Freya’s POV
槛
+8 Pearls
“If I truly didn’t want you,” I said quietly, meeting his storm–grey eyes head–on, “why would I have agreed to be with you at all?”
Ss’s lips curved into something unreadable–half a smile, half a question. He leaned closer, his tall frame folding toward me until the heat of him pressed against my senses. One of his hands stayed wrapped around mine, unyielding, the other slid around my waist as if he feared I might bolt.
“Then…“” his voice dropped low, the timbre rougher than I’d ever heard from him. His lips parted, so close to my skin I could feel the whisper of his breath along my jaw. “If I do this… will you hold it against me?”
The brush of his mouth against the line of my jaw was so feather–light it barely counted as a touch. Yet every nerve in my body lit up like fire.
I froze, my wolf stiffening within me. I could feel the hunger in his gaze when I finally dared to meet it–raw, molten, almost desperate.
“Freya…” His voice was hoarse now, rough silk edged with gravel. “I want to kiss you.”
My heart mmed hard against my ribs. I blinked at him, once, twice. We were already bound together by choice, though not by mate–bond. And it wasn’t as if I hadn’t felt the pull toward him before–the subtle way his presence dragged my gaze, the way his scent coiled around me like smoke and steel until my wolf bristled in restless awareness.
A kiss didn’t seem impossible. It seemed inevitable.
And yet…
my
“If you don’t want it,” he whispered, his forehead nearly brushing mine now, “you can push me away. I won’t force you.” The words, though spoken in thatmanding Alpha’s voice of his, broke strangely soft–like a plea wrapped in power.
His lips trailed upward, tracing the sharp edge of my jaw, closer and closer to my mouth, I didn’t push him. My body was taut as a bowstring, but I didn’t move away.
I could feel the tremor in his hand at my waist, just the faintest quiver. Was he actually nervous? Ss nervous because of a
kiss<b>? </b>
Then his lips finally met mine.
It wasn’t fierce, or iming, or anything like the hunger I’d expected from him. It was soft. Careful. A ghost of a kiss, reverent in its restraint–as if the moment he pressed too hard he would shatter
g sacred.
And just when I thought that was all–when he began to draw back–my hand shot up. yanked him forward, crushing the faint distance between us.
fistin
in the front of his shirt. I
“Open your mouth,” I demanded, wolf rising with sudden boldness.
For a heartbeat, he just stared at me<b>, </b>startled. Then<b>, </b>obediently, he did as I ordered.
This time, I kissed him. No hesitation. No trembling restraint. I imed his lips with mine, tasting him fully, showing him that he wasn’t the only one allowed to hunger.
When we finally broke apart, his breath came uneven, his ears tinged red. He stared expected me to fight fire with fire. “Why… why would you do that?”
<i>at </i>
me, wide–eyed, as if he hadn’t
“Because you’re my chosen mate.” I answered simply. The word slipped free before I could stop it, and though technically we hadn’tpleted the bond, it felt truer than anything else. “And because I wanted to kiss you. Is that reason enough?”
His eyes zed, silver and storm, the wolf behind them shing wild, Slowly, a smile spread across his face<b>–</b>sharp and devastating. “More than enough.”
The sweetness in my chest was dangerous, intoxicating, but I forced myself to step back. “Now,” <b>I </b>added firmly<b>, </b>trying to steady my voice, “will you let me go? I do need to sleep.”
10:09 AM PP.
He hesitated, reluctant, but finally released my waist. “Go, then,” he murmured.
+8 Pearls
I slipped out of his grasp and retreated down the hall to my own room. When the door closed behind me, I leaned against it, my pulse still racing. I could almost still feel the warmth of his lips against mine.
On the other side of the walls, I imagined him sitting alone in that guest suite, fingers brushing his mouth as if reliving the moment. And I wasn’t wrong. Somewhere across the packhouse, I could almost hear his low murmur carried by instinctual bond–sense, though faint and fragmented:
Freya… what have you done to me? You gave me a taste, and now I’ll crave more.
I had barely washed my face and brushed my teeth when my WolfComm chimed with Lana’s name.
“Freya!” she burst out the moment I answered. “Tell me you’re not still with Alpha Ss.”
I blinked at the screen. “No. I’m in my own room, about to sleep.”
Her sigh of relief gusted through the speaker. “Good. But you are seriously telling me you’re with him now? Officially?”
“Yes.” I nodded, firm. “We’re together.”
Her
eyes widened. “He didn’t threaten you, did he? Force you?”
“No,” I said firmly. “It was my choice.”
face.
Lana still looked like she was seeing a ghost. “Freya, do you understand what you’ve done? Ss Whitmor is-” She waved her hands in exasperation. “He looks like sin carved into flesh. Sure. But you? You’ve never been the type to fall for a pretty What on earth do you see in him?”
I thought about it, long and hard. Finally, I said simply, “He’s… not what everyone thinks. He’s more.”
.
Her jaw dropped. “That almost sounded like sarcasm. In The Capital, there are a hundred rumors about him, and not one of them says he’s decent.”
w
A wry smile touched my lips. “Sometimes the ones you expect to be nobl are wolves hiding knives. And sometimes the ones painted as viins<b>… </b>carry a goodness you don’t notice until it’s aimed at you.”
“So,” she drawled, her expression softening into a smirk, “what you’re telling me is you’ve actually seen that goodness? “He’s not what I imagined. And yes,” I admitted, maybe part of this started as impulse. But I don’t regret it.”
Her teasing faded into quiet sincerity. “Then I hope he proves himself worthy of you, Freya. Truly
“Thank you.” My voice was steady, but inside, my wolf stirred uneasily. Hope and fear tangled like thorn and rose.
The future <b>was </b>a path hone of us could see clearly. I didn’t know where mine with Ss would lead.
But for the first time in years<b>, </b>I wasn’t afraid to walk it.
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