Kael
I step out of my office and follow the scent of sugar cookies to my living room.
There, I find Lilith asleep on my couch.
She is curled into a tiny ball, wearing the clothes that I set out for her.
Her hair is spread around her like a halo, and my breath catches in my chest when I see her beauty.
I will never understand why her fool of a mate canceled their mating ceremony three times.
As I watch her sleep, her nose twitches and she inhales deeply, as if she can sense me even in her sleep.
She shifts slightly, and my shirt rides up her stomach, revealing what should be her flawless skin.
But it isn’t.
There is a deep scar that runs the length of her stomach.
It is the kind of scar that I am sure comes with a painful memory.
I inch my way closer to her and lift her shirt a little higher.
I don’t know how I didn’t see this before, but I guess I wasn’t focused on what she looked like, only the feeling of her beneath my body.
My fingers brush along the scar, and she whimpers like it is painful.
I pull my hand away and sigh.
I don’t know how she got this scar, but I have already decided that whoever gave it to her will pay with their life.
She may not have been mine when she got it, but that makes no difference.
No one touches what is mine.
She stretches out, and my boxers ride up on her hips, giving me a delicious view of her legs.
My mind drifts away from the scar too easily, and all I can think about is how it would feel to have her legs wrapped around my waist.
My thoughts drift back to earlier when she writhed beneath me.
Her body reacted to my touch like she was starved for it, and now I can’t help but wonder if her mate didn’t keep her satisfied.
My lips pull up into a smirk, thinking about all the things I could teach her, and with each thought, my cock grows.
I try to think about anything but her body, but it is impossible.
‘You could claim her,’ my wolf, Luca, tells me.
‘You are the next Alpha King.
No one would fault you for it.’
I rub my hand down my face.
‘I am not claiming a she-wolf against her will.’
’I was just saying that you could,’ he laughs.
My cock is still twitching painfully in my sweats, and I know I won’t be able to sleep if I know she is down here alone.
‘You could carry her to your bed,’ Luca proposes, and it isn’t a bad idea.
‘She might be mad when she wakes up,’ I tell him.
Luca laughs.
‘Do you care?’
I chuckle aloud because this might be the first time I have actually cared about upsetting a she-wolf.
Usually, and I am not proud of this, I fuck them and then kick them out.
But there is something different about Lilith.
Something that makes me want to be better, and not just for myself but for her.
Still, I gather her into my arms and carry her up the stairs.
She only stirs for a moment, but then rests her head against my shoulder and curls her hand against my chest.
I breathe in her delicious scent and know that this is dangerous.
I am getting attached to her in a way that I usually can’t afford to be.
I push my bedroom door open, and the room is still heavy with her scent.
When it mixes with mine, it makes Luca rumble in my chest, and it is clear that I am not the only one getting attached.
Pulling back the blankets of my bed, I settle her inside before pulling them back up around her chin.
I am careful to keep my distance at first, but then she begins to toss and turn.
“Mom,” she cries out in her sleep.
It rips from her throat like a scream that she has been holding back for years.
Tears drip down from her closed eyes, and her face is screwed up like she is in pain.
She clutches her stomach and pulls at her skin so roughly that I think she might injure herself.
I can’t watch her like this.
Reaching out for her, I pull her into my arms, and her nightmare seems to stop.
Lilith settles against my bare chest, and her breath fans against my skin, creating goosebumps in its wake.
Keeping her close to my chest, I fall asleep.
I fall into a deep sleep that I haven’t had since my mother died, and I know in this moment that I will never be able to let her go.
Before the sun has risen over the mountains, Lilith’s phone starts to ring.
I grumble in my sleep, not wanting to let her go or to wake up.
But when it starts ringing for the second time, I roll over and answer it.
“What?” I grunt lazily.
There is a sharp gasp on the other end of the line, and then a man starts yelling.
“Who the fuck are you and why are you with my mate?”
It takes me several seconds to realize who is on the other end of this call.
When I do, I laugh before ending the call and turning the phone off.
I toss it onto the bedside table, not caring about the chaos I might have just caused.
Lilith’s mate, whoever he might be, wasn’t man enough to claim her, and now he has lost his chance.
A chance that I won’t take for granted, because this she-wolf is mine.
Luca nods his head lazily in agreement before curling back up and going to sleep.
I yawn, pulling Lilith back into my arms and drifting back off to sleep.