“You’re so wonderful,” he said, looking at her closed eyes and parted lips.
“Mmmm…”
“So beautiful and perfect. I love you, Avelyn.”
“I love you too.” She didn’t even realize the words had left her mouth. They felt right.
Max moaned when he heard her and moved his hips faster. He wan
ted to claim the woman in his arms, body and soul. He wanted to hear those words again.
“Say it again, baby. Please, say it again.”
“I love you.”
His cock drove faster into her, their bodies moving in the same rhythm.
“I love you, Max!”
“Fuck! How do you do this to me, baby?” His hips slammed against hers, and the sound of their lovemaking filled the room. “Look at me, Avelyn.”
She opened her eyes. She could see the wolf was so close to the surface, and it only made her wetter. She felt his cock growing even harder and more swollen inside her. He was so close, and so was she. He kept hitting the right spot, making her moan and claw at his back, her fingernails leaving red marks in their wake.
“Oh, right there. Right there, Max. I love you, baby, I love you!”
Her moans had turned into screams, and the sound of his name leaving her lips threw him over the edge. He whispered her name as he came, feeling how her own orgasm shook her body, making her clamp down on his throbbing cock. He thrust a few more times, shooting hot streams deep inside her, coating her walls and filling her tight passage.
They stayed like that for long minutes, holding each other and waiting for their heartbeats to calm down. Avelyn felt his cock soften inside her, and she squeezed him with both her arms and legs, not wanting to let go. She was, eventually, forced to, as she had started to get cramps in her thighs from keeping them up at that uncomfortable angle for so long. Max rolled them over on one side and kissed the tip of her nose. He didn’t know what to say. He had already heard the words he had been waiting for her to say since forever, and he was afraid to bring it up now. What if she took them back? What if she had only said them because she was so close and he was just pressing the right buttons, so to speak? No, he couldn’t think about that. He was being paranoid. If she said it, then she meant it. That’s why it had taken her so long.
Avelyn stretched her legs, releasing the tension in her muscles. She studied his strong jawline, his straight nose, and kind eyes. The words were out, but were they true? She knew she meant it when she had said it, but she’d be afraid to repeat it now. Not because she had changed her mind, but because she was afraid of the consequences. “If I love him, then how can I leave him?” She arranged a strand of black hair on his forehead, and her fingers lingered on his temple. He closed his eyes and smiled at her touch. “Dammit, what have I gotten myself into?” She tried to snap out of it. Maybe a quick shower and a good night’s sleep would help clear her mind. She got out of bed and tugged at his arm, convincing him to follow her to the bathroom. They cleaned each other under the warm water, hugged and kissed until they were too sleepy to stand. At least, Max was sleepy.
Avelyn couldn’t sleep that night. She tossed and turned, glad that Max was too tired to feel her agitation and hear her deep sighs. How could she sleep when she knew the next day she had to pack the things she would need most in a small suitcase she could actually drag down the narrow staircase? Everyone would be too busy with the preparations for the Seed Moon to pay attention to her. Then, at midnight, they would all gather in the courtyard, around a huge bonfire, to celebrate the beautiful full moon. There would be music, food, and a lot of booze, and that made it the perfect time to slip into the library unseen, and then find her way out through the dark tunnels underneath the Schloss. There would be no ritual this full moon. Not with Jocelyn around, carrying a silly vendetta against Avelyn, not with all the werewolves who didn’t approve of Max’s choice. Everyone would think she’d be watching the celebration from her room.
She turned on the other side and fixed her gaze on the tall, dark windows. The heavy curtains blocked the moonlight, making it difficult for her to see anything in the room clearly. The room which had been her prison for a week. But it was nice and comfortable, and the bed came with the warm, hard body of an Alpha who was hers now. An Alpha whom she apparently loved. “I love him. How can I leave him if I love him?” Then, what about Italy? What about freedom? What was freedom, anyway? Hadn’t she changed in the past two weeks? Was she the same Avelyn who had been dragged out of Alma Venus kicking and screaming, determined to run away again the next chance she got? Did this Avelyn have the same dream as that Avelyn? Or, had she somehow deceived herself into thinking that the only way to gain her freedom was to change her identity and move abroad?
“Sometimes we don’t know what we want. Maybe we can name the thing… freedom. But do we know what it actually is? How it looks like? If I had a dream once and I fought for it with all my might, does it mean I’m giving up on it now, when I realize that it’s not my dream anymore? That my dream has changed? Does it mean I’m letting myself down? Does that make me a coward?” Tears stung the back of her eyes, and she blinked fast to chase them away. Why was she crying? She finally had what she had wanted the moment she had set foot in this castle. This prison. She had a map and a plan. A fake ID, money, and a better chance than the last time. So, why did it feel like she was about to make a huge mistake?
Much needed sleep drowned her senses with no warning. With her eyes closed, her cheeks drenched in thin rivulets of tears, and her fingers clenching the pillow, Avelyn ran through the cold darkness her own mind had created for her. An endless maze, narrow tunnels with cells on both walls… she had forgotten her phone, she had no map and no light. There was no one waiting for her at the exit. In her sleep, she turned on her other side, with her back to the window. But, she was too close to the edge of the king size bed to feel the one sleeping next to her, and too busy running from one tunnel to another and taking wrong turns to realize her freedom and safety were at arm’s length. Avelyn was alone.
***
She woke up with a startle. Her first instinct was to reach over to Max’s side and check if he was there. Her hand touched his arm, and she breathed out in relief. “What time is it?” She sat up and the covers slipped down her shoulders and chest, leaving her half-naked in the chilly air of the room. She pulled them back up and held them in place over her breasts. By the darkness behind the curtains, she could tell the sun wasn’t up yet. She reached for her phone and lit up the screen. It was only 5:04 AM. She hadn’t slept more than three hours. “What’s wrong with me?” She got out of bed and went to the table to pour herself a glass of water from the carafe. She drank greedily, realizing how thirsty she had been.
“Where are you?”
Max had felt she was not beside him anymore and he was looking for her. He sat up and rubbed at his eyes with one hand. Avelyn smiled at how cute he was. She set the glass down and went back to bed.
“I’m right here, baby. I’m right here.” She leaned in to kiss his cheek.
“Oh. I thought you were feeling sick again.”
“No, I’m fine.”
He turned her around gently and took her in his arms. Avelyn loved the feel of his chest pressed against her back and of his strong, muscular arms enveloping her completely. She wiggled her hips a bit, making herself more comfortable.
“Max?”
“Mmm…?”