LOGINTabitha’s POV“Unghh…!”Just then, I hear the faint rustle outside, the soft shuffle of the maids making their rounds. My chest tightens with panic. Oh shit…“J-Jace…” I whimper while grabbing his shoulder. “Jace! The maids are awake! T-They’re outside!”He leans closer, pressing his body fully against mine, and whispers right in my ear…“Shh, lower your voice,” he grunts as he moves faster, each thrust driving me with a sharp, wet smack. “If you make a sound now, they’ll know exactly what a needy little slut you are… and I might not be able to stop myself.”I moan against his shoulder, helpless to control it.“Jace… we need to—ah! Oh my god! Unghhh!” Oh my god, I should really keep quiet now!But I find it impossible when he is fingering my clit while fucking me like a mad dog.“Shh, baby, you’re too noisy.” He covers my mouth with his hand, chuckling at the muffled sound. He continues to pound on me and at this point, I think that my moans are not the only sound that we should be wo
Tabitha’s POVI do as he says and open my legs wider for him. Jace’s eyes gleam with utter satisfaction while watching me all parted and needy for him.“God, I could touch you like this all morning and you’d still be begging for more.”Jace’s mouth drops to my inner thigh before I can protest, kissing and nipping along my skin. His slides over my ribs and lower back, pressing me harder against the mattress. Every touch makes me shiver, my hips pressing up against him without thinking.His lips glide their way into my inner thighs until his soft lips reach my moist cunt.“Jace… hnggh…”“That’s right. Keep your legs open and give me a taste of that sweet pussy, baby.”He spreads my legs further apart as his tongue swirls around my folds, lapping and tasting me in hungry enthusiasm. He teases me, not just with his mouth, but with his fingers that circle over my clit, driving sounds out of my mouth that I should not be making in this unholy hour!“Jace. Jace. Jace… oh my god!” My toes cur
Tabitha’s POVJace is stretched across my bed like he belongs there, one arm tucked under his head and the other wrapped around my pink pillow. His hair is a mess in a rather handsome way. I don’t know how that’s possible but the way his dirty blond strands fall into his eyes makes him look unfairly soft, his mouth slightly open as a quiet sound slips out with every slow breath.Those sounds… I think he’s snoring. I snort. Of course, he does.I stare at him longer than I should. He looks annoyingly peaceful, and the sight of him clutching my pillow like it is some kind of comfort object makes my chest tighten in a way I refuse to acknowledge. He looks almost boyish like this, nothing like the usual sarcastic smug he does all the time.Get a grip, Tabitha.What am I even doing, lying here and staring at him like this? Why am I letting this idiot sleep in my bed? I force a frown onto my face and reach out to shake his shoulder.“Jace,” I whisper sharply. He does not budge. I shake him a
Tabitha’s POVThe next few days pass in a similar rhythm. My mother stays in the hospital for the next four days for observation while I go back and forth to take care of her on two of those days. Alpha Emery takes the other shifts, so we are basically alternating on duty.Honestly, I don’t like the arrangement, but I’m not about to challenge the man who runs this house. What would I even say to Alpha Emery? Sorry, but I’m not comfortable with you taking care of my mom because I don’t want you to find out she’s spying on you? Yeah, no. I might as well walk up to him and hand over my head myself.Also, my mom seems to be okay with it, anyway—or at least that’s what her calm demeanor says. Her treatment of her husband doesn’t really change. She’d still smile at Alpha Emery and call him darling just like before. I guess only now, I have learned to see through her show. That the face of a caring wife is nothing more than just a mask she wears to sniff some dirt behind Emery Aldair.I don’
Tabitha’s POVI nod slowly, and my thoughts drift back to my mother and the baby she lost. I think about the child who might have been born into that family. Another child who would have carried Emery Aldair’s blood. The idea of a child growing up under a man like that makes my chest tighten, and I swallow the feeling before it can show.A few minutes of silence ensues after that. Maybe we’re all lost in our own thoughts, maybe they’re bored waiting for a fish to swim into the nets, but no one speaks for a while until I decide to break the silence.“Can I ask you another question?” I say. “But, I mean, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”Reed lifts a shoulder. “Ask away.”“What were your parents like together?”The brothers exchange looks once again and for a moment, I’m sure they are going to deflect the question. But Reed just sighs and answers…“They were fine.” He lets out a short breath, as if struggling to find the right words to describe his parents’ marriage. “That
Tabitha’s POVWhat happens next is me opening the floodgates of resentment dressed in sarcastic jabs.“What do you expect from a man who thinks the world bends around his title?” Reed shrugs. He looks disinterested but the fury in his eyes betrays him. “That old man has always believed that everything exists to serve him. The pack. The fleet. Even his own blood.”Jace lets out a quiet scoff. “You make him sound generous,” he says. “You forgot to mention that he only cares about two things. One, being the alpha of Crystal Ridge. Two, commanding the Kaelara naval station. Beyond that, he has no space for anything else.”Luca leans against the rail and clicks his tongue. “Everything else is just decoration.”Their words land heavy, one after another, like stones dropped into still water. I can hear how old the bitterness is. This is not a fresh wound. This is something that has been reopened so many times it never fully closed.I feel something loosen in my chest. I do not interrupt them







