Chapter 91 - Sanctum

**Author’s Note:** *Hey everyone. Quick update for returning readers to this original edit.*
*From this point forward, whenever a character’s wolf comes to the surface, their eyes will appear amber or gold instead of black. This change better reflects the bond between their human and wolf sides and will stay consistent throughout the story going forward. The rewrite of The Alpha Queen Masquerade (The Alpha Queen Masquerade (The Rewrite) which I'm writing and releasing for free concurrently (available now on for free on Inkitt, and coming soon to AnyStories) also includes this update and other refined details.Thank you for continuing to follow Rae and Kai’s journey. Your support means everything. 🖤 Davina*
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Kai’s eyes darkened, gold bleeding through as Pax surged beneath the surface. He pulled her closer until she was flush against him, then lowered his mouth to the mark that tethered them. For a beat, he just breathed her in. Then slowly he let his canines drag over that sacred spot, grazing it with reverence and heat before sucking it into his mouth.

Rae gasped as the sensation ignited her core. She needed him closer, to quench this pool of need building up inside her. Rae pressed closer, her body brushing against his beneath the surface, heat building between them like a storm rekindled. 

Kai groaned low in his throat, the sound rough and hungry. His fingers slid down to her hips, anchoring her to him in a tight possessive grip. She could feel his hard, rigid length pressing into her belly, thick and aching.

“I want you,” she whispered. The words trembled out of her, but the look in her eyes didn’t.

She reached up, fingers brushing his jaw until he lifted his head to meet her gaze. “All of you.”

Kai didn’t move right away. His breath fanned across her cheek, sharp and uneven, like he was holding himself back by a thread.

“You have me,” he murmured finally. His voice was tender and dangerous all at once. “You’ve always had me.”

Her hands skimmed down his chest, slow and reverent, as if she could rewrite every scar and ridge with her touch. His skin was warm beneath her fingers despite the cool water, his muscles tightening as he fought to let her lead.

Kai let her explore. Let her guide the pace. But his eyes which were locked on hers were absolutely molten.  His wolf just below the surface. Barely leashed.

When she rose on her toes to kiss him, there was nothing tentative about it. 

Kai groaned into her mouth, his restraint splintering. His hands dragged down her back, gripping her thighs before hoisting her effortlessly into his arms. She gasped, letting her legs wrapping tight around his waist. 

Water rippled around them as he carried her to a smooth rock ledge in the water, just beneath the surface. Cool stone pressed to her ass, while his body, all heat and hard muscle, pressed in to her front. The sharp contrast made her shudder.

Kai took a pause to lean back. Just enough to take her in. The water beading over her skin, her lips parted, her pupils blown wide.

"Kai!" Rae admonished, missing the warmth of his body against her.

Kai smirked. “Rae…” He breathed like her name out like a prayer. “Fucking beautiful,”

Kai paused, pulling back just enough to let the morning air kiss her now slick, aching core.

“Princess,” he said. His voice husky. Then he sank to his knees in the water as if before a throne. “My queen,” he whispered, his breath fanning her centre.

Kai lowered his head, almost as in deference and began to pay homage to his mate in the way he knew best.

Rae's head snapped back and her body arched as Kai started to feast at her core with long leisurely licks.  The intensity of it made her tighten her thighs, causing a low disapproving growl to resonate throughout Kai's body.

He paused momentarily to prize her legs open wider, then threw one of her legs over his shoulder to grant him easier access.

“Careful, my queen,” he murmured, voice dark with amusement. “Keep trying to deny me, and I might forget which one of us is supposed to kneel.”

Kai lowered his head again and continued taking what was his. Taking his time to enjoy the taste of her sweet arousal.

"Kai..." Rae's hands fisted into Kai's hair as her hips bucked up to meet each of his licks and nibbles.

"So..." *lick* "fucking..." *lick* "delicious" *bite*

"Fuck Kai!" Rae gripped his hair hard as her climax exploded through her body. The wave of ecstasy rippled through their bond like an aftershock.

Feeling satisfied, Kai rose to his feet. His eyes hooded and his chest rising with ragged control. He dragged his thumb over his lower lip and in to his mouth, tasting the remnants of her release.

“You ruin me,” he murmured, voice low and reverent. “You know that?”

His eyes were solid gold as he allowed the influence of his wolf to come fully to the surface.

He clasped her thigh and hiked her back suddenly towards him, making her yelp in surprise."Now lay back your highness, while I lay ruin to you too."

Kai thrusted up in to her in one deep and heavy stroke. Rae cried out at the sensation. The fullness. It was like they were forged for this. For each other.

He moved inside her with a deep rhythm. Each roll of his hips designed to drive her wild and make her toes curl. Each thrust was felt slow enough to tease but deep enough to re-exert his claim. 

Kai's splayed his hand out across her chest whilst the other grabbed her hip. Locking her in place to each of his punishing thrusts. His mind was chanting *mine*, *mine*, *mine* with each flex of his hips.

“You feel like fucking heaven,” he gritted out, jaw tight with restraint. “So tight around me."  

"So..." *thrust* "damn..." *thrust*  "perfect.”

Rae whimpered, her head falling back against the stone as his hand caressed her one of her breasts.

The rhythm grew rougher. Wilder. Water slapping gently around them as their bodies moved in perfect sync. The lake a cocoon of steam and sound. Rae met every thrust with her own, her hips chasing his.

“Yes...yes” she gasped.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered. “Take your pleasure from me baby, let go”

His words were like a command. Absolute. Her climax struck her like lightning. Her back bowed off the stone beneath her as a soft broken cry escaped her lips. Kai pulled her up to him, his arm braced around her back as he continued to thrust into her, riding her through the wave until her body trembled against his.

When she broke, gasping his name, Kai lost it. He buried his face against her throat, a guttural groan escaping his chest as he came, thrusting once, twice, then stilling deep inside her, completely undone.

Kai lifted his head, breath unsteady. “Rae…” he murmured, voice rough with the languid aftereffects of his desire.

For a long moment, neither of them moved. The lake stilled around them, their heartbeats filling the silence. The mark on Rae’s neck pulsed with faint golden light. Like threads spreading across her skin before softening, fading. The bond between them thrummed, alive and humming, as if Luna herself was weaving it tighter with every breath.

Rae brushed a strand of wet hair from his forehead, studying him. “Did you feel that?” she whispered.

Kai nodded slowly, his thumb tracing the glow on her throat. “It’s stronger somehow,” he said quietly. “Like it just… remembered us.”

Her lips curved faintly. “Or maybe it just realised what we already knew.”

He met her gaze, gold to gold, and in that look she saw the echo of every version of him she’d ever known. The little boy she’d once protected. The prince who’d learned to bury his heart under armour and duty. The man now surrendering beneath her touch.

Rae took a breath. “Kai.”

He looked down at her, and she said it. Clear, confident and with no hesitation.

“I love you.”

The words hit him like a blow to the chest. His eyes widened, the gold bleeding back to the icy blue of the boy he’d been. The one she’d saved, the one who never got to say goodbye. Shock rippled through him, followed by something that looked almost like pain.

No one had ever said those words to him before. Not like that. Not without condition or expectation. His siblings loved him, yes, but theirs was the kind of love shaped by survival and crown, tempered by duty. His parents had cared too, but as king and queen, even their affection came second to the weight of the throne. Love, to Kai, had always been something distant. Measured, rationed, earned. Never freely given.

Until now.

And hearing it from her, after everything, felt like having the air punched from his lungs and replaced with something terrifyingly alive

“Rae…” he breathed, voice breaking. His hands twitched at his sides, as if reaching for something he didn’t know how to hold. “I”

“Look at me,” she said softly.

Rae framed his face between her palms, forcing his gaze to stay locked on hers. “You didn’t lose me,” she whispered. “Not then. Not now.”

Her thumbs brushed along his jaw, her voice gentler still. “And what happened back in Aldia wasn’t your fault.”

Kai’s whole body tensed. His breath hitched like she’d struck something raw. He shook his head, a flash of old guilt surfacing in his eyes. “Don’t…” he rasped, his voice barely holding. “Rae don't.”

But Rae didn’t stop. “You need to hear it,” she said quietly. “And not just hear it, Kai. You need feel it and believe it.”

His eyes glistened faintly, torn between wanting to look away and not being able to.

“I know you’ve carried that guilt,” she continued, her voice trembling with emotion. “For not stopping it. For not trying to save me. But you were a boy. You couldn’t have.”

She paused, her thumb tracing the curve of his cheek. “You’ve been trying to save me ever since, haven’t you?” Her voice softened to almost a whisper. “But who’s saving you, Kaiden?”

He blinked, chest rising sharply, his jaw tightening against something he couldn’t name.

Rae drew in a breath, steadying herself. “Maybe that’s why I never really let anyone else in. Why I never felt the kind of love I was supposed to. Because some part of me was still waiting for you.” She smiled faintly, her tears catching in the light. “Even when I didn’t remember your face… my heart did.”

His throat worked, but no sound came. The muscles in his jaw clenched and released. She could see his eyes glazing. Tears threatening. Not weakness, but the ache of a lifetime unspoken.

She smiled faintly and pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the wild rhythm of his heart beneath her palm. Then she touched her own.

“You don’t have to say it,” she murmured. “I know. I can feel it. Right here.”

Her voice was barely a whisper. “You don’t have to speak it for me to know how you feel.”

Kai exhaled shakily, his forehead lowering until it rested against hers. His breath hitched, his chest trembling with everything he couldn’t put into words. For once, he didn’t try to speak, he just let himself feel it.

Rae smiled through the warmth in her chest. “It’s okay,” she whispered.

The air shimmered faintly around them, the bond humming low and steady. For the first time since childhood, the ache inside Kai quieted.

And for the first time in both their lives, they felt whole.