Chapter 24 Awkward Morning After
ADRIANA
For the first time in what felt like forever, I didn’t wake up completely alone in bed.
My head was resting on something hard, not uncomfortably hard, but firm and warm, rising and falling steadily in rhythm with someone’s breathing pattern.
What exactly had happened last night? And why was the Alpha currently in my bed, in this particular position with me?
I carefully lifted the sheets to confirm we were both still fully clothed. Thank god.
Then the memory of the kiss came flooding back.
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” I whispered to myself, glancing up quickly to check if he was still asleep.
As I attempted to carefully wiggle my way out of the arm draped across my waist, I felt something distinctly hard poking against my back. I thought maybe it was accidental, so I shifted against him again just to confirm, and definitely felt it.
Oh dear lord.
Why was his arm so impossibly heavy? And why was it proving so difficult to move when I desperately wanted to escape this situation? I was also trying incredibly hard not to wake him up because I really didn’t want to disturb his sleep.
I genuinely needed to get to training practice. But the more I attempted to move, the more I kept brushing up against his obvious hardness, and I was rapidly losing every bit of willpower to think clearly.
Had I actually kissed him last night? Closing my eyes and replaying the memory again, I couldn’t help wondering what would have happened if Hazel hadn’t walked in at that exact moment.
Would things have escalated even further between us?
My stomach did a complete flip and I felt my face flush hot as I thought about it, blushing deeply at the memory of how his hands had moved around my waist.
Maybe I should just say screw it and wake him up directly?
But he was the Alpha. More importantly, he looked genuinely exhausted and tired, and I was absolutely certain he barely got any proper rest, what with being the Alpha and having all those responsibilities.
I slowly started removing the hand that was circling around my waist, using both of my significantly smaller hands to lift just one of his arms. I finally managed to set it down on his side of the bed.
Then I worked on moving the arm from around my neck, slowly lifting it up and actually succeeding—but not before the arm around my waist immediately returned to its former position.
With final resolution and the rapidly approaching reality that I might actually be late to my very first training session with Hazel, I grabbed both of his arms at the exact same time. That action seemed to wake Elijah slightly, and he instinctively tightened his grip around my waist and pulled me even closer to him, this time positioning me right up against his morning arousal.
My mouth fell open in complete disbelief. Was he doing this on purpose?
I had to turn my head to look up at his face to determine if he was pretending to still be asleep. He definitely was not.
His scent surrounding me, his strong arms holding me, the fact that I could feel his entire body pressed firmly against mine. It started to get me hot and bothered. For a long moment, I just lay there completely still, trying to process what the hell was actually happening.
Normally I would have found this position uncomfortable simply because it was generating so much heat between our bodies. But I absolutely could not bring myself to lie and claim I found this entire situation anything other than intensely arousing.
Maybe I should just give up and fall back asleep too. Maybe that would help me feel less bothered by all of this.
Just as I closed my eyes, knowing perfectly well that it would take an absolute miracle for me to actually fall asleep through whatever was currently happening, he stirred again. He pulled me even closer—as if that was physically possible—and before I could react to that movement, I felt his lips planted firmly against my neck, peppering soft kisses along my shoulder and moving closer and closer toward my ear.
My body reacted entirely on its own and I let out an involuntary squeal as I practically launched myself out of the bed. My heart was absolutely racing as I stood there staring at him with my hand slapped firmly over my mouth, horrified at the sound I’d just made.
That noise was definitely enough to wake him up, and if I’d actually done that, I was going to hate myself forever.
And it did wake him.
It took a moment before he actually managed to open his eyes fully, but I could tell he was awake now.
“Hey.”
Oh god, his morning voice.
I used to think Landon had the most attractive morning voice I’d ever heard, but I’d clearly been very wrong about that.
As Elijah struggled to open his eyes against the bright sunlight streaming through the window, he sat up slowly in bed. The large, impressive frame of his body came into full view as he moved.
“Good morning,” I finally managed to reply.
I really shouldn’t be talking right now. My breath definitely wasn’t pleasant to smell this early. I might be standing relatively far away from him, but he was a lycan—an Alpha king at that. They had an impeccable sense of smell.
Since my own wolf had decided to completely desert me, I had zero experience with the particular luxuries they all enjoyed.
“Are you alright? Why did you scream like that just now?”
I didn’t want to remind him of his actions because that would just make things awkward between us. But as he stood up to join me on his feet, casually putting his hands in his pockets and simply staring at me with that intense gaze, everything was already multiple shades of awkward anyway.
I really, desperately hoped he didn’t think he’d done something wrong to me or crossed some kind of boundary.
“I—”
The door suddenly swung open wide and I initially thought it was Hazel, coming to give me a proper earful for not showing up to training on time. But when I saw those small legs running enthusiastically toward me, jumping up onto the bed and staring up at me with incredibly bright eyes and an even brighter smile, my heart melted completely.
I glanced up at Elijah, who still looked thoroughly confused by the entire situation.
“Hello, my little man.” Elijah’s voice caught Leo’s attention immediately.
The boy clearly hadn’t noticed his father standing there when he’d first run into the room. When Leo pulled away slightly from Elijah, I didn’t quite understand what specific sign or gesture he’d given him, but I could tell Elijah was trying extremely hard not to make direct eye contact with the child.
While Elijah was still struggling to form actual words to say something, Leo walked confidently away from him and raised both his arms up toward me. I picked him up without hesitation and he wrapped his arms tightly around my neck in the sweetest hug.
He felt so incredibly small in my arms. Like holding a precious baby.
When he finally pulled back from the hug, he had that particular look in his eyes. The exact same one he’d had yesterday when he’d asked his father to play with him.
I simply nodded in understanding, not wanting to break this chain of silent communication we’d established. His entire face lit up with pure happiness.
It was Sunday, after all. Training could definitely wait until later.