Chapter 35

35

I can't sleep. I've been tossing and turning ever since I crawled into bed, only managing to doze for short stretches. After everything that happened today, my brain just won't turn off- and as I glance at the bedside clock for what feels like the millionth time, I see it's almost three in the damn morning.

Great.

We've got a meeting with squad leadership set for nine a.m., and if I don't manage to get at least a couple hours of rest, I'll be a total zombie. Which isn't ideal, considering how I plan to propose that we accept Cam's help in dealing with the hunter situation. The more I reflect on it, the more I know he's right- and I have a feeling that's also part of the reason sleep has been evading me. My wolf is restless after the way we left things, and right now, with him sleeping in a guest room just downstairs, he's so close, yet so far.

I huff out a sigh as I toss the covers off and slide out of bed. Dressed only in a thin camisole and a pair of cotton shorts, I suppress a shiver as I pad across the room toward the door, the hardwood floor chilly beneath my feet. As soon as I reach it, I quietly turn the knob and pull it open, the packhouse silent as I creep down the hall to the stairs. I'm careful to avoid the floorboards that creak as I descend them; the last thing I need is my brother catching me sneaking down to see Cam in the middle of the night. He's made it abundantly clear how he feels about my fated mate.

Still, that doesn't stop me from tiptoeing down the hall of the guest wing and approaching the door to my prisoner's comfortable new cell. As I reach for the knob, I have a fleeting thought that maybe he decided to run off after all, my heart leaping into my throat. Then I feel our bond humming in my chest with the kind of contentment that can only come from close proximity, and my anxiety eases with the knowledge he hasn't. He's still here; I can feel him on the other side of this door, the invisible tether of our bond pulling taut.

Slipping into the room, I quietly press the door closed behind me, finding Cam fast asleep in the king-sized bed. He doesn't even stir as I sneak over and pause at the edge to peer down at him through the dark. The handsome bastard is laying smack dab in the middle of the mattress, the sheets bunched around his waist and his bare, heavily inked chest steadily rising and falling with his breathing. His muscular body looks as if it's been chiseled from marble, his toned arms stretched overhead and his features softer than I've ever seen them, given his peaceful state of rest. Without his jaw clenched and brow creased, he's even more stunningly gorgeous. Damn him .

Without even fully considering what I'm doing, I reach over to pull back the covers and climb into bed beside him. The sheets are buttery soft against my skin, and I'm careful not to rouse Cam as I slip beneath them and snuggle into his warm body, my wolf immediately settling. Shit, if that's all it took, I should've come down here hours ago. Curling into his side, I rest my head against his chest, listening to the steady thump of his heartbeat as I press my eyes closed.

I must not be as stealth as I think I am, because Cam grunts as he lowers an arm, tucking it around my body. "What are you doing?" he mumbles, his voice rough with sleep.

"I don't know," I admit. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought…" I let my voice trail off, at a loss for how to explain myself. Probably because I'm the damn queen of mixed signals lately.

"Hey, I'm not complaining," he rasps, his hand wandering beneath the hem of my camisole to rest on my bare waist.

Ugh , this would be so much easier if he was still an insufferable asshole. Instead, he keeps throwing me off my game with these uncharacteristically tender moments that are so damn endearing.

"I should probably apologize for earlier," I whisper, gliding my fingertips idly over the dips of his ab muscles. "I was just overwhelmed with everything and I might've taken some of that out on you."

"Eh, don't worry about it," he murmurs in that deep, gravelly tone that makes me weak.

I heave a sigh, my fingers wandering lower to trace the waistband of his boxer briefs. As soon as I start to dip beneath the elastic, his muscles tense and he darts out a hand to capture my wrist, lifting his head and angling it to meet my eyes.

"Whatcha doin, beastie?" he asks, narrowing his gaze on me suspiciously.

The corner of my mouth lifts in a smirk. "Apologizing," I say simply, twisting my wrist out of his grip. I return it to his abs, then resume cruising down into his boxers, wrapping my fingers around his thick cock. It rapidly hardens in my palm as I start stroking it, his breathing growing more labored with each pump of my fist.

Cam doesn't raise any further objections as I press my lips to his chest, kissing my way down his chiseled stomach. He must've helped himself to a shower before bed, because his signature scent is mixed with the unmistakeable smell of the bourbon-vanilla soap that's stocked in every guest room in the packhouse. Some primal part of me hates that he washed my scent off- the same part that wants to rectify it immediately by covering him with it again.

I slip my hand out of his boxers and ease the fabric down his hips, wrapping my palm around his girth and guiding the broad head of his cock to my lips. I tease him a little at first, licking the bead of precum off the tip, and his chest rattles with a groan as I part my lips and let him in, swirling my tongue around the crown before taking him to the back of my throat.

Cam sinks his fingers into my hair as I work his cock with my mouth, licking and sucking until his thighs are trembling. At first, his hand simply rests on my head and he lets me set the pace, but as I push him closer to the edge, his fingers tighten in the strands. The next thing I know, he's holding my head in place as he punches his hips up, fucking my throat like the roguish brute he is. And, like the greedy bitch I am, I'm loving every damn second of it.

He uses his grip on my hair to yank my head back and I release him with a loud pop, flickering my gaze up to find him staring down at me, pupils blown wide. "Get up here," he growls, and shit , I've never been more eager to take direction in my life. I scramble to climb up his body, but evidently it's not fast enough. His hands latch around my waist and he hauls me up over his lap, as if he can't wait another damn second to be inside me.

Why is that so fucking hot?

Cam pulls my face down to his, capturing my lips in a searing hot kiss as he fumbles to strip me of my pajamas, then manhandles me to straddle his waist. I moan into his mouth when my bare center glides over the hard ridge of his cock, and a heartbeat later, it's nudging at my entrance, his chest rumbling with a heady groan as I sink down onto him. I hiss a breath out through my teeth at the stretch, but it quickly dissolves into a moan as I circle my hips, feeling every bit of that massive, glorious dick inside me. My clit rubs against his pubic bone as I ride him in a slow grind, pressing my palms to his chest and tossing my head back as I cry out.

"Fuck, Luna," Cam growls, his fingers sinking into the flesh of my hips.

It's funny, I used to get annoyed whenever he called me ‘Luna'. Now, it's taken on an entirely different meaning. He's not calling me that out of spite or because I'm masquerading as someone else; it's because his Alpha wolf is trying to stake his claim... and damnit if that's not a fucking turn-on . I start riding him harder, thigh muscles burning as I bounce on his dick with wild abandon. He pushes up on his elbows and leans forward to capture one of my nipples in his mouth, little jolts of pleasure zinging to my core as he licks and sucks the sensitive peak, then kisses his way across my chest to give the other equal treatment.

Between the fullness of his cock inside me and the friction against my clit, I was already dangling close to the edge of release. The nipple play pushes me right over. I cry out as I freefall into a toe-curling climax, body shuddering while I ride the waves of bliss. Cam's grip on my hips tightens, and he flips us over while I'm still coming, pinning one of my thighs between us and driving me into the mattress so hard that it feels like my orgasm will never end.

It does, eventually, and I go boneless beneath him, fighting to catch my breath. Then he dips down to kiss me, and it's like he breathes life back into my body. I wrap my legs around his waist, gripping onto his shoulders as he pounds into me harder, faster. And when he breaks our kiss and pulls back, his eye contact is even more intense than his savage thrusting between my legs. That dark-eyed stare is impossible to look away from.

I can categorically say that I've never had this much eye contact during sex. I guess I'm usually somewhat detached from the act itself- get in, get off, get on with your life, right?- but this isn't strange or uncomfortable. There's so much heat behind those eyes that I feel like I could combust, and despite all the unspoken things hanging in the air between us, this connection is so much more profound than any paltry exchange of words. It's the realest thing I've ever felt in my life, and I never want it to end.

"I'm gonna come," I pant, my fingernails scoring the taut skin of his shoulders.

"Do it," he grunts as he pounds harder between my thighs, his pace unrelenting. "Let go, baby. I wanna feel that pussy choke my dick."

Okay, words sometimes pack a punch, too. His are filthy, and they may as well be a goddamn command with the way my body reacts as soon as he utters them. The coil in my belly snaps like a damn rubber band, fireworks exploding behind my eyes as my climax rockets through me. Cam buries himself impossibly deep and roars out a string of curses as he joins me in the rapture of release, and when I finally come back into myself, we're a sweaty mess of tangled limbs, bodies slack and sated.

After a few minutes, I try to peel myself away from Cam, but he wraps an arm firmly around my waist and drags me closer, pinning my back against his chest. "Apology accepted," he murmurs into my hair, his thumb idly tracing circles against my belly. "Now try to get some sleep."

I blow out a shallow breath, some of my anxious thoughts filtering back in now that the post-sex haze is starting to lift. "I should probably go," I mumble.

He huffs a sigh, not loosening his grip on me. "Probably. But not yet."

I don't reply, and I don't make any move to try to get up, either. I selfishly allow myself to enjoy how good this feels, wishing there was some way to make it last.