“It doesn’t matter, does it?” Axel interrupted. “I didn’t tell you, and now we’re here with me grovelling for your forgiveness because I was a stubborn arsehole.”
“I don’t see much grovelling,” Titus muttered. “Shouldn’t you be on your knees?”
Axel snorted. “Like your women? No way in fucking hell.”
Irritation sharpened his bourbon brown gaze. “Says the celibate.”
“Are you really going to that?” Axel said with a burst of frustration. “It was a choice.”
“Wait,was?” Cynicism coloured Titus’s words.
“Fuck sake, I didn’t come here to discuss my sex life.”
Titus raised his brows. “So thereisa sex life?”
“Ti!” Axel growled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look, I’m going to cut it off, all of it. I promise.”
Titus nodded and all the joking disappeared, replaced with a resolute expression. “I know you will, but what are you going to do about the pain in the meantime?”
Axel went to reply, a frown curving his brow. “Shit.” He hadn’t thought that far ahead.
“Are you in any pain right now?”
“I’m… not,” he said slowly. “I’m not in pain, I haven’t been in a few days.”Which was weird,he mentally added.
“And you haven’t taken any drugs?”
A shake of the head.
“So, what’s changed?”
“I’ve…” Sudden realisation hit Axel like a sledgehammer. “Oh fuck. Oh fuck. Ohhhh fuuuuuck.”
“Very articulate,” Titus muttered. “As always.”
“I know why I haven’t been in pain, but I don’t want to admit it.”
Titus frowned. “Why wouldn’t you want to admit it?”
“Because it means my mum was right,” Axel groaned.
“Wait.” Laughter lurked beneath Titus’s voice. “Does that mean…?”
“I’ve been starving myself.” He had always blamed his beast for the pain, but maybe it wasn’t his beast. The pain started around his twenty-first birthday, which was when druids were classed as adults and when the full transition with his beast was complete. It was also the time he had chosen to become celibate.
“Didn’t I tell you that celibacy was bloody stupid?”
Axel realised exactly what had changed.
“Oh, fucking hell.”
He’d started having sex.
Chapter23
Sam
Sam quickly changed into his work t-shirt, the familiar black cotton with red embroidery comforting. Normal, as if it was just another Thursday night. The bar was reasonably busy, and he hoped his shift would be full of drunken anecdotes that kept him distracted.
