Chapter 39
Alexander
“Do you know why I wanted to speak to you?” Maximus asks while he tracks me like prey—something I will be if I’m not careful.
“Evidently not, fool,” I mutter the last part just loud enough so that he’ll be sure to hear it.
“Dangerous waters,” he growls in warning. “Tread carefully, my dear mate.”
Max circles the kitchen counter, and I do the same, mirroring his movements to keep a fair distance between us. He quirks a brow. “Running, are we?”
“Chasing, are we?” I throw back. “Now, get on with why you wanted to speak to me.”
Maximus sucks his teeth disapprovingly as he cocks his head back. “Don’t you want to spend as much time as we can together? Where’s the love?”
“With Julian,” I deadpan, wiping the smirk off his face.
“Fine, maintain your pretences,” he sneers as his fingers tighten around the back of a kitchen stool. “Just keep a closer eye on Julian. He’s not accustomed to our lifestyle, and Aiden seems to forget that.”
“He needs it. Hell, I need it,” I scoff as I pick the lint off my shirt. “I’ve been with the guy forever, and you tire of books every day. He’s happy and trying new things. What’s wrong with that?”
Nothing, but Maximus seems to think there is, because he rolls his eyes. But fools often think foolish things.
“Why don’t you lay off the boy?” I say, referring to Aiden. “You’re making him feel worse, which in turn makes us feel bad, and I personally don’t need that.”
“Aiden was reckless!” Max shouts, pushing from the stool. He’s all emotion and no sense.
“He was having fun!” I argue, my eyes holding his challenging gaze, even as he starts towards me.
This time, I don’t move. I hold my ground as he stomps towards me and only stops when we’re standing close enough for his breath to tickle my skin. It forces goosebumps over my skin, but I stay where I am.
Stepping back would be admitting defeat, and that is something I would not do.
“You don’t understand,” he says, softer now as all that built-up frustration slips from his clutches, revealing the distress underneath. “The pain that we felt seeing you like that … not knowing if you’d be okay—” he stops to breathe, and as he does, my heart clenches with guilt.
He shakes his head. “It’s worse for Aiden. He doesn’t realise he loves Julian yet, so this is burning him from the inside out.”
“Oh, he loves him?” I retort sarcastically, and Max rolls his eyes.
“I’m being serious,” he grumbles, and I let the jokes go for once.
“Julian hasn’t realised it yet either,” I admit as I push my hair back. “They’re still afraid to trust each other completely, but—” I duck my head to meet his lowered gaze, “things like this will help them get there. They’re still young; mistakes are inevitable.”
“I know,” Maximus replies with some effort. “That does not mean I want to see you bleeding.”
“Aw, you do care,” I coo, even as my heart leaps as I gather those words inside of me.
Max, arrogant and bold, lifts his head and his hand to trace his fingers over my mark.
“Well, I do love you,” he declares while sparks flare from where he touches, running through my body, all the way to the soles of my feet.
“Love?” I muse while I struggle not to beg for more. “Funny how quickly hate changed to love, huh? The Moon Goddess really fucked us over.”
A familiar smile stretches across his lips as he laughs. “They think she did this to them, but it was to punish us, wasn’t it?”
“That’s what we get for spending generations destroying everything just to get at each other’s throats,” I muse, and he laughs again.
Time is different in Goddess’s Resplendent Plains, so it’s hard to say how long Max and I had spent there, waiting to be paired with our other half in this world, but I spent the duration of it hating him.
When I realised he was Aiden’s wolf, I nearly lost it.
Finding out that the Moon Goddess finally put me with a human, only to be in the same vicinity as Maximus, was like being sentenced to an eternity in hell.
“I’ve fantasised about your death for most of my life, about how I might scar you,” I admit as I step forward, invading his space, “but now …”
“Now you can’t get enough of me,” he whispers, pulling my body against his wonderfully firm one.
“Is that so?” I muse into the crook of his ear. He hums, letting his hands slide down my back, slipping beneath the fabric to touch skin. “And what would you do if that were true?”
“I’d take you right here. Right now,” he breathes huskily.
I smirk and wait until his hands smooth over my ass before I turn us swiftly, slamming his back into the fridge. Max’s throat strains against my forearm as he gasps, but I keep him firmly in his place. Not fighting, he blinks wide eyes at me, ones sparkling with noted excitement.
“Let’s get something clear, Max,” I purr as I let my free hand slide down his body.
“Julian and I are not ‘bottoms’.” I stop at his hip and press him into the fridge door before sliding my leg between his.
“In the situation our lives have forced us into, we have adapted and accepted it, because your cock in our ass does feel good. But do not forget … we let you take us.”
Max’s dark eyes are no longer so wide. They’re hooded now, heavy with lust as he stares at me. His body is a tight, tense thing, but he doesn’t dare fight me. Pleased, I gift him a smile as I lean in close, and he purrs.
“For Julian’s sake, I will not fuck you until you’re shooting blanks and screaming my name until you’ve gone hoarse,” I whisper against his lips. “I’ll leave that special night for him and Aiden. So … remember your place, my dear mate.”
I slip my arm from his neck, letting him breathe properly, only to cut his next breath short as I trail my fingers over his soft lips. Even freed, Max stays plastered against the fridge as his tongue eases out. He licks between my fingers slowly, sending shivers down my back as his eyes claim mine.
“It turns me on to see you like this,” he whispers as he reaches up to grab my wrist. His lips wrap around my fingers, sucking them into his mouth and my erection strains in my pants as I watch him. Max chuckles as he rubs his leg against my cock. “Excited already?”
“Yes,” I admit, horny and unashamed to admit it. “You caused this, so take responsibility,” I demand, making his eyes glow momentarily. I frown. “What’s up with the eyes?”
“You know I can’t tell you that,” he purrs while he draws my arm out and dips low to worship me with kisses.
“I thought you loved me,” I say as I drive my fingers into his hair and crane my head for more. Eyes half shut, I stifle a moan as his hands climb up my shirt, teasing over my back.
“You know that I do,” he whispers against my neck. “But I’d never betray Aiden like that.”
Making his way up, Max drags his lips over every inch of my skin he can until his tongue traces over the shell of my ear. I shiver and melt completely into his arms, driving him into the fridge.
“Secrets, secrets,” I tsk while I grind against him.
“Secrets, secrets,” he echoes with a lustful groan, his hands travelling into my pants to grab my ass. “So dangerous …” he growls as he hoists me against him, stealing the air from my lungs. “And yet so much fun.”
Maximus clamps sharp teeth down on my jaw, making me moan as I rock my hips, rubbing myself wantonly against him, officially done with talking. I drag his head up, crushing those beautiful lips with mine, and moan in satisfaction as those promised electrifying shocks dance between us.
I slant my head to deepen the kiss, and Max yields, letting my tongue explore his mouth as he devours mine in return. Our skin is on fire as we claw at one another, growing more vicious as we fight for dominance.
I sink my teeth into his bottom lip before tracing my tongue over it, and he moans beautifully for me before I let my hands wander up his shirt. I barely brush his nipples before he lifts me suddenly, placing me on the edge of the island before he continues our hungry kiss.
Wrapping my legs around his waist, I pull Max closer, and he smiles against my lips as his hands rake all over my body. I tug on his shirt’s hem, spurring him to take it off as I do the same with mine.
We share a grunt as his chest presses against mine, skin to skin, and it feels so terribly good. My skin’s already aflame, my breath short, but when he makes his way down to my mark and traces the area slowly with his tongue, I lose it.
Whining softly, I rub myself against any part of him I can, wanting more skin, more friction. But this is Maximus—I know he will tease me until I’m undone, but I’m not going to fall into his traps so easily.
Gripping the roots of his hair, I yank his head to the side before I feast on my mark at his throat. A loud moan escapes his lips as I mouth the scar, tracing it with my tongue.
He shakes in my arms, and I feel his pleasure running through me like it’s my own. Not enough to make him come though. Unlike our counterparts, we were naturally stronger, built to endure, which meant that, where sex was concerned, we could go on for much, much longer.
Pushing Max back, I slide off the counter and make quick work of stripping myself, and Max hurries to do the same. He’s naked first and takes full advantage of the fact to lie himself on the counter with a smirk that says it all.
I smile back at him because I am not the type to deny myself a good time.
Climbing on top of my mate, I position my ass over his face and my lips over his cock before I slowly lower myself and take his length into my mouth. I slide down, taking every inch until he’s lodged in my throat, groaning with pleasure as he arches his back off the cold marble.
He tastes better than I imagined, and he smells even better.
With a moan, I slowly come back up before he finally joins in and circles my leaking cock with his warm tongue. His cock pops free from my lips and twitches with need before I greedily take him into my mouth again. At the same time, Maximus takes me in completely, and my eyes flutter shut.