Chapter 136

Richard

The room was quiet except for Amelia's soft breathing. Her skin still held the flush of heat, but her body had finally gone still, curled around one of the nest blankets. I sat beside her, bare-chested and alert, watching the door with one hand resting protectively on her shoulder.

Nathan's voice flickered in through the pack link like a gust of cold wind: The nursery’s been hit. Airborne. Wolfsbane.

I didn’t move. Not visibly. I didn’t blink or speak. Instead, I pressed my palm gently to Amelia’s cheek and said aloud in the calmest voice I could manage, "You’re okay, darling. Just stay resting. I’m right here."

To Nathan, I pushed back through the link. Deploy medics to the nursery. Rotate guards. Lock down air filters. Track exposure radius. I want every child scanned for symptoms.

“Still running warm,” I murmured aloud, brushing hair from Amelia’s temple. “That’ll ease soon. You’re safe.”

Nathan again: Exposure’s moderate, no fatalities, but two infants were reacting badly. We’re stabilizing.

I let out a breath and kept smoothing her hair. “It’s just the last spike. Happens sometimes when instincts get tangled up. Nothing you need to worry about.”

She stirred faintly, brow furrowed in her sleep. I stroked her back, grounding her with my touch even while my mind worked like a machine.

Check all vents to the nursery. Use canines for scent tracing. Document tampering. Don’t wake the rest of the Pack. Keep it quiet.

Then: Found signs of filter removal. Back hallway, northeast corridor. No cameras.

My jaw clenched. She was shaking, I leaned in close to her. “Just relax, Amelia,” I whispered. “You’ve done enough. Let me carry it now.”

What do you need? Nathan asked.

Containment and silence. Start with Facilities. Anyone who clocked in near those vents in the last day. Especially part-timers.

Understood.

Only when I had confirmation did I let my body release, just a little. I leaned back against the pillows, dragging her closer. She whimpered in her sleep and curled into me again, heat still pulsing off her skin.

I pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Still burning up," I murmured. "You’re amazing. You know that?"

She didn’t wake, but the hitch in her breath told me she heard me on some level. Her scent had changed. Even asleep, her body still wanted. Her heat hadn’t let go, not by a long shot.

I should’ve let her rest. I knew that. But I needed her too. I needed to forget what I’d just handled. I needed to lose myself in something that wasn’t rage or fear. My hand moved without thinking, down the curve of her spine and over her thigh. Her hips shifted, breath catching.

“Richard,” she whispered, eyes still closed.

“I’m here,” I said, voice low.

Amelia

His voice called me back into my body. That deep, grounding tone, always so steady. But everything in me felt feral. My thighs were slick, my chest heaving, my wolf clawing toward him with desperate need.

“I still feel it,” I murmured. “Stronger than earlier. I thought it would fade.”

He hesitated. “Mine’s tapering. It’s not gone, but it’s easing.”

“Why isn’t mine?”

He cupped my cheek, his touch firm. “You’ve never gone this deep into it. It’s your first real heat. Your body’s still trying to understand what it wants.”

I leaned in, lips brushing his. “She knows exactly what she wants.”

He groaned into my mouth. “And I’ll give it to her.”

I climbed onto his lap, breath stuttering as I felt his cock hard and waiting against me. His hands spread wide across my hips.

“Ride me,” he whispered. “Take what you need.”

I sank down onto him with a gasp, back arching as he filled me. The stretch was perfect, overwhelming, the drag of him inside making me cry out. “Yes, that’s it. Oh god, yes.”

He gritted his teeth, his head falling back. “You’re already clenching around me. You feel like heaven.”

“Don’t stop,” I breathed. “Please don’t stop. I need it so bad. I need you.”

His hands locked down on my waist, guiding me into a rhythm that made everything else fall away. The sound of our bodies was wet and obscene, echoing through the nest. My moans spilled out without hesitation, my nails dragging across his chest as I chased my release.

“Just like that,” he panted. “I want to feel you fall apart on me. Show me how much you need this.”

The orgasm tore through me, sharp and sudden, like my body had been waiting for permission. I gasped so hard I choked, and he caught me in his arms as I shook, kissing my throat and whispering filth and praise against my skin.

But I couldn’t stop. I didn’t want to. My body felt like it was melting, and the only thing that made it bearable was more of him. I kissed him again, wild and uncoordinated, and bit his lip hard enough to make him growl.

“More,” I begged. “Don’t hold back.”

He flipped me with almost no effort, pressing me down into the nest with my hips high. “You want it rough, baby?”

“Yes,” I moaned. “Please, give it to me. I can take it.”

He thrust back into me so deep it made me sob into the bedding. His grip on my hips was bruising and relentless. Every time he drove into me, it knocked the breath from my lungs.

“You feel this?” he rasped. “This is what your body needs. What your wolf’s been begging for.”

“Yes,” I cried. “It’s so deep. You’re so deep inside me.”

His fingers slid between my legs and found my clit, rubbing tight and fast in time with his thrusts. I was already unraveling again, my moans turning frantic.

“I’m close,” I gasped. “Richard, I can’t—I’m going to—”

My climax ripped through me, white-hot and consuming. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t speak. My entire body seized and released all at once.

He cursed behind me, still moving, until he finally spilled inside me with a groan that sounded like surrender. He collapsed over me, both of us trembling.

Richard

She collapsed beneath me and I caught myself just in time, resting my weight on my forearms. My lungs burned, my body ached, and my mind was still tethered to the storm I hadn’t finished handling.

I kissed the slope of her shoulder. I whispered something I barely heard myself say. Then I pushed my focus outward again.

Report. Filter origin. Surveillance sweep. Check shifts against unauthorized logins.

As I issued silent commands, I traced lazy circles across Amelia’s back. She twitched back into sleep, her body still hot and demanding even in rest. I pulled her onto my chest and breathed her in. That scent, that sound, that heartbeat. It was the only thing anchoring me.

Amelia

He held me like I was something precious. I pressed kisses along his sternum and tasted the salt on his skin. Everything in me buzzed. I didn’t want to sleep. I wanted to stay here, connected to him, wrapped in the heat we’d made.

“Still want me to rest?” I asked, my voice rough.

He smiled faintly, stroking my hip. “You’ve earned it.”

We began to drift, the nest warm and soft around us. But just before I fully slipped away, I felt his body stiffen under mine. Something shifted.

Richard

The sound wasn’t real. Not in the room. It was in the link. Soft. Rhythmic. Not bells for ceremony or mourning. Something older. Something quieter.

Miles away, Nathan crouched near the nursery vents. He held a gray badge with no department printed, no name. At first glance it looked blank.

But at the bottom edge, etched so faintly you’d miss it unless you were looking, was a bell. And underneath the plastic, there was a bitter trace of wolfsbane.

My stomach turned cold. Whatever this was, it hadn’t ended. It had only just begun.