Love Athena

Chapter Seventeen

“So we're hitting Bastille's pack first thing tomorrow,” Freda clarified. Camila nodded stiffly, stiffer than usual. Alex frowned.

“Okay, everyone needs to sleep,” Anders said.

He had come in when Ivan stepped out. Although he was almost never present during crunch time, he was always kept up to date.

Camila stood first and walked in the direction of the door. On her way, her steps slowed and became more shaky.

His mother called out, “Alex!”

He reacted fast enough to fly out of his seat and catch Camila before she fell to the ground, but not before he hit Chris in the face with his feet. Alex ignored Chris' yelp of pain.

As each tear dropped onto his shirt, his heart sunk a little deeper.

“I a-almost…I-I…l-lost you,” she cried, her sobs choking her words.

He rocked her in his arms. “Mila, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere, not when I've not shown you the two hundred and six name options for our children.”

She slapped his shoulder. “How can you joke at a time like this?”

Alex laughed. She punched his shoulder this time as she continued to cry.

“W-what if…if…”

Alex knew the end of that statement.
He raised her head to look her in the eyes, trying to move past the fear and sorrow in them.

“Mila, I'm alright, okay?” he asked and she nodded then he kissed her.

This kiss was nothing like the rest. It was needy and packed with desire. Their bodies pressed impossibly closer as the rest of the world fell away. When their tongues touched, their cravings got more demanding with their hands everywhere and nowhere at once.

Mila slipped from his lips and peppered kisses down his jaw to his neck. When she paused at a particular spot in his neck, he groaned.

Normally, when he made any form of noise, she stopped but this time, she kept going. Alex's senses were already out of the window so he couldn't stop her.

Not that he wanted to.

Recognizing that they might complete their mating now, his wolf rose to the surface. Her canines elongated and she continued to kiss that spot near the base of his neck. As expected, just as she was about to sink her teeth into his neck, she flew back.

As they panted to catch their breaths, Alex said, “We've kissed before, Mila. What was that? Not that I'm complaining, that was the best five minutes of my life.”

“Why didn't you stop me?”

“I wasn't exactly thinking, Mila.”

Alex ran his eyes down her body. Her white dress shirt was now untucked and rumpled. Her waist coat was unbuttoned. Her brown curls were all over the place, some strands in her face. All in all, she looked like a weary mess.

A beautiful weary mess with a smile on her face.

A smile.

“I was right,” Alex said as he studied the smile on his mate's face and committed it to memory.

“About?” she asked.

“You looking ethereal when you smile.”

She threw her head back and laughed. It immediately became the only sound living in Alex's head rent-free. It wasn't too loud that it was boisterous and not too quiet that it would be ignored. It was the right pitch and melody, a sound that he hoped to hear for centuries.