Chapter 59 #3
I think about what it’d actually be like if Aiden were sick, just enough for the concern in my voice doesn’t seem fabricated, especially when I bring our faces unnecessarily close.
It’s harder for me to keep my focus on his forehead, harder still when his tongue flicks over his lips, nearly brushing mine. But by the grace of Goddess, I manage.
“I’m fine, Julian,” he mumbles—only to gulp when I drop my eyes to his.
I study him for a moment, keeping us close while my skin tingles and my lust stirs. The only thing keeping that hidden is his scent coating my skin.
“Okay,” I say, smiling as if relieved. Then I step back, grab the bowl with the plates, and head for the table without another word, leaving him hot, dazed, and hopelessly turned on. Tension skitters down my spine.
Step one—complete.
“Do you want to watch a movie?” I ask once I’m done cleaning up the kitchen.
It’s the first thing I’ve said to Aiden without his prompting. During dinner, I’d been extra careful to only speak when he spoke to me, and when I did, I kept it short.
The goal was to act distant, but fine, so every time Aiden asked if he’d done something wrong, I insisted that he hadn’t and that I was fine.
It had been straight-up hell, and I felt shit about it, but Emitt said this was “important for step two.” Judging by the way Aiden perks up now, his black eyes flooding with hope, it seems he was right.
“Yeah,” he says quickly. “Of course!”
Switching the lights off, we slip into the living room, but while he sinks onto the couch, I take the lone armchair. His frown is immediate.
When we settle in to watch something, his head is usually in my lap, or we’re cuddled close. Some part of us is always touching—has to touch—but not tonight.
“What?” I ask, mirroring the confusion on his face.
“You just …” He pauses. His frown deepens. “You usually sit with me.”
My heart twists at the hurt in his voice, and I nearly break. But I can’t. Things are, surprisingly, going according to plan. If I carry on—hold the line—I’ll have him exactly where I want him.
“Not always,” I reply, tilting my head. “And I’m right here.”
We’re sitting next to each other, with only a small gap between the couch and my chair, so technically, that’s true.
“Yeah, never mind,” Aiden mumbles, and—oh Goddess, it takes everything inside of me not to climb into his lap, wrap my arms around him, and apologise until I go hoarse.
A piece of me worries about this ending badly, but I don’t think it physically can. In the worst-case scenario, Aiden would unknowingly escape my trap, and we would go to sleep. Our wolves would be horny tomorrow, but at least I could tell Alex I tried.
In another case, he got riled up enough to break the ban and took care of all of this for us. But in the best case, things will go my way.
I lean against the arm of the chair and I pretend to watch the action movie Aiden turns on, putting as much distance between us as I can without it looking too deliberate.
Waves of discomfort ripple through our bond and I feel his eyes on me throughout the movie. He doesn’t speak though—until I fold my legs, and my propped foot ends up closing the distance between us.
Aiden wastes no time and slides a hand over it, his touch gentle and surprisingly innocent, but I still draw it away. He stiffens, his stare burning a hole into the side of my head while I keep my attention on the screen.
After a minute, he reaches for me again.
“Aiden, stop,” I scold, feigning annoyance as I unfold my legs and shift just out of his reach.
I swear I hear his heart stop, but even if that’s imagined, there’s no mistaking the way his jaw drops. Honestly, I shocked myself as much as I did him, but I cling to my cool front, digging claws into it, because I can’t afford any slip-ups now.
Not even a minute later, Aiden springs to his feet.
I look up at him, heart plummeting in the torturous seconds that pass before he steps forward and slides himself onto my lap. Turning itself around, my heart pushes itself into second gear.
“What are you doing?” I ask while Aiden buries himself into my neck. “Aiden,” I groan like I’m not mentally fist pumping right now.
“I just want to be closer to you,” he whispers as he breathes me in.
“I—”
“Please,” he begs, voice cracking as his grip tightens like I might disappear.
Moon Goddess, save me, he’s adorable.
“Okay,” I say, letting my hand fall to his back.
My touch is gentle, but he still jerks a little, making me smile as I rub his back. Releasing a measured breath, Aiden snuggles himself into me, not even bothering to watch the movie anymore. I don’t comment on it because I’m not watching it either.
I focus on maintaining my soothing touches while I let my other hand slide over his thigh. It’s slow, too slow to suggest anything overt. But the way his breathing staggers in my ear suggests otherwise.
My attack on his body is a silent one, but still deadly. I trace his most sensitive spots, and He melts in my arms as I coax his body to wake for me. It’s subdued at first, harsh breaths that morph into low moans as my fingers pass over every inch of exposed skin.
By the time the movie finishes, he’s panting and his gaze is basically dripping in lust.
Step two—complete.
“Admit it. Y-you’re doing this on purpose,” he stammers, and I’m frowning before I can even think to play dumb. Since when does Aiden stammer?
“What?”
“You’re doing this to me on purpose,” he groans, voice fraying as I trail my fingers higher up his back. He shudders when I tease the nape of his neck.
“Julian … I wanna …” His eyes dart between mine. “I want …” His pupils dilate a second before he presses his lips to mine.
I’m used to frantic kisses with Aiden. Slow, sweet ones too. But this one is laced with so much desperate need. Starving.
It muddles my mind, and almost too late, I feel the tug of my pants’ drawstring.
I pull away with a gasp and grab his wrists in an unyielding grip. We pant against each other and Aiden tries to kiss me again, but I turn my head.
“Aiden. Stop.”
He falters, the lust clearing from his face as he blinks at me. Then he crumples, scowling with a low whine that has Alex himself scratching at me to comfort him.
“I just want to hold you, Julian.”
“Hold me or fuck me?” I ask, as if I’m not actively trying to get him to fuck me.
Is this fair? Probably not. Manipulative? Most definitely. But Aiden knows who he’s mated to, so I try not to dwell on the guilt.
“Wait, no!” he blurts. “I mean, yes, but no!” He’s panicking now, and it only gets worse when I push him back so I can stand up.
I put space between us, only a little, so I can get control back over this, but Aiden sees my retreat as a dismissal. He scrambles after me.
“Julian, I don’t just want sex,” he promises, chasing me into the hall. “Julian.” He grabs my arm, forcing me to look into his eyes, and my heart breaks.
This better work out in the end, or I’m going to skin Emitt alive.
“I just … I just—” he clambers for the right words. “I want to be with you because I need my mate. It’s not just sex, Julian.”
“You—”
“I’ll do anything,” he cuts in, eyes wide. “I won’t do anything you don’t like. I just want you,” he vows as he steps closer, walking right into my web. “Anything you want.”
Almost there …
“Anything?” I ask, biting the inside of my cheeks to gold back my grin.
“Anything,” he swears.
Good.
I fist his shirt and yank him to me. His eyes widen just before our lips crash together in a kiss much rougher than the one he gave me earlier. Even so, I don’t give him a chance to try to dominate me, and I certainly make no effort to hold back.
After days of not having him properly, my body vibrates with the need to consume him, and I let that hunger bleed into the kiss. I bite his lip and swipe my tongue over the tender skin before I shove him into the wall.
Aiden moans against my tongue as I slide my hands under his shirt and up his sides. He shivers for me, and I smile as I drive my thigh between his and rock against the hard line of his erection.
“Agh—” he moans as I break the kiss to suck on his jaw, tracing the ink climbing up his neck with my tongue.
He bucks against me, grinding hard. My cock jerks when he whimpers as I drag my nails over his nipples. I’m leaking long before I pull back to look him over.
He looks like a dream, one I’ve messed up and made dirty. I can see him trying to breathe, to focus, but that just won’t do.
Grabbing his hand, I drag him to our bedroom and push him onto the bed. He bounces, eyes wide as I climb up after him and slam my lips back onto his. He gasps and then moans as I force my hips between his thighs and press our cocks together.
Sparks erupt between us as we moan into each other’s mouths. I rock against Aiden, grinding down while I let my tongue dance with his until it’s drenched with his saliva. I claw at his shirt, tugging until I have to pull back to take it off.
I get rid of everything else while I’m at it until he’s gloriously naked and out of breath. Aiden looks at me with dazed eyes and swollen lips that bleed a little from where I’ve nipped him. I didn’t think I was into blood, but—
Aiden sits up in a misplaced endeavour to switch our positions, but I push him back down before he can get his hands under him.
“Stay still,” I growl, pressing a palm to his chest. I keep him pinned to the bed and when his eyes spark at the challenge I dip low to suck on his mark.
“Oh fuck!” he moans loudly just before my free hand wraps around his erection. Then the moan cuts itself off like he’s forgotten how to breathe as he tenses beneath me. He jerks in my hand, his body straining beneath mine before—
I draw back, smirking as he trembles beneath me while I rub his cum between my fingers.
“That was fast.”
Aiden’s cheeks pinken, just a touch, but it’s there, and as he watches me lick his cum off my fingers, that colour soon invades the rest of his face. I hold his gaze until each digit is clean.
“Holy fuck,” Aiden rasps, arm flung over his eyes, trying to breath.
I kick off my pants and I slide down the bed, settling between Aiden’s legs.
I need to keep him suspended in pleasure, lost in it, so he can’t turn this around. I need him at my mercy.
I breathe him in, then wrap my lips around his cock, sucking his tip into my mouth. Aiden jerks up, hands scrambling, but there’s nowhere for him to go. I fist him at the base, keeping him locked in my grasp.
Wrecked moans tear from him as I run my free hand over his body, overwhelming his nerves with sensation. He bows off the bed, his outstretched legs trembling as I swirl my tongue over his sensitive tip.
Payback’s a bitch.
“Julian!” he shrieks, his precum leaking onto my tongue. I lap it up, swallowing every drop until his voice breaks and he slides back onto the bed, chest heaving.
Only then do I relent, and Aiden immediately relaxes—his slitted eyes fluttering closed, keeping him oblivious to the way I lick my fingers, drenching them in spit before I press them against his entrance.
He freezes.
“Woah! Woah! Woah! Woah!” he shouts as he tries to sit up, this time with more force. I meet his effort with mine, keeping him down and in his place, but I don’t take it further.
I hover over him, my eyes fixed on his, my fingers pressed at his entrance.
“What?” I ask. My nonchalance makes his already bulging eyes widen.
“What?! You were about to …” He trails off, unable to say the words. “I don’t want to,” he says instead. “You’re the bottom. I’m the top.”
I don’t miss the way he says that more to himself than to me.
“You said you’d do anything,” I remind while I tease the underside of his cock with my finger. I keep the touch persistent but slow, watching as his eyelids weigh down, and he moans for me.
Caressing him, I keep him suspended on this line of pleasure before I squeeze him suddenly, forcing his eyes back open. “Were you lying?”
“N-no,” he sputters, dark eyes wide. “But I didn’t mean that. I—I can’t.”
“I do it all the time, Aiden,” I remind him in a gentle whisper while I lower myself. Maintaining my touch, I lick up the outline of his ear until he moans for me before I dip lower to whisper, “… I promise I’ll make you feel good.”
Aiden’s heart pounds loudly, each beat conquering the seconds I wait. I count them out, because I want to know exactly how many it takes before he gives in to me. Because he is going to give in to me.
One … Two … Three … Four … Five—
“Okay.”
Aiden says it so quietly that I almost miss it. Almost.
Five. Five seconds.
Checkmate.