Chapter 3
* * *
Candy stirred slowly awake, her mind hazy and her body deliciously sore. The first hazy tendrils of dawn filtered through the bedroom windows, casting everything in a soft, dreamy glow. She felt utterly at peace, cocooned in the welcoming warmth and safety of Aeolus’s powerful embrace.
Cradled against his chest, she marveled at the masculine beauty of his slumbering form.
The chiseled lines of his features were relaxed in repose, thick lashes fanning across those striking high cheekbones.
His tousled golden hair shimmered like a halo in the pale morning light.
A fine sheen of sweat still glistened across the sinewy perfection of his chest and arms—a lingering memento of their passionate coupling mere hours before.
A blissful smile curved Candy’s lips as she traced the contours of his face with a featherlight touch. Her wolf. Her soulmate. Her beloved mate, bound to her for all eternity in mind, body, and spirit. How was it possible to feel so deliriously, utterly complete?
Carefully, she began to extricate herself from his embrace, desperate to make use of the bathroom before returning to the warmth of their tangled sanctuary. She had just slid one leg free of the twisted sheets when a low, rumbling growl froze her in place.
Aeolus’s eyes flickered open, that piercing blue gaze darkened to smoldering sapphire in the dim light.
His arm tightened around her waist as he rolled them both in one sinuous movement, pinning her beneath him.
Candy gasped softly as his weight settled over her, his thick thighs parting her own and his hardening length nestling against her dampening curls.
“Going somewhere, my love?” he rasped, his voice still rough with sleep and simmering desire. His lips brushed along the delicate curve of her jaw in a smoldering caress.
Candy shivered, her fingers trailing down the rippling expanses of his back as she arched against him with a soft moan. “I just needed the bathroom for a moment.”
“Mmm…” His mouth blazed a path down the slender column of her throat, teeth grazing her racing pulse. “I think not.”
With one powerful undulation of his hips, he sheathed himself fully within her tight, molten depths in one claiming thrust. Candy cried out at the searing intrusion, her back arching sharply as she was stretched and filled so completely.
“You are mine,” Aeolus growled against the swell of her breast. His thrusts turned slow and deep, savoring every silken inch, every breathless whimper torn from her lips. “And I will take you as I please. Again and again, until you are drunk on my scent, my seed…utterly possessed by me in every
Aeolus growled deep in his throat, the sound rumbling through his chest as he buried his face against the fragrant curve of Candy’s neck. His hips rolled in a slow, sensual rhythm, sheathing himself to the hilt with each powerful thrust. She was so tight, so wet, so perfect - made just for him.
Candy whimpered and writhed beneath him, her blunt nails scoring delicious lines down the flexing muscles of his back as she clung to him.
Her slender legs wrapped around his waist, opening herself further to the relentless onslaught of his possession.
This was what she craved, what she lived for - to be utterly consumed by her mate’s burning need.
“Mine,” Aeolus snarled against her satin skin, his thrusts gaining in urgency. The bed creaked and protested with the force of his movements, but he paid it no mind. All that mattered was slaking this hungry ache, burying himself so deep within his mate that they became one eternal, infinite being.
Candy keened, her inner muscles fluttering and clenching around his thick invasion. She was close, so very close to that blinding edge. Her fingers fisted in his tousled hair, holding him to the scorching brand of his mouth against her neck as her core tightened exquisitely.
With a guttural roar, Aeolus surged into her one final time, his hips grinding against hers as he pulsed deep inside her. Candy’s back bowed, her release crashing over her in shattering waves of pure pleasure.
* * *
Once again, Candy opened her eyes and sighed.
Only this time, she wasn’t sighing over prophetic dreams, aching magic, or the endless weight of new realities. No, this time was simpler.
She really had to pee.
She stretched, muscles sore but pleasantly warm, the blankets soft and heavy over her limbs. The room was still dim, cast in the soft blue light of early morning, and the scent of leather, cedar, and masculine heat wrapped around her like a second skin.
She shifted—
And immediately froze.
A massive arm was locked around her waist. Firm. Solid. Possessive.
The unmistakable wall of muscle pressed against her back shifted slightly, then pulled her tighter against it—against him.
“Where do you think you’re going?” came a voice—rough, low, and devastatingly sexy. Sleep-drenched and edged with the growl of a man who didn’t like being woken up alone.
Aeolus.
Even half-asleep, his voice was a sin she wanted to commit twice.
Candy smiled to herself, biting her lip, but kept trying to wiggle free. “I was going to get up.”
“You are up,” he murmured, mouth grazing her bare shoulder. The scrape of stubble and the heat of his breath made her shiver. “You’re exactly where you should be.”
Her stomach fluttered. Her magic flared in response. But she laughed softly anyway, twisting in his arms until she was facing him.
And gods, he was beautiful.
Tousled blond hair. Blue-gold eyes heavy with sleep but no less intense. Broad chest bare, scattered with scars and muscle, his massive form sprawled across the bed like a fallen warrior king.
He looked like he belonged there.
Like she belonged there with him.
Still, there was something else—beneath the lazy smile, beneath the heat in his gaze—something careful.
A tightness behind his eyes. A flicker of wariness in his jaw.
“What is it?” she asked softly, brushing her fingers over his chest, feeling the steady pound of his heart beneath her palm.
Aeolus exhaled, the movement deep and measured. He didn’t let her go, not even a little. His arm stayed firm around her waist, anchoring her to him. But his tone changed.
“My brothers are coming over.”
That was it.
Calm. Neutral.
But the words dropped like a stone between them.
Candy blinked, lifting her head just slightly. She knew about the Stavros brothers. Knew they were powerful. Respected. Lethal when crossed. She also knew they didn’t hand out trust easily.
But this wasn’t about protection. It wasn’t about security.
This was personal.
“And?” she asked, voice gentle but curious.
Aeolus’s fingers moved in slow, idle circles along her hip. Not seductive—though her body was definitely taking notes—but thoughtful. Steady. He didn’t look at her when he spoke again.
“They’ll be happy,” he said finally. “They’ve all been waiting… just like I have.”
Candy’s heart twisted.
This man—so commanding, so in control, so infuriatingly alpha—was giving her his vulnerability in pieces. Small, measured, precious.
“They’ll treat you as family,” he added, meeting her gaze now, voice low but sure. “Because you are.”
Family.
The word hit her harder than she expected.
Not just because he said it like a promise. But because he meant it.
After years of surviving alone, of carrying herself through fame, magic, and trauma with no one to lean on but her sister—this was new.
This was everything.
“Family,” she echoed, testing the word on her tongue. Letting it sink in. Letting it wrap around the broken places inside her like a salve.
Aeolus’s lips curved into a slow, satisfied smirk. He reached up and traced a calloused finger along her jaw, reverent, possessive.
“Yeah, baby,” he rumbled. “You and Betsy. You’re both mine now. Ours. The pack already knows. And they protect what belongs to them.”
Belongs.
It should’ve felt suffocating.
Instead, it felt like finally exhaling after a lifetime of holding her breath.
She leaned in and kissed him—slow, deep, full of everything she couldn’t quite say yet. Gratitude. Desire. Fear. Wonder.
When she pulled back, he didn’t chase her lips, but his eyes burned with something fierce.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she teased, fingers brushing over the stubble along his jaw. “I really do have to pee.”
Aeolus groaned and let his head fall back against the pillow, one big hand sliding from her waist to her thigh. “Don’t tempt me, Candy.”
She grinned and slipped out of bed, the cool air teasing across her skin as she padded barefoot toward the en suite bathroom.
But before she reached the door, his voice rolled through the room—low, dark, final.
“Candy.”
She turned, heart skipping.
Aeolus sat up now, sheets pooled around his waist, chest bare and marked by shadows. His eyes locked on hers, glowing faintly in the dim light.
“You’re not leaving this bed again without a kiss,” he said. “That’s a rule.”
Her lips parted.
He didn’t smirk. Didn’t move.
Just stared.
Waiting.
And gods help her, she was already walking back
* * *
Candy stood in the center of the Stavros compound’s great hall, arms at her sides, fingers lightly curled. Her stance was calm, steady. She wasn’t nervous—not exactly.
But meeting Aeolus’s brothers?
That was a whole other level of pressure.
She’d heard enough to know they weren’t just dangerous—they were lethal.
Not only warriors, but powerhouses. Each one with their own kind of brutality, their own kind of rule.
Legends in the supernatural world, spoken of in reverence and fear.
These were the kind of men who didn’t just lead—they conquered.
But none of that mattered.
Because Aeolus had told her something that drowned out the noise.
They would protect her.
Not because she was weak.
Not because she needed saving.
Because she was pack now.
The heavy double doors at the far end of the hall creaked open, and Aeolus moved instantly—appearing at her side like a shadow drawn by instinct.