Chapter 25 TAKE ME TO BED
A distant howl made the two freeze. Alex had immediately thought it's Ivan and had grabbed his gun.
Alex turned off the phone.
The howl had been a stray. A lone wolf passing through. Not Ivan. Not the Council. Not a trap.
Alex exhaled. Put the gun down.
“False alarm,” Alex said. “Come back to bed.”
Mia didn’t move. She stood in the doorway, blanket around her shoulders, eyes still on the dark forest.
“You were ready to run,” Mia said.
“Always,” Alex said. “For you.”
Mia walked back inside. Sat on the edge of the bed.
“I don’t want to spend our 72 hours waiting for a fight,” Mia said.
Alex sat beside her. Not touching. Close enough that their shoulders almost brushed.
“Then we won’t,” Alex said.
Mia looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean we leave,” Alex said. “Now. Tonight. We take the jet and we go. Somewhere the Council can’t reach us. Somewhere Ivan doesn’t know exists. Somewhere it’s just you and me.”
Mia blinked. “Where?”
“Everywhere,” Alex said.
Alex didn’t pack. There was nothing to pack. He called the pilots. Forty minutes later they were airborne again.
No destination at first. Just west. Away from the pack house. Away from the weight.
Mia slept for most of it. Curled against the window, the blanket pulled up to her chin. Alex didn’t sleep. He watched her.
When she woke, the sun was setting over the ocean.
“Where are we?” Mia asked.
“Somewhere warm,” Alex said. “Somewhere no one knows your name.”
He was right.
They landed in a place with salt in the air and streets that smelled like grilled fish and citrus. Fictional Santorini. White buildings. Blue doors. Stairs that went up forever.
No security. No guards. Just Alex and Mia and a small villa on the cliff.
The owner thought they were a normal married couple on a late honeymoon.
Mia let him think that.
For three days, there was no pack. No curse. No 72 hour deadline.
There was breakfast on a balcony overlooking the sea. There was swimming in water so clear you could see your feet ten feet down. There was walking through markets at night, holding hands, eating things neither of them could pronounce.
Alex taught her to dive off the rocks. She screamed the whole way down and came up laughing.
Mia taught him to dance badly to music he didn’t know. He was terrible. She didn’t care.
At night, they slept in the same bed.
Sometimes they talked until 3 AM about nothing. About the café. About the pack house. About what Mia would do if the curse was gone tomorrow.
Sometimes they didn’t talk at all.
Alex kept his distance.
He didn’t kiss her like he wanted to. He didn’t touch her like he wanted to.
He slept on his side of the bed, leaving a canyon between them.
Mia noticed.
On the third night, she asked why.
They were on the balcony. Moonlight on the water. Wine in Mia’s hands.
“Why do you sleep on the edge?” Mia asked.
Alex set his glass down.
“Because I want you,” Alex said. Simple. Honest. “And if I’m too close, I won’t stop.”
Mia’s cheeks warmed.
“And I won’t mark you until you’re ready,” Alex said. “I see it in your eyes when you wake up. The fear. It’s small now. But it’s there.”
Mia looked down at her hands.
“I’m not scared of you,” Mia said.
“I know,” Alex said. “You’re scared of what happens after. Scared of losing yourself. Scared of becoming something you don’t recognize.”
Mia nodded.
“That’s why we’re here,” Alex said. “So you remember who you are before you become mine completely. So when you say yes to the bite, you know exactly what you’re saying yes to.”
Mia set her glass down. Stood. Walked to him.
She sat on his lap.
Alex went still.
“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” Mia said.
“I’m not afraid of you,” Alex said. “I’m afraid of me.”
Mia cupped his face in her hands.
“Then let me help you be less afraid,” Mia said.
Alex closed his eyes.
He didn’t push her away.
But he didn’t pull her closer either.
“Not tonight,” Alex said. Voice rough. “Not like this.”
Mia didn’t argue.
She kissed his forehead instead. Soft. Brief.
“Okay,” Mia said.
They went back to bed.
Still separate. Still close.
On day four, they flew again.
Kyoto. Cherry blossoms even though it wasn’t season. Quiet temples. Tea ceremonies where Mia kept laughing because she couldn’t sit still.
Alex bought her a paper lantern. She wrote I choose us on it and let it go into the sky.
On day six, they were in a place with mountains and cold air and hot springs. Fictional Swiss Alps.
They soaked in the water under the stars. Steam rising around them. No one else for miles.
Mia’s shoulder was out of the water. The rose and thorn tattoo visible. The wolf fur around it had grown in thicker.
Alex’s eyes followed it.
“You’re beautiful like this,” Alex said.
Mia ducked under the water up to her nose. “Don’t start.”
“I’m not starting anything,” Alex said. “I’m telling the truth.”
Mia surfaced. Water dripping down her face.
“Stop being perfect,” Mia said.
“I’m not perfect,” Alex said.
“You are right now,” Mia said. “And it’s annoying.”
Alex laughed. Low. Real.
They stayed there for two days.
On day nine, they were in a desert. Fictional Sahara.
Riding camels at sunrise. Sleeping under a sky with more stars than Mia had ever seen.
They were building something.
Not just a bond.
A history.
On day eleven, they were back in the air.
Mia was asleep on Alex’s shoulder.
Alex looked down at her. At the way her face relaxed when she slept. At the way the fang at her neck caught the cabin light.
Twenty days left on the curse.
Forty eight hours until the fake mark had to become real.
He could do it now.
She would say yes. He knew she would.
But he saw it again.
That flicker of fear when she woke up in the middle of the night. That hesitation before she let the wolf come forward.
She wasn’t ready.
Not yet.
Alex adjusted the blanket over her shoulders.
“Hold on, Mia,” Alex whispered. “Just a little longer.”
They landed in a place with rain and old stone and music that spilled out of every doorway. Fictional Dublin.
It was day twelve.
Twenty four hours until the deadline.
Alex rented a small cottage outside the city. Stone walls. Ivy. A fireplace that never went out.
No pack. No Council. No war.
Just rain on the roof and Mia’s laughter in the kitchen when she burned dinner and they ate cereal instead.
That night, Mia couldn’t sleep.
She got out of bed. Walked to the window.
Alex was awake instantly.
“Can’t sleep?” Alex asked.
Mia shook her head.
Alex got up. Wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. Stood behind her.
His hands rested lightly on her hips. Not claiming. Not pressing. Just there.
“Talk to me,” Alex said.
“I’m scared,” Mia said.
Alex didn’t pretend he didn’t know what she meant.
“Of the bite?” Alex asked.
“Of losing this,” Mia said. “Of waking up one day and realizing I don’t know where Mia ends and Luna begins. Of loving you because I have to, not because I want to.”
Alex’s hands tightened slightly.
“You won’t lose yourself,” Alex said. “I won’t let you.”
“How do you know?” Mia asked.
“Because I see you,” Alex said. “I see Mia. Even when the wolf is close. Especially then. The wolf loves me. But Mia chooses me. That’s the difference.”
Mia turned in his arms. Faced him.
Her eyes were wet.
“I do choose you,” Mia said.
“I know,” Alex said.
“And I want you,” Mia said. Voice barely above a whisper.
Alex’s breath caught.
“Then why are you stopping?” Mia asked.
“Because I want you to want me tomorrow,” Alex said. “And the day after. And a year from now. I don’t want you to look back and think you rushed it because of a deadline.”
Mia put her hands on his chest. Over his heart.
“It’s beating fast,” Mia said.
“Because of you,” Alex said.
Mia stood on her toes. Kissed him.
Alex didn’t deepen it. Didn’t take control.
He let her lead.
When she pulled back, her eyes were bright.
“Take me to bed, Alex,” Mia said.
Alex searched her face. Looking for doubt. For fear. For hesitation.
He didn’t find it.
But he found something else.
Trust.
And that was more dangerous than fear.
“Not tonight,” Alex said.
Mia pulled back. Hurt flashed across her face.
“Why?” Mia asked.
“Because I love you too much to rush you,” Alex said. “Because when we do this, I want it to be because you’re ready. Not because the clock is running out.”
Mia stared at him.
Then she nodded.
“Okay,” Mia said.
Alex kissed her forehead.
“Thank you,” Alex said.
For trusting him.
For waiting.
For choosing him even when it was hard.
They went to bed.
Still separate. Still close.
Outside, the rain kept falling.
Inside, the clock kept ticking.
Twenty four hours left.
And Alex had just made the hardest choice of his life.