Chapter 198: Now and Forever

LEO’S POV

It had been three days since that meeting, and the memory still clawed at me like a wild animal. It felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest, slow and agonizing. I had agreed. After so much deliberation, so much back and forth with Shina and my beta, I had finally said yes.

Ivy would train. She would prepare for this damn war Shina was so obsessed with. But my consent came with iron chains. I will train her myself. I will prepare her. And on any battlefield, she stands next to me at all times. No space. No distance. Goddess forbid I lose her again.

The thought of losing her made the air in the room turn thick and cold. I had almost lost her once already, right in front of me, when that monster of a sister had left her unconscious for a while.

That memory was a poison that seeped into my every action. I rarely gave her space. When she sits, she’s on my lap, her weight a comforting anchor against the storm in my head.

When she used the restroom, I didn’t wander off. I was waiting patiently, a giant fool, on the floor not far from her. I was always wherever she was.

Whenever she walks into a room, I’m there. Right behind her. I’ve become her shadow, the silent one always watching, always waiting.

And I don’t regret a second of it.

It wasn't just the war and the past that drove this madness. It was Daniel.

The scent of that unmated male was a constant nagging feeling. The way he was always close to her. The way he kept calling her Princess. Fucking unmated almost extinct male.

My hands clenched into fists at my sides. What if I just spoke to Ivy’s father? Have him personally request for Daniel to go back to the city? Since he wouldn't dare break a damned promise to my mate’s father, maybe he can personally ask him to come back. It was a clean solution, one that kept my hands clean of direct threats. But for now, I have a bigger job.

I am preparing, together with my kingdom, to crown Ivy Queen and Luna. To seal her permanently by my side. The palace was a riot of noise and movement, bustling with activities, preparations. It was chaos, but a good chaos. It meant she was mine. Soon. Forever.

Ivy, oblivious to the battle raging inside me, was pacing. Back and forth. She was talking fast, a nervous energy surrounding her like a haze.

She was going on and on about how she had asked her assistant to bring some files over before the ceremony.

Then she was listing names. Her father. Marcus. And another woman she called Rosa. "They'll soon be on their way, Leo," she said, her voice rising slightly with excitement. "You will love Rosa, I promise. She saved me. She nursed me. She took me as her own."

All the while, she paced. Three feet away. Four feet. It was agony. I tried to focus on her words, on the details of her life before me, but the only thought screaming in my head was simple, brutal, and utterly desperate. Closer.

I fought the urge to simply tackle her to the ground. God, how could she bear to be that apart from me? Three feet is a long, long distance if you ask me.

The control snapped. A low, ragged sound tore from my throat. "Come here, mate," I growled.

She didn't stop. Not even a hesitation in her step. She just went on, focused on the perfection of the day. "Leo, this has to be perfect. I asked the maids to fix my ceremonial dress, it looked like too much."

My wolf was awake now, a dark, pulsing heat in my core. A louder growl escaped my lips. I didn't ask again. I stretched my hand out. My fingers wrapped around her wrist, hauling her abruptly across the remaining distance. I didn’t let her fall. I pivoted, pulling her against my chest, and in one fluid movement, I turned, caging her on the bed. The soft mattress gave way beneath our weight.

"Leo, we have to get ready!" she protested, her hands pushing weakly against my chest. Her eyes were wide, but not with fear. Not with me.

"I haven't even looked at the speech I'm supposed to give. Don't you think we should reschedule?" She was rambling, worry clouding the gorgeous brown of her eyes.

The sight of her, all flustered and focused on pleasing the people, our people, did something savage to me. She would make a great Queen.

But right now, she was mine. Only mine. My dick throbbed so hard it felt like a separate, demanding entity. I leaned down, the scent of her fear and excitement a potent drug.

I didn't whisper into her ear. I whispered into her eyes and a slow, dark smile broke across my face as I watched her heartbeat become frantic.

"If you don't know what to say during the coronation, just say World Peace, baby," I murmured, the suggestion ridiculous and utterly distracting.

She giggled. The sound was a reward. "That's silly, Leo. Now, let me go. I have to go check what's going on in the kitchen. We have barely an hour left to prepare."

"Exactly," I groaned. I didn't let her finish. With a single, savage yank, I tore off her dress. The sound of the silk ripping was the only music I needed. My shorts followed, kicked off with a practiced ease.

"We have barely an hour to get ready, so why are we not?" I asked, my voice a low, gravelly demand. I dropped kisses all over her neck, inhaling her scent like a man drowning.

"L—Leo," she tried to resist, but the resistance was weak, dissolving under my touch. "Don't you get tired?"

I pulled back just enough to look at her, my eyes dark with a hunger that was always present. "Of you? Of this? Fuck no. You have no idea how long I waited.

How it hurt being your fiancé all those times and never getting to eat you up like I want to," I said, the confession raw and honest.

My hands were already moving. I spread her legs further as my lips went further and further down. I didn't wait. My hand squeezed her breast…ever gently…the contrast of tender touch and savage intent driving her over the edge.

Her hands were on my hair in an instant, gripping tightly. The action was a spark igniting a fire in my blood. A grin broke out of my lips against her skin.

"What were you saying about the coronation again?" I teased, my voice muffled. She was already wet and swollen. Her eyes flew open, clouded with pure, unadulterated desire.

She bit down hard on her lips, a tiny trickle of blood appearing on her bottom lip. My gaze darkened at the sight of the blood. It was a promise, a final barrier dissolving. She didn't flinch. She teasingly licked it with her tongue.

"Tick-tock, Alpha," she teased.

A low rumble escaped my lips. The game was over. I was a man starving. I grabbed her neck, not to hurt, but to claim, pulling her face to mine. I kissed her roughly, tasting the blood she had offered, biting softly on her lips and drawing the blood into my mouth. It was the most intimate communion.

My dick throbbed so hard it demanded release. It began seeking her core. And within seconds, I found the sweet pool of ecstasy waiting for me and dove in.

A sharp, immediate thrust. Her back arched at the sudden movement. Her mouth wide open in a silent cry. She looked at me, a teasing look already back in her eyes, challenging me.

I met the challenge with a predator's desire. I pulled out. I turned her around, pinning her hands behind her back with one of my own.

I drove back into her from the back. Thrust after thrust. Relentless, punishing, beautiful. Orgasm after orgasm. Her cries were muffled against the sheets, music to my wolf. But I was far from being satisfied. I was a bottomless pit of need for her.

Her whole body was red when we finally collapsed for the hundredth time. We were both breathing heavily, our bodies slick and joined. There was no part of her I haven't touched yet, that I haven't explored.

I buried my face in her hair. I breathed in her scent, closing my eyes as it washed over me, an addictive peace. She nestled on top of my chest, her heart hammering against my own.

"I love you, Ivy Ashton," I said, the words heavy with a promise I would die to keep. "Those months without you filled my life with a darkness I have never experienced before. I would rather die than be in a world where you're not in it."

She turned her head to look at me, her skin glistening from the aftermath of me wrecking her. Her eyes were heavy-lidded, full of a love that was my salvation. "I love you too, Leo, and I'm not going anywhere," she muttered. She kissed my chest once, a soft, possessive press of her lips.

Her eyes meet mine, soft and understanding, and in that look, I saw everything worth fighting for.

Everything I could lose.

And that’s why I’ll never let her out of my sight again.

My wolf groaned possesively, leaning to kiss our marks on her neck. It was all the consent I needed. Before I could stop myself, I was caging her in again. I wouldn't stop. I couldn't.

Don't blame me. Blame Dina. She had me imprisoned with her darkness for a long time. That is why I'm starved.

That is why I can never seem to get enough of my mate.