Chapter 59

Elara

Alaric’s hand was warm around mine, his thumb brushing once against my knuckles before he started toward the stairs.

He didn’t answer right away, but the hesitation I saw briefly flicker in his eyes was gone just as quickly as it came. Whatever had been holding him back just moments ago seemed to vanish as he gently tugged me along behind him.

We made our way quietly up the stairs, the soft creak of the floor beneath us the only sound as the house settled into its night time silence. My heart thudded so loud that I was certain he could hear it. Hell, he probably felt it hammering incessantly through the bond.

When we reached the top of the stairs, Alaric slowed near Ella’s room. The door was cracked open just enough for me to catch a glimpse inside—the faint outline of two little bodies curled together, the blankets twisted around them. Zoe had one arm flung over Ella’s stomach, her mouth half-open, soft snores drifting out.

Alaric stopped just long enough to look inside. His eyes softened almost imperceptibly, and when he turned his head toward me, the smallest smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

I smiled back, leaning against the doorway to watch them a second longer. I couldn’t help but wonder how kids had such an uncanny ability to pass out the second their heads hit the pillow, but it didn’t matter.

After that, Alaric wordlessly led me the rest of the way down the hall to his bedroom.

No. Our bedroom.

Once we were inside, the door clicked softly behind us. The room was dark, save for the faint silver light that filtered through the gaps in the curtains, spilling faint lines across the sheets.

I let out a slow breath, but it barely left my lips before I felt the shift in the air behind me—the heat radiating off of his body as he circled around me and then stepped close enough so that I could feel the faint brush of his chest against my cheek.

His hand slid around my waist, and his palm pressed against the door just above my head. The soft sound of the lock clicking into place made me swallow, my pulse hammering somewhere between exhilaration and nerves. I tilted my head up to look at him, but his gaze had already dropped to mine.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked quietly, his breath warmer and huskier than ever against my temple.

My fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt without thinking. I didn’t need to say it, but I did anyway. “Yes.”

A soft exhale left him, as though he’d been holding it in for far too long. Relief tugged at the hard lines of his face, his eyes flicking briefly to the mark on my neck that still pulsed faintly beneath the surface.

And then, without another word, he bent down and lifted me into his arms.

I laughed softly, winding my arms around his shoulders as he crossed the room. His lips found mine in the dark, slow and deliberate, tracing the line of my jaw until the back of my knees hit the edge of the bed.

He lowered me gently, his kiss never breaking until I felt the soft press of the mattress beneath me. I leaned back, my fingers brushing over the faint stubble along his jaw as he straightened just enough to peel his shirt over his head.

The moonlight framed him like a painting.

My breath caught as I looked up at him. Shirtless, beautiful, and most importantly…

Mine.

Alaric’s eyes were heavy-lidded as he leaned over me again, his body pressing against mine, every movement languid but charged with something electric that left the mate bond thrumming like a heartbeat between us.

And when his lips found mine again, I let the world outside our door fall away.

We tangled up together beneath the sheets that night. Every moment was bliss, every movement slow and deliberate and delicious. Every twist of our hips was perfectly in sync, and every soft breath or low moan sounded like music to my ears.

Finally, just when we were about to reach our peak together, his warm cock stroking broad trails inside of me, I arched my back and wrapped my arms around his neck. He sat up, holding me in his lap, and our lips crashed together like our lives depended on it.

I writhed and moaned on hip, twisting my hips and savoring the sweet taste of his breath in my lungs.

And just like that, we climaxed together. Hard and fast, but eternal and passionate all at once. It felt like a thousand lifetimes condensed into just a few moments, countless invisible threads pulling our bodies together until our very breath was one.

We stayed like that for some time, breathing heavily, our bodies looped together.

At some point, he laid me down and held me against him until we fell asleep.

Sometime during the early morning, I woke to the faint sound of soft breathing beside me. The room was still a little dark, the soft light of dawn tracing the slope of Alaric’s bare shoulder as he lay half-turned toward me, one arm draped lazily over my bare waist.

I watched him for a long moment, barely daring to move for fear of waking him. His expression was softer in sleep, the furrow that always seemed etched between his brows smoothed away. I wondered how long it had been since I had seen him this at peace—without the weight of the world dragging him down.

Carefully, I reached up and brushed a strand of hair back from his forehead, letting my fingertips trace the sharp line of his cheekbone.

But my movement made him stir. His hand lifted groggily, catching mine before I could pull away. His palm pressed against the back of my hand, holding it there as he shifted beneath the sheets, blinking slowly as his eyes flickered open.

The way he looked at me in that moment—like I was the only thing in the world he wanted to see—made my heart twist painfully.

“Morning,” he murmured, his voice still deep and gravelly with sleep.

“Morning.” I smiled softly, leaning down to kiss his temple.

Alaric pulled me closer, and I rested my head against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart beneath my ear. I could have stayed like that forever, wrapped up in the warmth of his skin, the mate bond pulsing steadily beneath us like a second heart.

But before I could even close my eyes again, the faint sound of footsteps padded down the hall.

I barely had time to sit up before tiny fists pounded on the door.

“Mommy! Daddy! Can we have pancakes for breakfast?!”

Alaric groaned softly, his arm tightening around me as if he could somehow keep the girls at bay by sheer willpower alone. I laughed under my breath, brushing my hair back from my face.

“Well,” I murmured, pressing a kiss to his shoulder before slipping out from beneath the blankets, “I guess that’s the end of our peaceful morning.”

Alaric huffed out an agreement, but we both knew the truth.

We wouldn’t have preferred it any other way.