Chapter 23 Riley #2
“I was scared. And confused. And it was easier to be angry at you than to deal with everything else. But that wasn’t fair. None of it was fair.”
He was quiet for a beat. His emotions shifted, washing over me. Relief, longing, love. So much love it almost hurt.
“I’ve missed you,” he said, voice rough. “So damn much.”
“I know.”
“I would have waited forever. However long it took for you to be ready.”
“I know that too.” I stroked his cheek. “I’m ready now. Come here.”
He didn’t need to be told twice.
Caelan was on the bed in seconds, not climbing but launching. One moment he was on the floor, the next he was beside me, around me, everywhere at once. His arms wrapped around my body and he pulled me flush against him, starving for contact.
I had been too.
“I’m sorry,” I said again, burying my face in his chest.
“Stop apologizing.” His voice was rough, muffled against my hair. “There’s nothing to forgive.”
“Even when I’m being unreasonable?”
“Especially then.” He drew back just enough to look at my face. His eyes were glowing faintly amber in the darkness. “You’re my mate, my wife, my everything. There’s nothing you could do that would make me stop loving you.”
“I was so scared,” I admitted. “When I shifted. When I realized I wasn’t human. It felt... everything I knew about myself was a lie.”
He nodded, thumb brushing my cheek.
“And I needed someone to blame. You were the easiest target.”
“I figured.”
“You shouldn’t forgive me this easily.”
“Probably not.” He cupped my face, thumbs tracing my cheekbones. “But I’m weak when it comes to you. Always have been. Always will be.”
That should probably concern me. It didn’t. It just made me want to kiss him.
So I did.
It was soft at first, tentative, reconnecting after days of distance. His lips were warm and familiar and felt right. Exactly right.
Then it wasn’t soft at all.
His hand slid into my hair, tilting my head back. The kiss deepened, turned hungry. Two days of separation had built up a tension that was finally breaking, and neither of us wanted to be gentle anymore.
“I need you,” I gasped against his mouth.
“You have me.” He rolled us so I was beneath him, his body covering mine. “You’ve always had me.”
This time was different from before. Not frantic, not desperate, but slow and tender. We had all the time in the world and he wanted to savor every second.
He undressed me with reverent hands, peeling away my t-shirt, my underwear, dropping kisses across my skin as each inch was revealed. His mouth traced a path from my collarbone to my stomach, leaving heat in its wake. By the time I was naked, I was trembling from the intensity of his attention.
“Beautiful,” he murmured against my collarbone. “The most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it keeps being true.”
He worked his way down my body. Kissed my neck, my shoulder, the curve of my breast. His tongue circled my nipple, and I arched into him, gasping. Then he bit, gently, just a graze of teeth, and the gasp became a moan.
“Too much?” he asked.
“No. More.”
He obliged, leaving little nips along my ribs, my hip, my inner thigh. Each one sent sparks through my nervous system, building a fire that threatened to consume me. He was marking me. Claiming me all over again. And I loved every second of it.
“Caelan...”
“I want to mark you everywhere,” he said against my skin. “Want everyone to know you’re mine.”
“They already know.”
“Then I want you to know.” He bit my hip, harder this time, and I moaned. “Want you to feel me for days.”
His mouth moved lower. Kissed my inner thigh. Then higher, and higher, until his tongue found my wet pussy and I nearly came off the bed.
“Fuck... Caelan...”
“That’s it,” he murmured against me. “Let me hear you.”
He worked me with his mouth, his tongue plunging inside my entrance, lapping at my juices and then flicking my clit, sucking it until I was shaking, begging, until the pleasure built to a peak that crashed over me in waves. I came with his name on my lips, fingers tangled in his hair.
But he wasn’t done.
I was still trembling from the aftershocks when he yanked his underwear and stroked his cock once, positioned himself with my entrance and finally entered me. Slow and deep, filling me completely. We both groaned at the sensation.
“I missed this,” he breathed. “Being inside you, feeling you around me.”
“Me too.”
We moved together. Unhurried, savoring. He kept biting me, my shoulder, my neck, my earlobe, and each little sting of pain was followed by pleasure so intense I could barely think.
“I love you,” he said, thrusting deep.
“I love you too.”
“Say it again.”
“I love you.” I pulled his face to mine, kissed him. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”
He came with my name on his lips. I followed seconds later, crying out against his shoulder, the second orgasm even more intense than the first.
We stayed tangled together afterward, breathing hard, neither wanting to move.
“Better?” he asked eventually.
“So much better.” I traced patterns on his chest. “I’m sorry I made you sleep on the floor.”
“I would have slept on the floor forever if that’s what you needed.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous for you.”
I fell asleep in his arms. For the first time in days, I felt myself again.
***
Morning came too quickly.
I woke to sunlight streaming through unfamiliar windows and a very warm body pressed against my back. Caelan’s arm was draped over my waist, his breath warm against my neck, and for a long moment I just lay there, savoring it.
Everything still felt fragile, uncertain. But at least we were facing it together. And at least I wasn’t facing it from opposite sides of a floor-bed barrier like some kind of Victorian couple.
We got up eventually, got dressed, made ourselves presentable. The apartment had a small kitchen stocked with basics, and Caelan insisted on making coffee while I sat at the counter and watched him move.
“We should get back,” I said. “To Lysmont. See if Thessa has found anything.”
“Agreed.” He set a mug in front of me. “But first, we thank our hosts.”
We walked back to Woods & Pages. The morning was crisp and clear, the small town charming in the daylight. I found myself imagining a different life, one where I grew up here, visiting the bookstore, learning the truth about myself from the people who saved me.
But that wasn’t my life. That was never my life.
Wen greeted us at the door with a smile. Behind her, chaos was unfolding. A small boy was running in circles around the bookshelves while Malachar chased after him with exasperated affection.
“Killian, slow down...”
“NO!”
“At least don’t knock over the...” Malachar lunged. “And there goes the display.”
Books scattered across the floor. Killian giggled maniacally and kept running.
I couldn’t help but laugh. The big bad Alpha King of Ravenor, defeated by a toddler. Wen joined in, shaking her head.
“The joys of parenthood,” Wen said. “He’s got his father’s stubbornness and my energy. It’s a terrible combination.”
“I think it’s adorable,” I said.
“You say that now. Wait until he’s climbing bookshelves and trying to open portals because ‘Mommy did it once.’”
We said proper goodbyes this time. Hugs, promises to stay in touch, genuine gratitude for everything Wen and Malachar had done. Malachar finally caught Killian, holding the squirming boy on his hip while shaking Caelan’s hand.
“If you need anything,” Malachar said, “we’re here. Ravenor and Duskmere. We should be allies in this. Whatever’s coming.”
“Agreed,” Caelan said. “Thank you. For everything.”
“Take care of your mate. And yourself.”
We left Ryeville behind.
The drive back to Lysmont was easier than the drive out. The tension between us had melted away, replaced by comfortable silence and occasional conversation. Caelan reached over at one point and took my hand, and I let him hold it for the entire two hours.
Look at us. Communicating like adults. Only took an identity crisis and makeup sex to get here.
“How do you feel?” he asked eventually. “Any urge to shift? Anything unusual?”
I took stock of myself. The wolf was there, a presence in the back of my mind that I’d somehow never noticed before. But she was calm, content, not trying to claw her way out.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I can feel her. The wolf. But she’s not pushing.”
“Good. That’s good.” His thumb drew circles on the back of my hand. “The first shift is always the hardest. After that, it gets easier to control.”
“Will you teach me? How to shift properly? How to... be a wolf?”
“Of course.” His smile was soft. “I’ll teach you everything.”
We pulled into Lysmont as the sun started its descent toward the horizon. I parked outside my apartment building, feeling oddly emotional at the sight of it. Everything had changed since I left.
I’d changed. Literally. Into a different species. No big deal.
We climbed the stairs together, hand in hand. I was already thinking about a hot shower, maybe some food, definitely more of what we did last night...
I opened my apartment door and froze.
Thessa was standing in my living room.
She looked terrible, out of breath, hair disheveled, clothes askew. She’d been running, no, sprinting, for a long time. There was sweat on her brow and panic in her eyes.
“Thessa?” Caelan dropped my hand and moved toward his sister. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
“You have to go back.” Thessa’s voice was urgent, panicked. “Now. Immediately.”
“Go back where? To Duskmere?”
“Yes. There’s no time to explain properly. I ran from the portal.” She doubled over, hands on her knees, gasping for breath. “Father is under attack.”
Caelan’s shock, his fear, his rage, all of it slammed into me at once through the bond, so intense I actually staggered backward. I grabbed the wall, steadying myself against the onslaught of his emotions.
“Under attack by whom?” Caelan demanded. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know all the details. There was a coup attempt, or what seemed to be one.
Forces loyal to someone, I don’t know who yet, they moved on the palace while you were gone.
” Thessa straightened, still breathing hard but forcing the words out.
“Father is holding them off, but he needs reinforcements. He needs you. He needs his heir.”
Caelan was already moving. Already grabbing his jacket, his phone, his keys. Every movement precise and practiced. A king preparing for war.
“Riley stays here,” he said.
The words were directed at Thessa, but they knocked the air out of me.
“What?” I stepped forward. “No. I’m coming with you.”
Caelan turned. His face was a mask, every inch the Alpha Prince. But his eyes... his eyes were torn. Anguished.
“You can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t know what we’re walking into.
” He moved toward me, took my face in his hands.
His conflict bled through the bond, the desperate need to protect me warring with the desperate need to keep me close.
“There could be an army waiting. There could be assassins. There could be anything. I can’t protect you and fight at the same time. ”
“Maybe you’ll protect me better if I’m WITH you.” My voice was fierce, but my eyes were stinging. “You can’t just leave me here. Not after everything.”
“I have to.” He rested his forehead against mine. “Riley, please. If I brought you into danger and you were hurt because of me... I would never forgive myself. Never.”
“And if you get hurt? While I’m stuck here, useless, waiting?”
“Then Thessa will find you. She’ll take care of you. Make sure you’re safe.”
“I don’t want to be safe. I want to be with you.”
“I know.” His voice cracked. “I know, and I’m sorry. But I need you to stay. I need to know you’re protected while I deal with this. I can’t fight if I’m worried about you. I can’t focus. I can’t do what needs to be done.”
I wanted to argue. Wanted to scream, to fight, to demand he take me with him. But his emotions washed through me, the love, the fear, the absolute certainty that my safety would split his attention in battle.
He wasn’t leaving me because he wanted to. He was leaving me because he had to.
And as much as it hurt, I understood. If I was there, he’d lose focus, lose control. And in a real battle, that kind of distraction could get him killed.
Stupid overprotective werewolf logic. I hated that it made sense.
“Promise me,” I said. “Promise me you’ll come back.”
“I promise.” He kissed me hard, desperate, memorizing the taste of me. “I promise I’ll come back to you. Nothing in any realm could keep me away.”
“You’d better. Or I’ll come find you myself and kill you for making me worry.”
He laughed. Short, surprised, breaking through the tension. “I believe you.”
“Go.” I pushed him toward the door even though every instinct was screaming at me to hold on, to grab him and never let go. “Go save your father. Go be the ruler you were born to be. And then come home to me.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” My voice broke. “Now go.”
He went, and Thessa squeezed my shoulder before following. “I’ll keep you updated. I promise. Every hour, if I can.”
“Thank you.”
“He’ll be fine. He’s the best fighter in Duskmere. Maybe in all of Lytopia.” She tried to smile. “And he has the most to fight for now.”
And then they were gone.
I stood alone in my apartment, watching the closed door, feeling the bond stretch as Caelan got farther and farther away.
It didn’t break. It wouldn’t break. But I could feel the distance growing, feel his presence fading from immediate to distant to barely-there.
He’d come back. He promised. I had to believe that.
I sank onto my couch, pulling my knees to my chest, and waited. The wolf in my mind whined, restless and anxious. Same, girl.