in the doorway looking a little bewildered.
Although my heat was a week sooner than I’d been expecting, we’d talked about it not long after Christmas. I’d never shared it with anyone, and I couldn’t bear the idea of spending this one alone now that Axel and I were finally together.
Over the next year, my heats would begin to gradually sync with Axel, so at least one of them would coincide with his rut.
“You better not have done your laundry,” I said a little more snarkily than was probably warranted.
“There should be some stuff in the washing basket that’s suitably stinky enough for you, love.”
I glared at him, and he held his hands up defensively.
“I’ll fetch them,” he said.
He returned with several worn t-shirts and a hoodie.
It wasn’t enough!
“Strip,” I demanded.
“What?”
“Strip. This isn’t going to be enough. I need what you’re wearing,” I pointed out. I had no idea why he was being so deliberately obtuse.
He took off the t-shirt he’d been sleeping in and passed it to me. This was good; it smelled freshly of him.
“Those too.” I pointed at his joggers.
“Let me get what I need from the kitchen, and then they’re all yours. Can even have my boxers if you want.”
“Fucking obviously,” I muttered as he left the room.
While he sauntered about in the kitchen, I really got to work on my nest. It needed to be my best one yet. It was much easier with all my nesting materials from home, but I dug out the bags that Axel had in his wardrobe because there was no such thing as too much.
By the time Axel returned, it was almost complete. He placed a few Powerade bottles onto the bedside table and left a bag next to the bed.
“What’s in there?” I asked.
“Just some snacks I bought in so I’d be ready,” he explained.
And then I cried.
“Fuck. You’re so lovely,” I wailed.
“Hey, shhh, you’re okay. I’ve texted Milly and she’s got a friend who will help her out for the next few days. We have everything we need up here in the flat, so we won’t need to leave and go anywhere. You have all your materials this time, and your nest is already looking so perfect, love,” he soothed, holding me against his warm, furry chest.
I sniffled and then groaned as the first wave of heat wracked through my body, making my skin feel like it was on fire. Quickly shucking off my clothes to let the cold air take the edge off, I placed the last few items in my nest and crawled into the centre naked.
It didn’t take long for Axel to join me in the nest, pressing his body weight down on top of me in a way that quieted my brain. He got hard quickly, and his big cock pressed against my stomach between us.
I searched for his mouth and kissed him hard. The need to taste him and consume his scent was overwhelming. My hands gripped each side of his head like I was trying to meld our faces together. I felt like no matter what, I just couldn’t get close enough to him, and I groaned in frustration.
“What do you need, love?” he asked between kisses.
“I don’t know. Just… more,” I said right before another wave of heat spread under my skin, making me tingle from head to toe.
He lifted his weight off me and began kissing and licking my neck before he sucked on my scent gland.
“Oh my god, yes. That. More of that,” I demanded.
My scent gland was always sensitive, but never like this. I was already on a hair trigger from his tongue swirling around it.
He continued travelling down my body, pressing kisses to my chest and rolling my nipples between his thumb and forefinger in a way that made my toes curl.
Making his way as far as my navel, he nibbled on my hip bones and kissed along the crease of my thigh. When he rolled my balls in his hands, my hips bucked off the bed.
I could do nothing but stare when he nosed at my cock, which was leaking like a faucet. He took a deep inhale.
“Fuck, Dyl. You smell so good. So… right. ”
For once, I was grateful I wasn’t well endowed because Axel took my full length into his mouth and swallowed me whole.
With my eyes still firmly rolled into the back of my head, Axel’s fingers stroked up my inner thigh and down to my hole, which was dripping with slick.
“So wet for me, Dyl. You gonna beg for my knot?” He teased the entrance but didn’t press in.
“Pl—pl—please. Please don’t tease me, I need it.” I gyrated my hips to chase his fingers, needing to be filled with anything.
He kissed the small nest of hair at the base of my cock before giving me what I wanted. Two fingers pressed in, and I took them easily. It wasn’t enough.
“I need more. Please, Axel,” I begged.
He added a third, and the stretch was finally closer to what I wanted, but if I was going to take his knot, he’d need to use four.
“I can take it, Ax. Give me more.”
I moaned loudly when he did as I asked. The feel of four of his thick fingers stretching and filling me appeased my overheated body. He pumped them in and out of me, and every time a knuckle brushed against my prostate, I felt like I might come.
The satisfaction was quick to wear off, much like with the toys I’d used for years during my heats alone.
“Fuck me. Knot me. I need it, Axel. Please?”
He crawled up my body and took my mouth again in a fierce kiss. Sitting back to kneel between my thighs, he lifted my arse so it rested on his thighs and pushed his throbbing cock forward to line it up with my hole.
With my legs resting over his arms, he pushed inside me in one long thrust. He looked up from where we were joined, and his pupils were so dilated that they appeared black.
Axel thrust in a few times with a ferocity that felt a lot like possession. A lot like being claimed. When he leaned forward to kiss me, bending me in half, he continued to pound into me until I was gasping for air.
As I absorbed Axel’s passion and desire for me, I found myself fighting off tears.
I didn’t know it could be like this. I didn’t know…
All those heats I’d spent alone, convincing myself I was content when really I’d been waiting. Waiting for my alpha to finally recognise me. Finally, see me as his. His to claim and his to keep.
Axel’s thrusts slowed down, and he peered down at me. “Shit, are you okay? I’m not hurting you, am I?” he asked.
“No… You’re… This is… I didn’t know it could be like this,” I eventually managed to spit out, hiccupping embarrassingly afterwards. “Sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Don’t know why I’m crying. Just ignore it.”
“Baby. Love, I’m not gonna ignore it.” He didn’t pull out, just stilled inside me. “You know it’s only like this because it’s us, right? It’s… it’s never been like this for me. You and me are something special. Something… always,“ he said, wiping the tears from my cheeks with his thumb.
“Always?” I whimpered.
“Always, love.”
I tipped up my head in invitation, and Axel kissed me as he slowly began to move his hips, shallow thrusts that rubbed his cockhead against my prostate maddeningly.
“Yes, right there. Keep… right there..”
A wave of heat hit me like a hurricane right as Axel thrust in at the perfect angle, and I came without any warning. Nothing but the slight friction of Axel’s abs rubbing against me. I shook and trembled beneath him as my cum covered my stomach.
“Want me to keep going?” Axel asked.
Usually, I was too sensitive to carry on, but I knew that during my heat, it didn’t matter. The waves wouldn’t really subside until Axel’s knot had swelled and was trapped inside me.
“Yes. Don’t… don’t stop. Need your knot. Fill me, Axel.”
He flipped us around so I was on top of him. I didn’t have it in me to do much work, but Axel pistoned up into my hole over and over until I began to feel the pulsing sensation of his knot filling.
As his knot got bigger and bigger, his thrusts became shallow, and the bulb rubbed against my prostate until I could feel another orgasm building.
When Axel gripped both of my hips in his big hands, holding me down onto his knot until he scrunched his eyes and warned, “I’m… fuck… I’m coming.”
His cock and knot pulsated inside me as I stroked my own length a few times fiercely until I came again, all over Axel this time.
Afterwards, I collapsed on top of him, and he raised his knees so his knot wouldn’t tug on my rim uncomfortably.
With my head resting on his chest that heaved from exertion, Axel reached out of the nest and rummaged around in the bag he’d left there before.
A moment later, Axel began hand-feeding me from a punnet of blueberries with his other hand stroking my hair.
“I love you so much, Dyl. I’ll spend forever showing you how much if you let me.”
“Always have, always will, Ax. You’re stuck with me now.” I smiled and took another blueberry from his fingers.
I don’t think I’d ever been so content in my life as I was right then. Never felt so cared for. So… so loved.