Chapter 27 Stop Me!
CHAPTER 27: Stop Me!
Aric's POV
I’d just finished buckling on my last leather vambrace when a firm knock echoed through the door.
“Come in,” I called out with my voice still a little rough from the night spent on the hard ground.
The door swung open to reveal Beta Caspian, his posture all business.
“The escort is ready to roll out when you are, Alpha.”
“Good.” I gave a curt nod, strapping a dagger to my thigh. “The humans. Any intel on how many men they’re bringing?”
Caspian shrugged, a practical gesture.
“Our scouts estimate a small contingent. Twenty, maybe twenty-five. Could be less, though. It’s a talk, not a war party. They’ll likely want to keep it civil.”
“Let’s hope so,” I grunted. “Give me a moment.”
“Of course.” He dipped his head and left, pulling the door shut behind him.
I took a deep breath, trying to center myself. This meeting was everything. It was a chance to prove our intentions, to stop the bloodshed.
To prove it to her. But as I turned to leave, my feet had other ideas. It was like an invisible string was tied around my ribs, pulling me down the hall. I didn't even decide to go; I just found myself walking, my boots silent on the stone floor, stopping right outside Seraphine’s door.
The pull was maddening. Without thinking, I pushed the door open.
And there she was. Already dressed, her hands clasped tightly in front of her, like she’d been waiting. Or steeling herself.
I blinked, surprised.
“What are you doing?”
She lifted her chin, that defiant fire already sparking in her eyes.
“I’m coming with you.”
I almost laughed. Almost.
“No. You’re not.”
“Yes, I am,” she insisted, her voice steadier than I expected. “They’re my people, Aric. I’m human. They’ll listen to me. I’ve seen the grimhowls with my own eyes. My testimony will mean more than any of your promises.”
“It’s too dangerous,” I argued, my mind flashing back to the sheer terror on her face when that beast had lunged. And then to what came after… The memory was a live wire against my skin. I took a step closer, unable to help myself. “After last night… Seraphine, you can’t just pretend that didn’t happen.”
A brilliant, hot blush instantly flooded her cheeks. She looked away, her jaw tight.
“I don’t want to talk about that. Not a word.”
But I could feel it. The same electric current that had arced between us in the clearing was back, humming in the air, pulling me toward her. My body wasn’t listening to any of my logical arguments. It knew what it wanted. It knew what she wanted, even if her words denied it.
I closed the final distance between us until I could feel the heat from her skin.
“If this isn’t what you want,” I said, my voice dropping to a low growl, “then stop me.”
I didn’t give her a chance to answer. I crushed my mouth to hers.
It wasn’t a gentle kiss. It was raw need, a claiming. And she met me with the same blazing intensity, her hands tangling in my hair, pulling me closer. Any protest she might have had melted against my lips.
Clothes. There was no time for them. I spun her around, bending her over the small wooden table in the center of her room.
I yanked the soft fabric of her dress up to her waist, my hands frantically pushing her underwear down just enough. My own pants were shoved down my hips in one frantic motion.
I didn’t wait.. I couldn’t. I drove into her in one deep smooth stroke. She cried out in a muffled sound against the wood with her back arching. She was so wet.. so ready for me and so perfectly tight.
I set a punishing rhythm from the start, my hips slamming against hers. One hand gripped her hip holding her in place while the other slid around her front roughly cupping her breast through her dress.
I kneaded the soft flesh with my thumb finding her nipple and circling it until it was a hard peak beneath the fabric. Her gasped moans filled the small room, feeding the fire raging inside me.
“Aric…” she breathed, and the sound of my name on her lips shattered the last of my control.
My pace quickened, becoming frantic, desperate. The table legs scraped against the stone floor with every thrust. I was falling.. drowning in the feel of her with the scent of her hair and the sounds she was making. I drove into her, faster and faster, chasing a release that was building like a storm.
With a roar I plunged deep and held there, my entire body seizing up as I came, pouring myself into her in wave after endless wave. My vision whited out and for a few heartbeats.. the entire world ceased to exist. There was only her and me and this catastrophic perfect connection.
We collapsed over the table, both of us panting, gasping for air. I stayed buried inside her for a long moment, my forehead resting against her back, listening to the frantic beat of her heart. Slowly, reluctantly, I pulled out. We fumbled, straightening our clothes in a heavy, breathless silence.
She turned around first, her face still flushed, her lips swollen. But her eyes were clear and determined again.
“Take me with you,” she said, her voice quiet but firm.
I sighed, running a hand through my hair. The answer hadn’t changed.
“It’s best if you stay.”
The fire in her eyes turned to cold, hard anger in a heartbeat. All the warmth from a moment ago vanished.
“Get out,” she spat, turning her back on me. “Get out of my sight.”
I didn’t have the energy to fight anymore. I just left, closing her door softly behind me, feeling like I’d just won a battle and lost the war all at once.
Beta Caspian was waiting for me by the horses, as promised. He took one look at my face, my probably still-wild eyes, and the faint scent of Seraphine that I knew was all over me, and his own expression shifted. It wasn’t judgment, just a deep, knowing understanding. He didn’t say a word, just gestured toward the waiting carriage.
We climbed in, and the driver clicked the horses into motion. The carriage rolled forward, the rhythmic clop of hooves the only sound for a long while. I could feel Caspian’s questioning looks. He was my Beta, my best friend. He knew me better than anyone. He knew something was very, very wrong. Or very, very right. I wasn’t sure which anymore.
I finally sighed, slumping back against the seat.
“Alright, just get it over with, Beta. Say what you’re thinking.”
He opened his mouth, a small smile playing on his lips, ready to no doubt give me a well-meaning but thoroughly annoying lecture.
But the words never came. A deafening cry ripped through the air from outside.
“AMBUSH!”
The world exploded as something massive and powerful slammed into the side of our carriage with the force of a falling tree. The reinforced wood splintered.
The carriage tipped, hurling us violently against the walls as it crashed onto its side with a deafening roar of shattering wood and screaming metal.
The last thing I knew was the taste of blood and dirt and the ringing silence that followed the crash…