Chapter 25
Everything was dark when my eyes opened again, the skin puffy and sensitive from the tears shed.
Luna and Isis had been right, repressed emotions would kick your sorry ass if you didn’t deal with them.
At some point in the night, I had stopped crying long enough to talk to the guys about everything that happened. Then the three of them talked me into taking a nap, which turned into me passing out. I was truly exhausted after reliving that night.
Pitiful, but it was already done, so, whatever.
I discovered quickly that I was sprawled all over Hannes’s body, literally laying on top of him as if he were my mattress.
He still held me close. I also realized I was no longer wearing my regular clothes.
Instead, a dainty, silk Cami top and shorts set covered my body, letting the intense shifter heat of Hannes’s chest and other parts of him seep into my skin.
His hold was both protective and yet so gentle.
It only took me turning my face away from his neck to find that Dante and André were asleep at either side of us, their arms resting over my waist and back while they, too, held me gently.
Someone was snoring but that only made me smile.
Starlight’s stirring in my chest brought my attention inward.
“That was really hard… Are we stronger yet?” she asked softly, but I didn’t know how to answer.
I didn’t even know who I was right now. I just felt like me.
Trying to move as gently as possible, I lifted myself off Hannes, removing André’s and Dante’s arms from my body so I could leave the bed without them waking.
Letting my wings gently lift me into the air, so I wouldn’t have to crawl over them, I took myself to the bathroom, my feet landing softly on the cool tile.
The door closed with a soft click, and I silently cursed, expecting the guys to come check on me. When nothing happened, I breathed in relief, but only for a moment.
Was I back to being Natasha? If all she’d needed was to face what happened and let herself process the pain, did it mean she didn’t need me anymore?
Me being Natalia, of course.
“This is so confusing.”
“I know.” I sighed, reaching for the light switch because I needed to know who I was.
Not wanting the glow under the door to alert the guys, I only turned on one of the sconces. It still took me blinking several times for my eyes to adjust to the dim glow, but once I looked at myself in the mirror, I was even more confused.
“Well, that’s… unexpected.”
“Ditto.” Leaning in, I glanced at myself again, trying to figure out what the fuck was going on now.
One red eye and one blueish-silver eye looked back at me.
“Is this you?” I asked Starlight. “Is it a Wolf Shifter, bi-color eyes thing?”
“I don’t think so…”
“You are no help.”
“On the plus side, you are calling me Starlight again, so that’s a good sign.”
Ugh. “A sign that what? Half of me is gone?”
“I’d say that half of you is back to normal, but what do I know?”
“Are you saying I’m abnormal?”
She didn’t answer.
“Gee, thanks.”
Taking a deep breath, I leaned closer to my reflection again, rubbing my blueish eye. When I opened it, it was back to red… but it soon paled, returning to Natasha’s blueish-silver hue.
Perfect, just perfect. One more fucking thing for me to deal with right now.
“They did say it was going to get worse before it got better… Bitch. I feel like it’s safe to still call you that.”
“Stop being so rude to her, Starlight.”
Hannes’s husky tenor made me whirl around to find him closing the door behind him.
The unexpected sight of him made my heart start to race.
Spinning away from him as fast as I’d faced him, I busied myself with something on the vanity so he wouldn’t see the change in my eyes. “Did I wake you up? I’m sorry.”
I risked a glance at him through the mirror, noticing the slow shake of his head.
“I couldn’t feel you on me anymore.” He paused to yawn, rubbing the sleep off his eye like a child.
“He’s so damn sexy, even when he’s being adorable.”
Knowing he could hear her, I grinned. “Ditto.”
“Adorable?” Hannes scoffed, his wolf coming to the surface with the “insult.”
He stopped behind me, his arms sliding around my waist until he’d captured me against his hard chest, hands splaying along my ribs. Tilting his head into my neck, he paused next to my ear, scenting me.
“I’m a deadly Beast. A powerful Wolf Shifter. And the motherfucking Iron Prince. I’m everything but adorable.”
His husky, half-human, half-beast growl danced against my ear while his hot breath caressed the sensitive curve of my neck with each word.
Like a ripple effect, every tiny hair on my body stood on end, my nipples tightening in response, and I couldn’t help myself from looking at him through the mirror.
He pinned me with his ardent gaze.
“See? Adorable.”
His lip quivered with Starlight’s teasing, but he narrowed his eyes, staring at me harder.
“Shit, he noticed the change.” I freaked out.
Pulling back, he gripped my waist and turned me around, reaching for my face while his intense gaze observed me. His expression transformed when he fully took in the two colors of my eyes.
Everything inside me tensed, waiting for his verdict, and I hated that I cared so much what he thought of me. No man would ever define who I was but damn it if I didn’t want him to love me like this too.
“Not that I’ve assumed he loves me,” I clarified for Starlight’s sake. “I mean it more like if he wants me as Natasha, and as Starlight, then he may want me a bit as Natalia too because let’s face it, I’m extremely hot, and he—"
“Give it a rest, Bitch. You are rambling… Just admit it. You want him, bad.”
“He’s your mate, not mine…” I argued so weakly that it was truly embarrassing.
Hannes’s expression softened with our banter, and a mesmerizing smile curved his full lips.
Goddess, why was he so fucking hot?
His touch shifted on my face, his thumb resting on my jaw while his fingertips began to stroke the side of my neck.
“I love it when he does that…”
Me too, but I was too busy feeling the rush of maddening tingles he unleashed spread down my neck, my breasts, and the rest of my body. My already tight nipples ached against the cold silk, sending need straight to my core until desire pooled between my thighs.
“You are extraordinary…” he whispered only an inch away.
Slowly, Hannes tilted his head, his darkening gaze devouring me for a second before he claimed my mouth as his. Lifting my arms to rest over his shoulders, I pulled him in by the neck with every ounce of need swirling through my being.
This kiss was different.
It was dominant, possessive, and demanding as he bit my lower lip, letting me know I belonged to him. As his tongue swept over mine, Hannes’s hands slipped under my Cami, his fingertips tracing my ribs and my body sang for him.
Short of breath, I pulled him impossibly closer, and when our bodies pressed against the other, I was pleasantly surprised to feel that only thin cotton pants blocked him from me.
My hands caressed their way down his neck, squeezing his broad shoulders and hard pecs on my exploration of his shirtless torso.
I particularly enjoyed the way his stomach tightened when I stroked every inch of his abs and proceeded to trace his perfectly defined “v” hipbones all the way into his pants.
Without asking permission, I slipped my hands under his waistband, feeling instant relief when I wrapped them around his thick shaft.
He was scorching hot but soft, and I loved the way he felt in my grasp when he wasn’t erect. Especially the way he felt as I massaged and squeezed him. Not that I didn’t want him hard as a rock inside me, but I could get the satisfaction of feeling him harden in my grasp.
Hannes didn’t even flinch when I grabbed him.
he just continued kissing me, as if he expected it.
As if I had all the right in the world to his body.
His hands lifted along my torso, stopping just under my breasts.
His thumbs rested on the perky underside, only an inch below my puckered nipples.
They instantly tingled with excitement at the possibility of his touch.
Fuck, why did he get me so horny?
Opening my eyes, I pulled away from his overpowering kiss and glanced up at him while I began to stroke him. “I have my hands on you, the same hands that can wield the Eternal Blaze. Isn’t the Beast going to take over?”
A dangerously adorable smile curved his lips, but this one was more powerful because it was also filled with desire. “I don’t think he has any objections to your hands on me right now. There’s no danger here.”
“Are you sure about that?” I teased, squeezing his head before stroking him again. I wanted to get him wet so badly.
I expected his eyes to roll back with pleasure, but the asshole was in control of everything. His gaze only intensified as he loomed over me. He wasn’t even hard yet.
“Yes, I am,” he replied, fully relaxed, his thumbs lazily caressing my breasts without really touching me.
Having his thumbs so close to my nipples, yet so far was driving me crazy.
“It’s not fair,” I all but wined. “I want more.”
Amused, he leaned closer, sighing as if he was fully enjoying my frustration. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
My smirk was inevitable. “Don’t tell me you want me to dominate you in bed, Beasty boy?”
Quiet chuckles left him, and he shook his head, looking at me like I was the most adorable creature…
“Or as if it’s comical that you could ever dominate him,” Starlight snorted, and I wanted to smack her.
“Let me enjoy this, will you?!”
“Tell me,” Hannes insisted, a dangerously sexy gleam entering his ocean-blue gaze.
“I want to feel you getting hard in my hands,” I breathed, craving his mouth on mine again. My neck arched impossibly high just so I could hold his gaze.
A certain emotion crossed his face, and just like magic, he let go for me. His shaft jerked in my hands, and he let me feel him grow and harden with each stroke.
“Thank you, Goddess!”