SALT #2
Eliano rolls onto his side, and the moment his cock slips out of me feels like losing something vital, something precious.
That is why I grab his shoulders and yank him back against me.
"Don’t you dare pull away now. Enough leaving. In every sense of the word."
Eliano lets out a soft laugh and slides back into my obscenely wet, slick-soaked entrance.
"Salt, I left because I had things I needed to take care of. If I had not needed to do them, I would not have left no matter how many ‘I hate-yous’ I heard."
I stay silent because I do not understand what he means. One thing is certain, I do not want to talk right now, not after the orgasm of my life and the discovery that Eliano and I are two halves of the same soul that just fused into one.
Eliano studies my face, then lifts his hand and gently brushes a strand of hair away from my cheek.
"But we need to talk, Salt."
"About what? Just not yet. Give us a moment, just one more moment," I murmur. "We just discovered this miracle, we have proof, please…"
Eliano nods with a gentle smile. Our mouths meet again, and he moves inside me once more, reigniting those wonderful sparks, weaving them into a stream of pleasure. I surrender to it, letting him into me in a completely new way, not just into my body, but into my entire being.
I tremble softly, my fingers digging into his back, my calves wrapping around his hips as he rocks into me. His breathing at my ear fills me, giving me a strange, deep pleasure.
My alpha is with me…
Wait. My alpha? Did I just think that?
Wow. Where did the old Salt go, the one who belonged to no one, whose only loyalty was to Senu? That person is gone, lying submissively beneath his fated alpha now, giving himself over, trembling in waves of ecstasy.
And the pleasure builds again, fast. Every movement, every roll of his hips between my thighs, every brush against my sensitive spot feeds the cascade.
About a minute later, another orgasm rips through us…
I’m of course aware that True Mates can have many more of them than others, and much more easily, beside all the other miracles of Joining for True Mates, like accelerated healing and rejuvenation—all is available for us now.
The thought of what awaits me fills me with excitement, days overflowing with pleasure, bliss, and contentment.
But Eliano grows a little impatient. This time he pulls out and sits beside me. I know I will not stop him from talking, though I really do want to.
I lazily roll onto my side, my hand reaching for his where it braces against the bed.
"What is the rush? I want—"
"We need to talk, Salt. We will have plenty of time to enjoy our… wonderful discovery later."
"Okay, so what’s it about?" I mutter, reluctantly sitting up even though my whole body protests, wanting hours more of being ridden by him.
"I have to tell you this, Salt." He takes a breath. "When I walked in here, I sensed a change in your scent."
I raise my eyebrows. "You know, I felt something too. I think I smelled your Allure for the first time, lemon basil. I thought it was your shower gel at first, but now I am picking up something more than that. I am pretty sure it is your natural scent. It is so pleasant!"
"No, I am not talking about Allure, although I feel that much more strongly now too."
"Then what?"
"Vanilla."
I stare at him, not understanding.
"Vanilla? From what? I did not bake anything, and I do not have a new shower gel."
Eliano arches a brow. "You do not know what vanilla means when it comes from a person?"
Our eyes meet. I blink as the pieces fall into place.
"You cannot be serious. I am a beta, and we…"
Right. I am still stuck on the idea that I am just a beta.
But I am a beta bonded to my True Mate. Everyone says their bodies start changing quickly once they come into contact with their fated mate.
I remember Dr. Lee’s surprise when he noticed my uterus enlarging.
Was this already happening during our first days?
I suddenly remember that I told Eliano to fill me with his semen, pour it from the condom…
"That is impossible. Completely impossible," I mutter, but it’s just a weak whisper; the symptoms fit. The days of strange fatigue, the sleepiness, itching, food making me nauseous. And my nipples have definitely become unusually sensitive lately.
It’s slow, but it gradually aligns itself in my head like a puzzle coming together, one piece after another, as I sit there, staring at the wall somewhere above Eliano’s head.
Then reality crashes down on me.
Fuck, I am not free; I'm a convict. And Eliano does not have a home. He cannot even buy one as long as Rocco controls his bank account.
A sudden wave of panic rolls over me, and I hunch over, rubbing my temples.
Eliano watches me closely, then moves nearer and pulls me into his arms. And the long-forgotten sound starts…
the purring. Wow, I missed it so much. He holds me tightly, my head resting against his shoulder, and somehow that trembling, that sudden fear, begins to ease on the soothing waves of this deep sound.
It is strange. With Eliano close, all is different. Calmer. In his aura, in his energy, fear and uncertainty gradually melt away. Everything steadies.
I let out a deep sigh, soaking in the feeling, in the soft purring.
"I never believed this was possible," I whisper. "I didn’t allow myself to imagine a scenario like this, Eliano. Even when I came here, it was just a fairy tale spun by the Beta Activation people."
The purring fades.
"Did you ever want children?"
My voice breaks a little. "I never had anything against kids, I secretly watched them, never daring to dream, but my life just wasn’t going in that direction.
I always knew who I was, just a beta. And for us, the odds are so small that anything like this would ever happen, so I never built hope around it or even prepared myself mentally. "
Eliano is silent for a while.
"Well, I guess I always had this in the back of my head, I somewhat suspected we were fated. And with beta-alpha pairs, the beta shifts into a beta with omega characteristics, which means they can have children."
I make a small snort. "For me, it was different. I truly did not believe we were True Mates, Eliano. I could not wrap my head around it. What were the odds? For beta-alpha pairs, it’s a tenth of a percent. Hoping for it felt insane."
"So… how do you feel about it now, Salt? What’s going through your mind? Tell me everything," Eliano whispers.
His hands gently stroke the back of my head.
A desperate chuckle escapes me.
"I’m horrible parent material, I had brain damage, Eliano, my impulse control—"
"That won’t be an issue. You will regenerate. TMs, remember?"
Reluctantly, I pull my face away from his shoulder and look him in the eyes. His are attentive, locked on me, and full of hope.
Twenty-five days… every moment, I’ve yearned for him.
For some reason, I feel my lips curl into a slight smile. Gosh, he’s so handsome. Our kid would be a looker for sure, but more importantly, he would be… mine.
This sudden vision comes. Senu’s face. He used to be my everything. Was. Could I love someone else as much as I loved him? The child would be my own flesh and blood…
"I don’t have anyone, you know?" I say slowly, seriously. "I only have you. I don’t count my half brothers on my father’s side; they are strangers to me.
So the only family I might ever have is the one I give birth to myself.
So part of me is…happy, but another part immediately starts thinking about what happens when the BA people find out. "
There is a short pause; Eliano frowns.
"Where will we go, Eliano? Where will we live? They won’t let us stay on the island; there’s no place here for expectant couples. And outside, it might not be safe for a kid, because of… your brother, Rocco."
Eliano frowns slightly and turns his face to the side. "You’re right about Rocco. He’s… a real threat."
An incredibly heavy silence fills the room. Something in his body, some tension, tells me I should dig deeper, right in this direction.
"Where did that cut on your cheek come from, Eliano?"
He lets out an impatient snort and looks away, but he says nothing, only the muscles in his jaw twitching.
"Eliano, talk to me."
"Something happened, but we’re still safe on the island."
"You’re scaring me, Eliano. The pregnant couples are removed from the Beta Activation program and… from the island."
"But that does not mean there are no other options."
There’s a brief silence, and then Eliano says firmly,
"Let me think this through calmly."
I want to respond right away, to say something like: it’s bad, we’re fucked if we don’t decide what to do now, but I suddenly remember that Eliano functions differently. He needs time to think things through first.
And there’s another strange shift happening in real time, the realization dazzling, almost transforming.
I’m not alone now.
I don’t have to fend for myself.
I have my alpha, and a strong one at that. I can sense his fierceness and unrelenting energy smoldering in him, almost palpable under my fingers as they rest on his hot skin.
My need to raise more doubts, to pile on complications, to dig into potential problems slowly melts away, dissolving in his energy.
I have to trust we’ll push through the situation, even if it will be a difficult challenge.
Trust. Almost a new word for me, but it seems strangely important.
So I let it go and slowly rest my head against his shoulder again.
"I believe you’ll find a solution," I blurt out. The old Salt would never have said something like that, would never have relied on someone else to take the lead. And yet, somehow, it feels natural, even safe, to leave it in Eliano’s hands.
I turn my head and brush my lips against his neck.
"So now… can we? Go back to…?"
"Of course," he murmurs. "Gladly."
◆◆◆
We show up to breakfast a little late, but with two more orgasms under our belts.