Chapter 138 The Morning Before
Kane woke before the sun finished rising.
The room was still dim, the curtains holding back most of the early light. Beside him Aria slept on her side, her hair loose across the pillow, one hand tucked beneath her cheek.
He did not move for a long moment.
Today was the day.
The thought settled in his chest with a weight that was equal parts anticipation and nerves, which was not a combination Kane was accustomed to. He had walked into war councils without flinching. He had faced Alphas twice his age across negotiating tables and never once felt his composure slip.
This was different.
By this time tomorrow she would be wearing his ring.
He looked at her.
She stirred slightly in her sleep, a small involuntary shift, her lips parting around a quiet breath. The sound moved through him immediately. Even now, even after everything, just the sight of her was enough to undo him.
He reached over slowly and pulled her closer, careful not to wake her. She settled against him without resistance, still deeply asleep, her body finding his the way it always did.
“I love you,” he said quietly.
He was not sure why he said it out loud. She could not hear him.
But the words felt necessary.
She smiled.
Not fully. Just the faint curve of her mouth, there and gone, as though some part of her had heard him anyway.
He watched her for another moment.
Then he lifted his hand and let his fingertips trace slowly along her shoulder. Down the curve of her arm. The line of her collarbone. The angle of her jaw.
He had been here the whole time.
He just had not been present.
He traced the space just below her ear where her pulse moved steadily under her skin.
Aria stirred.
Her breathing changed first. Then her hand moved. Then her eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the dim light. She blinked once and focused on him.
“Hi,” she said, her voice low and rough with sleep.
Kane said nothing.
He kissed her instead.
It was not a good morning kiss. It was slow and deliberate and unhurried, the kind of kiss that had nowhere else to be. Her hand came up to his chest instinctively, fingers curling into the fabric of his shirt.
When he pulled back she looked at him with slightly wider eyes.
“What has gotten into you?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said quietly. “I am just happy to be here with you.”
She studied his face for a moment, still soft with sleep.
Then he kissed her again, and this time she kissed him back.
Her hand slid from his chest to the back of his neck, pulling him closer.
The last of his composure slipped.
He shifted over her, his touch growing more deliberate now, no longer careful, no longer restrained. Her body responded easily, instinctively, like it always did with him.
She exhaled softly against his mouth, her fingers tightening in his shirt as he moved lower, his mouth brushing over her skin, his hands mapping her slowly.
By the time he positioned himself between her legs, she was fully awake, watching him now, her expression warm and heavy with want.
He lifted one of her legs over his hip, steadying her as he pressed forward.
The moment he entered her, everything else quieted.
The tension. The thoughts. The weight of what today meant.
All of it faded beneath the pull of her.
He stilled for a second, just breathing, just feeling her.
Goddess, he could stay like this forever.
Her head tipped back slightly, a soft sound leaving her as she adjusted to him, her hands sliding over his shoulders.
Finally, her eyes met his again, drowsy but pleased.
“Mmm,” she hummed, hooking her leg more securely around his waist. “I like waking up like this.”
“I do too,” he said, his voice rough, brushing a strand of hair from her face.
She smiled faintly, then pushed at his shoulder, shifting their weight.
They rolled together until he was flat on his back and she was on top of him.
She began to move slowly, unhurried, her body finding its rhythm as she rode him in soft, rolling motions. Her hair fell loose around her shoulders, tousled and uneven, catching the dim light filtering through the curtains.
Sometimes she was too beautiful to look at.
He laced his hands behind his head and watched her, letting her take what she needed, letting her set the pace. Her movements grew gradually faster, her eyes slipping closed, her hands bracing lightly against his stomach.
“That’s my girl,” he murmured. “Use me.”
Her breathing changed. Tightened.
He watched the shift happen, the way her body tensed, the way her expression broke open as she reached it, her movements losing rhythm for a moment as she rode through it.
She collapsed forward afterward, resting against his chest, her breath uneven.
He wrapped his arms around her, holding her there for a moment.
By the time the morning light had properly shifted behind the curtains, neither of them was in any hurry to move.
Aria lay with her head on his chest, one hand resting against his ribs.
Kane stared at the ceiling, his hand still moving through her hair, and thought about the ring waiting in his jacket pocket across the room.
He thought about tonight.
He thought about everything that had led here. All the things they had been through together.
“Kane,” Aria said softly.
“Yes.”
“You are thinking very loudly.”
“Sorry.”
She shifted closer.
“Whatever it is,” she murmured, “stop worrying about it.”
He looked down at her.
“I am not worried,” he said.
Then his phone rang.
The sound cut cleanly through the quiet.
Aria turned her head first. The phone was closer to her side of the bed, resting on the nightstand. She leaned over slightly and glanced at the screen.
“It’s Marcus,” she said, reaching for the phone.
Kane’s hand stilled in her hair.
She barely had time to lift it before Kane sat up quickly, faster than she had ever seen him move. He took the phone from her hand almost immediately.
“I’ll take it outside,” he said.
Aria blinked, caught off guard.
“Since when do you need to excuse yourself to talk to Marcus?” she asked.
Kane didn’t answer.
He was already standing, already moving toward the door.
The quiet click of it closing behind him felt louder than it should have.
Aria stayed where she was for a moment, staring at the empty space he had left behind.
Something about that had not been right.
She pulled the sheet tighter around herself, the warmth of a few minutes ago already fading into something else. Something she could not quite name.
Uneasy.
She told herself it was nothing.
Marcus called about pack matters all the time.
Still…
Kane had never acted like that before.
She lay there for a few more minutes, listening, but the room remained silent.
No voice. No footsteps.
Nothing.
After a while, she pushed the thought aside and slipped out of bed.
If they stayed any longer, they would never get up at all.
She gathered a few things and headed toward the bathroom to get ready for the day.
As she stepped into the hallway, she slowed.
Kane’s voice carried faintly from farther down.
He had not gone far.
She was not trying to listen.
She told herself that.
But the words reached her anyway.
“…just handle it.”
A pause.
Then, quieter. Sharper.
“And make sure Aria doesn’t suspect a thing.”
Aria stopped.
Completely still.
The uneasiness in her chest settled into something colder.
Something heavier.
And this time, she could not ignore it.