Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
“I-I can only grant it to you,” she murmured. “That was what Zeus allowed.”
“So I would outlive my mate? And our children? And their children?” I asked, and she nodded. “You really don’t know me or understand me, do you?” I muttered, shaking my head. “All my life, all I’ve ever wanted is a family. I’ve wanted a place I could call home, call my own. I’ve wanted someone who would love me and accept me into their life without reservations. Why would I choose immortality to spend an eternity with you over growing old and having a life with my mate and our family?!”
“You would have that. Here. With me,” she said.
“But I don’t want that with you. I don’t want to spend forever here with the woman who didn’t fight for me, who only had me because she felt she needed to fulfill a promise she made eons ago. I want to live with Wesley. I want to be by his side through it all, even if that means growing old and dying with him. That is what I want. That is all I have ever wanted, and he has given that to me. He gives me that every day without asking for anything in return. That’s love. Not this. Not a gift to prove yourself.”
I dropped her hands and stepped back, clenching my fists and my jaw. My eyes squeezed shut to block the water threatening to spill, and I swallowed against the tightness in my throat and chest.
“But I do love you, Haven. You’re my daughter,” she whispered.
I looked at her, and her red-rimmed and glassy eyes and pained face mirrored how I knew mine must look.
“I wanted to prove to you I do love you. That I’ve always loved you,” she breathed. “I wanted to do this for you.”
“And yet again, all you’ve done is prove how selfish you are. You’re not doing this for me, not offering this gift for me. You’re doing it for you, so you can have what you want. But I am not a replacement for Asteria. I am my own person, with my own feelings, thoughts, and desires, and none of them are to live out my days trapped here with you.”
Her jaw clenched at my words, and her lip trembled, but she said nothing.
“I understand what you think you’re trying to do,” I murmured. “I am grateful you finally tried to fight for me. But I cannot accept your gift. It would destroy everything in me, everything I’ve built with Wesley at my side,” I told her, my hands pressing against my heart as a tear fell down my cheek. “Please don’t take the life I’ve dreamed of away from me.”
She inhaled, her breath shaking as it passed into her lungs. Her eyes traversed the temple, lingering on each pillar, on each painting she had of Asteria and me. When they finally returned to my face, she pressed her lips together and nodded.
“You’re right,” she choked out. “You are right. I shouldn’t use you to replace what I’ve lost. I shouldn’t treat you as another Asteria because you aren’t. You are Haven.”
She took slow steps towards me, almost floating with how gracefully she moved. Her slender fingers reached for my wild hair, smoothing it and tucking it behind my ear, then wiping the tear from my cheek. “But you are still my daughter. My beautiful, strong, and brave daughter.”
Her hands cupped my face, and she kissed the top of my head. “I am so proud of the woman you have become. You will be a wonderful luna for your mate’s pack. You are exactly what he needed, what they all needed.”
My lip quivered, and I leaned forward, wrapping my arms around her and allowing her to embrace me, to hold me as a mother would hold a daughter. I closed my eyes and let the warmth, light, and love fill me and wrap around me.
“I still may give you a gift,” she whispered into my hair, her hands rubbing my back. “Zeus allowed for one gift. You may have turned down what I had in mind, but I will still give you something.”
“Like what?” I asked, tipping my head to look at her.
“Anything. But,” she added as I opened my mouth, stopping me before I could say what I wanted. “But I cannot give you a wolf,” she told me.
I frowned and shook my head. “I don’t want a wolf,” I told her. “But can I ask why not?”
“You may, although based on your response, I think you already know part of the reason I cannot.”
“Because I don’t want one?”
“Exactly,” she told me. She stepped back and placed her hands on my shoulders. “But also, because your body has not been prepared for a wolf like the bodies of my warriors. Even Eydís and her friends were trained fighters when I turned them, and they had formed their bond with their wolf companions naturally and slowly. If I gave you a wolf, your human body wouldn’t have the time to adjust to it naturally.”
“Would it kill me?” I whispered.
“No, but it would affect your body. You would be in extreme pain while in your human form, and you would be unable to dance.”
“I would hate that,” I said.
“I know.” She chuckled. “You were made to dance. I would not gift you something that would render you incapable of doing the thing you love most, the thing that has brought you joy since you were a young girl.”
“Thank you,” I breathed. “I-I know what I want,” I told her with a smile.
WESLEY
“Hey, pen pal,” Haven murmured, pulling me out of my deep, dreamless sleep.
I grumbled and tensed, hugging her body closer to mine. My limbs felt heavy, reluctant to leave the restorative slumber I was in. After our mating and marking, we’d both drifted off quickly in our haze of euphoria, our bodies still tangled together.
I burrowed my nose into her neck, finding my mark by the scent alone and trailing my nose along it, feeling the raised skin now there on her neck, forever showing everyone she had been claimed by me. That she was mine.
“Wake up, sleepyhead,” she cooed again, her hand rubbing my forearm holding her in place.
“I don’t want to,” I grunted, kissing her mark and squeezing her tighter.
She shivered but pushed at my arm, turning herself to face me. I allowed her that one movement. Then my arms were back around her in a vise grip, keeping her trapped in my warmth, keeping her soft, beautiful body touching all of mine.
“Mmm,” I hummed, my lips finding her mark again as my hand traveled from her hip up her tight stomach to her chest. “I do prefer this position,” I growled, squeezing her breast and rolling the nipple between my thumb and forefinger.
With our completed mate bond, every caress of my hands on her skin felt even better, her body responding even more to each stroke of my fingertips. Through our link to each other, I could sense her burgeoning desire, stronger than ever, pulling me with her into a whirlpool of want and need.
Oh, how I needed her again already. Even in my half-asleep state, I was drawn to her body, needing to feel her wrapped around me again, especially now that our bond was complete.
I rolled her onto her back, holding myself just above her body on my forearms, my face still buried in her neck. I settled my hardening cock between her already wet pussy lips, rubbing the length of it along her entrance.
“Wesley!” she gasped, a moan following her exclamation. “Wesley, wait, I-I’m trying to show you something.”
Her hands clutched at my upper arms, her body writhing against mine, her clit pulsing with need. But as I woke up more from the jasmine and plum circling around the room and filling my nose and the arousal we both felt from ourselves and from each other through the bond, I realized something.
I pulled my head out of her neck, away from my mark, and snapped my eyes open, looking at her face.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?