83

The sun tickled my face and blinded me despite my closed eyes. The storm had passed. I slowly got up and made my way to the bathroom to examine my pale face. As I examined every corner of my reflection, I thought about Brando. The knowledge of his death devastated me and brought tears to my empty eyes again. I hardly knew him, but our last meeting was decisive about my life. Crying, I sat down on the toilet and buried my face in my hands, remembering how I was sitting on the stairs the same way the two guys came back then. At the time I was still convinced that nothing worse would ever happen to me, but now I know better.

The sound of heavy footsteps made me look up curiously. My alpha met my eyes with concern, then cautiously approached and crouched in front of me.

"Thank you," he whispered to me, brushing a strand of my hair out of my tear-stained face. I looked into his warm eyes in amazement and couldn't understand at all what reason he had for thanking me.

"What are you thanking me for, Killi? Since I've been here, everything has gone wrong and people have died because of me. Even someone who was close to you before." I said with a trembling voice and took a piece of toilet paper to myself to blow your nose and wipe away your tears. After I tossed it in the small trash can next to me, he took my hands in his and gently stroked the back of my hand with his thumb.

"You brought my mother back to me, which is more than anyone else has ever done or could ever do for me. You changed me and for the better. All my life I just wanted to be Alpha, just as strong as my father and exploited many people to gain power. You showed me what true love means and what it is possible to do if you want to protect your loved ones."

He gently stroked my cheek and smiled sadly at me. I didn't even know how to answer that. I was touched by his words and the word love made my stomach feel warm and goosebumps covered my skin.

"And I never thought I could fall in love with an Alpha, especially one from the South. You make me complete, accept my imperfection-"

He stood up with a start, looked into my startled eyes and interrupted me.

"You're not imperfect," he smiled, pulling me up with his hands to plant gentle kisses on his mark.

"You're perfect," he whispered in my ear and I immediately wrapped my arms around his body. All my life I've wanted to find someone I could trust blindly and now I've found him. No matter what I was, mixed breed or not, my mate accepted me without reservation, and not only that, he even loved me for who I was,

Standing in his arms I calmed down and the tears dried as I felt his warmth on my body giving me a familiar sense of togetherness and that made my life worth living despite the difficulties.

A loud knocking sounded from below tore us out of this wonderful moment. On the one hand I was angry that someone was disturbing us, on the other hand I was curious who it could be and whether there was anything new to report. My alpha broke away with a kiss on the forehead and went downstairs while I ran back into the room to change.

After swapping my sleepwear for jeans and a t-shirt, I took the stairs down and immediately smiled when I saw Linda and Noah sitting happily at the table. Before I walked up to her, I glanced over at Killian, who was putting the coffee on in the kitchen and I had never seen him so happy as he was beaming and that made me incredibly happy too.

"I'm so glad to be able to greet you calmly for the first time," Linda came up to me with open arms and hugged me warmly. I immediately felt welcome with her.

"I feel the same way," I replied, smiling, looking her up and down.

My mate put the coffee on the table and pulled out a chair for me, which I gratefully accepted. I looked curiously at Noah's face, who was sitting across from me. He looked so content and wasn't the old man you felt sorry for.

We talked about the beautiful things in life and drank the warm coffee with relish, while the sun made the room appear in a pleasant light and a soothing warmth was created.

We only stopped talking when there was another knock and looked curiously at the door, through which Resul and Damiano stepped, the latter of whom motioned for Killian to follow him outside. While my mate gave me a kiss on the cheek and quickly followed the beta outside, Resul took a seat next to me and grinned contentedly at us all.

"Hey there, are you alright?" he asked with a loose smile on his lips and then poured himself a cup to take a long sip.

"Yes. And you seem to be doing great as always," I shot at him with a grin, watching him blow his curls out of his face. It was good to have him close to me again, because his way of seeing everything easily and not taking life so seriously brought me inner peace too.

"What's going on outside?" Noah asked him worriedly, still looking at the door where the two men were standing.

"Nothing too bad. Don't worry. We picked up some strange smells in the woods, but no sign of Caleb," Resul said, looking at Noah and making a calming gesture with his hands.

Noah now looked at Linda worriedly until Resul continued to speak.

"Nothing will happen to your loved ones anymore. Nobody can get past me anytime soon," he laughed, pointing his thumbs at himself and this gesture reminded me of the first time I had seen him upstairs in my room.

I looked over at Noah in amusement, who was clearly still very concerned. I could understand him and wanted to take away a small part of his worries.

"You can sleep here as long as the situation is still so worrying. There is a guest room upstairs." I took Noah's hand who was looking over at his lover.

She smiled at me in thanks.

"That's really nice of you, but I don't want to sleep another night without the smell of his roses," she said while gently stroking Noah's cheek, who looked lovingly into her eyes.

Somehow I knew before I made my offer that she would decline, but at least I wanted to try.

"We're going back now. We just wanted to stop by for coffee to exchange news." Linda stood up and stretched out her hand to Noah, who happily accepted it and also stood up. They said goodbye to us and ran out of the house holding hands. Only I and the still radiant curly hair stayed behind.

"They have enough years to catch up and certainly don't want to be disturbed," he said, and poured himself a new cup.

"You're probably right," I replied, looking at his trembling hands.

"Tell me, Resul. How many cups of coffee have you had today?"

"I've lost count," he replied, shrugging his shoulders and draining the cup in one gulp, which made me chuckle and he laughed too at the fact that he was apparently already addicted to caffeine. But we quickly lost our laughter when Killian came in through the door and looked at us worried.

I got up carefully, walked towards the alpha and looked into his empty eyes, but I didn't know what had happened or how I could help him.

"Leave us alone, please," he spoke in a calm voice towards Resul, who got up immediately and disappeared outside without saying a word.

"What's going on?" I asked him worriedly while my hand took his caringly.

"Damiano says he picked up Caleb's trail, but just wanted to tell me first so as not to spread fear. I don't want to lie to you or hide anything. Don't worry. My men are on guard 24/7. Every wolf knows far and wide that he is an outcast from now on."

He hugged me tightly while my heart pounded wildly against my chest and I was short of breath. Panic tore me up inside and an unbelievable fear for my friends spread through me. Of course we were safe here, but Caleb wasn't a stupid savage. On the contrary. He would know how to achieve his goal of destroying me and Linda.

His marginalization and humiliation would drive him on and on and fill his heart with vengeance. My body started shaking violently without me wanting it to. I felt cold and nauseous at the thought of him and his smell, which was the scent of death to me.

Killian noticed my tension and worriedly looked at me.

"We'll go upstairs and then stay in bed all day, okay? I have a lot of nice books upstairs in the office. You can read and I'll watch you read. Agreed?" he asked calmly, stroking my loose hair behind it ears.

I just nodded, glad of whatever he had suggested at that moment. A dive into another world was exactly what I needed. Before we ran up the stairs together, he broke away from me and walked over to the kitchen, where he picked up a bottle of water and several apples.

When I got to the top, I lay down comfortably in the soft bed and drew the curtains beforehand. While waiting for him and his chosen book, I was happy to finally be able to read again, although it also felt wrong to lie around while others were running around in the woods to protect me.

"I hope that's okay?" Killi threw a book on the bed right in front of me, but I couldn't even look at the book because my gaze got stuck on the alpha, who took off his shirt and pants and suddenly stood in front of me only in his boxer shorts. My cheeks flushed as my inner wolf jumped up and down happily. When his eyes met mine, I quickly looked at the book and stuttered shyly towards him.

"Yes, that will do."

Smiling, he threw himself down next to me and rested his head on my thighs, from which he gave me an amused look, which made me uncomfortable but also made me smile.

"I won't be able to concentrate on reading like this." I looked down at him and waved the book in my hand.

"You're welcome to focus on me, too." He winked in amusement and raised an eyebrow, making him look irresistibly sexy. I was fascinated by his warm green eyes, brown skin, black hair and even his three-day beard.

When I looked at him like that, I started blocking out everything around me again. It was just him and me and I didn't know if it was the Mate connection or the feeling of true love, but I loved this feeling of togetherness.

I grinned back and winked and put the book aside, causing him to look back and forth between me and the book in amazement until I caught a bright twinkle in his bright eyes.

Before I could say or do anything else, he sat up briefly, then draped himself over me. His eyes were right over mine and he was just beautiful and made me feel beautiful too with his looks. I gently began to stroke his cheek while he kept his eyes on me and slowly slid down onto me. Goosebumps formed on my arms as he tenderly began kissing my neck and gently sucking on my skin over and over again. While his one arm supported me, his other pushed under my back to hug me even tighter. My heart was racing with excitement, because his smell alone triggered so much in me, his touch even more so.

I just let myself go in his arms and tried to relax. I gently ran a hand around his back and tickled the back of his neck, making his skin crawl with goosebumps that I could feel with my fingertips. He broke away from my neck, breathing heavily, and bent over me again to give me a lustful look before closing his eyes and placing his soft lips on mine.

He caressed my lips with his tongue until I opened mine too and pulled him tight against me while our tongues played together, driving me almost insane. He carefully slid his free hand to my pants to slowly unbutton them, causing my abdomen to glow. Out of sheer emotion, I let out a soft moan in his mouth and I noticed how his breath caught immediately. Apparently he was just as nervous as I was, but with him by my side I wasn't at all afraid of doing something wrong. He belonged to me and today we would become one and complete our connection with it.

I reluctantly let him get up so he could take off my pants. He threw them across the room and then, breathing fast, leaned back over me to get rid of my shirt as well. I sat in front of him in only my underpants and his gaze became fixed as he searched for words and looked up and down at me.

"You're beautiful, Alicia," he stuttered and I gratefully pulled him close to kiss him passionately. I wanted him immediately. My whole body tingled and screamed for his touch as if I were going through excruciating pain without him.

He carefully removed the rest of our clothes without our lips parting and then he slowly slid down between my legs, allowing me to feel his manhood on my thigh.

I got so hot that I had to pull away from his kiss to catch my breath, choking on pleasure. Never in my life would I have imagined the foreplay alone to be so intense. You always heard about it, but experiencing it was something else entirely.

"Are you sure?" he asked me, leaning over me, propped up on his hands. His black hair fell a bit in his face, which I thought looked even prettier than freshly styled.

"Yes, I'm sure," I whispered, stroking his warm cheek. His arms made him come a little lower, closer to my body. Lowering my head into the crook of my neck, I suddenly felt an indescribable feeling between my legs and I couldn't avoid a groan of excitement. The small pain that followed the feeling was hardly felt, but anyway I didn't notice anything else except him and his touch.

My arms wrapped around his back and my fingernails dug into his skin tightly as if I wanted to hold him with me forever. He turned his face towards me and kissed my neck while slowly moving his pelvis up and down, penetrating me harder and harder, giving me the best feeling in the world. Words couldn't describe it, how can you describe perfection? My breath quickened, as did his. He braced himself more firmly on his arms to be over me and facing me, enjoying the arousal he was causing. His mouth was half open, his breath hitching with pleasure and the green eyes met mine, but I closed my eyes. I just wanted to feel and not use any other sense. The faster he got the more violent was my moaning and he drove me crazy with these bumps. Ever harder and faster, deeper and harder, until suddenly an extreme feeling snatched a loud groan from me and made me scratch his back. His quieter groan covered me with goosebumps all over my body...

Exhausted and gasping for breath, he dropped his body next to mine and I too tried to catch my breath. I had to find myself first, as if I was completely confused and my mind was gone. Sweaty, he laid his head on my arm, kissed it gently and then snuggled up to me. My heart slowly settled and I knew I would never get enough of it. It was like a mind blowing intoxication.

I finally knew what everyone always said, that it was the best feeling, and from that moment I could finally believe them, I had experienced it myself. I turned to him and gently kissed his cheek. That was my "thank you" to him because he was perfect for me. Not just because of the sex, but because he was my mate, my favorite person, and my protector. I happily sought the warmth of his chest, laid my head on it and wanted to enjoy this feeling for hours. I would have loved to lie here forever and locked us here, just him and me, forever and ever.