Chapter 10: 9, First night

Adina’s POV

As the evening turned in tonight, people started making their excuses and leaving. In the end, it was just Mateo, Julia, Jason, Sean, Colin, and Adina remaining. They had moved into the living room and were sitting talking about whatever subject that came along. Colin saw how Adina tried to hide a yawn and announced that it was time for bed. Adina was grateful. It had been a long day.

But as they headed up the apartment, after saying good night to everyone, she felt nervous. It had just dawned on her that she would spend the night with Colin, alone in just one bed.

She knew he wouldn’t do anything against her will. She trusted him. But still. This was her first time spending the night in the same room as a man. Other than Sean.

That thought gave her another pang. She wouldn’t have Sean in the same room. They had only spent a handful of nights apart in fifteen years. As if Colin sensed her hesitation, he stopped just outside the door to the apartment and looked down at her.

“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked softly. What should she answer? She did not want to hurt him or make him think she did not trust him.

“Nothing really, it just feels strange not sharing a room with Sean,” she said.

That was at least partly true. It caused him to raise a brow as he ushered her into the apartment and closed the door.

“It’s not like that,” she added. “But we have not been separated like this in a very long time. I’m not saying I want to change things. But I feel a bit lost as someone took away my security blanket,” she tried to explain, and a sense of vulnerability came over her.

She didn’t enjoy feeling this way.

“Honey,” Colin said in a soothing and soft voice as he folded her into his embrace, placing a kiss on top of her head. “Do you want him to come up for a while?” he asked.

“No, I’ll be fine in a second. But thank you for offering. I know this isn’t easy for you,” she said, leaning against him, placing her arms around his waist and breathing in his soothing scent.

After a while, Adina felt calm again, and she looked up at Colin, placing her chin on his chest.

“All better,” she said with a smile.

“Sure?” he said, a bit worried.

“Yes, just a passing aversion to change,” she assured him. “What about you? Aren’t you afraid to share a room with a girl? I hear you can get cooties from it,” she teased. Adina could feel Colin’s laugh vibrating through his body.

“I will risk it,” he said. “Now get ready for bed, I get first dibs on the bathroom,” he continued, placing another kiss on top of her head before untangling from her and going into the bathroom.

Adina smiled at his back. He was a kind man, and he put her first. That made her heartache, but she tried to ignore it.

She undressed and grabbed one of her nightgowns instead. It looked like an oversized t-shirt with a cute cartoon baby wolf printed on the front. Maybe not optimal for the first night with your mate. But Adina seriously needed to tone down the attraction between her and Colin. She mind linked Sean.

‘Are you okay?’ She asked.

‘Yes,’ he answered. But he didn’t sound confident.

‘Do you want me to come down?’ She offered. ‘No, I’m ok. It just feels strange.’ He admitted.

‘I know.’ She agreed.

‘Sleep tight Sean.’

‘Sleep tight Adina.’

Colin’s POV

Colin had gotten a mind link from a patrol earlier in the evening. They had detected the scent of rogues, two of them had crossed the pack borders. That had made Colin worried.

Could it have something to do with Adina? He had asked the patrol to capture the rogues. He wanted at least one of them alive. It hadn’t taken them long. Both rogues were now in the cells, and he would go down there tomorrow and make them answer his questions.

The evening had gone better than he could have imagined. Everyone seemed smitten by his mate, but then, who wouldn’t be? He thought.

He loved the way Adina just seemed to fit into his life. She acted like a luna even though he knew she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the title yet. And she was beautiful and sexy as heck. He had to use all of his self-constraint during the evening not to just sweep her up in his arms and take her to bed.

He had planned to do some light seduction when they were alone, not to put pressure on her, just to let her know how much he desired her.

Then he felt a change in her body as they had gone up the stairs and when she first told him she missed Sean, Colin would happily have killed the man. He seriously considered it for a moment as jealousy coursed through him. But as usual, his little mate had disarmed him in a matter of seconds when she showed her vulnerability.

He understood where she was coming from, Colin thought, and he tried to think of Sean as her brother. It wasn’t easy, but he had offered to bring Sean up. In all honesty, it had felt horrible to suggest it, like Colin wasn’t enough for her.

But when she had turned down his offer and instead cuddled into his embrace, he had felt amazing. It had made him feel strong and capable that she had chosen him.

But her raw feelings had effectively put a stop to any plan of seduction. He needed to put her feelings first at the moment. He stood in the bathroom feeling a mix of feelings and frustration.

Maybe a cold shower would be for the best, but he wanted to sleep. He opted to just freshen up before going back to the bedroom.

Adina was walking out of the wardrobe on the other side of the room. She was wearing a big, pink t-shirt with a print of a cartoon wolf on the front. The t-shirt went down to mid-thigh. It was one of the sexiest things he had ever seen, and his body reacted at once.

Colin stood frozen in place, thinking it might be a good idea to turn around and take that cold shower. Then Adina looked at him with a smile. Colin reflected that she always seemed to smile when she looked at him. He liked that.

“The bathroom is all yours, little dove,” he said, taking a step away from the doorway.

“Thanks,” she said as she passed him by. Taking a deep breath, Colin changed into a pair of sleep pants and turned down the bed while listening to the sounds of Adina in the bathroom.

When she stepped out of the bathroom, Colin turned toward her. He watched as she walked to the other side of the bed. She looked nervous, but if he was honest with himself, he was nervous as well.

She met his eyes and smiled again and got into the bed. He followed her before he had the chance to think too much about it. He reached out and pulled her against his body. This felt so right that all nervousness went away.

He wrapped his arms around her, and she settled, placing her head on his arm. It was amazing to smell how their scents mixed. He still wanted to take her, make her his in every sense of the word. But for now, he was satisfied with her in his arms.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

“Mhm,” she answered sleepily and made him smile.

“You have had a long day baby, go to sleep. Sweet dreams,” he said, placing a soft kiss on her lips.

“Good night Colin, I have had the best day in a long time,” she said with the shadow of a smile dancing on her lips. Colin was filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling and after that, it was easy to drift away to sleep.

Adina’s POV

Adina woke up feeling safe and relaxed. As the world slowly came back into focus, she realised she was still in Colin’s arms. The realisation made her smile and look up at him. He was already awake, looking down at her.

“Good morning,” he said.

“Morning,” she answered and tried to stretch, but found Colin held her too tightly. She gave him a soft push. “I need to stretch,” she told him.

“No can do, I’m not going to release you now that I got you into my bed,” he said.

“Not fair. I always stretch first thing in the morning. It’s one of my favourite parts of the day,” she said with a pretend pout.

Colin sighed and relaxed his embrace, and Adina could finally put her arms over her head and let the muscles tense and then relax. When she opened her eyes, she saw Colin letting his eyes trace the length of her body.

She realised her nightgown had risen and had made her legs bare, almost exposing her panties. Before she could reach down to pull it down, Colin made eye contact with her. The look in his eyes left her breathless.

“Verry much worth it,” he growled before leaning in to kiss her.

He paused just above her lips to give her a chance to tell him to stop. Adina knew she should tell him to back off. But she raised her head slightly so she could meet his lips.

The kiss went from soft to pure fire in a matter of seconds. Adina lowered her arms from above her head to instead wrap around Colin’s neck, making sure he wouldn’t move away. She let one of her hands run through his thick black hair.

Adina felt Colin placing a hand on her exposed thigh while using his other arm to keep himself propped up. His hand gently caressed her leg, each stroke making it higher towards her core that felt like it was on fire.

She moaned, and Colin took the opportunity to let his tongue slip into her mouth. Adina desperately wanted more and let one of her hands glide down his naked back, scraping it with her nails. Colin responded with a deep rumble that fuelled the fire in her body.

Colin’s hand finally reached her core, and he rubbed his hand on top of her panties, making her arch her body towards the pressure.

“Fuck baby, I need you,” he said in a husky, deep voice right next to her ear.

Adina was lost for words and just responded by moaning and letting her hand run from Colin’s back to the front of his pants. Finding the bulge and rubbing it, making Colin growl as he heatedly nibbled at her neck.

A loud knock at the door made them both stop.

“What?” Colin bellowed in a voice that made the windows rattle.

“Sorry alpha, but you said to wake you early so we can go to the cells,” a nervous Mateo answered from the other side of the door.

Adina could see Colin struggling with his eyes closed and his jaw tightening.

“Fine,” he said with a displeased sigh. “I’ll be down in fifteen minutes”.

“Yes, alpha,” Mateo said, and Adina heard him going downstairs.

Silence filled the room while Adina and Colin both tried to rein in their feelings.

“Sorry baby, I need to take care of this,” Colin said.

“I understand,” Adina said. “Julia will come by soon anyway,” she added with a smile.

“I really don’t want to get out of this bed,” Colin told her as if he was worried she would take this as a personal rejection.

“Hey, I know,” Adina said, placing her hands on his cheeks making him meet her eyes. “Neither do I, but sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do. I will never blame you for prioritizing the pack’s needs,” she said.

Colin sighed in relief.

“You are too perfect, baby. Mind if I get first dibs on the shower? I need a cold shower otherwise I will kill my beta and finding a new one will be a hassle,” he said, mostly as a joke.

“Go ahead,” she said and was awarded with a quick peck before Colin got out of bed with a curse and headed into the bathroom.