Chapter 73

The crystal chandeliers threw shimmering light across the grand ballroom, and as I sipped sparkling juice out of a champagne glass my eyes darted over to the cluster of sullen-faced council members huddled in the corner. I couldn't suppress a smirk.

"Look at them," I murmured to Ines, nodding discreetly. "You'd think someone stole their favorite chew toys."

Ines snorted, her lips curving into a wicked grin. There seemed to be a weight taken off of her now that her husband was in holding while we investigated him. "I think they’ve realized they’re the chew toys, actually.”

I threw my head back and laughed.

My eyes swept the welcome party, still not fully believing that what I saw wasn’t a dream. I took in the mingling crowd of pack members, both old and new, and the way the ex-Rogues seemed to be integrating already. The pack, nobles aside, seemed eager to embrace their new family.

And the new members were almost unrecognizable from when I first saw them, their once-ragged appearance now polished. It was incredible what a bath and some clean clothes could do, but there was an air of relief around them that no spa day could explain. It was hard to believe that just days ago, they'd been outcasts.

"I still can't believe how smoothly it all went down," I mused out loud. “I was expecting a much harder fight.”

“You scented us,” Ines shrugged. “There was nothing they could do.”

They’d absolutely hated that, too. Sure, they could—and did—bitch about our sudden, unexplained absence and the chaos it caused, and they threw a fit about us making this decision without consulting them, but they had no way to actually keep the ex-Rogues from joining us. And the moment we told them we’d be cracking down on violence against Omegas?

Their faces had been pure gold. I’d keep that image in my mind for a rainy day and pull it out whenever I needed a pick-me-up.

Ines clinked her glass against mine. "And Eclipse gets to keep the casino. Not a bad consolation prize, if you ask me."

“I’m not going to lie, that helped,” I laughed. It was ridiculous that something so monetary could smooth the council’s ruffled feathers when we were talking about basic rights, but I’d take what I could get.

Jordan came up behind us, carrying a small plate of canapes for me, and Ines took the opportunity to try to find her high school friend, who she hadn’t talked to since her wedding twenty years ago. My eyes drifted across the room, landing almost like magnetized on Elroy. He looked so good tonight. Suits always looked good on him, but I was a big fan of the royal blue.

I couldn’t stop staring at him as he stood, tall and commanding, in conversation with a group of older pack members. One of them had to be in his nineties, and Elroy was carrying the man’s plate for him so his shaking hands wouldn’t drop the food. His attentiveness and quiet care for those around him was comprised of small acts like that, things he did so easily that no one else would think of, and it made my heart skip a beat.

"Earth to Olivia," Jordan's teasing voice broke through her reverie. "You haven't taken your eyes off the Alpha all night. Are you sure he didn’t put some kind of spell on you?"

Heat crept up my neck, embarrassed to have been so obvious. Jordan just giggled—she’d started easing up on her coldness towards Elroy since she’d seen how much better things had gotten for us since coming back from the casino, but a little of her grudge still remained. I was so grateful for her.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I protested weakly, purely for propriety’s sake. "I'm just... keeping an eye on things."

The laughter dancing in Jordan’s eyes told me she wasn't buying it. Not that I expected her to.

“I’ve got to go mingle,” I told her, shaking my head fondly. “Coming with me?”

“Nah, I’m gonna go find Matt,” she said. “Tell me any juicy gossip later!”

Jordan sauntered off, laughing, and I found my gaze drawn inevitably back to Elroy. Our eyes met across the room, and a jolt of electricity ran through me. I knew I should circulate, play my part as a pack leader, but in that moment, all I wanted was to be with my Mate.

In that moment, I finally figured it out. This wasn't just attraction or lust, this was love. Real, all-consuming love.

The realization should have terrified me. There were a million and one things we still had to figure out, still had to talk about, but instead of worrying about how that might go for us I just felt a profound sense of peace.

I was in love with Elroy, and it wasn’t some grand realization that shook me to my core. It was just a quiet acknowledgement of something I must have already known, and I smiled at him from across the room. He smiled back, and my chest was full and warm.

Elroy's movements were sluggish as he crawled under the comforter beside me, sighing as he spooned me. We were both tired after a long day of playing host, and sleep was already dragging at the corners of my consciousness. I didn’t want to fall asleep just yet, though.

I had missed this touch, the casual intimacy of his arms around me and his chest pressed against my back. Distancing myself from him had been painful in a way I hadn’t willingly noticed, for the sake of my own sanity, but having him here now felt like the weight of the world falling off of my shoulders.

I sighed and cuddled back against him, gratefully soaking in every second and smiling to myself as Elroy buried his nose in my hair. His hand caressed my lower belly, the heat sinking deep under my skin. I was surprised to find it stoked a different kind of warmth in me.

How long had it been since we’d last been intimate? Suddenly, even as tired as I was, I wanted nothing more than to welcome him into my body again.

“Elroy?” I murmured, leaning my head back against his shoulder. He hummed, still rubbing circles into my skin. “I missed you.”

I knew the moment he realized what I meant, his hand pausing its motion as his breath caught in his chest. I waited quietly, in no rush. I wasn’t worried about him rejecting me; if he was too tired then that was fine, as long as he knew I wanted him.

It wasn’t really about the physical, but it was the closest I could come to showing the feeling in my heart.

Elroy’s hand returned to its soothing circles as Elroy pulled me closer against him, taking a deep smell at the crook of my neck. It made me proud to know that my scent was as comforting to him as his was to me. I sighed again as Elroy’s hand started to drift lower.

“I missed you too,” he whispered, voice rough with unspoken emotion. I smiled; he didn’t have to say it, because I knew exactly what he felt. It was flowing through me too.

We were finally in sync, the way Mates were meant to be.

His touches were slow, deliberate, as his fingers dipped into my panties almost reverently. I adjusted my hips to give him more access, warmth rising in me as his deft fingers found my clit. I was sensitive, both from abstinence and from whatever pregnancy was doing to me, and Elroy could tell.

He kissed up and down my neck, his breath humid against my skin as he coated his fingers in my rapidly growing wetness. His next touch to my clit was smoother, making me whimper.

"You're so beautiful," he murmured, making my heart somersault in my chest.

Our lovemaking was slow and tender, a stark contrast to our usual passionate encounters, and I adored it. I reveled in every caress, every kiss, feeling more connected to Elroy than ever before. As they moved together, I knew that this wasn't just sex – this was a celebration of the love I’d finally stopped hiding from.

I gasped as Elroy pushed into me, the stretch of his cock inside of me making me see stars. His deep groan in my ear was like an aphrodisiac on its own—I wanted to make him drop his carefully curated stoicism, wanted to make him admit to his pleasure, and any time he did it made me bite my lip in excitement.

I wanted to see behind the mask, I wanted to be one of the very few he let in, and in that moment I knew it was happening. He thrust into me, his pace almost lazy but each push forward deliberate. My legs started shaking almost too quickly.

I moaned breathily as my orgasm swept through me, slow and sticky like taffy, gripping Elroy’s thigh as it scrambled my brain. Elroy huffed, keeping his slow, hard thrusts to milk me through it.

“Can I…?” he asked, more air than voice, and I rolled my hips back into him. He groaned brokenly.

“Please, Elroy,” I sighed. Elroy’s thrusts became a little faster as he chased his own pleasure with my body, taking his fingers from my clit to keep from overstimulating me and instead gripping my waist to pull me closer. His breaths sounded almost like whimpers.

He pulled out at the last moment, painting my thigh with his cum and making me sigh happily. It would have been better inside of me, but I agreed with him; not until the baby was born.

Afterward, once Elroy had used his night shirt to wipe me off and tossed it somewhere in the room, we laid back in the same position. I breathed in his scent, letting it suffuse my mind as I hovered on the edge of sleep.

“I’m so happy,” I sighed, right before sleep took me. I felt Elroy rubbing circles on my hip.

“I am too,” he said quietly. I fell asleep smiling, utterly content.