Fated: The Alpha's Unwanted Luna

Chapter 311: Steamy shower

Hearing his words made her heart skip a beat, though this time it wasn’t from nervousness. Instead, it was the thrill of anticipation and excitement that fluttered through her chest.

Viola was willing to do anything within her power to make him feel better and help him regain whatever he had lost, and taking a bath and eating breakfast together wasn’t something she couldn’t do. So she cupped his cheeks and gave him a nod, a smile on her face.

"Shall we go back to my place or yours?" She asked, since in the high tower they had separate living spaces and hadn’t yet established whether they would be staying together or keeping up the pretense.

Sebastian rubbed her back as he replied, "We don’t have to go anywhere. I have a lounge room here with everything we need. Let’s stay there and use the bathroom." Saying that, he lifted her off his lap by the waist as though she weighed nothing, then got up from his chair, his arm coming to rest possessively around her hip as he walked with her toward a plain wall in his office, where he pressed a button and the wall slid aside to reveal a door.

He led her through the concealed door that connected directly to his private adjoining suite, a place he had in the past used when he preferred to keep working rather than make the walk back to his penthouse.

He hadn’t used it in a while, but now that his wife was here, Sebastian didn’t see why they needed to go all the way back. He was drowning in emotions and feelings he didn’t want, and if there was anyone who could help him and distract him at the same time, it was his mate.

Having her walking this close to him, her scent drifting to his nose with every step, was already soothing something deep inside him while simultaneously stirring his arousal. With her, he didn’t need any seduction to get worked up, she could turn him on with anything she did, and that was wild in itself, because it had only ever happened that way during his heat before.

When they entered the room, Viola took in the space. It was laid out just like his bedroom, everything set up identically to it, including a king-size bed in the center of the room.

One would never have guessed a place like this was tucked away behind his office. As she looked around, she felt him come up behind her, and before she knew it, his arms wrapped around her from behind, his chin coming to rest against her shoulder, and her heart beat faster at the closeness of him, her skin humming warmly everywhere they touched.

"Let me hold you for a little while," he whispered, kissing her neck before licking it, tickling that sensitive spot and causing her to squirm.

"That tickles, Seb," she chuckled softly.

He smiled against her skin and licked her again.

Despite the ticklish sensation, Viola didn’t try to pull away from his mouth against her neck because she liked the feeling. She let him hold her, feeling his weight and warmth at her back like a comforting blanket. She laid her hands over his where they rested around her waist and across her abdomen, feeling his grip tighten in response.

As he held her, Sebastian couldn’t help but think about how small she was compared to him. He could have sworn there was no way she should have been able to handle him, and yet she had taken him in so perfectly that night. Even now, holding her like this, feeling her body against his and breathing in her scent, his thoughts drifted to how she would one day carry his pups in this small body.

Kade Alphas always had twins, it had never been otherwise, and she was a twin herself, so no doubt their first would come in two. The thought of it made him wonder how she would look, heavy with his children, how that small body of hers would carry the weight and still move around the way she did. The image sent his blood roaring and his erection rising, the way it always did when a mate pictured his female carrying a part of him, marking her completely and irrevocably as his with their little ones.

"Do you like children, sunshine?" Sebastian whispered into her ear, and she blinked at the sudden question.

Viola’s heart thudded. Did she like children?

Honestly, she hadn’t thought about it much recently, but in the past she had been among those who found children to be a nuisance, annoying to be around. She had always told herself that if she ever had a child in the future, it would be to secure her position beside her Alpha. A very selfish way of thinking, and one she was not proud of having carried for so long.

But recently... the idea of having her own children still terrified her. She was afraid of being a terrible mother, of failing an innocent being the way their own mother had failed them both, giving them away as though their lives meant nothing to an orphanage that killed children like her.

Viola didn’t hate children. Not anymore. They were innocent, vulnerable beings who needed their parents’ protection more than anything else in the world. She just wasn’t sure she was fit to be what they needed. Still, she answered Sebastian’s question honestly.

"I like them. Do you?" She returned the question.

"If you give me pups, I will love them." He kissed her neck again, nuzzling against her. "I like everything about you. What do you think about having some of our own someday?" he teased.

Viola flushed crimson and cleared her throat, not knowing what had brought on thoughts of children now when so many other things between them had yet to be established. The thought of having his children sent a thrill through her body and filled her with a surprising warmth.

However, if she was ever going to bring children into the world, she wanted to know her own origins first before bringing them into a world that might want their heads for the very same reasons it would want hers once it came out that she wasn’t one of them...

She was still living in fear of Sebastian finding out and turning on her, hating her, and looking at her with the same disgust every other werewolf had shown to sea creatures before she was slaughtered and sold out.

She slipped out of his arms and said, "Let’s get on with it so you can eat on time. You didn’t have dinner last night."

She made her way toward the bathroom and felt him follow close behind her. She was afraid that if she stayed wrapped in the warmth of his arms while talking about children, she would be reminded once again of how easily her secret could be revealed through the children she might one day have with him.

She didn’t want to bring any sons or daughters into an unsafe world, and talking about it made the possibility feel so real. It transformed it from a distant thought into something tangible, something that could one day happen. And if that day came before she discovered the truth about herself, then she wouldn’t only be putting herself at risk, she would be putting her children at risk too.

That was a future she was terrified of...

Sebastian noticed immediately that she had pulled away from the topic, and he found himself wondering whether she simply didn’t want children at all, or whether it was the thought of having his specifically that she shied away from.

The former was acceptable in a way. Having children was not something he had ever strongly desired before her, and if she truly didn’t want any, he could live with that.

The latter, however, made his mood sour. The thought that she might want children one day but not with him settled heavily in his chest, leaving behind a bitterness he couldn’t quite ignore.

She had said she liked children, but she hadn’t wanted to discuss having any with him, not even in passing, in a future where he would have made his final sacrifice with the mermaid so that she could remain by his side forever.

Sebastian decided not to push the topic for now and instead let them enjoy their wonderful first bath together. He didn’t want to ruin their moment in any way.

The bathroom was a marvel of high technology and very spacious.

Viola’s heart fluttered wildly. She had never bathed with Sebastian before. She had never bathed with any man. The intimacy of it sent a shy, thrilling nervousness racing through her veins, because no matter the fact that they had been together before, it hadn’t been in a space as brightly lit as this bathroom, where she would be completely bare before him with nowhere to hide.

Sebastian led her to the shaving station, holding her hand as he said, "You volunteered to take care of me, sunshine. Will you help me shave then?" He asked, looking at her with that quiet, steady gaze of his.

If it gave her something to focus on rather than standing there watching him and thinking about his words on children and the fact that she would shortly be naked under the full light of this room with him, Viola didn’t hesitate to nod. "I will help you. Have a seat."

Sebastian settled onto the edge of the sleek marble counter and pulled her gently between his spread thighs, handing her the shaving foam for her to apply.

Viola lathered her hands with the scented foam and rubbed it carefully over the several days’ worth of beard covering his jaw.

The dark stubble scratched pleasantly against her soft palms. She had never shaved for anyone before, but she knew she would figure it out, especially when the man seemed to trust her so completely with his face.

He sat perfectly still, his large hands resting lightly on her hips.

Sebastian watched her activate the razor, her face drawn into an expression of serious concentration, and he parted his lips and announced,

"The elders want me to take another Luna."