Reclaiming Her Heart

Chapter 67 - A Promise

Jadea

Sometime during the early morning hours, I woke up.

The pack and I were sprawled out in the living room, on the large floor pillows. Much like we had been that first night. Caden was on his back under me, my ear pressing over his heart. Its soothing rhythm had been what drug me under the first time. My pack surrounded us, touching both of us in some way. All of them lost in a deep sleep. Dreaming peacefully.

Our snuggle puddle had done wonders for Caden. It had taken a little coaxing for him to open up. Once he did, they met him with open hearts and minds. They knew there was a dynamic going on with him—and their alphas—and they received the news well. They didn't care how we were coping together. Didn't care how our relationship dynamic was. What mattered was that we were doing this with consent.

They knew him. Accepted him years ago when I'd been alpha over the Draconian’s, while he was my beta. They loved him as if he had always been a part of our pack. It wasn't something he was used to. And, at first, Caden fought me when I suggested he join us for our snuggle puddle. It took a little coaxing from everyone before he agreed.

I was so glad he did. My pack listened to his mind, his worries and saw the lines where they bled and clashed with mine. They never judged him for any of the hard decisions he'd had to make. They were there while he recounted so many of his recent sorrows, all of them relating since they'd gone through similar heartbreaks. They held his broken heart when he related how he wanted a pack dynamic like ours, and they showed him how I'd begun that process. Giving him a blueprint, or at least some ideas, on how to start this process.

There were no secrets. They held both of us. Our hearts. Our minds. The broken pieces. They knew who we were beyond our mistakes and uncertainties. They held our splintered souls with tenderness and care. It wasn't something Caden was used to receiving. Though, to be fair, he accepted it with dignity and grace. There was a point in his life when he wouldn't have ever allowed anyone past such walls. He was growing, maturing emotionally and allowing others to get closer instead of holding them at arms length.

Surprisingly, Adam sat out of our snuggle puddle. He had been present, his mind and thoughts connected deeply with ours. He was being stoic. The clam in the storm, because Caden, especially, needed that stability. A stability I didn't have currently that Adam could provide.

He sat just outside of the group huddle, back against the wall, legs crossed. Within reach of Caden and I. A silent sentinel.

Last night, he assured me he was fine. It was a precaution. He wanted one of us to stay vigilant. He was still so on edge after Keb's inadvertent attack, and I couldn't fault him for it.

Sometime during the night, he'd nodded off.

Honestly, he was doing such an amazing job as Dom and Alpha. I felt the urge to praise him and reward such strength and sacrifice.

Easing into his mind, I infiltrated his dreams, spiraling them into ribbons of passion and lust. He woke with a vengeance, his stormy gaze clashing with mine. Chest heaving. Sweat on his brow as passion rode him hard.

"Go into our bedroom," I ordered him gently.

"You will join me." He commanded, no room for argument.

Nodding once, I watched him silently pad to our room. Carefully, I eased myself from the group, using my powers to keep them all asleep.

Then, slipping into our room, I barely got the door closed before Adam was on top of me. One large, warm hand curled around my neck, dragging me forward into his naked body. Right as his lips claimed mine in a savage kiss that left me breathless, he was pushing the offending dress from my body.

Before he could completely take control, I dropped to my knees and had him deep within the recess of my mouth. His loud moan was music to my ears, sending a spiraling warmth of excitement through my body. I loved hearing him fall apart for me. But, there were too many ears tonight. "Be a good boy and make no sound. Or this ends." I stated wickedly in his mind.

A soft snarl left his chest as he buried his hands painfully in my hair.

As I continued my assault on him, my hands roving over his inner thighs, palms cupping him, I opened my mind, showing him exactly how I felt about him. Showing him how proud I was of his strength and will to help Caden and I navigate through the darkest parts of our lives.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take," he growled in my mind, tremors of pleasure cascading down his spine. His wolf was clashing, flirting with mine. Trying to coax her out to play. Needing that intimacy and connection.

Adam was panting, fingers curling deeper into my hair. Right before he came, he ripped me off and hauled me onto the bed. I squeaked in surprise, not used to being handled in such a manner. As I turned onto my back to face him, my eyes widened, my mouth popping open as I watched him stalk toward me in his primitive wolf form. Those stormy eyes holding an intensity I hadn't seen before.

Standing before me like this... I hadn't ever seen someone so perfectly made. It was like he was born for this. In true primitive form, he stood on two legs like a human, though his body was covered in that gorgeous cinnamon fur. His hands were like a human's, feet like giant paws. His face a wolf's. And, he stood taller. Muscles defined by the way his short fur fell across his body. His member hard and ready.

My heart thumped within my breast. My breaths shallow. It was his wolf who was in charge now, needing to reconnect and bond with mine.

I couldn't remember mating like this... But I could feel her yearning to reconnect with him. And so, I closed my eyes, slowed my breathing and heart and fell into her. Receding control, knowing she needed this too. When I blinked to open my eyes a moment later, I had shifted into my primitive form. Like this, with her in control, it was like watching everything through a lense. I could see and hear, but my body was not entirely my own. My wolf was in control.

"On your hands and knees," he commanded on a snarl, as he climbed onto the bed, as if stalking me.

The heat within me turned into an inferno. I thought she would have put up more of a fight, but my wolf, instead, bent to his will. There would be other opportunities to play. Tonight, though... It wasn't about submitting. It was about reconnecting.

Rolling over onto my hands and knees, Adam's large hand ran down my spine before gently stroking my tail to the side so he could easily seat himself. With one hand stroking down my back, and the other curling around my thigh, he gently rocked into me until he was fully seated. A whimper left my chest when I could feel the beginning swell of his knot. He was so close...

Leaning over, so his chest was pressed intimately to my back, he rubbed his face along my shoulders, tongue licking and tasting. His mind merging so fully with mine, we were one being.

Our wolves met and joined, binding themselves together once more.

We were both there, both so close to the precipice of ecstasy...

"Never again," his wolf snarled to mine in the haze of passion.

"No." She refused to make that promise, even as confusion and passion intermixed. What was Adam's wolf demanding of us?

He bit our shoulder. Pain lanced through us, as his alpha bore down unbearably onto mine. Anxiety coursed through us, but I'd ceded power to my wolf, knowing she would want this connection. She didn't recognize what was happening, what Adam's wolf was demanding from us. She was still disoriented and weak from our time apart, plus she was lost in the haze of desire. I prayed she wouldn't give in.

"Stop," she pleaded weakly, her voice barely a whisper. She wanted to fight back, but she couldn't.

"Promise me never again," he growled more forcefully, his alpha bearing down harder on her still. Using our weakness to his advantage.

I'm sorry, she whispered agonizingly to me, feeling my fury already starting to bleed through. This wasn't how it was supposed to go! "I promise," she relented, bending to his will, not giving any kind of fight. And in its wake, I felt the our very foundation cracking as it bent to the now mate's pact we had made.

I didn't understand. Why wasn't she fighting!?

"No!" I roared, my conscious surging forward, clawing my way back into control, tears clogging my vision. This wasn't how it was supposed to go!

But it was too late...

Before I could dislodge him, he dragged us to the edge of that euphoric precipice and crashed over it, dragging us with him. It was too late to escape. He was knotted inside me.