The easy warmth that had been sitting in his eyes dimd. Just a little. Just enough. But even that shadow couldn’t hide the desire still blazing there.
"I know, and I can handle it," Voren said, but Seraphine found herself worrying for him, her hand instinctively reaching toward his chest.
She knew these Alphas could be ruthless with sothing like that and even as Voren was the strongest and wealthiest Alpha now, she still could not imagine him standing alone against all of them. The thought of him hurt made her heart squeeze painfully.
"That’s not really an answer."
He was quiet for a second, then reached for her fully. "I’ll take whatever punishnt cos with going against it." His voice was steady and resolved, like a man who had already done the math and accepted whatever the number was, his fingers now tracing lightly up her arm, leaving trails of fire on her skin.
"And if the blood moon festival confirms what I desire, that you’re mine and I’m yours, then there’s nothing they can do about it anyway. The code can’t override a mate bond." His thumb brushed her wrist, feeling her racing pulse.
Seraphine looked at him, sothing soft and deeply romantic moving through her that she wasn’t quite ready to na, though her body was already responding, growing warm and slick with need.
"Then why not just wait?" she asked, and her voice ca out gentle, not pushing, not challenging, just real. Her eyes were soft too, open in a way she didn’t open up for most people, inviting him closer.
"Why not let the festival co and give us sothing solid to stand on? Sothing nobody can argue with?"
Voren looked at her for a long mont, and what crossed his face wasn’t exactly stubbornness. It was older than that.
Sothing that had been sitting with him for years, wearing different clothes, calling itself different nas. Pure, aching love mixed with fear.
His hand moved, found hers, and he didn’t say anything for a second, just held it tight, his warmth seeping into her, making her imagine those hands everywhere else.
"I love you, Sera." His voice ca out low and unguarded, nothing careful about it, thick with emotion that wrapped around her like a lover’s embrace.
"I love you so much it’s made stupid. It’s made an. It’s made do things I’m not proud of."
He looked down at their hands, then back up, his gaze dropping briefly to her lips, her throat, the curve of her breasts. "I’m just... I’m scared. Of losing you again before I ever really get to have you. Of sothing coming in between now and that festival and taking this away."
He finally looked up, eyes glistening with unshed emotion and raw desire. "I’ve already lost you once, and it almost destroyed . I don’t want to risk it a second ti."
"You might not love the sa, but it’s okay. As for the Alpha code, I don’t care if I have to take a bullet, a knife, or whatever, I’m not afraid of any of that. My only fear is in getting my heart broken again. That’s the only thing I can’t survive..."
His free hand cupped her cheek then, thumb stroking her skin tenderly, sending electric sparks straight down to her core.
"But fuck, baby... being this close to you right now, activating your pheromones, taking in your scent... it’s taking everything in not to pull you into my lap and show you exactly how deep this love goes."
Seraphine’s cheeks were red like tomatoes, deeply moved in a way that made her chest feel full and tight all at once, and she would be lying if she said she felt nothing for Voren.
Hell, what she felt for him was sothing wild and consuming, nothing she had ever experienced before, not even with Ravyn, and that intensity made it scary as fuck to try and understand exactly what it was.
It was like her soul recognized his in a way her mind was still catching up to.
The attraction was there, burning hot and undeniable, and his touch was srizing, sending little sparks racing across her skin every ti his fingers brushed hers.
But maybe she was carrying the sa deep fear he was, the terror of losing him and having her heart shattered into pieces for the second ti. She didn’t know if she could survive that kind of heartbreak again.
And if anyone understood Voren better, it was her. Loving soone for so long without getting anything back, pouring your heart out into soone who seed so far away, was exactly what she had endured for years. The ache of it still lingered in her bones.
Her fingers turned over gently in his hand, warm and strong, and a wave of resolve broke through her like sunlight after a storm.
If Voren could love her again after everything he had endured, the jealousy, the pain, the long, lonely nights, then she could give this a real try too. She could open her heart and her body to him completely.
"It won’t happen." Seraphine’s voice stayed quiet but there was no waver in it at all. She ant every single word, her eyes soft and full of promise as she looked at him. Then the corner of her mouth lifted just a little, teasing. "Alpha Jealousy."
Sothing in Voren’s expression cracked open beautifully. Not quite a laugh, but pretty close, warm and relieved. The tension in his jaw eased up a bit, and his thumb stroked slowly over the back of her hand, sending delicious heat curling low in her belly.
"But think about it from my side for a second," she continued, her voice soft and intimate. "The mont word gets out that I’m with you, everything I’ve done stops feeling like it’s really mine."
"It becos about you. It becos about access and connections and who I’m with, and not how hard I’ve worked. They’ll take for a gold-digger, so weak ex-Luna who just latched onto her ex-husband’s rich Alpha best friend."
Voren held her eyes, and she could tell he was actually listening, not just waiting for his turn to speak, but really taking it all in and thinking it through, his dark gaze roaming over her face like he wanted to morize every detail.
"I have thought about all that, and that’s why I ca up with another solution," he said, sounding mischievous.
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