26. Ethan

Chapter 26

Ethan

-The Perfect Drug- NIN-

I have my favorite song on repeat in the background as I lift weights in the private gym in the house. The last several therapy sessions have revealed things about mine and Grace’s tangled past that even I was unaware of. I told you she was ours from the start. You didn’t listen. My wolf says snidely to me. “I know. I was eleven when you told me. She was five.” I grunt back as I press the weights up again.

My skin prickles like it usually does when Grace approaches. It’s interesting how I feel her long before I see her. “How are you Darlin?” I keep pressing the weights, feeling how she enjoys watching my muscles strain.

“Much better now,” Grace says. The metal clangs as I set the bar on the rests above my head. Grace moves to remove a plate off of each side of the bar. My eyes focus on what she has done. Lighter weight, meaning she wants to play, watch me work but not strain. “Am I interrupting?” Her eyes lift to the bar over my head in silent command.

I grip the bar and lift up, starting the next set of reps. “Not at all, Darlin.” Her hands rest on my thighs as she places a knee between my knees as she slides her hands up under my shorts.

A deep rumble of appreciation vibrates her chest. “I want to play Wolfie. Keep your hands on the bar. You let go, I win.” A feral smile crosses her lips as I now notice she’s wearing a sundress. The hem of the sundress just above her knees.

Grace steps back and walks slowly around the bench until she walks past my head. Looking up under her dress, she is bare before me. The thick scent of her arousal making me bite my lip. I feel myself harden my, pulse thrumming in my cock as it twitches against my lower stomach. “What do I get if I win?” I grit out, still looking up at her bare sex above me.

Grace is playing dirty. She spreads her legs, putting a thigh on either side of my head. Moisture glistens on the lips of her sex so close to me, yet so far away. With a slight bend of her legs, her sex rests against my lips. The honeyed sweet flavor of her dancing over my lips. “Lick me, Wolfie.” Her hands rest on my chest as I continue to press the weights up and down.

My tongue darts out and laps at her lips. Her flavor explodes on my tongue and I rumble deep in my chest, vibrating my tongue. Grace angles her hips, granting me access to her clit and I suck it between my lips, flicking it with my tongue. I know what to do to drive her to break. Humming softly, I flick that sensitive bud, feeling her thighs tremble against my head. A soft gush of fluid escapes her core, drenching my face, and that’s when she backs away. I watch my mate flushed and panting as she moved back down the bench.

“Naughty Wolfie.” The wicked grin that plays on her lips as she stares at me makes the hair rise on the back of my neck. Her fingers hook the top of my shorts and tugs down. I lift my hips, allowing her to pull my shorts down. My length springs free, leaking and throbbing in anticipation.

“Should I keep working out or take care of the ache in your core.” Arching a brow I watch her closely. Grace moves to my head again and when I lower the bar, she removes a plate on either side. With a motion of her hand, I return to lifting the weights. I’m lifting barely a hundred and fifty pounds, not even close to my warm up weight.

Grace moves down my body again and then sits over my length. She arches her hips and slides back, taking my length in one move. I bite my bottom lip, feeling her warmth around me. Resisting the urge to move is more difficult than I thought possible.

“So good, Wolfie…” she says as she slowly slides up and down my length.

I feel like I am going to go insane with this game of hers. But with as fragile as Grace has been since the event, she can have me however she needs me. If it’s control she wants to feel safe, then I will fully submit to my mate without question.

A soft moan escapes her lips as she grinds down on me. This laying still isn’t doing either of us any favors. A fire ignites in her eyes and a gleam enters her eyes. Grace glances over her shoulder at the pad against the wall we use for stretching. My mate apparently has a different use in mind.

“Stop working out, Ethan.” My real name on her lips sounds like an angel singing.

I rest the bar in the cradle over my head as I watch her still moving upon my length. Her eyes glance over her shoulder at the pad on the wall and I take the hint. Sitting up suddenly, I reach around her and work my shorts down and to the ground. I kick out of them before lifting her by her thighs to carry her to the wall.

Grace grins like a cheshire cat as her hands rest on my shoulders. I drag my length through her core slowly, watching her face carefully. “I’m not breakable Ethan.” She rocks her hips against me, grinding down to make her point.

Grace arches her brow in challenge and then I thrust up hard into her, scooting her up the mat. Her finger tips grip my shoulders tightly as I thrust up into her. I cage her in my arms, using my forearms to support her thighs with my hands splayed on the mat.

Each rock of my hips elicits a moan so beautiful I thrust harder to get the same sound again. The pulse of her core and the grip of her fingers make the strain worth every note that escapes her lips. I draw out so slowly, almost to the point of fully withdrawing. The look of fear rockets through Grace, the fear of me stopping. When she least expects it, I thrust up hard and fast. Thrust after thrust, I press my body against hers, trapping her against the wall.

Every thrust harder and faster than the one before. My hands shift, claws gripping the mat hard, sinking in deep. Grace likes me feral. A part of her revels in the violence that side barely restrains. Her moans sing to me as she curls in tighter. Her mouth finds the shoulder she marked over a year and some odd months ago. I feel her core coiling tighter, gripping my length with every thrust.

My lips find her throat as I kiss my way down the length. I find her shoulder over where part of my original bite remains. When I feel her muscles pulse for the first time, I bite. My teeth break her silken flesh, the crunch of muscle under my teeth. The cry of my mate in my ears drives me to thrust harder before I feel the searing heat of her teeth breaking my flesh. With another thrust, I sink my knot deep into my mate. I withdraw my teeth and roar my release, shaking the very walls.

Grace’s core spasms around my length drawing out shuddering thrusts from me. Every pulse of my length I feel as if I cannot stop coming. Every wave warms my soul and chases away the darkness within me. I wrap my arms tightly around my mate’s body and move back to the bench where it all started. Grace eventually releases my shoulder and licks at the wound gently. She nuzzles my cheek and kisses along my jaw.

"Feel better?" I whisper, kissing the lobe of her ear, my lips brushing against her skin softly. Her familiar scent wraps around me, grounding me in this moment.

"I'm sorry I've been avoiding you and the others," Grace's voice trembles with a weakness and sadness that cuts through me. I can feel the weight of her regret in each word, and it makes my chest ache.

"It's okay, Darlin'. You've been through so much." My fingers thread through her hair, gently untangling the long, silky strands. Each movement is slow and deliberate, a quiet reassurance that I'm here for her.

"I shouldn't have avoided you and the other alphas. It's not healthy for any of us." Grace rests her head on my shoulder, pressing her forehead against my neck. Her warmth seeps into me, and I feel her heartbeat sync with mine.

"You needed time to process what happened. Your life was flipped upside down when you had to run for your life. Then there's the mating bond and being turned." Leaning back, I reach up with my right hand and cradle her jaw in my palm, running my thumb over her bottom lip. Her eyes close, and she leans into my touch, a tear slipping down her cheek.

"I would wait another twenty years for you if that's what it takes. You are it for me. The sun and the moon, the very air that I breathe." My voice is steady, but inside, emotions churn wildly. I've been in and out of therapy since my eighteenth birthday when I didn't find my mate. My wolf had fought for control to hunt down its mate. He knew it was Grace and never told me. He knew when I was old enough she was too young for what he needed from her.

"I wish I was here the whole time," Grace says, peppering my face with soft, urgent kisses. The pain I see in her eyes almost undoes me. Each kiss is a silent plea for forgiveness, for time lost.

"You were barely five when your parents took you." I thread my fingers through her long hair again, the silken strands falling from between my fingers like sand. "You didn't know what I was to you. There's no way you could have known." I press my lips to her temple, feeling her pulse thrum under my lips. The heat of her body and the weight of her on my lap settles me, anchoring me to this moment.

"But I did." She pulls back and frames my face with her hands, her eyes glowing faintly with a seriousness that makes my heart stutter. "I remember crying night after night for you. I kept telling my mom 'mine.' I wanted what was mine. It didn't make sense until I was turned. You are mine, Ethan, and I am yours forever." Her words are a balm to my soul, each one sealing the bond between us tighter.

She shakes her head and lowers her eyes for a moment before they return to their human blue. "On some level, I knew you were meant to be mine. I just didn't understand what the pull was." Grace looks down and away before meeting my eyes again, her gaze filled with a mix of sadness and resolve. "I guess my instincts got confused and sensed what Hunter was, that he was the same as you. A wolf." She pauses and inhales roughly, the weight of her confession hanging in the air between us.

“Darlin’, don’t do this to yourself. None of us could have known what my healing you would cause. All I knew was that you were hurt, and I wanted to fix it. My chest hurts seeing you cry.” I gently rub my thumb over her bottom lip, searching her face for understanding. The vulnerability in her eyes mirrors my own; I’m just as damaged as she is, maybe worse. For Grace, I would raze the earth and burn it all to ash if it meant keeping her safe.

Grace nods, and as she does, I glance over her shoulder and see Griffin standing there. He nods slowly, then turns and leaves, leaving a void in his wake. “Sometimes it haunts me. What it could have been. What we could have been, all of us.” Grace sighs, and the weight of the world seems to crush down on her slender shoulders.

“I think about that a lot, too,” I admit, my voice soft. Her eyes light up watching me, a small spark of hope. “Everything has happened for a reason. At least, that’s what I’ve come to believe.” Smirking, I help Grace to her feet, then pull my shorts back on before standing. “Let’s get cleaned up and then take the bike out. Maybe getting the wind in your hair and putting some miles behind us will make you feel better.”

Grace looks up at me and smiles. “First, we shave your head,” she beams. “I want my Wolfie, not Griff part two.” She reaches up and gives my hair a playful tug, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Yeah, it’s a pain in the ass remembering to style it.” A hearty laugh escapes my lips, and I offer her my arm. “Shave, shower, then off on our adventure. Sounds like the perfect afternoon to me.” Grace giggles before taking off running ahead of me, her laughter filling the air. Who knew all this emotional openness would be so beneficial?