Chapter Thirty-Eight

*Warning- Adult Content!*

Adrian sucks in a breath, fingers paused against my cheek as he braces himself. “And you’re okay with everything?”

I reach to brush some hair from his eyes, marveling at how long it is when it’s not styled out of his face. He puts more effort into his appearance than I would have guessed, though he could still be on the cover of Vogue right now, right after waking up. “I’m not scared of you if that’s what you mean.”

His eyes soften at my words as if he can’t believe them. His thumb brushes my cheekbone, as gentle as the wings of a hummingbird. “That’s the best-case scenario. I should have told you sooner.”

I shake my head in forgiveness. “You never lied. You tried to tell me, but I thought you were just insulting me. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”

He smiles gently, his dimple dipping his cheek adorably. “Don’t apologize. Who would believe that without proof?” His eyes flicker with regret as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. “I didn’t want you to see that, though. I know you must have been scared.”

I gaze at him for a moment before responding. “I was. Once I realized that it was you though, I knew I had nothing to be afraid of.” As if to prove my lack of concern for what he is, I pull my fingers from his soft hair and press one against his nose, making him look like a pig.

Adrian’s beam is painfully stunning in the morning light as he laughs and playfully shoves me away. “You’ll never know how glad I am to hear that from you. But hey,” He says, leaning upwards to look at the length of my body beneath the sheets beside him. “What are you doing in here anyway?” How did you know I was here?
I shrug, rolling onto my back to face the ceiling. “I don’t know. I knew you stayed the night somehow. Or, my body knew before my brain did at least. I just wanted to talk to you and my body brought me to you.”

Adrian’s gaze doesn’t leave my face as he props himself up on an elbow. I don’t look at his face, scared of what he might be thinking. It sounds crazy of me to say that, but after the bombshells I just took, he’d better not say anything about it. “My wolf was calling to you,” He says, taking me by surprise. I turn my head to look at him, seeing his thoughtful expression.

I furrow my brow. “Your wolf?” I echo, trying to understand what he means.

He snaps out of his thoughts and reaches for my hand, placing it over his chest. I try not to shy away from the solid muscle beneath his searing skin, finding it difficult to hold his gaze. “Yes, my wolf. His consciousness is a part of mine, like another person inside of my head. He can’t speak though, so we communicate through pictures or desires,” I note the way his eyes flicker to my mouth when he says the last word, licking his own lips and swallowing. I wonder what kind of desires his wolf has. “You must be able to sense our presence, even if it’s just subconscious. You bonded with him after last night.”

Even when he lets go of my hand, I keep it placed on his chest and roll over to get a better look at him. “What was De Leon talking about last night? You said to ask later, but then I fell asleep.”

Something dark flickers behind Adrian’s eyes as he recalls, his mouth working. “His magic was too strong for your body right now. He didn’t mean to, but he made you unconscious.”

“Oh,” I say, staring at him pointedly as I wait for him to answer my question. He sees my expectancy and sighs again, reaching to run his fingers through my hair. I feel his pectoral muscle flex beneath my hand as his arm moves, and I hope my face isn’t as red as it feels.

“I want to preface this by saying I didn’t know this was going to happen. I tried to stay professional about it, but you make that so hard,” His tone isn’t condemning as he wets his lips before continuing. “Every Werewolf is taught from birth that everyone has a Soul Mate, our other half that we’re destined to meet. Once we meet our Mate, our lives are changed forever. The Pack Elders would tell us stories about how we would know when we met our Mates because our wolves would howl with happiness and our hearts would ache. Once we touched their skin, there would be a shock of electricity, making it obvious that our souls were intertwined with ours.”

I stare at him with awe, remembering the static that pricked my skin the first day we met when he picked me up from the airport. “So, you’re saying that I’m… that we are Soul Mates?” Even as I ask, I know the words are true. It explains so much about why I can’t keep myself from caring about him, and why he’s nothing like the other guys I’ve fooled around with before.

Adrian’s eyes are glassy as he watches my expression carefully as if expecting me to recoil from his touch and run away. “I didn’t want to freak you out, so I acted like nothing was going on,” He admits, voice heavy. “When you started flirting back, it made me so happy. I had always thought those stories were just a pipedream until we met, but I was worried you wouldn’t feel the same way and that I’d have to let you go by the end of this.”

I know he means by the end of the contract with my father, about being my bodyguard. I was never the type to believe in soul mates or the red stong of fate, but now that he’s saying all this, I know it’s true. “Why did you accept the job?” I ask, my voice small.

He looks down at me quietly for a moment, eyes searching my face. “It was a favor my father asked of me. He would have done it himself, but he’s usually pretty busy with Pack-related things. Being the Alpha to the North American Pack is a tall order to fulfill. Besides,” He adds, smiling and tilting his head. “My instincts told me not to fight it. Now I know why.”

I reach to touch his dimple, admiring the slight crevasse it makes in his cheek. I swallow thickly as my eyes flicker to his lips, my fingers following. “I’m glad you took it,” I say.

Adrian closes the gap between us, peeling my hand away from his face and wrapping his fingers around mine. “So am I,” He growls, lips brushing against mine as he kisses me. It’s a deep, longing one, that leaves me yearning for something more. When he tries to pull away to respect my boundaries, I pull him closer by the back of his neck, smashing my lips against him to let him know what I want.

He growls against my mouth as he places a hand on my lower back, scootching me closer to him between the sheets. I tangle my legs with his, hyperaware of the easy access my bathrobe would give him if this escalates. I am the one who climbed in bed with him, after all. Our tongues battle for dominance inside each other’s mouths, a tangle of teeth and breath.

He tucks an arm beneath me and flips me onto my back beneath him, pausing to look down at me with longing. He’s so big and muscular that I can’t help trailing the line of his bicep, biting my lip. “Lydia,” He growls huskily, eyes darting to my bathrobe that reveals a generous amount of cleavage. “Tell me what you want from me. Once we start this, I won’t be able to stop.”

I stare up at him, feeling breathless. My body is burning up, telling me exactly what I want him to do to me, throbbing and begging for his body against mine. I contemplate my response for a moment, but as soon as I feel the long, hard presence against my thigh, my rationality vanishes. “It’s okay,” I pant, raking my nails against his meaty chest. “I want it. I won’t tell you to stop.”

That seems to be all he needs to hear, as he reaches to tear the bathrobe away, shoving it to the side somewhere beneath the sheets. His eyes take in my naked body, dark with the same desire that pulses through my veins. He reaches to unbuckle his pants as he lowers himself to my neck, pressing little kisses against the soft flesh. He pulls away momentarily as he reaches for something on the nightstand, revealing his wallet as he leans back, withdrawing a condom from one of the folds.

“Just remember,” He growls, teeth tearing open the wrapper. “You asked for this.”