Chapter 148 It's what i needed
The bedroom was already too warm. Leela lay curled on her side of the bed, one hand splayed across her swollen belly where she felt the little butterflies Zephyr made. The stone in her chest pulsed with heat that had nothing to do with the late spring night outside their window. Fire. So much fire.
She'd told Fennigan that morning that her brain felt like it was frying. He'd gone still in that way alphas do when they're calculating danger, and she'd watched him wrestle with the urge to lock her away somewhere safe. Instead, he'd held her while she shook, his cool touch a temporary reprieve before the heat surged back through her veins.
All day she'd pushed through it. Knowing The High Council wanted them. Her twins. Wanted to study them, control them, use them. She and Fennigan had spent five years building defenses, and now with the pregnancy hormones amplifying every element in her stone, she could barely think straight.
The fire element was winning.
She heard Fennigan in the bathroom, the shower running. He'd been careful with her all day, touching her gently, keeping his own heat banked. As an alpha, he ran hotter than most wolves, and she knew he'd been deliberately cooling himself around her. It had only made the day longer.
The bedroom door opened. She didn't turn, but she felt him immediately. Felt the shift in the air, the way his presence filled the space like a second heartbeat. He moved to the dresser and she heard the soft sounds of him drying off.
Leela turned.
He was standing with his back to her, and gods, she'd seen him like this a thousand times in five years together, but something about tonight made her breath catch. The broad shoulders that carried the weight of an entire pack. The defined muscle of his back, the way his spine created a line of shadow in the lamplight. His dark hair was still damp from the shower, curling slightly at the nape of his neck.
The fire in her chest roared.
She understood suddenly, with perfect clarity, what the element needed. Not water. Not air or earth to ground it. It needed heat. It needed to burn against something real, something that could match it and hold it and transform it into something else entirely.
That's when she whispered, "Fenn, please I can't take it anymore. "
He turned, already reaching for pajama pants, and she saw the moment he registered her expression. His eyes went dark. Not with the wolf, but with something deeper. Recognition.
"Come here," she said, and pulled herself up on her elbows despite the weight of the pregnancy, despite the fire burning through her veins.
He didn't hesitate. He moved toward the bed and she caught his wrist, pulling him down against her. His skin was cool from the shower, and she pressed herself against him like she could absorb that coolness, could pull it into the stone that was tearing her apart from the inside.
"Leela," he breathed against her hair, and she felt him understanding that this wasn't about comfort. This was about need. Raw, elemental need.
She found his mouth with hers and kissed him like she was drowning. His hands came up to frame her face, careful of her belly, and she made a sound of frustration because careful wasn't what she needed. She needed him to match the intensity burning through her, needed him to give her something to anchor to besides the chaos in her chest.
"I need you," she said against his lips. "I need this. I need you."
"I've got you." His voice was rough, and she felt him wrestling with the wolf's instinct to protect her, to hold back. "The pregnancy—"
"Is exactly why I need this," she said, and she pulled back just enough to look at him. His eyes were glowing pure amber now, the wolf close to the surface. "The fire needs to burn. It needs to be met with something that won't break."
Understanding flickered across his face. She watched him make the choice to stop holding back.
His mouth found hers again, and this time there was no gentleness in it. He kissed her deep and thorough, his hands sliding down her sides. She was wearing one of his shirts, oversized to accommodate her belly, and he gripped the fabric and pulled it over her head in one smooth motion. The air hit her skin and she gasped, but then he was covering her, his body heat meeting the fire in her stone, and it was exactly what she needed.
"Tell me if it's too much," he said, but he was already moving, already kissing his way down her neck, across her collarbone. His hands found her breasts, swollen and sensitive, and he was careful there, worshipping the changes in her body with his mouth and hands. She arched into him, her fingers digging into his shoulders.
The fire element was responding. She could feel it, the way it was being drawn toward him, toward the heat of his body and the intensity of his touch. It wasn't burning her anymore. It was burning with her, through her, transforming into something that felt less like chaos and more like power.
"More," she demanded, and he growled low in his throat.
He settled between her thighs, supporting his weight on his forearms, and she felt the hard length of him against her center. Five years together and he still made her feel like this. Like she was the only thing that mattered. Like he'd burn the world down to keep her safe.
He moved slowly at first, giving her body time to adjust, but she wrapped her legs around him and pulled him deeper.
"Don't," she said when he tried to slow. "Don't hold back."
He thrust into her with more force, and she met him stroke for stroke. The fire in her stone was singing now, harmonizing with the heat between them. She could feel all four elements responding to him, to this, to the raw connection of their bodies and the deeper bond that tied them together as mates.
His mouth found hers again and she tasted the salt of his skin, felt the rumble of his growl vibrate through her chest. His hands gripped her hips, holding her steady as he drove into her, and she was so close already, the pleasure building like a storm behind her ribs.
"Come on," he whispered against her neck. "Let it go, Leela. I've got you."
She came apart on the next thrust, her body clenching around him as the fire element released in a wave of pure sensation. For a moment, the stone in her chest blazed so bright she could see it behind her closed eyes, and then it settled, the heat transforming into something warm and manageable and right.
Fennigan followed her over the edge moments later, his body going rigid as he spilled into her, his face buried in her neck. She felt him breathing hard against her skin, felt the rapid beat of his heart against her chest, and she held him close.
For a long moment, they stayed like that, tangled together, his weight pressing her into the mattress. The fire element had quieted. The pregnancy hormones still thrummed through her system, but the chaos had transformed into something she could live with. Something that felt less like a threat and more like part of her power.
Fennigan shifted slightly, mindful of her belly, and she felt him press a kiss to her shoulder, then her neck, then the corner of her mouth. When he pulled back enough to look at her, his eyes were back to their normal dark brown, the wolf settled.
"Better?" he asked, and there was something tender in his voice despite the rawness of what they'd just done.
"Much better," she said, and she meant it. The stone in her chest was warm now, the elements balanced and calm. "I needed that."