Chapter 10
AXEL
“Ireally don’t like this,” Axel said from where he sat on the edge of the bed.
Kat poked her head out of the ensuite, her toothbrush in her mouth and her brows knitted. “Like what?” she asked around the brush.
“You know what,” he grumbled.
She gave him a small smile before returning to the bathroom, but he knew she was annoyed with him.
It had been a week since Theon had shown up here, and like he’d known he would, Theon had set about laying out all their options and overthinking everything.
Yes, Axel needed his brother’s help, but overthinking wasn’t how things were done in the Underground.
Unless it came to his wife.
Then he was the one overthinking things.
Katya returned, wearing only one of his shirts.
Her belly was too large for her own clothes at this point, and while he had purchased her maternity wear from the Apparel District, she said his shirts were more comfortable to sleep in.
That might be true, but he suspected it might also have something to do with the scent of him that lingered.
She stopped before him, resting her hands on his shoulders.
His fingers trailed up bare thighs as he spread his legs and tugged her between them, needing her closer.
He could swear his canines tingled as he inhaled her scent, despite having drank plenty of blood that day.
Theon had given him all the rations he’d brought, not keeping any for himself.
He insisted he could go get more when they needed it, but gods, that trek there and back would take at least a week.
Theon couldn’t Travel, and without a Source, he couldn’t shadow walk like their father either.
But that wasn’t what had him worried currently.
“I don’t suppose I can convince you to stay behind tomorrow?” he murmured, his fingers brushing up and down her soft skin.
A small, coy smile formed again. “It hasn’t worked yet,” she answered. “What makes you think it will work now?”
He sighed, his fingers tightening around the backs of her thighs. “It’s dangerous, Kat. The Shifters are—”
“Cunning and fickle,” she interrupted. “Yes, I’m aware. I have met them before.”
“I could kill Theon for taking you there,” Axel snarled, dragging her closer still until her protruding stomach bumped against his torso.
“I was as determined to find you as he was, Axel,” she said, reaching up and pushing her fingers through his hair. “I insisted.”
“Because you are stubborn,” he muttered. “It puts you and the babe at risk.”
“So your solution is to leave me here alone? How is that any safer?”
“Stop being so logical,” he grumbled with a scowl.
But her smile only grew. “Stop bringing up the same argument every few hours,” she countered. “Give me something new to work with.”
She slid onto his lap at the words, her knees going to either side of his hips and her hands looping around his neck.
“You’ve worked with that plenty,” he grumbled more as she settled over him and ground down.
“So grumpy,” she chided, peppering kisses along his jaw.
“I’m being serious, Katya.”
She pulled back with a sigh, now visibly irritated. He held her hips, supporting her weight and helping her stay balanced as her arms dropped to her sides.
“We truly must have this argument again? Fine. What do you propose, Axel? Are you sending Theon by himself so you can stay with me? Are you leaving me here by myself for Bree to find? Is Theon staying and you’re going to deal with the Alpha and Beta alone? Which option do you choose?” she demanded.
“I know there aren’t any good options,” he argued, his own irritation climbing.
“There is a good option,” she insisted. “It involves the three of us going as a united front. It involves showing you are already different from your father and other Legacy by taking a Fae for a wife.”
“You’re not a fucking bargaining chip to parade around and be used to further an agenda, Katya,” he interjected.
“So you would relegate me to a position of being quiet and docile? Doing what I am told and staying hidden from the world?”
“That’s not fair. You’re pregnant, Kat. If anything happened to you…”
She took his face in her hands, forcing him to hold her stare. “Have you considered for one moment that I feel the same? That perhaps I am just as possessive and overprotective as you are? I lost you once, Axel. I refuse to do so again,” she said, flames and shadows flickering to life in her eyes.
“Kitten,” he breathed.
“I love you, Axel, but in this matter, I am stronger. I have my fire and your shadows. Theon has his power.”
“And I am nothing,” he said, feeling the sting of that statement in his soul.
“No,” she insisted, holding firm when he tried to turn away from her.
“You are everything. And you have knowledge, Axel. You know the Underground better than anyone. Knowledge can win over sheer power if wielded with the same finesse. It is what makes Theon so dangerous; he is a powerful being who covets knowledge. Your worth lies in more than your magic. You taught me that. But if you go into that meeting tomorrow thinking you are less than what you are, they will see it. They will see it, and it will be all they need to see. They will not follow someone who does not believe they aren’t the most powerful in the room.
Who does not think he is worthy to lead. ”
“Am I?” he asked, completely vulnerable in front of the one person who could bring him to his knees.
She leaned in so her words feathered across his lips when she whispered, “Axel, you weren’t born to live in the dark. You were born to bring your people out of it.”
“Gods, I love you,” he breathed before his lips were on hers, his hands sliding behind her head to hold her to him.
“What are you doing?” she gasped when he released her.
“Kissing you,” he answered, his lips gliding along her jaw.
“I know that,” she said, already sounding breathless. “But you…” She shook her head before dropping her brow to his. “You keep doing this,” she said, her eyes falling closed, but he saw the tears pooling. “You do this and then stop.”
“You know why, kitten,” he said softly, tucking stray hair behind her ear. “I don’t want to hurt you. Ever. And if we… I could lose control.”
“Then don’t kiss me and look at me like you do,” she snapped.
By the gods. He loved her feisty side, but this was more than that. Navigating when to push her and when to back the fuck off while she was pregnant had been more than a little challenging. One minute she was upset about orange juice, and the next she was perfectly fine and going about her day.
Or in this case, one minute she was making him feel like he could conquer the Underground, and the next, she was making him feel like an asshole for trying to keep her safe.
“Look at you how, kitten?” he finally asked carefully.
“Like you want something from me, but won’t give it to me. It’s making both of us miserable. And by Anala, I need you to want me right now, Axel. I just…need,” she sighed.
His entire body went rigid, and he took her chin, forcing her face up to meet his gaze.
“You think I don’t want you, Katya? You think I don’t want to touch you, taste you, feel you around me?
Because I know what it’s like to feel you come apart on my cock, kitten.
I think about it all the godsdamn time. You think I don’t remember what it’s like to worship you? ”
“Stop saying things like that,” she seethed, and gods, he was a dick because her eyes were clouding with desire just at his words.
“Katya, if I hurt you—”
“I’ll burn you and restrain you with your own shadows,” she cut in. “Just please—”
“No,” he growled, dropping small kisses on one corner of her mouth and then the other.
He felt her shoulders slump, and he knew she wouldn’t argue with him about this again tonight, but the word hadn’t been meant to stop this.
“You never need to beg me to want you, kitten,” he murmured, his voice low and full of the darkness that ran in his blood. “I’m sorry you thought you did.”
She sucked in a gasp as she pulled back, amber eyes searching his own. “You’re not going to stop?” she asked, and fuck, she was already trembling slightly beneath his fingers.
“Not as long as you promise to stop me if I—”
He let out a soft chuckle as she dragged her fingers lightly down his bare chest before gently shoving him backwards onto the mattress.
Then the chuckle turned into a hiss as her hands slid lower, down his abdomen to the waistband of his pants.
She was teasing him though, as she moved them back up, sliding them over the planes of his stomach at the same time she repositioned herself.
It was then he realized she wasn’t wearing undergarments beneath his shirt.
“Clever kitten,” he crooned. “You planned this.”
“Knowledge and wit can win over sheer power if wielded with the same finesse,” she said breathlessly, moving over him, seeking and searching.
His hands landed on her hips again, helping her keep her balance. “Tell me what you need,” he said gruffly, mesmerized as he watched her move.
“I need you to stop protecting me and start needing me in the same way I need you,” she answered.
“I need to know you love me. That it wasn’t an in-the-heat-of-the-moment decision.
That it’s not just because I’m carrying your child.
That it’s not because we were supposed to have a bond.
” A tear slipped free, even as she continued to move over him, her bare center moving along his hard length over the thin material of his pants.
“I need to know you still choose me, Axel.”