Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Chapter 40

"I thought—the howls—there were so many—I thought you might not come back—"

"It was three rogues. Nothing I couldn’t handle."

"Three rogues. You say that like it’s nothing."

"It was nothing. For me." He pulled back just enough to look at her face. "You’ve been crying."

"No, I haven’t."

"Your eyes are red."

"It’s allergies. The hut is dusty." She sniffled. "I wasn’t worried about you at all. I was just... tired of waiting."

"Of course you were." His thumb brushed a tear from her cheek. "I brought dinner."

Nyra looked down at the dead squirrel on the ground. Then back up at him. A laugh bubbled out of her wet and shaky and utterly uncontrollable.

"You brought a squirrel."

"I thought you might be hungry."

"I’ve been terrified out of my mind, pacing a hole in the floor, imagining you being torn apart by rogues, and you were out there hunting squirrels?"

"It was a very fat squirrel. Look at it." He bent down and picked it up, holding it out for her inspection. "That’s good eating."

Nyra stared at him. Then she laughed again, the sound brighter this time, less desperate.

"You’re insane," she said.

"Possibly." He set the squirrel down on the table and turned back to her. "But I’m also alive. And so are you. And right now, that’s enough."

She looked at him the blood on his face, the exhaustion in his eyes, the faint curve of his lips that was almost a smile. Her mate. Her infuriating, overprotective, squirrel-hunting mate.

"It’s enough," she agreed quietly.

She didn’t let go of his hand.

They walked into the hut together, and Nyra didn’t let go of his hand.

The warmth of his fingers intertwined with hers sent a quiet thrill through her chest, a sensation that was becoming familiar and still somehow surprising every time. She glanced down at their joined hands and felt a smile tug at the corner of her lips a real smile, not the practiced ones she’d worn as Thorne.

Soren noticed. Of course he noticed.

"Someone’s happy," he said, setting the dead squirrel on the rough wooden table.

"Someone’s relieved," she corrected. "There’s a difference."

"Is there?"

"Absolutely." She squeezed his hand once before reluctantly releasing it. "Relieved is what you feel when the person you thought was dead turns up alive with a squirrel. Happy is... something else."

"What’s happy, then?"

She didn’t answer. She wasn’t ready to put words to that yet.

Her stomach answered for her instead a loud, undignified grumble that echoed through the small hut and made her face flush crimson.

Soren raised an eyebrow. "Was that your stomach or a bear outside?"

"It was my stomach. Shut up."

"Guess someone is hungry." He crossed his arms, leaning against the table with an infuriatingly smug expression. "Good thing I brought dinner."

Nyra bent her head, still embarrassed by the noise her traitorous body had made. "I spent all my energy waiting for you to come back. All of it. Every last drop. So you can’t blame me for being hungry. It’s your fault, actually. If you hadn’t gone out there fighting rogues alone, I wouldn’t have been so worried, and if I hadn’t been so worried, I wouldn’t have burned through my entire day’s worth of energy in the space of an hour, and if I hadn’t—"

Soren laughed.

It was not the cold, dismissive sound she’d heard from him before the short exhale that meant he was tolerating someone’s presence. This was a real laugh, warm and surprised, as if it had been startled out of him before he could stop it.

"You’re rambling," he said.

"I do that when I’m hungry."

"Then sit down and let me set dinner for you." He uncrossed his arms and moved toward the fireplace. "I don’t want Luna getting angry with Kael because I let his mate go hungry."

The word hit her like a shaft of moonlight.

Mate.

He’d said it so casually. So naturally. As if it was the most obvious thing in the world. As if there had never been any question about what they were to each other.

She murmured the word again under her breath, so quiet only she could hear it. "Mate."

And she smiled.

He said it, Luna whispered, her voice warm with satisfaction. He actually said it. Out loud. In front of witnesses.

"The only witness is a dead squirrel."

Still counts.

Nyra shook her head, but the smile didn’t fade. Then a thought struck her. "Wait. How did you know her name is Luna?"

Soren glanced up from the fireplace, where he was arranging kindling. "What?"

"You said Luna. You said you didn’t want Luna getting angry with Kael. How did you know my wolf’s name is Luna? I never told you that."

"Kael told me."

"Kael... told you."

"Yes. He knows her name. He’s known it since the first time she spoke to you." Soren struck flint against steel, and sparks danced into the kindling. "He says it’s a beautiful name. Like the moon." He paused, and the corner of his mouth lifted. "Like the owner."

Nyra’s face went hot. She could feel the blush spreading from her cheeks down to her neck, and she had absolutely no control over it.

He thinks we’re beautiful, Luna said, sounding absolutely delighted. Kael told him we’re beautiful. I knew we picked right. I knew it. This is the best day of my life.

"You’ve only been alive for a few days."

And every one of them has been excellent.

Soren had the squirrel roasting over the fire now, the meat beginning to sizzle and pop. The smell was surprisingly good savory and rich, filling the small hut with the promise of food. Nyra watched him work, her chin propped on her hand, studying the way his shoulders moved beneath his torn shirt, the way his fingers handled the cooking with the same precision he brought to everything else.

He was handsome. She’d known that from the first moment she’d seen him the sharp cut of his jaw, the intensity of his dark eyes, the way his presence seemed to fill whatever room he was in. But watching him now, in the flickering firelight, with blood still streaked across his face and a dead squirrel on a makeshift spit, she realized that handsome wasn’t quite the right word anymore.

He was beautiful. Not just his face. All of him. The way he moved. The way he spoke. The way he’d held her when she’d thrown herself at him in the doorway, steady and solid and unshakeable.

You’re staring, Luna said.

"I’m admiring. There’s a difference."

Is there?

"Absolutely."

Fine. Keep admiring. I’ll just be here, basking in the knowledge that our mate called us beautiful.

"Hush."

Valeria kept on sucking Elias, his moans were resounding in the quiet forest as she deep tongued him saliva dripping to her chest.

Elias grabbed her hair and pulled her closer as he reached his climax and shattered in her mouth "Fuckkkk...mhmm" his head thrown back in pleasure.

Valeria licked some of the cum as it dropped from her mouth, and sprayed the rest on her breast.

She started licking him again throatily and she used her left hand to take some of the cum on her chest and used it as lubricant for her clit, she started rubbing it with the cum there.

"Mhmm.. fuck" she moaned as she rubbed it faster, her middle finger entering her pussy walls as she fingered herself.

She brought Elias cock out of her mouth and moaned as she fingered herself going deeper and deeper, her head thrown back in pleasure as her moans filled the forest, Elias spilling his contents on her chest and mouth, grunting deeply. Valeria happily took it and soon she reached her climax and her juices filled her hand sliding down and she brought her finger to her mouth to lick holding eyes with him as she smiled like a slut.

Elias carries her up.

Still finding it hard to believe that he is actually holding Valeria in his arms, it’s like a dream come true for him. He fell in love with Valeria since the first time he saw her when he came to the academy, but she had eyes for only Soren. That’s why he hid his feelings for her and decided to watch her from afar afraid to get close to he.

He carried her up and sat on tree branch that served as chair with something to rest his back on for comfort. He placed her on his lap making sure she’s comfortable, then he took one of her breast in his mouth and sucked it.

Fuck.. she moaned her eyes closed in pleasure as she brought his head closer to her nipple. Valeria held his cock in her hand and guided it to her pussy, and started riding him like her life depended on it, Elias groaned and adjusted her well on him, the sounds of skin slapping against each other filled the forest, her moans filled everywhere.

She was riding him like the professional she is, with great intensity and lust filled energy.

Valeria was having the time of her life enjoying it to the fullest as she rode him.

"Mhmm.. ahhh, fuck, this feels so good."

"Oh my god Elias..I can’t get enough... faster." She shouted as loudly and he thrusted in very fast inside her.

He tried kissing her but Valeria avoided it and said purely sex no strings attached.

Elias kept thrusting in her faster and she soon reached her climax and shattered against his pussy, he also came inside her.

She smiled satisfyingly and stood up from him, then she held the wall and shot her ass up in the air ready for another round, and Elias has never been this readier as he grabbed her ass from behind and thrusted inside her pussy again, and her loud moans filled the forest.