By the time we’re both moaning and panting into the other’s neck, I feel the pleasure coiling inside me, tightening further through the haze.
The bond almost feels alive as I’m pushed closer and closer to the edge, humming louder like an explosive preparing to detonate.
And the moment my sounds cut off and my whole body clenches, it does.
Blinding light erupts inside me, whether from my heart or my head, I can’t tell. But the rush of it feels like liquid ecstasy, showering me in sensations I’ve never felt before.
It’s so intense that I hardly catch as Caleb grunts into my neck and chases right after me, holding on to me through the waves of his own release.
For a long while, it’s nothing but bliss. Only warm, dizzying satisfaction.
We stay like that for a long moment as Caleb relaxes above me, careful not to crush me beneath him.
His presence is enough to anchor me through the disorienting feelings that linger, making me forget about everything else.
But even if my inner wolf finally feels appeased, quiet little reminders trickle in around the edges, trying to force clarity over me.
Trying to point out what I just did, and how it wasn’t ever supposed to happen again.
But here I am, under him and too blissed out to give it any more thought.
Chapter 14 - Caleb
We’ve been living together for more than a week, and despite time passing, I’m still nowhere closer to understanding Lila than I was that night. The night she gave in just like I had, letting me touch her, taste her, and breathe her in like I’ve been dying to. I finally felt her beneath me, almost like she never stopped wanting me.
It felt perfect, but maybe that was the problem.
Because now, she’s pulling back again, cautious and guarded as if us sleeping together never happened, as if she regrets every second of it.
I hate that coldness, but I also know I can’t be the same wolf I used to be. I can’t push her or make her uncomfortable.
So, I remind myself every day that patience is strength. It’s the one thing that might actually keep her around instead of breaking away when she has the chance.
Even when I wake up and the other side of the bed is cold without her pressed against me. Even when her absence feels like a bruise while the tether between us aches for that space to be closed.
It always feels like I’m searching for her warmth and her scent, but at the very least, she gives me pieces of herself, regardless of how small.
Whether it’s a glance during breakfast, a hesitant response when I tease her, or the moments when she almost forgets she’s supposed to be angry at me. I cling to those pieces, yet the wall always comes back up anyway.
I deserve it, but I’m greedy enough to want more anyway.
The transition from public service to Alpha has been easier with them, thankfully. I’ve been spending so much time with them that I haven’t had the time to feel alone after spending years with my comrades.
Of course, Lila doesn’t make it easy, but she doesn’t outright shove me away either. And Astrid has the most contagious laugh I’ve ever heard.
It doesn’t matter where I go in the house or what I’m doing; if she sees me, then she follows me. She rambles on about this and that as if she has known me since the day she was born.
While in the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast, Astrid holds up a carved wolf that my mother received as a gift from another pack member when her pregnancy with me was announced, and she smiles.
“He looks like you,” she says, grinning.
I lift a brow at her. “Is that so?”
She nods like it’s obvious. “He’s grumpy.”
Even if she doesn’t mean to let it slip, I catch as Lila snorts from the next room over.
Playfully, I narrow my eyes at Astrid. “Did your mother teach you to say that?”
