Chapter 49
Elodie
“I’m so sorry. I should have known not to come. You told me to be careful, and when Savannah said she wanted to go, I let my own boredom win out over my better judgment.”
Dakota’s head hung in shame, but honestly, I couldn’t be mad at her. She was in her very early twenties, had spent most of her formative years cloistered, and was out on her first real assignment ever.
That on its own would have been enough to lead to some rookie mistakes, but add in that this was possibly the only time in her life she’d ever attend a pack gathering like this one? With an army gathering, preparing to wipe us off the face of the planet?
No, I couldn’t be mad. She’d cried uncle and asked for backup. I’d always rather she call for backup.
“Don’t beat yourself up. You’re allowed to have leave, you weren’t on duty, and… frankly, I’m glad you were there to keep an eye on Savannah. Valens would have been beside himself if things had gone any further.”
Dakota winced at the reminder of how I’d found them.
“I tried to get her to slow down, I did. But the more drunk she got, the more she kept going on about how now she was a real orphan? I didn’t know what that meant, but she was really trying to drown something.
For the record… I don’t think it worked. ”
I nodded, pulling her into my side for a hug. I didn’t really want one, but wolves needed touch. I was Dakota’s sister, and she needed it. So, I gave it, even as my skin burned and I wanted to crawl out of it.
She wrapped both arms around me and squeezed right as Olivia marched over with a still-swaying Savannah.
“Brielle’s taking him to the clinic. Savannah is going to be fine.
I looked her over and pushed a little healing power into her to help work some of the alcohol out of her system.
We also had a chat about not getting so drunk as to endanger ourselves, but I don’t think she needed that.
” Olivia, the usually gentle healer, frowned at Valens’s sister as if she were disappointed.
Thankfully, she didn’t push the issue further, as would have been her right as Alpha mate of the Hungarian pack.
“Thank you, Oli. You’re the best as always.” She leaned in for a hug of her own, frowning as she pulled back. “You’re burning, Elodie. My Goddess.”
I felt the gentle brush of her own flavor of healing magic, a trickle of cool relief flooding from her hands where she held them up to my flushed face, the center of my chest, but it felt like a squirt gun against an inferno.
I really was miserable.
“Did you feel this bad before?”
I scrunched up my face, trying to remember, but I didn’t think so.
“No? I was sound asleep, and the meds had helped. I felt fine when we started running over here, and V didn’t mention me being too hot.
I think…” I realized then when it shifted.
“Oh, shit. I felt fine until the douchebag grabbed me. My wolf lost her shit when he kissed me.”
Savannah’s eyes went wide as she leaned heavily on Dakota’s shoulder. “Is that why Valens snapped? Figures.” Her words were a little slurred, the s on figures coming out like shh.
Something was obviously up with Savvy, and we’d need to address it soon, but I had a feeling she’d have to wait.
“Elodie, traumatic incidents with your hormones already as high as they were…” Olivia grimaced, as if she was unable to finish her thought without apologizing.
“I think he threw you into the heat early. We need to get you out of here to somewhere quiet. Maybe some close contact with your alpha can pull it back if you really rest, but—”
“Pull what back?” Valens’s low, rumbling voice over my shoulder sent a frisson of need through me so intense, a desperate sound ripped itself from my throat and my knees began to shake.
“Oh Goddess. This is it, I don’t think there’s any turning back.
Okay, you’re going to be fine, El, remember that.
Do what feels right, but don’t push it. And don’t worry about the pack.
Everything will still be standing when it’s passed, I promise.
” Olivia’s face swam before my watery eyes, tears flooding my lower lids at the fact that my alpha was so close but not touching me. Why wasn’t he touching me?
Frantic conversation washed over me like a wave of garbled nonsense, and then I felt his hands, soft and careful on my arms, like he thought I might be breakable.
His lips brushed my ear as he spoke. “It’s going to be all right, Firecracker. I’ve got you now. I know what you need.”
And then I was in his arms and blessedly cool everywhere his skin touched mine.
Mindlessly, I dragged at my clothing, wanting more skin and less interference. More skin contact, more relief, more touch. More, more, more. I was a being of need and pain and burning hot desire like nothing I’d ever experienced before.
He put his hand over the back of my head, guiding my nose into the crook of his neck as he carried me out of the stables as if I were his own personal koala.
Valens carried me with speed, but I couldn’t have told you where.
A small part of my brain still clinging to social conventions wondered if we were about to spend my heat surrounded by our closest friends and pack mates in the family wing of the castle, with all the extra inhabitants able to hear every single whimper—incredibly awkward, Goddess bless.
But I couldn’t seem to form the words as my body shook and shivered with need.
He hadn’t let me remove my shirt, and intense cramps began to rack my stomach.
I’d read up. I knew what that meant. I’d cramp and hurt and suffer until he knotted me the first time.
Knotting was a little terrifying as a concept for anyone who’d never experienced it, but it was wolf biology, and all the resources said that when the time came, it not only wouldn’t hurt, it would feel incredible.
At the moment? It sounded like heaven if it would take away the astronomical pain tearing at my insides.
“Brute, I need you,” I whispered brokenly against his skin, and he froze midstride.
“I know. Just a little bit longer. We’re almost there.”
I cringed. “Our room isn’t private. It’s—” I hissed again as fresh pain tore through me, tried to bury my groan against his shoulder so he couldn’t hear it.
“We’re not going to our room. I worked it out with Brielle as soon as we came back to stay for the gathering.”
I could have cried with relief. He’d thought of everything, while I’d been too preoccupied to consider any of it.
Or, well, in denial.
There was no denying anything, not now. But knowing that he’d stepped in to handle things when I hadn’t felt prepared to? Never in my life had I felt more cared for, more cherished. But that dulled in comparison to the need tearing through my body.
My heat was here, and it demanded satisfaction. Valens shifted to carry me one-handed so he could push through a door. Cool air-conditioning and soft lighting enveloped us as he shut it behind us.
“I’m going to take you to the shower with me. I got that guy’s blood all over me when I shifted back. But I won’t stop touching you, I promise.” He murmured the words softly against my temple, peppering soft kisses over my hair, holding me as he walked through an unfamiliar place.
I was too wound up to lift my head, too overwhelmed to look around or ask details about where he’d taken us.
Within minutes, he had a cool shower running in a dimly lit bathroom. He shut the door, and it was like my instincts knew we were safe, finally.
I opened one eye, peeking out to see dark teal walls, soothing and close. It felt to my wolf like a small den, and the first knot of tension loosened between my shoulder blades.
“Are you ready to get out of these clothes?” he asked gently, running one big hand over my back in a tender caress.
“So ready.”
He chuckled softly and told me to put my arms up. He sat me down on the toilet seat, then lifted off my T-shirt in a smooth motion before kneeling in front of me to see to the pants I’d thrown on to go save his sister.
Shit, his sister.
“Savannah?”
“Dakota and Olivia have her. She’s fine. You took care of her.”
“’Kay,” I murmured, letting my eyes dance with his as he stripped off the rest of my clothing with a reverence I’d never experienced before.
I’d been with men.
Hell, I’d nearly been with Valens a time or two. But his every motion was gentle, his care selfless in that moment of need. He didn’t rush; he didn’t scold; he didn’t expect me to handle it myself.
When I was naked, and he knelt before me in nothing but a pair of bloody sweats, he paused.
“Elodie, I want you to know that I’m honored you chose to spend your heat with me.
We can do whatever you’re comfortable with.
Whatever you need from me, it’s yours. I won’t hold anything back.
But I want you to know… you can still say no.
We both know there might be consequences.
I think it’s why neither one of us has pushed our physical relationship further before now.
” He raked a hand through those gold-tinted locks, stared up at the ceiling as if asking the Goddess for strength.
“It would absolutely kill me to walk out the door right now, but if you’re not sure, I will go.
You’re safe in the bonding cottage, and Olivia has a sedative that would help you sleep through the heat instead.
I won’t ask more of you than you want to give me.
Not ever. So, I need to know before it goes any further, is this still what you want?
Or do you want me to go get Oli for you? ”
I tangled my fingertips into his beard, dragging him forward by his jaw until his nose was brushing the tip of mine. “Yes. Valens, yes. I want you, I need you, please don’t make me ask a—”