Rise of the Dark Alpha

Chapter 461  Stunned

~ ZEV ~

Chest still rising and falling as she caught her breath, Sasha was stretched out over his thighs like a cat, her breasts high, hands gripping his shoulders, breath heaving out of an open mouth, and eyes squeezed shut.

She looked so perfect, so… glorious, the moment crystallized for him.

He dropped his forehead to rest right between her breasts, his breath tearing out against her skin as he wrapped his arms around her lower back and pulled her home against him with all the desperation of a man losing his last grip on life.

She was his reason for being. His purpose. He knew God wasn't giving him another one—except his son. His family. The two of them. They were life, to him. Sasha was his life. The fact that he might lose her to those human bastards…

He shivered with the wave of hate that rolled through him and tightened his arms around her. She lifted her head, her hands moving to stroke his back as she whispered to him and even that tiny noise vibrated in her chest, right against his skin.

He wanted to take her, to consume her, to brand her with his love.

The memory of just seconds earlier flashed in his mind—his hands sliding up her sides, then gripping her to pull her against him as he pressed into her, reaching depths he was certain he never had before, as if he'd sought her heart, as if he'd sought to become her.

As if they were one.

She had arched under his hands, gasping, her fingers fisting in his hair to the point of pain as she stifled a cry and tightened so beautifully around him, Zev wanted to weep.

Now she looked at him with worry, fingers combing through his hair to push it back off his sweaty face. Her voice was so quiet, but filled with concern.

"Zev, you're scaring me. Say something."

He blinked. She'd been talking. Asking him if he was okay.

"Thank you," he croaked. "Thank you." It was entirely insufficient. Nowhere near what she needed to understand that she'd broken through. That he could see her again, and not just his fear.

She was, as always, exactly what he needed. But how did he tell her that?

He straightened to lean back against the wall again and Sasha sat up too, both of them groaning as he was still inside her. But then she cupped his face and stared into his eyes, searching them.

"Zev, how do I help you?"

"You just did." It was only the truth.

But her forehead wrinkled. "How can I keep helping you?"

"Keep getting close. Remind me that there's more to this than just us winning, Sash. This is about more than just staying alive. This about living."

She nodded, her thumbs stroking his cheeks.

He hated seeing that spark of fear in her gaze, but it had been there for weeks, and it was only growing brighter.

He knew he had it too.

He pulled her into a hug and sighed. Sasha clung to him, her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

"I'm sorry I'm scaring you," he whispered, then kissed her cheek.

"I'm sorry you're carrying so much. I wish I could do more."

"You do."

They sat there a long time together, but eventually they began to get cold. When they were finally wrapped together in the furs, Sasha lay with her head on his arm, watching him and stroking her fingers through his hair.

It made his scalp tingle was the sweetest, most delicious thing he'd felt in a long time. His eyes began to droop and he fought it. But she leaned in to kiss him gently, then laid back and kept stroking through his hair.

"Rest, Zev. Please. You checked. There's no one around. We're as safe as we can be. Rest. Please. I'll watch over you for a while, okay?"

He wanted to tell her that was ridiculous, that her senses weren't nearly sharp enough, but his body was dragging him down. His mind beginning to fade. The darkness of the cave seeping into his skin, and soon he forgot what he'd been about to say. Then he forgot everything as he sunk into a deep sleep.

*****

~ SASHA ~

She barely dared to breathe, afraid that she'd wake him. For a long time, she just watched the glow of the fire slowly fade behind him. His eyes, those dark circles underneath, were finally closed, his lashes fluttering slightly. But his breath was slow and even and his mouth wasn't dragged into that frown anymore.

Her heart swelled looking at him. She kept stroking her fingers through his hair because he had seemed to like it. But she grew slower with each pass until finally she rested her hand curled up between them and just… watched.

She wondered if this was something like how it felt to have a child. This pleasure to just watch them be. To feel such relief when they were at rest, to know they weren't in pain.

Or was that just love?

All she knew was, something in her was fiercely protective. And even though she knew that if something went wrong and they were attacked, he'd have to do the fighting… just then she felt like she'd stand between him and a tidal wave if she could.

She loved him so much it hurt. But in the good kind of pain. The healing kind. The kind that you chose to endure because you knew, in the end, it was going to take you to a better place than where you'd started.

As the fire slowly died, and the cave grew colder, Sasha still didn't move, except to snuggle even closer to his chest. And when he rolled in his sleep to lay his arm over her waist and rest his forehead against hers, she almost cried just with the simple joy of holding him.

But she knew this peace wouldn't last. So she chose to stay awake as long as she could to enjoy it. And when she did finally sleep, it was with a smile on her face.

A smile that was still there when they were woken by the sound of feed on the stone and a human voice rasping, "I knew it."