208- When Winter Breaks Its Own Ice
POV Aldren Valmorin:
I spent my days pretending that there was no guilt or remorse inside me for the series of misfortunes that had befallen me, along with the outrage of still not having discovered who had poisoned my prisoner.
Failure threw me off balance, and I knew I was becoming a massive and destructive ticking time bomb.
Only I knew how many false smiles I directed at people to hide the turmoil in my soul. On top of everything, I still had to deal with the prisoner and the constant conflict between my animal and what little humanity I had left.
“Sir, is there any possibility of a change in duties?” Victor distracted me from the bitch, who intoxicated me with her scent from several meters away.
“Why are you asking me that, Victor?”
My guard grew flustered, forcing a smile that looked more like desperation to me.
“The bitch won’t come out of heat, and even from a distance it’s been torturous, sir.”
The confession that my guard was being affected by Elowen’s heat sent an unjustified shiver of fury through me.
At the same time that I needed to understand Victor was a male and that it was natural for him to feel attracted, it was as if he were coveting something that belonged to me.
“The only one who gets to call her a bitch is me. To you, she is the prisoner.”
His pupils dilated.
“Of course, sir. Forgive me.”
“Your assignment will remain the same,” I declared, and he nodded respectfully.
I dismissed Victor and walked quickly toward the staircase. If my regent had given her the freedom to leave the cage, I suspected the test result had been positive, but I needed certainty.
Before I could look for Nerin in the kitchen, I found her removing cushion covers in the living room. Clutching one of them, she turned toward me with a satisfied smile.
“I swore she would take it, sir. I must confess that if I were suffering in her place, I’d be tempted.” I raised an eyebrow. “But of course, I would never accept taking it secretly,” she corrected herself.
I shook my head.
“The dose is doubled; it may take effect almost immediately.” I walked past her, determined to go to my library. The elders had felt Teneris’s death and sent me a letter; I needed to reply to it, postponing the meeting while keeping her remains stored.
“She asked about you.”
Curiosity stopped my steps a few meters from the staircase. I turned back to her.
“Asked what?”
“Where you were. I believe it’s because you’ve been avoiding going there.”
“Hm.”
What if I paid the bitch a visit? The heat should have subsided by now, after all.
Go down or go up the stairs?
The choice between going to the library, finishing my guest list, replying to the letter, and studying my new security strategy seemed unlikely compared to the option of trampling her.
Showing me that I wasn’t the only one who sensed her by her scent, even with her back to the window, she released a snake-charmer’s voice, “Hello, Aldren!” that sharpened my senses.
“Enjoying the view?”
The wretch turned her body toward me, rested her elbows on the frame of the open window, and threw her head back, letting her coal-black hair dance in the wind.
“Autumn is my favorite season, my alpha.”
“My alpha.”
She closed her blue eyes, lit by the moonlight, and inhaled the air as if relieved to fill her lungs. Her body, slightly arched backward, lifted her dress to the limit of her underwear.
“See, we share something. I appreciate the colors of autumn and the promise of renewal it brings,” I told her. She lifted her chin and looked at me with a mix of surprise and excitement in her eyes. “But be careful, bitch. Autumn is also the season of the fall, when leaves that once stood proudly toward the sky inevitably break free and succumb to the ground.”
“That was profound, my alpha.” She flashed a delinquent smile, as if my presence aroused her.
“Continue enjoying the freedom of that window, prisoner. Just don’t forget that every leaf that falls is doomed to face alone the cold of the coming winter. And in this territory, winter is me.” I took two steps forward, assuming a predatory stance.
I waited for my analogy to frighten her. I waited for her to answer back defiantly. I waited for many things.
Except for her to walk toward me without breaking eye contact and dare to stop in front of me, sensually touching my chest with one of her delicate hands.
“They say even the cruelest winter has its sunny days, Aldren. And when that sun shines, even the thickest ice can melt. Perhaps, my alpha, you’ll discover that beneath the icy mantle of your winter there’s a heat that not even a powerful male like you can ignore. And I… I know how to ignite that flame.”
“Are you still in heat, bitch?” I pinched her jaw with one hand, squeezing painfully.
“How about you touch me and find out for yourself?” she challenged me, with a tone that wasn’t just heard but felt on the skin.
I clenched my teeth hard, thinking I should throw her back into the cage and make her regret such audacity.
Not everything one wanted to do could actually be done.
I knew I was losing at that moment—at least, I was losing consciously.
I didn’t control myself enough.
I didn’t even want control, which would deprive me of my dirtiest and darkest desire.
My barrier between duty and the urge to sink into that bitch collapsed, causing an explosion around us.
I lunged at her full, inviting lips, driven by a savage impulse.
Damn the moment, because right there I became incapable of turning back.
I transcended reason. Aldren Valmorin kissed no one’s mouth—at least, not anymore.
Confusion took root in my mind, and lust penetrated my cells.
I slid my hands over her ass and grabbed her thighs, lifting her into the air so she could wrap her legs around my waist, and she did.
I invaded her mouth without asking permission and sucked on her tongue.
She returned the movements and purred loudly in response. My senses expanded, blinding me to any morality.
The intoxicating dance of our tongues and her gasps, reacting to every place I didn’t just touch but demanded, was a contradiction—
a deep dive into a lake of discrepancy from the damned winter I swore I was.
Skin, muscles, and entrails far from any coldness burned.
I didn’t think or calculate; I only forced myself to pull away from the voluptuousness of her lips, grabbed her waist, forcing her legs to disentangle from me, and shoved her against the door.
With her back to my body and her face pressed against the wood still vibrating from the harsh slam, I pinned her hands above her head.
With one free hand, I didn’t lift her dress—I tore it along with her underwear.
With her naked before me, I lowered my pants and tore my throbbing cock free from them.