Chapter 135 135
Aurélie POV
He didn’t stop not until I’d completely ridden out my climax. His eyes burned with something fierce and unrestrained, and a flush of embarrassment followed as the haze lifted. I hated how easily I lost control around him. How instinctively my body responded especially when he withdrew his hand and brought his fingers to his mouth.
My breath caught.
He tasted me slowly, deliberately, hunger unmistakable in his eyes.
“Damien,” I pant, still stunned, still struggling to steady my breathing.
“You taste fucking divine, sweetheart.”
He slips his fingers from his mouth and leans in, pressing a soft, almost reverent kiss to my lips.
“I look forward to trying the real deal.”
His forehead rests against mine as he listens to my uneven breaths, and there’s something undeniably proud in the way he studies the effect he’s had on me my racing heart only just beginning to loosen the tightness in my chest.
Then he surprises me.
He pulls me upright, settles himself against the headboard, and draws me back until I’m seated in his lap.
For a moment, I don’t know what to do until he gently presses my head back against his chest, looking down at me with a soft smile, carefully gauging my reaction.
“I’ve never done this before,” he says quietly, his hand beginning to stroke through my hair.
“Your fingers say otherwise,” I mutter before I can stop myself, silently cursing the joke.
He chuckles. “That, yes. But not this. Not with a woman like you. I mean… just this. Sitting still. Holding someone.”
His arms tighten around me, and suddenly I don’t have words.
Where has this come from?
The way he cocoons me, the warmth of his body, the steady pressure of his arms it soothes something volatile inside me. The flare of jealousy that sparks whenever I think of him with other women dims beneath the quiet intimacy of the moment.
I don’t like the idea of him being with anyone else.
Even if I know it’s true.
I still don’t like it.
“Damien,” I murmur, tension creeping back in, “what’s going on with you? You were possessive at the party… you insisted on coming back here”
“You don’t want me here?”
Disappointment flickers in his eyes, sharp and unexpected.
“No, of course not. That’s not what I mean,” I rush to clarify.
Then what do you mean, Aurélie? I scold myself.
“If the mate bond is making you feel something that isn’t really there”
“You think I’m that easily controlled?” His expression shifts, arrogance sliding back into place, that familiar smirk meant only for me.
“Just because we’re mates doesn’t mean we should act on it. A lot has happened between us.”
“I know,” he admits quietly. “And it’s my fault. But I want to show you the kind of mate I can be now. I didn’t understand it back then but I do now. I wasn’t ready for marriage. I did it selfishly, to become alpha, to get rid of my father. I didn’t value you then. I do now.”
He sounds sincere but something inside me stays guarded, a protective instinct refusing to let my heart move too quickly.
“Aurélie,” he continues softly, “I’m committed to proving I’ve changed. That I can be the mate you deserve. The father our children deserve.”
“I’m scared you’ll make them fall in love with you,” I whisper, “and then leave.”
“Them?” He gives me a knowing look.
Fine. Me. I’m afraid I will fall in love with him and he’ll leave.
“I’ve been thinking,” he says, “I could buy land between our packs. Merge them.”
“That would never work,” I cut in, too fast.
“Why?”
“Damien, I only got those packs to follow me because they wanted out of the Bloodnight alliance. I didn’t soften the truth I told them what a monster you were.”
“A monster?” His brow arches.
“At the time, I believed you’d murdered my parents. And maybe Alpha Jérôme was right if we combine packs, the Darkvale alliance becomes unnecessary. Redundant. Someone else could form an alliance against us. Against Dominique.”
My thoughts spiral, too many what ifs crashing together at once.