Saving the Last Lycan King

Chapter 8

Sophie

“You’re not being serious, right?” I asked him with a frown on my face. Maybe I was being unreasonable, but I wasn’t ready to share a bed with him already. I had already made that mistake with Nathan and I didn’t think that history should repeat itself.

“What do you propose then?” He replied and I thought I saw the outlines of a smile on his face. He enjoyed this. He enjoyed annoying me.

“I’ll sleep on the floor, because I’m such a good person who knows that you’ve been sleeping on a rock for the past one-hundred years…” I scoffed and started to gather a duvet and a pillow in my arms.

“Sophie, don’t be foolish. I can’t let a woman sleep on the floor and definitely not you.” He looked tormented as he gazed back at me. “I’ll take the floor, maybe it’s even softer than the stone.” He joked, JOKED, and I couldn’t help but stare back at him, trying hard to hide the smile on my lips. Okay, maybe I was acting unreasonable…

“You know what? This is really stupid… The bed is big enough for the both of us and we’re both adults, right?” I offered and he just shrugged his shoulders as if sharing a bed didn’t mean anything at all. Perhaps he was used to sharing his bed with others and needed company, the feeling of another warm body? You know, in a non-s****l way. As I tried to push the nonsense in my head away, I started to build a small wall of pillows in the middle of the bed. He glanced down at the fort I was building and lifted an eyebrow in a questioning manner.

“Just to make sure we both stay on our assigned sides.” I pursed my lips and averted my gaze before placing my pillow and duvet back up on the bed. It felt a little awkward between us and, since we came back from dinner, we hadn’t really talked apart from now. I had changed into a set of pajamas and, with my teeth brushed, I was ready for bed. As Liam went into the bathroom, I crawled under the covers and hoped that I would be long gone before he came back.

***

Liam

When I entered the bed chamber again, her small body was already lying on the bed, meticulously covered with a thick duvet all the way up to her face. I smiled to myself before pulling the shirt off my body, walking closer to my side of the bed while I did. This had been a strange night… I didn’t enjoy the silent treatment she was giving me, but I think I understand why she acts like that. I feel her heart beating loudly all the time, sometimes out of excitement, but other times because she is uncomfortable and maybe because she’s scared. But this, this was a mixture between jealousness and fear of being hurt. For a Lycan expert, she should know that I could never, never, hurt my mate intentionally.

I pulled the duvet aside and lied down, before pulling it up again, sighing deeply when my head hit the soft pillow. Goddess, this felt good. So soft, so warm, so comfortable. Years on a stone bed with only sheepskin and a ceremonial cloth makes you realize what is truly important. My hand accidentally touched the fluffy wall of pillows between us, making me wonder if she was already fast asleep, but judging by her uneven breathing, I didn’t think so.

“I could never hurt you, you should know that.” I said out loud in a soft voice, hoping that she was listening and would bite the bait. Seconds went by without an answer and just as I was about to give up hope, I heard the duvet rustling from her side.

“I know, but I… This… I don’t know what to think or feel about any of this.” She sighed, her voice barely above a whisper. The frustrations and worry she felt was easily heard in her words, but I could also feel the longing and desire. “This is a relationship doomed to fail, Liam, and now with those men shooting people with arrows! And the blood! I just don’t know if I can do this.” I should have known she would react like this, because hunters weren’t exactly a normal occurrence for humans and I hated that she felt this frustrated because of what I was.

“I won’t let them hurt you, Sophie.” I answered as I removed the pillow between our heads to see if she was okay. She was lying on her back with her hands fisting her hair and her eyes locked on the ceiling even though the room was completely dark.

“So what do we do now? Stay here and wait for them to find us?” According to the plan, we had to keep moving, making sure we had the upper hand at all times.

“No, we leave tomorrow morning before sunrise.” I told her, feeling how my beast enjoyed being in this commanding role. We both missed having a purpose, but slowly we were realizing how it had changed into something different than ruling a pack or a kingdom, different than having to make decisions on behalf of many. Now, I only had to take care of myself and my legacy, and if she let me, her as well. “You should rest, we have a long day ahead of us.” I added, placing the pillow back again to keep the wall between us intact.

“Which one do you prefer?” She suddenly asked, just as I thought she had gone to sleep.

“What do you mean?” I asked her, feeling a little confused.

“Your old life or this one?” She whispered back. Her duvet rustled again and I saw her removing the pillow between our heads again, her blue eyes staring at my face, waiting for an answer.

“Well, in my old life I had my responsibilities as a king along with my family and friends,” I answered honestly and I noticed how bit her lip nervously, “but we were dying because of the hunters.” I added and her blue eyes found mine again, waiting for me to give her an answer. “And now, even though I feel alone with a lot of responsibility on my shoulders and even with the hunters desperately trying to kill me, I’ve never felt more alive and that’s because of you, Sophie.”

***

Sophie

It was hard to stay mad at him when he was such a smooth-talker… My heart was racing inside of my chest and it felt like my whole body was tingling with warmth because of his words. It was comforting to listen to his warm and soothing voice, hiding my red cheeks in the cover of the darkness. I heard him shuffling around on his side of the bed, making the mattress move slightly under his weight, and I waited for him to settle down before speaking again.

“Were you really going to die if I hadn’t found you before the bloodmoon?” My voice sounded a little uncertain, but maybe that was because I didn’t like to think of him having to die alone in that tomb.

“I actually thought that you were the Moon Goddess herself coming to claim my soul…” He admitted and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the revelation.

“You must’ve been disappointed that it wasn’t the Goddess coming to save you instead.” I scoffed, liking how our conversation was now feeling more light and effortless.

“But she did… In the form of a kind and beautiful human being.” His hand slowly reached out, but it stopped just as he was about to reach over the make-shift wall I had made.

“It’s okay.” I whispered, feeling how my body wanted him to caress my face. I took a deep breath just as his large hand cupped my cheek, his thumb running in soothing circles over my flushed skin. I placed my hand over his, forcing it to stop moving, and just enjoyed how the tingles from his touch travelled to both my face and my hand. After a minute, or maybe longer, I pulled his hand away from my face, leaving it on the mattress between our pillows with my hand on top of it, and after that it didn’t take long before I fell asleep to the warm feeling of sparks dancing on my skin.