Chapter 32
Helios POV
Natalia has been sleeping for a few days now. The doctor said she was fine, she just pushed herself too far. I haven't been able to leave the room after the first day for very long. Ezequiel demands that I be near her and I agree with him. I've become addicted to her scent. Anytime I've tried to leave the room, I can't even function. After trying to answer their questions and failing miserably that first night, Celeste had dragged everyone into Natalia's bedroom and sat me near her bed. It was a struggle not to pull her into my lap, but I was trying to respect her space.
I told everyone of my visit with Selene before they arrived and all that I discovered while at the lab. Markus suggested we stay with Crescent Moon for a few months to get adjusted to wolf life. I was technically an Alpha and my warriors were my pack members. I wasn't keen on the idea that Theo, Gonzalo and Sebastian were back to being under me, but they said it was actually a relief. Being in charge wasn't really for them. As long as I gave them the respect and voice I've always given them, they happily took to the roles they had always unofficially had at my side. Gonzalo as my Beta and Theo and Sebastian as my Gammas. We've already received a few emails back from my other warriors. A few had chosen to stay where they were and find a local pack, but most were on their way here.
Then we discussed the issue of the rescued shifters. Markus had contacted the council to let them know of the situation and for help to find their families. The ones that were rescued from the research lab mostly spoke English. We had managed to get the ones from the compound to start talking. Only one we still couldn't communicate with. They were all pretty traumatized, and they had been asking for Natalia since she had healed all of them. When we had to explain why she wasn't able to come down, a few had gotten very agitated. I had to promise to tell her when she woke so that they could see her.
The bigger problem was the vampire. We requested the council to contact the vampire royal family to advise them of what was happening. We were waiting to hear back from them and, in the mean time, we had to put the vampire in the dungeon to protect him from daylight and to protect the pack from him at night until his mental health was assessed. Markus was relieved the vampire took the news calmly and as long as we allowed him some fresh air after nightfall and provided him with blood, he was grateful to be rescued and would wait for his King and Queen to fetch for him.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
Markus had allowed me to bring a desk into Natalia's room. I was working from here, though I tried to step away when I needed to speak over the phone. The insurance company had demanded a video conference and I had to use the offices downstairs for it. I also contacted a realtor. I would not be needing to rebuild my house. I needed to find a place big enough for my new pack. Sebastian and Theo were also putting their penthouse on the market, and Gonzalo had only rented his, so we decided to keep the lease for overnights at the office. I'd finally caved and asked Theo to buy a plane. We would need it to keep our business going and while most could be done remotely, meeting with clients would require us to fly into San Diego from time to time.
I had done all of this from Natalia's room. After the first night trying to sleep in my own room, I had just given up and moved the couch to the side of her bed. I couldn't sleep otherwise. I was practically living, no scratch that, I was living in Natalia's room. I was sleeping on the couch on the fourth night when I was woken by a scream and I felt hands land hard on my chest. I instinctively gripped the wrist on my chest half asleep. I felt sparks explode and my heart soared knowing she was awake. "What the f**k!" I heard her melodious voice shrieking almost near my ear. I released her hands when I was sure she wouldn't faceplant and I got up and turned on the light.
She was sitting on the side of the bed, looking around at everything but me. When she ran out of things to look at, she finally looked at me. I couldn't quite read her face. I sighed and walked back to the couch. I had a lot of time to think as I watched her sleep. I couldn't live without her. I needed her to give me a chance.
"You've been -"
"How long ha-"
We both said at the same time after minutes of awkward silence. We sat in silence for another minute before I sighed and tried again, "You have been asleep for 5 days. You pushed yourself too far with your gift." She nodded, "That happens."
Anger was rising inside me at the flippant remark regarding her health but I tampered them down. You didn't yell at someone to be careful before you were going to ask them to give you a chance to love them.
She stood up quickly, "I need a shower. I," she hesitated, "Can you wait for me? I think we have an overdue talk." I could only nod. I hadn't planned on going anywhere until we talked. In fact, I hoped I never had to go anywhere she wasn't again. She came back out and sat on the bed again.
"The people you healed want to talk to you when you're up for it." I said and we fell into silence again. We just looked at each other. All I wanted to do was to touch her. To kiss her now that she was awake.
"Are you going to reject me?" she asked quietly. To say I was surprised was an understatement. My jaw almost dropped to the floor.
"Me reject you? Are you kidding me right now? You think I will reject YOU? I'm not the one that didn't tell her mate about their bond. Don't tell me you weren't planning to reject me, when you basically did that anytime I tried to get close to you?" Ezequiel growled in my head. I had not meant to start our talk by accusing her. We had talked while she slept and decided that we would let her talk before we made our case. I thought she would yell back, as was our usual sequence, and prepared myself for her wrath. Instead, she looked down at her hands.
"I know," she said, surprising me, "but you need to understand. Having a mate when you're essentially immortal...you watch them grow old while you stay the same. Then you watch them die. You feel the bond snap. I've been through 4 bond snaps. I have rejected another 5. The rejections are easier to get over than the break of the bond after you've spent their lifetime forging it with them."
My heart broke for her. This was one of the first times that she'd told me about herself and I was not prepared for it. I could not imagine losing her and I understood why she had wanted to walk away. I had been ready to walk away at the start and that hurt, but I thought I could do it. Then the pain I felt when I thought I might lose her after I'd felt her love had almost crippled me.
"I was going to reject you that first night, we smelled you at the docks you know. We recognized that it would be our mate. When I smelled you again at that auction, that's why I reacted so angry at first. I thought you were the reason why they were kidnapping us, being a buyer. I had already decided to reject you from the moment we met, and I planned to reject you every day up until that day when I yelled at you," she continued.
"Which time?" I joked. Ezequiel laughed in my head but put his tail between his legs at the way Natalia was glaring at us, "Sorry, continue," I said, clearing my throat awkwardly.
"The day I found out you had kidnapped Celeste. Part of the reason I freaked out as bad as I did was Hestia's jealousy and mine when we thought you kidnapped her because you were in love with her. Another part of that was that I wanted to believe you were an evil man, because that would make it easier to reject you. After you ran off, I talked to Celeste. She told me a vague explanation of what had happened to you. I realized what a b***h I've been to you, just trying to convince myself you were someone I could walk away from." She wiped a tear and laughed, "then I thought you were dying and I realized I love you, but once I was facing a future with you, my same fear of losing you, came running back in and I purposely said words that would make you walk away, because I knew I couldn't do it of my own volition anymore."
"How is it that you're immortal? Is that a white wolf thing?" I asked. I wanted to grab her and hold her, but we needed to get everything out in the open. This conversation should have happened a month ago.
"No," she laughed, "That was a stupid person in pain meeting a Djinn thing." I didn't really need more explanation than that. I had met Djinns in my travels and was well aware of their trickster nature. Still, Natalia told me her story. After she put all her cards on the table, it was my turn. I told her everything. From what I'd done for a millennium to my visit with my sister before she showed up at the lab. When I finished, her mouth was hanging open slightly in shock as she processed everything I'd said.
I stayed seated on the couch, waiting for her to say something. Ezequiel was whimpering and pacing in the back of my head, wondering if, now that she knew the extent of my actions, she would choose to reject us for what I'd done. Finally, I couldn't take her silence anymore and I repeated her question. "Are you going to reject me?" I asked.
She looked me in the eye for a while before a slow, gorgeous smile began to grace her lips. She got up from the bed and sat down next to me. "I was actually asking myself if I was ready to be a Luna. But no, Helios. I don't think I could reject you if I tried," she said before she grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me over towards her, crashing her lips into mine. Ezequiel howled with joy in the back of my mind.
My response was instantaneous. I pushed forward until she was on her back on the couch and I had her caged between my arms. I growled as I pressed my body to hers, feeling drunk on the sparks that burst from every point our bodies touched. This elicited a delicious moan from her, and I used the parting of her lips to plunge my tongue past her sweet lips. Her hands pushed my shirt up as her hands roamed my back. My entire body shivered as I felt the sparks trailing after her hands. I didn't stop the kiss until we needed air. I could hear her inhale mouthfuls of air in between her moans as I trailed my lips down her jaw into the crook of her neck. I kissed and sucked at the skin there, the need to mark her rising. Ezequiel was trying to push forward to do it. Knowing that it was another conversation we needed to have, I left the spot and headed downwards towards her chest, but not before I left an unmistakeable mark where our permanent mark would one day go. I looked at the offensive cloth covering her plentiful breasts, wondering if I could just tear it off her.
"Up" she said, pushing against my chest. I pulled off of her, wondering if she'd change her mind when she stood up and took off her shirt. I saw her hands going to the back to unhook the bra and I pulled off my shirt. I hooked my fingers into the band of her sweatpants and pulled her to me, pulling one of her chocolate n*****s into my mouth. I let my hand knead her other breast, while my other hand went to her rounded a*s where I enjoyed an appreciative squeeze before I moved towards her front. I hooked a finger into her waist band and looked up at her as I flicked her n****e with my tongue. She had her hands in my hair and her head had fallen back. I pushed the waist band lower and her hands fisted around my hair. I took that as a good sign and pushed her pants over her glorious voluptuous hips to pool at her feet. The curves on this woman would be my undoing. Everything about her called to me. I let my fingers explore her folds as I smelled the intoxicating scent of her arousal. It was sweet enough to drive me to madness. I removed my mouth from her b****t and chuckled as I saw her pout. I pushed her back two steps so her legs hit the bed. I placed my hands on her hips and pushed again, letting her fall on the bed with a startled squeak.
I lifted off the couch and fell to my knees by the side of the bed. I let my eyes roam towards that tattoo on her right hip that had been teasing me for so long. It was a cluster of flowers starting half way up the side of her abdomen down her hip and ending half way down her leg. It was sexy as hell and I let my fingers trace the outline. She moaned lightly and I knew she could feel the trail of sparks my fingertips were leaving as I traced her tattoo. I looked at her glistening core. I wanted to bury myself deep inside her. I place my hands on her thighs and push them open and I buried my face in her p***y, taking her clit into my mouth. It is swollen with need and I hear her gasp as I use my teeth to provide some pressure, remembering her response from our first time. Her hands bury back into my hair and I take that as approval and continue my assault on her core. This is when I wished I had more experience for her. I had watched plenty of porn, but I didn't really have a clue what worked, what I was doing right. I relied on her to tell me what she liked. When I felt her push my head to an area, when I heard her moans increase, it spurred me on. I inserted a finger in her core and moaned as I felt her heated walls adjust around it. It wasn't long after I inserted a second finger when I felt her body tense and her walls gripped my fingers as I felt her release take over her body. A growl left my chest as I watched her juices spilling from her core and I lapped them up like precious nectar.
"Helios, I - you please." She panted. I chuckled again as I continued to lick every drop of her juices.
"Que quiere mi amor?(What does my love want)" I said. My c**k was painfully hard with need at this point, but whatever she wanted, she would get.
"I want you to f**k me until I can't stand," she begged, and I almost came at her words. My c**k twitched and I felt the beads of precum drip out.
I got up and pulled off my pants in a hurry. I saw her eyes darken with lust as she licked her lips. I smirked when she realized I'd noticed and my c**k got harder at the unashamed look of hunger that she gave me. I stepped between her legs and pulled her towards me so her a*s was at the edge of the bed. I pulled her legs over my arms and I pushed into her heated core until my balls hit her a*s. She writhed in pleasure as I started pumping my hips. "You're so wet and ready for me," I groaned, "It's so f*****g sexy." I tilted her hips slightly and I felt myself pushing in deeper. She seemed to like this new angle because her moans were getting louder with each thrust. I could feel her walls gripping my c**k harder and I knew she was about to c*m. "Ohhh," she moaned as she fell apart and her juices coated my d**k. I pushed her legs to her chest as I bent over her and pumped faster, harder. I could feel my balls tensing. I was getting close.
I flipped her over so that her torso was on the bed and her legs were on the floor. She screamed my name as my balls hit her clit from this angle. I wanted her to come again before I did. As I felt her walls start to milk my c**k, I put my thumb on her c**t and applied more pressure. She had the response I wanted. Her back arced and screamed my name as the o****m hit her. My rhythm faltered and I grunted as I pumped harder. All I could hear was the slapping of our skins together and her moans. My hands were slipping on her hips as sweat covered our bodies. I gripped her hips a little tighter and pumped faster. I roared as my o****m hit me and I emptied myself inside her. She flipped over again and I collapsed on top of her. Her hands went into my hair and she lazily started combing my sweat-soaked hair. Ezequiel was purring and wagging his tail in the back of my mind. It was kind of creepy.