Chapter 35. A Playboy Learns ’Staying’ Means

Chapter 35: 35. A Playboy Learns ’Staying’ Means

"Did you... nnh... did you have fun, Leon?"

The soft, sleepy voice made me jump.

I looked down to see Millie’s eyes fluttering open.

The glowing hearts in her irises had faded to a soft, warm pink, and the predatory hunger had been replaced by something infinitely more tender.

A small, dazed smile played on her lips as she looked up at me.

"You’re awake," I breathed, relief flooding through me. "I thought I’d killed you..."

She let out a weak, melodic giggle, reaching up to trace the line of my jaw with a shaking finger. "You didn’t kill me."

"You just... you filled me up so full that I couldn’t think anymore." Her eyes crinkled with genuine affection. "That was... incredible."

"I’ve never felt anything like that..."

I leaned down, capturing her lips in a kiss that was nothing like the violent collision from before.

This kiss was sweet, tasting of salt and tenderness... it’s like a quiet promise between two souls who had just shared something primal.

"I love you, Millie," I murmured against her lips, the words feeling more honest than anything I’d ever said.

"I love you too, Leon," she whispered back, pulling me down to hold her close in the wreckage of our passion. "Now please... just hold me."

"Just for a little while."

The fire that had consumed us moments ago hadn’t vanished... it had simply transformed into something softer, warmer, and infinitely more precious.

The room was quiet now... save for our synchronized, heavy breathing and the distant rustle of the wind outside.

The air still carried the intoxicating musk of our union, but the frantic desperation had been replaced by a profound, aching tenderness.

I didn’t pull away... Instead, I shifted carefully, mindful of how sensitive her body still was, and pulled the tangled, damp sheets up over both of us.

I wanted to shield her from the cool night air, to cocoon us both in the aftermath of what we had just shared.

"Come here," I whispered, my voice still rough from the exertion.

Millie didn’t need to be asked twice. She shifted sideways, pressing her soft curves against my side.

I wrapped one arm around her shoulders, pulling her close until there wasn’t an inch of space between us. Her skin was still fever hot, slick with sweat and the evidence of our passion, but she felt like home.

"You’re still shaking," I noted gently, pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Just from the pleasure," she murmured, nuzzling into the crook of my neck.

Her breath tickled my skin, sending small shivers down my spine. "And from you."

"You’re... you’re still so warm as well..."

I ran my free hand down her arm, my fingers tracing idle patterns on her skin. "I didn’t mean to push you that hard, Millie."

"I just... when I see you like that, when I feel you needing me like that... I lose myself."

She pulled back just enough to meet my eyes. The faint glow in her irises was gone, replaced by a clear, unguarded affection that made my chest tighten.

"Don’t apologize, Leon... I didn’t want you to hold back either."

"I wanted all of you... Every violent, beautiful inch." She reached up, cupping my cheek with her palm. "It felt like... I was seen... Truly seen."

"Like you didn’t just want my body... but you wanted me. All of me."

"I do want you, Millie... All of you... Always." The words came out unbidden, raw and honest, stripped of any pretense.

A small, watery smile touched her lips.

She leaned up and pressed a lingering kiss to my jaw, then another to my lips soft, chaste kisses that tasted of gratitude and unspoken promises. "You’re a good human, Leon... Even when you’re being a beast."

"Only for you," I promised.

We lay there for a long time, talking in hushed tones about nothing and everything. We spoke of dreams, of fears, of the strange magic that seemed to bind us together.

The conversation drifted from silly observations about the moonlight to deeper, more vulnerable confessions.

With every word, the bond between us seemed to knit tighter, weaving our two souls into something inseparable.

Gradually, the words became fewer. The exhaustion that followed such an intense climax began to claim us both.

Millie’s movements became slower, her breathing more rhythmic. Her head rested on my chest, her ear pressed against my heart as if listening to its steady, calming beat.

"Leon?" she whispered one last time, her voice thick with impending sleep.

"Yeah, baby?"

"Stay right here... Don’t go anywhere."

"I’m not going anywhere, Millie... I’ll be here when you wake up."

"And every morning after that."

I felt her body relax completely against mine, her grip loosening as sleep finally pulled her under. I closed my eyes, breathing in her scent a mix of sweat, arousal, and something uniquely her.

I pulled her closer one last time, kissed the top of her head, and let the darkness take me too, falling into a deep, peaceful sleep wrapped in the arms of the woman who had claimed my heart as surely as I had claimed her body.

...

Ding!

That sound woke me up instantly when I was about to sleep completely, and I started to rub my eyes while looking at the panel.

[LUST SYSTEM: BOND STATUS UPDATE]

[Partner: Millie]

[Species: Bunnykin, Lunhare Bloodline]

[Rank: SSS]

[Bond Status: Established]

[Partner Record: Elsbeth Evershade, Millie]

[Lust Energy: 100/100]

[Passive decay will resume.]

[Reward Selection: Pending]

[One option is currently locked.]

[Reason: The target’s Hidden Trait has not yet been activated.]

[Two options are available for selection.]

[Hidden Quest: The Moon Rabbit’s Lost Home Progress: 1/?]

I read it three times, lying there in the dark with Millie curled against my side.

The two available rewards were listed in faint gray text, a defensive technique and a perception ability, but I was too tired and too emotionally scrambled to make sense of them.

I decided that the choice could wait until morning, when my brain was functioning.

My Lust Energy was full, and I could feel my body responding.

The ache in my side had dulled, and the fever had finally calmed down... It felt like someone had taken a weight off my chest.

’So that’s what it feels like,’ I thought, ’when the stupid system stops trying to kill me.’

[Emotional outburst detected. No reward granted.]

"I didn’t even say anything!" I whispered.

The system didn’t reply. It rarely did.

Millie shifted against me, sighing in her sleep, and I stopped arguing with a piece of magic that clearly enjoyed being a jerk.

...

I woke slowly the next morning, and for a minute I had no idea where I was.

It was warm, which was the first thing I noticed.

The second was the weight on my chest. Millie was still asleep, curled against me with her cheek on my collarbone and one hand tucked under her chin.

Her rabbit ears lay against my jaw, soft as velvet, and they twitched slightly when I breathed. Her hair smelled like soap and a very faint trace of herbs.

I lay there for a long time without moving. I’d woken up in a lot of beds in my old life, usually while sneaking out of them, and not once had I ever wanted to stay.

This was the first time I could remember feeling like I wasn’t supposed to be anywhere else, and the feeling was so strange that I almost didn’t know what to do with it.

Millie stirred, blinked, and lifted her head.

When she saw where she was, she turned the color of a ripe tomato and buried her face against my shoulder.

"Good morning," I said quietly.

"Mmf..."

"Are you okay?"

She was silent for a moment.

Then, in a very small voice, she said, "I’m not feeling sorry."

"Good."

"I mean... I was a little scared, but it wasn’t the bad kind."

"It was..." She hesitated. "I woke up and I wasn’t afraid... That’s... never happened before."

I swallowed around a lump that had formed in my throat, and for once in my life, I didn’t make a joke.

I just put my hand on her head and said, "Good morning, Millie."

She smiled against my shoulder.

That was when I noticed the ceiling.

At first I thought it was a trick of the light. Pale, silvery patches drifted across the plaster overhead, rippling and shifting like sunlight reflected off the surface of a pond.

They moved slowly, flowing into each other and splitting apart, and they gave off a soft, cool glow that had nothing to do with the morning sun.

The shutters on the window were closed. There was no gap in the roof.

I stared at it for a long moment, a cold prickle running down the back of my neck.

Millie hadn’t noticed. She was still hiding her face and humming to herself, her ears twitching contentedly.

She had no idea that she was lighting up the room like a piece of the moon.

Ding.

A single line of text appeared in the corner of my vision, small and quiet, and I almost missed it.

[Lunhare Seal: 1 of 3 weakened.]

I read it three times.

’One of three...?’

So there were three. Three seals, three locks, and three layers of something that had been placed on Millie a long time ago.

And last night, without either of us knowing, something had started to crack.

I opened my mouth, with no idea what I was going to say, and someone started pounding on the door.

BAG! BAG! BAG!

It wasn’t a polite knock.

It was the heavy, urgent kind, three hard blows that rattled the hinges. Millie squeaked and snatched the blanket up to her chin.

I swore under my breath, grabbed a shirt off the floor, and shuffled to the door with my hand pressed against my bandaged side.

’Who the fuck ruined our good morning at this hour, hah?!’