Chapter 146
The corridor outside Aire’s chambers remained in complete silence.
Xander stood several feet from the door with both hands folded tightly behind his back. The veins beneath his skin remained tense from restraint while his wolf prowled violently beneath the surface.
Beside him, Alaric leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
Neither of them had knocked yet. Neither of them had moved and neither of them could bring themselves to leave.
The bond still pulsed between them.
Xander swallowed harshly once when another wave of Aire’s emotions brushed against his senses with softness, and heat. Also, Nate.
Gods.
His jaw tightened sharply.
Alaric shut his eyes briefly beside him. He felt it too.
Every second Nate spent with her inside that chamber carved ache deeper beneath both their skin.
Aire belonged to all three of them by fate.
But tonight?
Tonight, another male held her, and their wolves understood exactly what that meant.
Xander dragged a rough hand down his face slowly when Aire let out a soft moan, and giggled afterwards at whatever the hell Nate was doing in there.
“This is torture.” he muttered.
Alaric let out a humorless breath. “You are speaking as though I am enjoying myself.”
Xander looked toward the door again.
Part of him wanted to walk inside immediately. Another part knew if he entered that room while his wolf felt like this, he might lose every ounce of control he had left. He doesn’t wish to distrust Aire’s first night of heat.
The scent beneath the door was unbearable now.
Aire.
Xander shut his eyes briefly.
His wolf snarled low beneath his ribs, violently clawing at him ribs repeatedly like he was trying to dig a hole.
“Mine.” His wolf howled in his head.
The instinct stucked him, and his shoulders tensed visibly.
Alaric noticed him. “You need to calm down.” He warned. “We can’t go in there. If not for Nate, for her.”
Xander cursed once in anger under his breath. “That advice sounds hypocritical coming from you.”
Alaric’s jaw flexed sharply but he said nothing.
Xander was right.
Alaric’s own instincts were close to the surface, and worsened with ecvery second. His control barely held together beneath the weight of possessiveness clawing through him.
He hated this feeling, and hated how irrational it made him.
Aire was safe.
That should have been enough.
Instead, his wolf remained deeply unsettled.
After what seemed like an enernity, another pulse of Aire’s emotions brushed against them softly that wasn’t heat.
Xander’s expression shifted slightly, and he let out a sigh of relief when sleepiness brushed through him.
“She’s asleep now.” he said quietly.
Alaric nodded once.
Silence settled again afterward.
Neither of them moved from the door. And eventually, without either acknowledging it aloud, they both stayed.
The night deepened slowly around the palace.
Torches burned lower along the corridors while servants disappeared one by one into quieter parts of the castle.
Still, Xander and Alaric remained outside her chambers, waiting and listening for anything wrong.
……
Inside the chamber, warmth filled the room softly.
The fire Nate had lit earlier burned low now beneath the fireplace while moonlight spilled across the bed from a little portion of her curtains.
Aire slept deeply now beneath the blankets.
For the first time in days, her body finally rested without fear tightening through every muscle.
Nate lay beside her awake.
His arm remained wrapped around her waist protectively while her body rested against his chest.
He had not slept for so long, not even for a moment.
He simply watched her every second.
The bond between them pulsed warmly now, quieter after the intensity from earlier but infinitely deeper.
Every now and then, Aire shifted slightly in her sleep and Nate’s entire body reacted instantly.
His wolf remained absurdly attentive toward her now with every ounce of possessiveness and devotion.
Nate brushed a few strands of silver hair carefully away from her face.
Gods.
Even sleeping, she looked unreal. He must had been a fool to call her ugly the first night he met her in the dinning.
The sight of the mating mark hidden beneath the blankets nearly undid him all over again.
Nate lowered his gaze immediately afterward, almost ashamed of how deeply the possessiveness lived inside him now.
Aire trusted him, after everything.
The thought still shattered him quietly. He has been dying from trying to seem cool about it but he wasn’t.
He’d never let her down again, but he still felt like a traitor. A traitor to her, to his wolf, and to himself.
He had said a lot of dumb things to her, and done a lot of cruel things to her.
“I’ll never let you down,” he murmured more to her than himself.
Nate leaned forward carefully and pressed a soft kiss against her forehead. Then slowly, and reluctantly, he untangled himself from her.
Aire stirred faintly at the loss of warmth.
Nate froze immediately.
When she settled again, he exhaled slowly.
He adjusted the blankets higher around her before moving toward the edge of the bed.
His gaze drifted toward the chamber doors briefly.
He knew they were outside.
Xander and Alaric.
His jaw tightened faintly. He felt like mocking them to their faces, but he couldn’t find a part of himself to do that.
Aire wasn’t a trophy to be won between them.
Their wolves had definitely felt the bond complete tonight, and part of him expected confrontation already.
Nate looked back toward Aire.
She needed rest more than any of them needed conflict tonight.
He picked up his cloths littered across the room, and put them on. The moon goddess must have a cruel sense of humor, because his life wasn’t going as planned and just when he made it his life goal to condemn it, he found this life better beyond any imagination he could envision.
Quietly, he sat on the floor beside the bed afterward, resting his back against the bedside while keeping close enough to hear her breathing.
If anything happened….. anything, he would wake instantly. And sometime during the quiet hours before dawn, exhaustion finally dragged him under.