I went back to work. With every slick, heavy lap of my tongue, I felt the stress of the day simply evaporate. My mind cleared, the static replaced by a singular, focused vision of the future.
I wanted to trust her. I wanted to wake up to this scent every morning for the next fifty years. I wanted the life my parents had: the laughter in the kitchen, the pack loyalty, the children with her eyes and my temper. I wondered, as I felt her start to build toward a third peak, if I licked her hard enough, could I make her want those things too?
If I made her shake hard enough, if I stripped away every defense she had until she was nothing but nerves and need, maybe I could knock the sense into her that I wasn't just her husband by contract. I was the best thing that had ever happened to her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
ADDIE
That was the best thing that ever happened to me. Three orgasms in one night. My body hadn't known it was possible. Not even with a vibrator.
The world didn't come back all at once. It returned in fragments: the hum of the air conditioning, the scent of crushed cedar and salt, and a deep, pulsing ache in my thighs. I wondered, for a hazy second, if I had blacked out. My body felt tender, almost bruised, from the sheer violence of the tremors that had racked me.
When I finally managed to peel my eyes open, Vidar was climbing out of the bed.
The transformation in him was startling. The jagged, electrified tension that had rolled off him all day was gone, replaced by a smooth, easy calm. He looked... nourished. Rested. He gathered his tie and jacket from the floor, his muscles rippling under the dim light of the bedroom.
"Do you..." My voice cracked. I cleared my throat, trying to find my footing in the wreckage of the sheets. "Do you want me to return the favor?"
"No," he said simply. He didn't even look back as he slung his jacket over his arm. "The stress is gone. I’m entirely relaxed now. I’m going to bed."
I blinked, the cool air hitting my damp skin. "To bed? In your own room?"
"I don't enjoy sleeping with anyone, Addie." He walked to the edge of the bed, leaning down to press a lingering, almost clinical kiss to my forehead. "Get some rest. You worked hard today."
The whiplash was dizzying. Moments ago, his face had been buried in me, driving me to the brink of insanity with his tongue. Now, he was dismissing me like a highly efficient employee after a long shift.
"Do you want me back in the office tomorrow?" I asked, my voice sounding small in the cavernous room. "Or was today just a onetime deal?"
Vidar paused at the door, his silhouette framed by the hallway light. "I want us to be partners, Addie. But a real partnership requires more than just shared spreadsheets or bedsheets. It requires transparency. Sneaking around on private servers to chat with other men—even if they are your brother—doesn't feel like a partnership to me."
He knew. He’d known the entire time I was typing to Elias.
"I have a business dilemma I want you to look at in the morning," Vidar continued, as if he hadn't just dropped a bomb. "I’ll leave the files on your desk with a dossier. It’s a complex acquisition strategy for a logistics firm in the West. I have no doubt that brain of yours will untangle it where my best people couldn't.
The professionalism of it felt like a slap. He had just made me see stars, and now he was giving me a homework assignment. It made bile rise in my throat. I felt less like a wife and more like a high-priced prostitute whosebonuswas being allowed to do more work.
It was clear then: Vidar trusted my brain. He might even crave my body. But his family, his secrets, and his heart were locked behind a vault I didn't have the code for.
"Get some sleep," he said, his hand on the doorframe. "You’ll need your strength. You’ll be in heat in a few days. We’ll consummate the marriage then."
A chill that had nothing to do with the air conditioning swept through me. I went cold, my jaw tightening until it ached.
"Of course," I said, my voice dripping with a bitter, practiced sarcasm. "I’ll be ready. I’ll make sure I’m properly groomed and stocked with lube to make things easier for you. Wouldn't want to inconvenience the Alpha."
Vidar didn't flinch at the venom in my tone. He just looked at me, a dark, knowing smirk playing on his lips that made my stomach flip.
"I won't have any problem getting you wet, sweet Addie," he said. "We both know that."
The door clicked shut, leaving me alone in the dark.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
VIDAR
The silence of the penthouse had always felt like my escape. Controlled. Engineered. Every surface chosen, every system calibrated to remove friction, noise, and distraction. It was a space designed for quiet thought after my brain had been pulled in a million different directions all day; from my family, from the business, from the messy politics of the packs.
But I'd never experienced the quiet with someone else present. Never allowed another presence to disrupt the balance. Until her.
