Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Noah
I sit behind Aster in a hot bath, leaning back against the marble and slowly dragging a warm washcloth up her thigh.
After our dramatic exit by helicopter from the Adalwulf estate, our pilots–three rowdy young werebear mercs Sully brought in–landed the bird at The Blackthroat estate where I carried Aster straight to the en suite bath in our room.
Getting her naked, holding her, keeping our bodies connected skin-to-skin felt like a necessity. Even now, having her in my arms, knowing she truly is mine, the sense of near desperation clings to me.
I still don’t understand everything that happened. Even up on that cracked dais, I didn’t know whether she’d orchestrated the whole thing to manipulate me into leading her pack, or whether she was just trying to keep us both alive.
I thank the sweet Moon Goddess for the moment she agreed to leave with me, and I could be sure she was the female I thought she was. That what we have together is real. That she loves me and wants to be my mate.
I pick her up and turn her to straddle me, so I can read her lips.
“Aster. Starshine. You nearly killed me when you said you didn’t want me as your mate.” I sign and speak so that she can learn ASL.
Tears spring to her eyes. “I know.” She cups my cheek. “I had to make you leave. I hated hurting you, but I knew it was the only way.”
“Why? What did you see?”
I had a vision–” she chokes up. I feel her pain as acutely as if it’s my own.
“What was it?”
“Your death. The Grandmothers forced me to go back.” A tear streaks her cheek, but she laughs as she wipes it away.
“They pulled all the strings, and we both were their puppets. They crowned you as the Adalwulf Alpha and completed the Alpha Bond of Seeress to Alpha. I guess they want you and me to lead the pack.”
I stare at her, fully digesting her words. My heart pounds against my chest. “And you were still willing to leave with me?”
Fresh tears spill down her cheeks. “Of course. I don’t want to be Seeress anymore. I don’t want anything to do with the Adalwulf Pack. All I want is you.”
I grasp the back of her head, pulling her mouth to mine. I stroke my lips across hers softly, savoring the sweetness of the moment. She kisses me back, her tongue slipping between my lips.
I love you, starshine, I pull back and sign.
I love you forever, she signs back, moving in for another kiss. My cock lengthens, and she wiggles her hips, rubbing over it.
I groan, my hands moving to her waist. She reaches between her legs to grasp my cock, rising up and attempting to lower herself onto it. The water in the bath makes it too slick. She giggles when I slip out.
I laugh and reach behind me to pull out the plug, letting the water drain below our hips. Lifting Aster by the waist, I guide her onto my cock. Aster’s pouty lips part, and she slowly undulates, taking me deeper, then moving back. She’s a goddess, glorious and ethereal. Magical.
And she’s all mine.
I grip her hips, urging her deeper. Faster.
She bounces over my cock, her breasts dancing, her lovely blonde hair cascading in waves around her slender shoulders.
Our mingled breath quickens into panting.
I flick my tongue over her nipple as it dances in front of my face, squeeze and knead her lush ass.
“Come for me, starshine.” I bring the pad of my thumb to her clit, and she screams. The vibration goes straight to my dick. My balls draw up tight as Aster’s inner thighs clamp around my waist, and the tight walls of her channel convulse.
I grip her ass and arch my back as I come, too. My middle finger slides down between the cleft of her ass, pressing against her anus. I feel the vibration of her shriek bounce off the walls of the bathroom as I fill her with my cum.
“Oh Fate. Oh Fate. Oh sweet Moon Goddess,” Aster pants, rocking her hips to ring out the last aftershocks of her beautiful orgasm.
I wait until she’s complete, then lift her off me and climb out of the tub, wrapping her in a fluffy towel.
I’m not finished with you, I sign, sweeping her up into my arms and carrying her to the bed.
After a second glorious round of sex, I hold her nestled against my body and peer down at her lovely flushed face.
“So, how long have you known?” I sign and speak.
She copies my signs–my brilliant mate, learning ASL so quickly. Know what?
“That I was the ‘true alpha’? Or did you make that up?”
No, she signs. “When I was a child, I overheard the Warden and Oma talking. She told the Warden he needed to find and kill the deaf wolf pup swapped with Aiden at birth. She’d had a vision of “a wolf with no ears” standing on the cracked dais with the Adalwulf mantle over his shoulders.
” Aster looks up at me. “When I learned you were Liora’s son, born of my pack, I knew you had to be the wolf from her prophecy. ”
“Because there can’t be that many deaf wolves born into the pack?”
“You’re the only one I know of.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
A frown appears between her brows. “I don’t know. I was still deciding what it all meant–to me, for you, for all of us.”
I nod. “That makes sense. You hadn’t chosen to mate me yet.”
Aster smiles and trails her fingertips along the back of my neck. “My wolf had. I knew you were my destiny–I’d been dreaming about you for so long. I was just a little slow to sort it out.” She gives me a slow slide of her lips across mine.
My wolf rumbles with contentment. Having her orange blossom scent in my nostrils and her body beneath mine soothes away the remaining franticness of almost losing her.
“I honestly didn’t feel it all come together until the moment we alpha bonded, and the dais cracked. That’s when I realized it was straight out of Oma’s prophecy.”
I brush her hair back from her lovely face. “You really don’t care about leaving your pack?”
Aster smiles. “You’re my pack. You’re the only pack that matters to me.”
“I pledged myself to the Blackthroat pack to get their help rescuing you.” I study Aster’s face. I don’t know how she’ll take that news. I know she doesn’t trust the Blackthroats. She grew up hearing terrible stories about them.
She gasps, her eyes warm. “You’re no longer a lone wolf! I’m so glad. You were keeping yourself away from others to your own harm.”
“You’re right. I…my whole life was spent ensuring I was self-sufficient, so I could infiltrate the Moonborn.
I worked my ass off to get an Ivy League education and a job on Wall Street.
I mastered total control over my wolf side to never need a pack.
But I was willing to throw all of it away for you, starshine. ”
A wicked grin stretches her lips. “Aiden will hate that he lost his Seeress to the Blackthroats. My magic was the one thing they had that the Blackthroats didn’t.”
“But what about the Grandmothers? Will they hate it?”
Aster swallows. “I don’t know. Part of me wondered…”
What? I sign.
“Maybe they’re already planning for the next generation.”
I stare at her, trying to decode her words. Finally, it hits me. “Are you pregnant?”
A mysterious look comes over her face. “It’s still so early. But…I think so.”
Triumph–the triumph I should’ve felt the moment I grabbed the ladder swinging from the helicopter and lifted off with my mate–surges through me. Pure joy. Victory. Celebration.
I leap off the bed and swing Aster around. She giggles hysterically as I throw her in the air and catch her.
“A pup. Fate, a pup! Nan will be so happy. And my mother….”
It’s the first time I’ve called Liora mother, but it feels like she should be included in this celebration. And Oriana. My sister. Our future pup’s aunt.
“Let’s wait a bit until I’m sure,” Aster pleads.
I drop kisses all across her face. Her neck. Her breastbone. “Of course.”
I fall back on the bed and pull her on top of me. “So you’re moving in with me? You’ll live in the city?”
For a moment, a flicker of trepidation crosses her face. She’s never known anything but isolation in a cult. She’s never held a job. I don’t know if she’s even been to school.
“I know it will be a big adjustment to live in the city. If Brick gives me my job back, I’ll have plenty of money. We could look for a property out of the city. Maybe in New Jersey. Somewhere with a little land, so you don’t go nuts.”
Aster’s eyes go soft again. “I’ll be okay. As long as I have you, everything will be fine. We’ll figure it out. You’re my mate. You’re all I need.”
“You’re all I need, starshine. You’re everything to me. I’m sorry I doubted you.”
“No. I needed you to doubt me. But thank you for coming for me, anyway.”
Always, I sign.