Dark Times

Chapter Seventeen

Warmth. That was all I was aware of. It wasn't suffocating or uncomfortable. It made me feel safe, like I was hidden from the world. When I opened my eyes, blinking rapidly against the light, it took me a while to realise I couldn't remember ever sleeping quite so well.

When my mind caught up to me, I realised why.

He was awake- naturally- I would swear blind he was always awake. His head was in my neck, trailing butterfly kisses up and down it. His lips seemed to linger longer on that very specific spot as he drew closer to my collarbone. The spot at which he could sense I was supposed to be marked. In my sleep, I'd been craning my neck to give him better access. Access he hadn't refused. His tongue was darting out against my skin, his head- at points- buried in my muddy blonde hair.

Somehow- despite his lack of access to his hands- he'd created the illusion of me being wrapped up. I was small enough to be boxed in by his legs. With the chains being around his waist, he could lean forwards enough to hover over me.

It seemed as though I wasn't quite awake just yet, for my hands did something they'd never do had I been conscious. One hand trailed over his outer thigh whilst the other reached above, playing absently with his hair.

When my finger grazed his forehead, the first thought of the morning registered in my mind. It wasn't what my hands were doing, or my humming, or what his lips were doing.

When I grazed my thumb across his forehead, there was a strange- barely there- quivering in my finger, like I had a pleasant electric shock being dragged out. When my mind found a name for the sensation, my stomach dropped.

Sparks.

He'd kept his word. Despite clear opportunity and possible longing, he hadn't marked me. His tongue had paid an extra amount of interest to that area, but like he'd promised, his teeth had never entered my flesh.

Did that make me hate him a little less?

No.

I listened to the mutterings around me, closing my eyes once again. Obviously, it had nothing to do with me enjoying the feeling. It was more so the fact that I'd woken up without anyone realising. There was a chance here. A real opportunity to learn from these mutterings.

"She's going to flip when she wakes up," Igor said in a low voice, steepled with dread.

I flipped about lots of things. My flipping out couldn't be that bad. Okay, it was bad, but not as bad as he was making it sound.

"I'm not so sure about that," Trish answered. "She had to work her way over there somehow. I doubt the Alpha magically worked his way out of those chains, grabbed her and put them back on. She knowingly went over there to him."

It sounded mental to me too. Those butterfly kisses kept coming.

Like me, Igor was trapped in a state of disbelief. "We're talking about the same Lorelei here- aren't we?"

"How many do you know?"

"One."

"Then yes. We're talking about the same Lorelei."

There was a brief silence. At times, I could hear his lips when they touched my skin, or his soft groans of pleasure to be touching me. I was getting the feeling that it didn't matter how. As long as he was feeling my skin, he was satisfied.

Peter spoke up, his voice flat. "Do you think she fancies him?"

Trish sighed heavily. Half asleep, I could already gather she'd had enough of the day. Maybe she should've prioritised her shut eye over banging the ex-Beta. Hey, I didn't make the rules.