Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sofia
Fates, did I really just spend the last four hours naked with Luca? I finally convinced him to go to the kitchen after all his hovering—checking in, making sure I was warm enough, hydrated enough, satisfied enough. I told him I needed a few minutes to fix my hair, but really? I needed space.
Space to try to make sense of what the actual fuck just happened.
And how I feel about it. Was it the best sex of my life?
Definitely. Do I want to do it again? Undoubtedly.
My body is already moving past the delicious soreness, and I want more.
For the first time in my life, I almost wish I didn’t have shifter healing.
But he doesn’t want it to be just sex. He wants more.
And that seems like way too much of a risk.
I move in slow motion, adding oil to my hair and finger-coiling each curl until it looks deliberate rather than chaotic.
The familiar ritual grounds me, but my hands still tremble.
An image of myself doing this as a seventeen-year-old who had no idea why Luca hadn’t spoken to me in over a year floats into my mind, and I press the memory back down where it belongs.
The delicious smell of eggs and bacon drifts under the bathroom door, and my stomach grumbles awake. Reminding me I can’t hide out here forever. My wolf purrs, content from both the intense sex and that our mate is providing for us.
She’s so easily pleased.
Luca is barefoot and shirtless in front of the stove, gray sweatpants slung low on his hips, when I finally exit the bathroom. Adding butter and milk to the scrambled eggs before turning and handing me a coffee when he hears me coming.
“Do you have any syrup?” I rasp, my voice hoarse from all the screaming I did this morning.
“Already put in two pumps of hazelnut.” He tilts his head. “Want more?”
My chest tightens. “How do you know how I take my coffee? I didn’t even start drinking it until after you started… hating me.”
He doesn’t flinch. Luca spoons out the eggs onto two plates and adds toast and bacon before putting both plates on the table, along with the coffee he takes from my hands.
“I pushed you away,” he says, voice low and deliberate.
“But I couldn’t stop myself from watching you.
I know how you like your coffee, and that your favorite foods haven’t changed since you were four years old.
I know you still hide peanut butter cups everywhere.
I know you hate running, but you’re still the first to set the pace for others, so no one gets left behind.
I know you, Sofia. I know that under all the fire and sarcasm, you’ve got a heart of gold and a stubborn streak a mile long.
That you’d never let anyone see you break.
I know you pretend you don’t care what anyone thinks, but you need them to see the badass version of you.
I know it takes a lot for you to let anyone in. But I can wait as long as it takes.”
I swallow down the snappy retort on my tongue.
My chest aches, and my head spins in circles.
Thoughts and feelings swirl round and round.
My wolf goes gooey, whining at me to give in.
But the other part of me—the part with self-preservation—wants to slam the wall back up.
To shut him out. Not give him the chance to hurt me. Again.
“So, you cook?” I ask, deflecting from the heavy conversation I’m not at all ready for.
“Exclusively breakfast foods and grilled meats,” he replies before pulling my chair out. “Eat up, Princess.”
I roll my eyes but sit down anyway, stabbing at my eggs while my brain races.
We eat in silence, though I can feel his gaze brushing over me every few seconds, like a physical touch.
My wolf practically rolls over with satisfaction at the attention.
I grit my teeth as frustration starts to build inside me.
“Sofia, do you want to say something?” he asks.
My wolf purrs and preens. Happy that our mate notices my mood is off.
But it took so damn long to get here. And I can’t help feeling that letting him in now is a slap in the face to that sixteen-year-old me he left without a word, or the eighteen-year-old me he used to make feel small.
And he spanked me! He put me face down over his knee and spanked my ass until I gave in. My chest flushes at the memory. The mixture of shame and arousal intertwines. Why did I love it and hate it in equal measure?
“What happened earlier,” I say. My thighs clench under the table at the memory of his hand spanking me raw. Luca’s blue eyes bore into me, waiting for me to say more. “I don’t know how I feel about being spanked like that.”
“Your pussy knows exactly how you felt. It was dripping for me. But you’re right—we need to talk about boundaries. What’s hot. What’s off-limits. We’re fated mates, so we should enjoy the same things, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t exceptions.”
“What do you like?” I ask, not wanting to reveal my cards first. A flush creeps up my neck. My skin prickles with anticipation, a familiar heat already curling in my stomach, a delicious fire that’s hungry for more of my mate.
His lips curve, dark and wicked. “I need to dominate. I like it rough. And apparently,” his eyes sweep over me, possessive and raw, “I love punishing brats. Well, one specific brat. My cock was hard as steel when I had you bent over my lap with your ass in the air. Especially knowing how turned on you were.”
“It was hot,” I admit before swallowing hard. “But it was also… humiliating. I’ve never done anything like that before. I’m not sure why I enjoyed it so much.”
“You enjoyed it because you were trying to push me away, and I showed you I wouldn’t let you. That I wouldn’t take your words for gospel when I know they aren’t real. But I don’t want to do anything you actually hate. That’s why I need to be able to trust you to use a safeword.”
“I’m not the one of us who needs to build trust,” I snap, standing up and walking away from him. I’m an alpha wolf. I don’t back down. I don’t fucking beg or ask for mercy.
Luca follows me, coming to stand behind me. He runs his knuckles along the outside of my arms. His breath is hot on the back of my neck.
“I love that you don’t make it easy for me. I don’t want a meek submissive. I want my brat. I want you to challenge me and test me. But you have to tell me if it’s too much. If there are things you don’t want to do.”
“Well, what if I want to dominate?” I ask, turning around to face him. “What if you only think you’re a Dom but you’re actually just three brats in a trench coat?”
He takes a breath in and exhales slowly. Like that’s a ridiculous idea, but he doesn’t want to say it. And damn if that doesn’t make me want to push his buttons.
“How about this? I’ll only Dom when you brat? When I’m fully aware you’re pushing me because you want me to punish your sexy ass. Or when you’re trying to shut me out and need me to prove I won’t let you. The rest of the time, we see what feels right?”
“Hmmmm, I guess that works. As long as you know that you don’t get to do anything to me unless I want you to, Beta.”
“Damn straight,” he says, eyes gleaming. “And as long as you know I’ll always make it so fucking good for you—even when I’m punishing you. Even when I’m calling you filthy names and using your body as my own personal fucktoy.”
My brows shoot up, but my body betrays me with a shiver. Damn it, why the hell do I like the idea of a little sexy degradation and free use?
“Respectfully,” he adds, lips quirking.
“You’re ridiculous,” I say with a groan that he cuts off with a kiss. A slow press of his lips to mine. A kiss that’s about connecting and coming together, not the start of more.
“And if you ever try to humiliate me in public—”
“Never,” he cuts me off. “You might enjoy submitting in the bedroom, but I know you’re all alpha everywhere else.
I won’t agree not to step in if I’m trying to keep you safe, but I promise to do my best to never make you look bad again.
I’m so sorry for not realizing the impact of my idiocy. Never again, Princess.”
Well, okay, so. Maybe he has been listening to me. Time will tell, I guess. I want to believe him. I really do. But I can’t help the knot in my stomach that tells me it’s all a bit too easy.
My wolf purrs, making sure I’m aware how content she is. How much she wants me to accept that Luca has changed. At least one of us is sure.