Chapter 137 Maddy #2
I didn’t say a word. Instead, I walked over and wrapped my arms around her.
This was the woman who’d held me as a child.
She’d kissed my skinned knees and bandaged my cuts and bruises.
I’d cried on her shoulder when things didn’t go well at school or when a boy broke my heart.
She was everything a mother could be and more.
The only thing that wasn’t there was the blood, and that mattered less than anything.
Gabriella had missed out on all those things—she was the one who’d carried me in her womb and had cried herself to sleep for weeks after giving me up.
Both these women were my mother. In my mind, I was blessed to have so many people around me that cared for me, and I didn’t want any of them to think they held a lower standing in my eyes.
I kissed Mom on the cheek. “You don’t have to apologize for anything, Mom. It’s good that you love me so much. And I’m glad you said all this. My baby is going to have so much love. They’re lucky to have so many grandparents.”
Mom’s eyes glistened with tears as I turned and beckoned Gabriella over.
I took her hand in my left and Mom’s hand in my right.
Gabriella and Mom shared a brief look before linking their free hands.
The tiny circle we formed comforted me more than I thought possible.
I hadn’t realized how much I’d needed this until that very moment.
Afterward, I spent some time watching a crew of guys, led by Tiago’s and Norman’s packs, work on clearing a huge patch of land. They cut trees and hauled away brush. They were increasing the size of the training field. Nico and the others had decided to designate it as the battlefield.
Tomorrow, this would all come to a head.
Part of it didn’t seem real. A tiny portion of my mind had convinced itself that this would go on and on forever like some awful purgatory.
Knowing that we were almost to the end was odd.
There was no way to know exactly what the end would look like.
Who would live? Who would die? Those questions had kept me awake for the last week.
Once the crew finally finished clearing the land, they drifted off to their bunks for one more good meal and then a night of sleep—if they could calm their minds enough to sleep, that was. All I could hope was that they would get the rest they needed.
I stepped into the house after the sun set. The house was silent. Nico was sitting at the dining room table, and it looked like he’d been waiting for me.
“Where is everyone else?” I asked. Luis, Nico’s family, and the others had been in and out of the house all day.
“I sent them away,” he said.
Looking around and knowing that we were alone, I could feel a crack start to form in my mind.
It was all too much—the weight of knowing what was coming; the horror that was about to be visited upon us.
I’d done a good job of keeping it locked up behind the dam in my mind, but now that I was alone with Nico, it started to crumble.
He must have seen it in my face because he was up and over to me, wrapping me in his arms in a second.
Feeling his strong body against mine, I let it all go.
I cried, and everything I was worried about tumbled from my mouth.
Our baby, one of us dying, our friends or family dying, what would happen to the world if we lost, and a dozen other things that had been bouncing through my head for days.
Nico let me get it all out and comforted me through my entire mini-breakdown.
When it was over, and my tears had mostly dried, he lifted my chin so that he could look at me.
“It will all work out the way it’s supposed to.”
“How do you know that?” I said.
“For sure? I don’t. All I know is that as bad as the world is, it still tends to gravitate toward good.
Evil does win, but usually in the short term.
In the long run, good usually triumphs. Eventually.
All I know is that we are on the good side.
Whatever power and influence Viola might have, it can’t be stronger than being on the right side of history. ”
He was so confident. Whether he was talking out of his ass or not, his confidence made it seem better.
At least a little. He leaned down and kissed me.
It was a soft, almost chaste kiss—something a couple of seven-year-olds might share on a playground.
The innocence of it sent a raging fire through me.
“I want you, Nico. I need you.”
A sly smile played on his lips as he took my hand and led me upstairs. My heart pounded as he closed the bedroom door behind us. Somehow, it was like our first time together again. I was nervous and scared and excited all at the same time.
He undressed me in a slow, methodical manner, keeping his eyes on mine most of the time.
Once I was naked, I did the same for him.
The heat of his body radiated from him as I slid his clothes off.
Nico pulled me close, our naked bodies pressed flush against each other.
When he kissed me this time, it was hungry, demanding.
I tried not to dwell on the thought that this might be the last time I got to be with him.
I shoved those thoughts away and allowed myself to simply live in the moment.
As our tongues danced, I slipped my hand between us and took his cock in my hand. He was already hard, and he sucked in a breath as I began to stroke him. I could feel his pulse as my fingers glided up and down his shaft.
Nico caressed my breasts. They were fuller than they’d been a few weeks ago and more sensitive. I moaned into his mouth as his thumb slid across my nipple. We stood like that, kissing and exploring each other’s bodies.
Right when I thought I couldn’t hold off any longer, Nico wrenched his lips from mine and gently lowered me to the bed.
My back pressed against the soft blankets, and I stretched languorously as he nestled himself between my legs.
He trailed kisses up and down my inner thigh, each pass getting closer to my pussy.
I was drenched, desperate to have him inside me, but I wanted this to go on forever. I didn’t want it to end.
My back arched slightly as he slid his tongue between my legs, sweeping up across my asshole, then thrusting deep into my pussy, and finally flicking across my clit.
Fireworks went off inside my head as he continued the torturous path.
His hands found their way up my stomach until they palmed my breast, massaging them as he devoured me.
Raising my hips to meet his mouth, I put my hands on his, loving the way his fingers glided across my skin.
When I couldn’t take it anymore, I pulled away and tugged at his hands, gesturing him to come up.
“I want you inside me, Nico,” I whispered.
He smirked as he crawled up the bed, pressing his lips to my stomach, my sternum, and finally, my breasts.
His tongue circled my left nipple before he pulled it into his mouth at the same moment as he slid the full length of his cock inside me.
I opened my mouth and breathed out a sigh of pleasure as he filled me.
It was like I was complete. When he started to move against me, grinding himself inside my pussy, I lost all awareness.
The only thing that mattered was Nico, me, and how we made each other feel.
I wrapped my arms around him, moaning with every thrust and tilt of his hips.
His lips left my breasts and drifted up, kissing my chest and neck before his mouth found mine again.
I twined my fingers through his hair as he kissed me and fucked me.
If I had died right then, those few moments would have been what I experienced for the rest of eternity.
His breathing grew faster, his hips gyrating as his thrust became more intense. It made my head spin, and my own climax began to build. An exquisite pressure started building in my pelvis, and electric tingles crackled through my mind. I was getting close, pleasurable spasms shooting through me.
I pulled my lips away. “Faster, Nico. Faster. Make me come.” My voice was barely more than gasping breaths.
Taking my words to heart, he crashed his hips into me. Explosions of ecstasy started to shake me to my core. Even when I’d been in heat, it had been nothing like this. It kept building bigger and bigger inside me. There was fear as well as excitement as I was desperate for the release.
“I love you, Maddy,” Nico groaned softly into my ear.
I dug my nails into his back, feeling myself about to slip past the point of no return. “I love you, Nico. I love you so much.”
Nico stiffened, and his hips moved spastically against me as he came.
He called out an inarticulate moan of pleasure.
Hearing him come was all it took for me to crash down into rapture.
Everything muscle and nerve I possessed clenched and unclenched as wave upon wave of ecstasy rocked me.
I cried out his name, then screamed as it kept going.
For a moment, I thought I might black out from the unending pleasure.
Finally, sticky with sweat and gasping, we collapsed together. I didn’t even realize it when we fell asleep in each other’s arms. I drifted in and out of sleep all night. Even then, it was one of the most restful and rejuvenating nights of my life.
When I woke the next day, I could sense the shift in the air. Even inside our bedroom, locked away from the outside world, I could smell the reek of testosterone and adrenaline. The rest of the pack was awake, and they all knew what was coming. Anxiety and fear were laced through the other scents.
Nico kissed me before he got out of bed and dressed to go check on all the final preparations.
After he left, I pulled on my robe and collapsed back into bed.
Part of me wanted to do what Nico was doing—go out and check on everyone.
I was the alpha’s mate, so it was probably expected, but the bigger part of me wanted to stay here, insulated from the impending horror.
Ten minutes later, there was a knock at my bedroom door. Frowning, I said, “Come in.”
Sinthy slipped in, glancing guiltily at me. “Sorry. I hope you weren’t still asleep.”
I sat up in bed. “Really? I’m surprised I was able to sleep at all last night. What’s up?”
From behind her back, she pulled a familiar object. The dark wooden box that contained the vial. She stepped forward and held it out to me, staring deeply into my eyes. With a bit of hesitancy, I reached forward and took it. I didn’t think I could have given anything more reverence.
“You’ll know when the time is right,” Sinthy said. “You’ll know what you need to do.”
The box seemed heavier than it should have. Like it held the weight of the world within its six sides. That was probably appropriate since, for us, it basically did hold our whole world. Our final, last, and best weapon.
I tucked the box under the bed, wishing I could carry it with me the entire day, but that wasn’t practical.
“When you’re ready, come downstairs. I have something I want to show you,” Sinthy said as she left.
Even though it was something I never thought I’d have to think about, I chose an outfit I thought would work well for both fighting and running.
The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy, and I wondered how I’d ever get through the day if I was already this stressed out.
Once I pulled my sneakers on, I went downstairs.
At the base of the stairs, I noticed what Sinthy had for me.
She stood next to a very worried Maxwell.
“Maddy, I’ll be out with the others during the battle,” Sinthy said.
“Right.” I nodded. “I wouldn’t want you anywhere else.”
Sinthy gestured to Maxwell. “While I’m out there, Max here is going to act as your bodyguard.”
I raised my eyebrows and smiled at him, delighted when he blushed in response. “Really?”
“I’ve been working with him on his powers, teaching him to control them. I’m confident he can do what’s necessary.”
Sinthy turned to look at him, her gaze intent. “You protect this house and especially protect Maddy. Do you understand that?”
Max took a few deep breaths. Still looking nervous as hell, he nodded. “I will. I understand.” He looked up at me, and I witnessed the determination in his eyes. “I’ll do whatever is necessary to protect you, Maddy. I promise.”
Sinthy looked at me, one eyebrow raised in question.
I nodded, smiling warmly at Max. “Sounds good to me.”
I was grateful there’d be a witch to protect me, but my mind drifted back upstairs to the box I had hidden under my bed.
I hoped this young man was all that I’d need to stay safe.
But at the back of my mind, I worried that I would need even more than what he had at his fingertips to survive. To save my loved ones.