Chapter 28
Konstantine
Back in my office, I fell heavily onto my chair and waited for my officers to arrive.
We were supposed to be discussing reinforcements along the outer borders of the Halo.
Something was happening, I could it feel in my bones and my wolf could sense it too, but no.
Now I had to deviate from those topics so I could tell my beta to lay off of anything concerning her.
I knew it would have been a mistake going down to the pool during the break, and I had been right. I put my head in my hands and tried not to think about her, but it was no use. I closed my eyes, and the feel of Arax’s body on mine as we fell in the pool together skirted along my skin.
Watching her and Eleni get manhandled by Cyrus while they’d played around in the pool had actually made me a little envious. It was hard to admit that Arax had already started to establish some kind relationship with everyone in the group except for me, and it was my own fault.
I didn’t flounder in my thoughts for too long before Vallon and Jason entered my office. Drake and Cyrus came in shortly thereafter.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Cyrus said his piece first.
“I know what you’re going to say.”
“Do you?” I was fuming. But my exterior, the opposite.
He took a seat and put his feet up on the conference table, too full of himself for his own good. Vallon watched me closely. A quick dip of my chin and Cyrus’s feet came crashing back to the ground.
“You were saying, Beta?” she quipped, dusting off her hands.
“Nothing,” Cyrus said, his pride having taken a hit. “Far be it from me to try to give you a push in the right direction.”
“Well, then hear this,” I replied, addressing the entire group. “Right now isn’t the time…”
Before anyone could respond, my office doors flew open, and Penelope barged in.
“Listen here, dillhole,” she said angrily. “I’m tired of covering for your ass.”
“Penelope, not now,” I snapped back, my patience nonexistent. Mother was right in middle naming her Eris, I said to myself.
“Yes now. She’s leaving, Stan, leaving. Again.”
“And?” I asked.
“’And’? Really? She’s confused as all hell, and I can’t blame her!”
I arched an eyebrow at my sister, to which she overdramatically sighed in frustration.
“Your constant hot-and-cold attitude toward her is seriously throwing her for a loop. She was talking about going home early. She thinks her being here is an issue for you. I did my best to convince her it’s not, and I made sure she’s at least staying for the party, but beyond that, who knows what she’ll do. ”
The thought of Arax leaving again caused a tightness to form in my chest. I couldn’t shake it.
“Look, you need to figure it out, Konstantine,” Penelope said. “You never had a lot of time to begin with. She mentioned before that she has about two weeks of vacation before she leaves the mountains altogether.”
I wanted to throttle my sister. Throttle all of them. I didn’t need this. I slid a chair towards her.
“Sit, Penelope.”
“Why?”
“For once in your damn life, do as you’re told. Now sit.”
The atmosphere around the table had grown tense.
I turned my eyes toward Drake, who was watching us, bored.
“Gamma,” I prompted. He took a few shallow inhales before he looked up at the two of us again.
His jaw was now clenched, and he spoke carefully but deliberately.
“There have been rumors,” he said. His tone was somewhat icy, which was uncharacteristic of him, which meant Typhon was close to the surface.
“These rumors speak of recruitment tactics, promises of glory, the sort of propaganda the Council loves to peddle in order to stir the pot.”
“It’s not a new M.O. for them.” Vallon stood up and took over. “They don’t need to change up their tactics when something is effective. We’ve seen this before…and it’s worked. Extremely well.”
I chanced a glance at my sister to see she had gone very still. Her breathing had quieted to a whisper and she twisted her fingers in her lap. Vallon continued with her brief, and I took the opportunity to cover my sister’s hands with mine.
“Pen, I’m sorry for springing this on you so abruptly; I’m trying to get ahead of it. But do you see why I can’t afford to get distracted?”
She didn’t look at me but nodded quietly, squeezing my fingers.
I squeezed hers back. One of my biggest regrets was leaving my sister to fend for herself while I was abroad.
She had sat alone in her room for days processing the news of our father’s death, refusing to see anyone, leaving any food and drink untouched. No one could comfort her.
“I’m not a child, Stan.” Her voice rang tinny in my head. “You don’t have to keep things from me.”
“You’ve been through enough.”
Penelope squeezed my fingers again, but harder, causing them to crack.
“Vallon told me what you two talked about after the dinner fiasco.” She was looking at me but still kept the mindlink, “She’s right, you’re a damn good alpha and I know you’ll give those Council pricks hell when the time comes, but…
,” she paused, “don’t lose Arax because of them.
You don’t owe anyone your happiness as a sacrifice.
Be greedy and selfish and take what’s yours for once in your life, you dumbfuck. ”
She stood to leave, having a disdain for anything regarding pack politics.
Sometimes I envied my sister for her ability to brush off that which caused her any annoyance.
My position didn’t offer me that luxury.
There was a moratorium at the moment on my surface issues with the Council; however, I knew sooner or later, they would come to me and present their pick for my chosen mate.
The plan all along was to negate their decision by announcing I had indeed found my fated, thus nullifying the agreement I’d made with them.
Yet I’d never had any intention of accepting my bond with Arax.
How things had changed in the span of a year.
I couldn’t discount how much better I was feeling.
My headaches had disappeared, and in the past two nights, I’d been able to sleep until morning.
Arax was also showing signs of improving.
Her figure, though still slight, wasn’t as shrunken as it had been on the day of her return.
She had a bit more color to her, her skin was supple, and the smile on her face had become a little brighter.
I was left with much to think about. I still had my reservations, but they were slowly being overshadowed by the feelings I was developing for her.
I wasn’t quite ready to give in to them, but maybe it was time to feel her out and see where Arax stood.
There were times when a particular look in her eye would make me almost certain she was conscious of the bond, at least to some degree, but an assumption wasn’t enough. I had to be sure.
We’d been at this since early morning. Secret meetings with my officers, off the record with the minutes unkept were nothing new.
Neither were the reports prepared by the many eyes from all around the territory that Drake kept in his employ.
One such report came from a Malachi Fox and I sharpened my ears.
A man more secretive than him couldn’t be found, I was sure of it.
He owed allegiance to no pack, preferring to move in the shadows.
Yet somehow, he maintained his sanity despite the lone wolf persona and had become one of Drake’s most trusted spies.
He’d disappear for months, years at a time, then resurface as though he’d never left –usually right before some cataclysmic event.
He was known as the harbinger in my circle and I wondered what ill omens he’d brought with him this time.
Try as I might to listen, I couldn’t focus.
I began to feel hot. Grey eyes and long flowing hair interrupted my concentration.
I pulled at the collar of my shirt and ran a hand across my forehead, which was dampening with perspiration.
I glanced discreetly around the table. No one else seemed out of sorts.
I was getting more heated as time passed.
A tightness in my pants drew my attention downward.
My erection was painfully constricted in my jeans, daring to break apart the zipper.
What the fuck is happening? I thought. I was thirty years old. I had a little more control over my bodily functions than this. Another painful rub against my zipper told me this was not so, and I slowly got up.
“Carry on.” I waved at Drake to continue and rushed to the restroom in the adjoining bedroom, the same bedroom Arax had occupied the prior year.
I hurriedly dropped trou and breathed a sigh of relief. Apollo had been fidgeting all the while in my head, emitting low, agitated growls.
Any idea what is going on? I asked.
I heard a faint chuckle come from him. I think our mate is umm…
What?
Pleasuring herself.
Oh.
OH.
Well, fuck. Could it be possible to be this affected by her ministrations via our bond?
A surge of heat going through my body provided the answer.
It was so strong and I stiffened further, in desperate need for a reprieve.
I took hold of myself, and gazed at my reflection as I worked along the length, taking my time at first. My dick throbbed in my hand.
Whatever she was doing had my blood heading south quick.
I pumped faster, but the feeling did not relent and I dropped my head back.
My breathing had slowed, coming out between my teeth in long hisses.
A groan left my lips, and I sank deeper into a haze of arousal.
I became lightheaded, stroking harder with every wave that passed through Arax.
I could feel her release building. She was getting there.
Even though the anticipation was barely tolerable, I had never been so turned on while servicing myself.
I didn’t even know I could experience this sort of thing by way of the mate bond.
I circled around the tip, stuck in between wanting to get off but wanting to hold it together until she was ready.
Though she was causing me to suffer in the best way, I was positive Arax had no idea what was happening.
I wonder if I could affect her in the same manner, I thought. I had a satisfying need to return the favor.
I leaned my hand on the wall for support. “Come on, Arax,” I whispered, breaking into a full body sweat. “Give in to me.”
I imagined her full lips on my cock, sucking me off.
A few drops of precum leaked into my hand, and I pictured her tongue licking them up before taking all of me into her mouth again.
My dick became so engorged at the notion of being down her throat that I got hit with another wave of euphoria.
She unknowingly reciprocated as her orgasm reached a crescendo.
I was ready for it, my hand cramping. I needed us to come together.
“That’s it, baby.” I moaned. “Let go.”
Her climax struck me so viciously, it nearly brought me to my knees.
I closed my eyes and beat my cock until it exploded, giving me the wild, mind-numbing release I’d been frantically craving for over a year.
My eyes rolled deeply, and I couldn’t see anything besides visions of Arax until I felt her pleasure subsiding, her needs sated.
I was dripping in sweat. Never in my life had I had such a powerful self-inflicted orgasm.
Knowing somewhere in the castle lay the slaked casualty of my reciprocity had made my own finale that much grander.
“Good girl,” I said with a grunt. I grinned at the mess I’d made and took a minute to clean it and myself up and get my bearings before I returned to the meeting. My legs were wobbly, having been without any feeling for several minutes.
Whatever had been discussed in the interim had Drake curiously excited and Vallon and Jason equally apprehensive.
The Gamma’s ears were tipped red, and he waved his hands about, voice raised until he saw me and quieted.
He offered to fill me in and I covertly observed him, my mind not on the briefs coming from every corner of the territory, but instead wondering if his unusual feelings about my mate made him privy to any goings on.
He appeared to be unaffected. It seemed that the experience with Arax was a singularity, contained within the scope of our bond.
She was going to be such a liability, for me, for my pack, for herself, but damn if she hadn’t just given me everything I’d been needing for so long without even being present.
Settling back down in my seat, I still couldn’t concentrate, capable of only having thoughts about my doe-eyed mate and how she was faring following our afternoon of mutual delight.