CHAPTER 24: SIMI - SMILE FOR ME

Kyllian scoffed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Pain? I don’t feel pain. Why would you think I feel pain?" he asked, right before nearly tripping over his own boot and landing on the carpet.

Talon arched a brow. "Because I know how long you’ve admired her. I know about the way you used to sneak looks at her whenever you visited the palace."

Kyllian groaned into the floor. "I should’ve known," he mumbled. "I sensed it. I knew something was off between the both of them. But a vampire and a werewolf mating hasn’t been seen for ages. How could I have suspected that?"

"This is just a temporary setback, Alpha," Talon said. He placed a firm, reassuring hand on Kyllian’s shoulder, which promptly got shrugged off. "It’s just two weeks. She’ll be back with you."

Kyllian gave a bark of laughter, dark and hollow. "Right. Two weeks. Fourteen days of watching her possibly fall deeper in love with him. And what then, Talon? I become the man she marries but doesn’t love. I become the safe choice. The backup plan."

"No... You could never be."

Both men turned sharply toward the doorway. Luna stood there, regal and radiant even with the weight of turmoil pressing down on her.

She stepped forward, her eyes never leaving Kyllian’s. "I... You don’t have to believe me. I understand if you don’t. But I do feel more for you than duty or convenience. I was looking forward to marrying you, not just for my kingdom, but... because it was you. I can’t undo what happened, Kyllian. I can’t rewind time and erase fate’s twisted sense of humor. But I can control what happens next."

Talon, sensing the atmosphere shifting into dangerous romance territory, stood up abruptly. "Excuse me," he muttered, grabbing the bottle of whiskey and skedaddling.

Kyllian stared at Luna, his emotions flaring up. "You should’ve told me," he said, quietly.

"I should have," she admitted softly, her shoulders lowering a little. "I was afraid. I didn’t want to lose what we were building."

"I feel really stupid," he chuckled, though there was no humor in it.

"You shouldn’t feel that way," Luna said, stepping closer.

"Don’t patronize me, Princess," he bit out. "If and when the time comes that you still choose to marry me... like I told your father, I’ll do my duty. I’ll stand by your side. But that’s all it’ll be. Duty. Whatever I thought we could be, it was just... a lunatic’s dream."

)

He turned toward the bar with finality, as if trying to physically walk away from his feelings.

But Luna grabbed his arm.

Before he could protest or rationalize, she stood on her toes and kissed him. It was wild, desperate, full of apology and longing and the heat of a heart at war with itself.

Kyllian responded like a man who had been holding his breath for days and just found air. His arms wrapped around her with the ferociousness of a wounded lion. The part of him that had wanted to stay angry, to make her suffer as he had, died quickly and silently.

But in its place rose hope.

He moved her swiftly to the nearest wall, their lips never parting, the air around them thick with all the words they hadn’t said and all the feelings they were trying not to feel. When her back met the cool stone, it sent a shiver through her spine, one that had nothing to do with the temperature.

Kyllian’s hands were everywhere. He wasn’t just touching her; he was trying to convince himself she was real. That she was really there, choosing him in this moment. His palm slid up to her throat, not harshly, but with a grip that made her gasp softly into his mouth. It was possession edged with restraint, dominance woven with vulnerability.

Luna met his fire with her own, her kiss was fierce, her fingers in his hair, pulling him deeper into the storm of what they were becoming. She wasn’t there to be claimed. She was there to claim him. She needed him to understand: this wasn’t obligation. This wasn’t pity. This was choice.

Kyllian, strong Alpha that he was, was unravelling. And he hated it, how easily she could bring him to his knees without even asking.

He tore his mouth from hers and buried his face in the crook of her neck. "Stop me," he rasped. "If you don’t mean it... stop me now."

But she didn’t stop him. Instead, she tilted her head back, exposing more of her throat to him, her breath trembling, her hands tightening around his shoulders.

"Then don’t stop," she whispered. She unbuttoned her blouse and shrugged it off her shoulders.

He let out a low, tortured sound. Kyllian kissed down her neck with a hunger edged in reverence, every brush of his lips laced with the fury of what could’ve been and the hope of what still might be. He teased the top of her breasts before sliding her bra down and sucking in a nipple.

His hand squeezed the other mound, and his other hand found its way into her pants. One finger, then two. His thumb flicked around.

"Kyllian..." Luna moaned. She could feel her juices run down, caught in his palm. Her knees buckled. "Please."

She had no idea what she was begging for, all she knew was that she wanted and needed more.

Kyllian was at the point of an almost no return. He was gone and done.

"Do you want me to fuck you?" Kyllian whispered into her ears.

"Yes." She breathed out without hesitation.

"Why?"

"Because I want you. Because I choose you."

He dug his fingers further into her, he feared he would break her hymen. He looked at her face beautiful, regal, her mouth shaped into an o.

The scent of her made him giddy. He wanted to sit her ass on the bar and go down on her, drinking her in.

He loved this woman but he couldn’t say it now, could he? Her heart belonged to another even if she was willing to give her body to him.

"Alpha..." Talon’s voice echoed from the entrance but they both could care less. "Alpha! You cannot." Talon said without stepping into the room, giving them the privacy they needed but still calling them to order.