Chapter 61 - Claimed (Part 3)

It was early morning and the sun was already start to peak in through the windows.

Kai and Adalyn had both passed out after their first night together and had slept soundly.

Kai shuffled slightly in the bed as he felt warm full lips on his slowly stirring him to life. Kai started kissing back instinctively as his mate's naked body clambered on top of his. *'Is she already keen for round two?'* he thought to himself with his eyes still closed.

Her kissing slowly became more aggressive and Kai could feel her canine's poking through her lips. Something wasn't quite right. Kai pulled out of the kiss and looked at her. "Tara?" He asked.

Adalyn's eyes were black and he couldn't see the human behind them. Tara was taking the lead. Kai smirked. "What are we going to do with you? Still not keen to let Adalyn fully run the show?"

Tara attempted to kiss Kai again, but Kai blocked her by supporting her face with his hand. "Nuh uh." He shook his head. "Is the other half of my mate still not satisfied?" With her laying on top of him he could feel himself getting hard again, but he knew that she might still be a little sore.

Tara refrained from trying to kiss him again but started to fixate her sights on his neck. Her canines had now fully descended and were now prominently poking out.

"Ooooh" Kai said with sleep still in his voice. "That's what you want." Whilst it wasn't uncommon for females to mark their mates the act of the male marking the female was usually all that was required to complete the bond, but particularly dominant females would also mark their mates in return. In royal and noble circles, having a female mark you was typically frowned upon, but Kai was breaking rules faster than anybody could set them. With their mate bond now in place, he wasn't opposed to this at all, in fact he welcomed it. Pax was in agreement too.

Kai swept the hair on his neck out of the way. "Go for it gorgeous," he whispered.

That was all the permission Tara needed. He had barely gotten the words out just as Tara sunk her teeth in to the crook of his neck. Kai flinched and closed his eyes as her teeth pierced his skin. She held him down tightly by his shoulders and pushed him further in to the bed in a possessive manner to try and stop him from getting away or changing his mind.

"Woah....easy girl...easy." Kai crooned in to her ear.

Kai stroked his hand down her body to keep her calm. "Let Adalyn back Tara. I'm not going anywhere." Kai knew that Tara was probably acting out on both her and Adalyn's desires but if he was going to be marked by her, he wanted Adalyn to at least be conscious of it.

Kai could feel the aggression in her body starting to wane and her muscles started to relax as Tara receeded control back to Adalyn.

"Hey baby, you back with me?" Kai asked as he gently stroked her head and neck as she continued to hold her teeth firmly in his neck.

"Mmmm" Adalyn growled. She was back and in full control of claiming him. Kai smiled and continued stroking his mate. His dominant little mate was proving herself every day to be his match. Pax was like a puppy around her.

Adalyn slowly released her bite and then licked the wound gently. Whilst her wolf had taken over to claim Kai, it was what she had wanted deep down and both her and Tara felt satisfied with their efforts. "Morning" she said quietly against him.

"Morning mate" Kai said back to her. Adalyn kissed him softly as she laid on top of him. As she shuffled about a bit she could feel Kai starting to get hard underneath her. The bite had clearly stirred something in him. Adalyn was still feeling sore from their activities just a few short hours ago. She froze as she tried not to wake the beast that was stirring beneath her.

Kai could feel her apprehension. "You might want to roll off me if you don't want me to pounce on you again," he said with a smile in his voice.

Adalyn rolled off in quiet relief and then wrapped herself in the bed sheets.

"Hungry?" Kai asked a moment later.

Adalyn's belly growled and Kai laughed out loud. "I'll take that as a yes then?"

This was the second time that her belly had growled like that in front of him. It was like her stomach had a mind of its own.

Kai chuckled and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before he slipped out from under the sheets. Watching him do so, Adalyn sat up in the bed. With the sun now rising she could fully appreciate her mate in all of his natural naked glory. Kai pulled open a drawer and grabbed a loose pair of track pants. As he pulled them on Adalyn looked at his tight ass. *'I really want to bite it'* she thought cheekily.

Kai stilled and turned round slowly to look at her with a bold smirk plastered over his face.

*'You know I can hear that right?'* Kai linked back to her through their new mate mind link.

Adalyn look startled as she heard Kai's voice in her head. Having left Eclipse Fang so long ago she hadn't mind linked someone in a long time as she rarely came in to contact with her old pack members since she moved to Blue Moon territory and this whole experience seemed almost alien. "You...you heard that?" She said slowly as a blush crept up her face.

Kai tutted sarcastically. "Well...seems like my mate isn't so *innocent* after all. You might have to settle for bacon and eggs for now though if you want a *bite* to eat right now."

Adalyn pulled the sheets over her head to hide her embarrassment. " My thoughts aren't safe anymore?! Is this because I'm part of your pack now?"

Kai walked back over to the bed and pulled the sheets off her head as he sat down. "It's our mate mind link. There's a bit more of a formal process to be part of the Blue Moon pack and mind link network, but because we've unified our bond, we can communicate with each other like this."

Adalyn tugged the sheets back from Kai and threw them over her head again. "But this is embarrassing! I don't want you to hear everything that I'm thinking."

Kai smiled. "Hey, this is new for me too, but it's not too dissimilar to a pack mind link. I suppose if you left Eclipse Fang as a kid, it's probably been a while since you last mind-linked somebody from your own pack, but it seems like process is similar. You'll get better at controlling it with practice, then your thoughts won't keep leaking out like that against your will."

Adalyn was silent as he spoke. She didn't seem convinced and Kai could see it on her face.

"Look, how about this, I'll try to keep my mind closed off for now until you have a chance to get used to it. Okay?"

Adalyn remained quiet. She was too nervous to even think or say anything in case he heard any other private thoughts she had.

Kai furrowed his brows after realising that he had been having half of this conversation with a faceless woman with her head under the sheets.

*'If you don't answer me, I'll come under there and get you.'* Kai mind-linked her again.

"Ahh! Stop that!" Adalyn shouted through the sheet.

Kai couldn't help but chuckle. "Okay, okay... that was the last one for now."

This all felt really new and foreign to her. She knew she'd have to get used to it quickly to stop feeling so exposed. Adalyn huffed under the sheet. It felt typical that Kai had already seemed to be picking this up super-fast. Was there anything that this man couldn't do.

Whilst Adalyn sat under the sheet, a spot of red underneath her on the bed linen suddenly caught her eye. Adalyn abruptly poked her head back out from under the bed sheets and stuffed them down in to her lap, startling Kai.

"What is it?" Kai asked confused.

"N...nothing." Adalyn responded nervously. Confused, she tried to work out in her mind when her period was due on. It was way too early for it to be that.

"You know, even if you don't think it, I can still feel that you're anxious. That's another perk of our bond. What's wrong?" Kai asked again.

Adalyn stared in the bed. "The... the sheets. I'll...I'll pay to get them dry-cleaned."

"Dry cleaned?" Kai asked curiously.

Adalyn was bright red now as she continued to avoid making eye contact with Kai.

Still confused as to what she was talking about, Kai whipped the covers off of her.

"Kai!" Adalyn shouted as she grabbed the sheets to try and cover herself.

Kai caught a brief glimpse of the slightly stained sheets. "Ohh" he said quietly. He now felt a bit bad to have embarrassed her like that.

"Baby, don't worry about that, it's normal the first time. The maid will clean them."

"You have a maid?"

"This place is serviced. They'll be coming here more often now that I'll be staying here for a while."

It was just then that Adalyn remembered that Kai hadn't told her about what had happened with him back at the palace. Elias had given her some brief details about a fight with Matias, but he hadn't said much else.

"Kai... what happened? Why are you staying here now?" She asked with a frown on her face. She couldn't help but wonder if she was partly the cause.

Kai debated withholding the truth, but he suspected that it would only backfire on him given past experience, so he explained the whole story to her in detail about his fight with Matias and how he would have to go to a hearing with the council to decide his punishment.

"So do you think Matias is behind all of this?" Adalyn asked.

Kai sighed. "In all honesty, no. He seemed genuinely surprised at my accusation of him being involved in trying to drug you. With my head being a bit clearer now, I know it's not his typical M.O. If Matias wants something done, he’ll typically do it himself. He's not the type to hide behind someone else. The only lead I have is the Star Howlers pack involvement, the guy who you identified from the palace is also from that pack."

"From Dylan's pack? But Kai, I know Dylan. I really don't think he's behind this."

Kai's mouth dropped in to a deep frown at the mention of his name. "How do you even know him?"

"We went to school together when we were younger, well until he was transferred out. I guess that wasn't too long before he became Alpha of the Star Howlers."

Kai looked up as he recalled his first memories of meeting Dylan. "That must be right before when I first met him. We trained together for a while. I haven't seen him since he became Alpha either. His father Roman was the one who pulled him out of public school. He suddenly realised that his son could be of benefit to him. He passed on his role of Alpha to him and then Roman served purely in my father's council. I heard he's still pulling a lot of the strings in the running of the pack though."

"So you know Dylan too? Then you know he's not involved in this right?"

"That's NOT what I'm saying at all. And if he's anywhere near as manipulative as his father, then I really wouldn't put it past him."

Adalyn sighed, "You really don't trust anybody do you?"

"When you've seen and lived half of the things that I've seen, then you'll realise why. Anyway, if you haven't seen him since you were young, what has you so convinced he's trustworthy."

"I just know he was a good guy. I'm actually quite a good judge of character."

Kai raised an eyebrow at her. "Is that right? Then maybe you'll tell me exactly what was going on between you two in that room before I came in?"

"With Dylan?" she asked.

"No, with The Pope! Yes with him. I could smell him all over you in that room."

"Nothing untoward. He was just trying to hide me from his betas."

"What does that mean?" Kai asked suspiciously.

"He kissed me, briefly to shield me from..."

"He did what?!" Kai asked. His whole demeanour shifted. Someone had not only touched his mate, but touched her intimately. In a way that was only afforded to him.

"Kai! He didn't know anything about us. He was trying to hide me from his guards. I was trying to keep my identity hidden."

"Bullshit! If you think he's all noble and chivalrous you're sorely mistaken. I don't know who you met when you were both young, but the guy I know doesn't do anything without a specific reason."

Adalyn rolled her eyes. All this male posturing just seemed ridiculous. "Ugh. Either way, he didn't know about us."

"Well he'll know now. That's for damn sure!" Kai added.

"Well I'm sure that whole club knows after the way you stormed in there" Adalyn raised her voice as she recalled all of what happened the night before.

They sat in silence for a moment. Both slightly annoyed with the other. Two dominant wolves together was never going to be simple. After the amazing night they had, the mood was already starting to sour quicker than milk left out in the summer sun.

Kai sighed. As much as she challenged his every thought and opinion, he also loved that about her. He'd have to learn to reign himself in around her. "I'm sorry about that. My head was so hot then. It's already a lot clearer now. It's like the fog has lifted since last night."

Adalyn's stomach growled again breaking the tension between them.

Kai's face nearly split in to two as Adalyn threw the bed sheet back over her head again. "Let's put a pin in that for now. I better get my princess something to eat before your stomach threatens me again"