Freya’s POV


    +20 Free Coins


    The moment I admitted it aloud-that I was truly seeing Ss -I could almost feel Kade’s silence hanging like a weight through the WolfComm line.


    “Yes. It’s true,” I said firmly, not giving myself the option of retreat.


    For a moment there was nothing but the faint crackle of the signal, and my heart twisted with unease. “Kade?” I asked softly.


    Freya… -” His voice caught, a low rumble of frustration and something else. But before he could finish, a sharp breath escaped my lips.


    Because Ss had leaned down and pressed his mouth against the curve of my ear.


    His lips were hot, brushing lightly against my ear lobe. His breath skimmed over my neck, sending a shiver all the way down my spine. The touch burned and tickled at once, like an Alpha testing a sensitive bond- mark.


    ‘Freya…” Ss’s voice was low, rasping, vibrating against my skin. “How long are you going to keep talking? It’ste. Time to join me in bed.”


    Kade’s growl crackled through the phone, sharp enough to make my wolf bristle. “He’s there. Ss is with you, isn’t he?”


    “Yes,” I admitted, swallowing. “He’s right here. Why? What were you trying to say?”


    The line went dead a momentter. Just like that, Kade was gone. He’d called only to ask that? Only to confirm what he already knew? I lowered the WolfComm slowly, staring at the darkened screen. That boy… what was he really trying to tell me?


    “What are you thinking about?” Ss’s voice cut into my thoughts again, thicker now, edged with something possessive. He plucked the device neatly from my hand and set it on the low table, out of reach. Then, with a deliberate roll of his shoulders, he caged me between his body and the sofa cushions.


    “Nothing.” I shifted, flustered. “I was just on the call with Kade and then you suddenly-kissed me like that. He probably heard… it’s embarrassing.”


    A wolfish smirk tugged at his lips. “Do you dislike it?” His mouth was already on my ear again, tracing it with soft, teasing kisses that made my skin prickle with heat.


    That sensation-sharp, sweet, maddening-spread like wildfire. My cheeks burned. I tried to push him away, but he moved with me, a predator yielding only to trap its prey more effectively. One of his strong arms curled around my waist, and with a sudden shift, I found myself sprawled across his chest, breathless.


    His obsidian eyes fixed on me, unwavering. “Do you hate it?” His voice was no longer teasing. I could feel the tension in the hand at my waist, rigid, as if bracing for my rejection.


    My wolf stilled. He was bracing himself. For me.


    I swallowed, then forced a cool smile. “And if I did?” I countered. A small sting of mischief in my words-1


    12:50 pm Pppp.


    wanted to make him pay for that interruption.


    +20 Free Coins


    But the light in his gaze dimmed instantly. The ck shimmer of his eyes dulled,shes lowering, his entire face shadowing with a self-mocking gloom. “If you hated it… then I won’t do it again.”


    My chest tightened. The raw honesty in his tone, the flicker of vulnerability in a man who was Alpha to an entire coalition-it twisted something deep inside me.


    “Freya,” he whispered, not as the Irond Alpha but as a man stripped bare. “Don’t hate me. Please.”


    Something ached in me then. “I don’t hate you,” I murmured, my fingers brushing his cheek, wanting to erase the shadow from it. “Not you, not what you just did. It’s only… embarrassing. That’s all.”


    His eyes lifted, alight again, a re of wildfire in the dark. “So you don’t hate it.”


    “No,” I breathed. “Not at all.” I leaned down, close enough that he could feel my lips ghosting his ear. “It only….. tickles. I’m not used to it.”


    And then, on impulse, I mirrored his earlier teasing. I caught the curve of his ear lobe between my lips and kissed it gently.


    The effect was immediate. The mighty Alpha of Irond stiffened beneath me, a tremor running through his frame. His ear flushed crimson, and to my astonishment, even his cheeks burned with color.


    “Freya…” His voice cracked into a husky growl, his breath ragged. His eyes-those dark, alluring eyes- gleamed with a dangerous shine, like a predator fighting restraint.


    I froze, realizing what I had unleashed. Ss Whitmor, pinned beneath me, looked devastatingly beautiful in that moment. The heat in his gaze could melt steel, and yet he trembled, undone by the smallest kiss.


    Goddess help me, I hadn’t meant to fall into this snare. I’d only wanted him to understand how it felt-but now I was the one caught, trapped by his voice, his eyes, the sheer raw pull of him.


    Did he not realize what he was doing to me?


    That night, I had to summon every ounce of restraint I possessed to keep from surrendering to the instinct wing at both our wolves. It wasn’t about being unmarried-I had long stopped clinging to that human notion. No, it was about certainty. I wanted to know my feelings weren’t born of heat or impulse. I wanted them to be real, solid, unshakable.


    Ss seemed to sense it. And though desire burned in his eyes, he only gathered me against him, his arm around my waist as wey side by side. His breath stirred my hair as he whispered, low and raw, “Freya, I love you. I’ll wait until you love me too. And when you do…. you’ll want me. Won’t you?”


    He sounded almost boyish then, like a wolf begging for his mate’s eptance. For the first time, I saw the side of Ss Whitmor no one else in the Irond Coalition would ever imagine-the side that could cling, that could crave, that could love.


    And it undid me.


    12:50 pm P p pp.