Chapter Fifteen #2
I'm soaked. The fabric clings, slides, slick spreading where his hip meets mine, and his pajamas are damp too, scent-thick and obvious.
I rock against him. His breath stutters.
His hand on my hip clamps down, fingers digging in, and then he's rocking back, finding the rhythm I started, the friction building unbearable and exact.
The pressure right where I need it. Cedar floods the space between us, thicker than I've ever scented him, mixing with my gardenia until I can't tell where his scent ends and mine begins.
Closer. Tighter. The coil in my belly winds and winds and I hear myself making sounds, small and broken against his mouth, and he's making them back, our breath mingling, our hips moving together like we've done this a thousand times.
His teeth catch my lower lip as I shatter.
The orgasm rolls through me, my whole body clenching around nothing and everything at once, a wave of slick spreading hot between my thighs.
Aubrey's hand spasms on my hip. He buries his face in my throat and follows me down, his whole body shuddering against mine, a low broken sound torn out of him into my skin.
We hold each other through the aftershocks. Breathing ragged. Damp. Spent.
Mine. The word keeps echoing. Mine. Mine. Mine.
“That felt...” He can't finish the sentence.
“Amazing. That felt… amazing,” I whisper.
A laugh escapes him. Quiet, almost startled, more breath than sound. The cedar in his scent goes warm at the edges, sweetens, and something low in my chest unknots.
“Amazing,” he echoes. The corner of his mouth lifts.
It's barely a smile. The smallest curve.
But his whole face changes around it, the tightness in his jaw loosening, the careful blankness slipping for one unguarded second, and there he is.
I want to keep him smiling. I want to put both hands on his face and hold the moment still and not let the world have him back.
His thumb strokes across my cheekbone. My hand rests against his chest, his heart pounding beneath my palm. Right here, right now, wrapped around Aubrey with our scents blended and our bodies still humming. My body chose without biology forcing its hand.
“How is it like this?” he says.
I shake my head because I don’t know. This, what I feel for him, goes beyond words. “I’m so glad I found you,” I say instead.
Voices outside the room. My whole body goes alert. Their scents push through the walls, layering over everything Aubrey and I built together. Oakwood and whiskey. Earl Grey and sandalwood. Fresh linen. Blood orange and basil.
Aubrey goes rigid against me. I find his gaze and hold it. We listen together.
“They need breakfast.” Kev's voice, low. “Do we bring them down, or...?”
“We bring food up here.” Sera cuts him off. “We don't make them come to us.”
“I can do toast. Maybe some oats.” Ezra, softer. “Something their stomachs can handle. Don't want to overwhelm them.”
“Lex.” Kev again, an edge creeping in. “Tell me you didn't sit out here all night.”
Silence.
“Jesus, Lex.”
“What was I supposed to do?” No defensiveness in his voice. “They've been through hell, Kev. If they woke up scared, if they needed something, someone had to be here.”
Lex sat outside our door and I didn’t know. I meet Aubrey's eyes. His brow furrows. He doesn't know what to do with this either.
“I've got next watch.” Kev.
“No, I do.” Sera. “They know me. Espie knows me.”
“Sera, you haven't slept since—”
“Neither have you.”
“Someone should monitor them medically.” Ezra, trying to wedge in. “I could—”
“I'm fine.” Lex. “I can keep going.”
“You've been awake for three days.” Kev's voice goes flat. “Three days, Lex.”
“I'll sleep when—”
“Enough.” Ezra, hissing now. “You're all going to wake them up with this. Keep your voices down.”
Shuffling. The argument drops to fierce whispers, too low to make out.
They're fighting over who gets to watch over us. Not fighting to get away from the burden. Fighting for the privilege of sitting outside a door. I don't understand. Aubrey squeezes my hand. He doesn't understand either. But we're confused together, and somehow that helps.
Kev's voice drops lower. “Is there any news about Wallace?”
My blood goes cold.
“He’s gone to ground. Levi and the team are still looking.” Sera. The warmth is gone from her voice, replaced by ice. “He's not slipping through this time.”
“And if he runs?”
“Then I find him.” Her voice goes flat. “I don't care what hole he crawls into. I'll drag him out by his throat.”
My lungs forget how to work for a second. A shiver runs through me. Not fear. Something I can’t name. Sera's not angry at me. She's angry for me. She wants to hurt the man who hurt me.
The voices fade. Footsteps move away. But Ezra remains. Outside. Present. His scent drifting under the door.
I lie in Aubrey's arms, my body still humming, slick cooling between my thighs and his scent all over my skin.
I want more.
I want him.
But the draw toward the alphas keeps tightening low in my belly, impossible to ignore.