Chapter 221

I and Axel sat in silence for a while. It was such a pin-drop one that only the sound of my fast heart and the distant noise of pigs snorting somewhere far too close to my current romantic crisis.
Then I sighed. “Alright. Fine. We’ll find something.”
Axel’s grin returned, smug and victorious. “That’s my girl.”
“But if you go full evil villain on me, I’m snitching to your mother.”
He choked on a laugh. “Fair.”
I leaned back, flopping onto the bed dramatically. “This is insane. You’re insane. I’m probably insane. My wolf is definitely insane.”
Axel lay beside me, propping his head up on one arm and tracing lazy circles on my stomach through the shirt. “You forgot to say I’m sexy.”
“See? Insane.”
“I’ll take it.”
We lay there like that for a while, intertwined in warmth and uncertain plans. Every now and then, I’d feel that whisper again.
Like my wolf was pacing inside of me, trying to stretch after years of sleep. It scared me. But it also thrilled me. Because maybe… I wasn’t broken or cursed.
“Hey,” Axel said after a while. “What if we just… disappear?”
I turned to look at him. “What?”
“We leave. Forget the council, the betrothal, all of it. Just you and me. Start over.”
I studied his face. The sharp jaw, the playful mouth, the serious eyes… the idea was tempting.
Dangerously tempting.
But I couldn’t let him throw everything away for me. Moreover, there was no way we could do that without turning rogues.
“I can’t ask you to do that,” I whispered.
“You’re not asking,” he said. “I’m offering.”
I looked at him for a long moment.
Then kissed him.
Softly and slowly like a promise we weren’t ready to make yet, but were already aching to keep.
And as the kiss deepened and the world faded, I realized something.
No matter what happened…
Rosa, the council, the secrets and betrayals still waiting to surface…
I had Axel.
“Wanna be a rogue so bad, huh?” I chuckled into his mouth, our lips still dancing together.
Axel pulled away from the kiss and curled into my arms like a baby. Maybe he was… my baby.
“For you, I’d bark like a feral dog.” He mused, leaning into me closer like he’d go into me if he could.
I lay there, tangled with Axel in a warmth that shouldn’t have felt like home, but did. His chest rose and fell against my back. I could hear the faint thud of his heart and the distant grumble of pigs again.
Someone needed to tell the universe that the soundtrack to my love life shouldn’t include snorting swine. I tried to focus on the fact that Axel had just offered to run away with me.
Me. María José. Omega disgrace. But instead, I was wondering if pigs could be romantic background music in any world that wasn’t completely deranged.
“María,” Axel murmured softly into the crook of my neck.
His voice was low and husky, sending a pleasant shiver down my spine. “You know, I dream occasionally of us.”
Really?!
He did?
“Wow. Tell me about them!” I literally shrieked.
He kissed the top of my shoulder. “I’ve had all sorts of dreams about us, but my favorite is where I become Alpha. And you’re my Luna.”
I swallowed, opening my eyes and blinking up at the cracked ceiling of his room.
“Tell me we had five kids and a white house with blue shutters?”
“Exactly.” Axel shifted beside me, propping himself up on one elbow. His fingers found mine and threaded through them like they belonged there.
“You told me you’d train every day until you were strong enough to stand beside me. As my equal. As my Luna.”
“Even in reality, I will,” I whispered. “I want to be worthy.”
“You already are.” His voice broke a little at the end, and I turned to look at him.
His eyes were dark and full of something raw. “But it’s gonna get messy before we get there.”
Of course, the road that lay ahead of us was a very rough one. Only love and trust in each other could get us through.
I pulled his hand to my chest, holding it over my heart like a promise. “I don’t care. As long as I have you, Axel… I don’t care how messy it gets.”
His jaw tensed. “You might.”
That made me sit up. “Why would you say that?”
Axel paused, chewing his bottom lip like it was fighting back words he didn’t want to say. “Because I need you to trust me. Hard. No questions. No flinching.”
I tilted my head warily. “What are you going to do?”
“I might… need to be around Rosa more.”
My body turned to ice.
He saw it in my face and quickly grabbed my hand again. “Not because I want to. Because I have to. I need to get close enough to her to learn what she’s planning. Her secrets. Her weaknesses. I can’t do that if she thinks I’m still tangled up in you.”
“Ouch.” I tried to joke, but it came out strangled.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know,” I said quietly. “I just… it hurts. The idea of her touching you.”
“She won’t,” he promised fiercely. “She won’t get that close. But she needs to think she can. That’s the only way she’ll drop her guard.”
I pressed my lips together to stop the sting behind my eyes. “So… you’ll pretend to be her perfect little fiancé.”
He didn’t respond immediately. He just looked at me with that kind of sadness that made me want to punch the universe.
“If that’s the price I have to pay for a lifetime with you,” I said slowly, voice shaking, “then I’ll pay it.”
“María He sat up too, cupping my face in both hands. “You don’t know how much I love you. If there was another way
“There’s not.” I touched his cheek, brushing my thumb under his eye. “You’re doing this for us. I get it.”
He crushed me against his chest, holding me so tightly I could barely breathe—but I didn’t want to let go either. “You’re stronger than anyone I know.”
I scoffed against his collarbone. “I cry over spilled soup.”
“And yet you still fight every day to survive. That’s strength.”
I sniffled and pulled back just enough to look at him. “So what now?”
“You need to go. My mother might come in.”
I blinked. “You think she’d be mad I stayed?” Fresh chapters posted on (.)net
Axel smirked. “She likes you, actually.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
He nodded. “She once said you were ’quiet and clever, like a Luna should be.’”
I felt something flutter in my chest. Maybe pride. Maybe surprise. “She didn’t say I was dirty? Or unworthy?”
“She said I should be careful not to let you slip away. That you reminded her of herself.”
I looked down, blinking quickly. “Then why hide me?”
“Because she might march straight to my father and tell him we are in love and deserve to be together. And that would ruin everything. We need Rosa to think we’re not even speaking. You need to stay hidden… just a little longer.”
I nodded, even though my heart was twisting in ways I wasn’t sure it should.
“Alright.” I stood, brushing off my shirt and adjusting my pants. “Let’s play pretend then.”
“Thank you,” he said, standing beside me and kissing my forehead. “You don’t know what this means to me.”
“I think I do.”
He walked over to a button on the wall which was one of those old-fashioned communication dials and pressed it. “Bring in a dress for a señorita. Something elegant but not too flashy.”
A voice answered on the other end with a cheery, “Sí, Señor Axel.”
I turned to him, narrowing my eyes. “You have a dress service?”
“I have maids with taste.”
He turned back to me, suddenly serious. “You have to hide.”
I frowned. “Really?”
He pointed at the corner wardrobe. “Go. Please. Just until they leave.”
Hide?