Chapter 9: Cold Lips, Hot Kiss

Roman POV

He had her tied up outside the mansion. For two days after their return, after five gravestones were dug and their dead buried, Thora remained outside.

She was there when a heavy thunderstorm raged and the rain battered her. She was still there when the sun glared down, blisteringly hot. It wasn’t just about her escape attempt and the need to satiate his grieving pack for the losses they had suffered.

It was also about using her to show everyone, especially the high council, what a bad omen a human’s presence was in their world.

The first night of their return, he had spent it being grilled by the high council, who conveniently blamed him for the disaster that befell them during the hunt.

Sentenced or not, he was still the alpha, they maintained. It was still his sole responsibility to coordinate the hunt and to protect his people at all costs.

Roman took accountability for everything. He spent the night patrolling their borders, setting booby traps for trespassers and making calls to human associates to ensure a break-in never occurred again.

By night two, he had been awake for two whole days. Not even Matilda’s poultice under his bed could help with his insomnia. Even after gulping a total of four, purple-colored tinctures to numb his restless wolf, Axel couldn’t be tamed. He clawed at Roman’s chest endlessly, weakening the alpha from within.

Till Roman finally went to his bedroom window to look down at Thora. Her omega dress was in tatters. It was skimming her knees now, rather than her ankle. Her chin-length hair was in spikes, partly due to the rain and partly due to eggs, tomatoes and everything pack members cared to dump on her daily.

Her slender arms hung weakly from the makeshift post Dax had arranged at the last minute. Roman could hear her dragging a labored breath, wheezing and coughing intermittently.

“She’ll die.” Axel worried.

“No, she won’t.” He countered immediately, because he left instructions for the pack doctor to examine her daily to ensure she didn’t. “She doesn’t get to go that easily, Axel. We lost five of our own because of her. She has to pay.”

“You have already killed the hunters that breached our land,” Axel continued. “You know in your heart that the human had nothing to do with them suddenly showing up.”

“Alpha?”

Roman tipped his neck to find Penny and two other night wolves cautiously letting themselves into his bedroom. They smelt of lavender and something aromatic that stirred him.

“I didn’t call for you.”

“We’re sorry, alpha.” The second night wolf, Varsha, replied coyly. She was draped in a lacy, dark robe. Meekly, she went ahead of the others and offered him a cup.

“I brewed this special tea personally. It has Matilda’s approval to help you sleep.”

Roman stared at the steaming cup and agreed he was parched. Though he doubted he could catch a wink of sleep anytime soon, he accepted the tea from her red-tipped fingers, sniffed and sipped. He savored it on his tongue, then sent it burning gloriously down his throat.

“I like it.”

Varsha’s smile was acre-wide. Serena edged forward, a blonde beauty with blue eyes. She stretched a hand.

“I know you’ve been stressed lately, alpha. This massage oil is famed for soothing the kinks in your joint. I’d gladly help you apply them if you want me to.”

Roman took the oil from her hand slowly, letting his fingers brush hers. By the look of pure satisfaction on her face, it made her day.

Yet, the brief contact jolted his thoughts back to Thora, and the sizzle that ran through his body whenever they touched.

He got flashes of the human hospital, of holding her too tightly when she tried to escape.

He remembered pulling her out of the wrecked car and carrying her like a wounded lover. Both times, his stomach had felt annoyingly warm and fuzzy. Both times, he felt Axel drawing from her core, bubbling with strength he never thought possible.

“Alpha?”

He blinked just in time to find a frown working its way onto Penny's dolled face. When he looked down, she was offering him…nothing?

“You have nothing for me, Penny? That’s a first.”

The corner of her mouth curved. She came close enough to trace his jawline with her fingers.

“I’d never come to you empty, my alpha.” Fluttering her lashes at Varsha and Serena, she angled her head back at the alpha. “I’ve got something better than tea and oil.”

“And what could that be?”

“I know how to end your forbidden marriage with the human!”

***

They were alone now. Per Penny’s demand, he had dismissed the other night wolves to their dismay.

“Speak, now!”

She sidled close to him. “My father literally has the high council in his back pocket. He also knows the fine print of our pack’s laws. I went to bat for you, threatened to end my life and begged him to save my first love from this doomed marriage.”

“And?”

“He said he might be able to pull some strings, but only on one condition.” Her eyes glinted. “You are to make me your Luna and wed me publicly. He’ll only stick his neck out for you if our families become one.”

Roman reached for Varsha’s tea and took more sips. Anxiously, Penny wrung her hands and waited for him to mull it over.

“So, Darryl knows a faster way to get me out of this mess, but he won’t act for his alpha until I marry you?”

A nervous laugh escaped her. “Not really. Your situation is very difficult to wriggle out of. What my father is trying to say is that it’ll take a lot of convincing and brown nosing for him to convince the rest of the high council or even the Supreme council to either approve your early divorce or swap out your sentence entirely.”

She looped her hands around his ripped arm. “I know regional packs have started pulling out of our treaties and agreements with them. This marriage is making them ostracize our pack. My father has a lot to lose in fighting for you, Roman. Can you blame him for wanting to secure his daughter’s future as compensation?”

It wasn’t a totally unpleasant idea. Penny was the perfect blend of sweet and sour. Her father might be a pain in the ass, but she could be tamed.

Yet, he wasn’t eager to jump on this, and he couldn’t explain why. He scrubbed a hand over his tight throat, and swallowed hard. The air in the room suddenly felt thin.

“You don’t have to give me a response right now. Take your time and think about it…

The rest of her words tuned out. Roman’s eyes flicked around the room. Axel had calmed, and he didn’t even realize when. Staring at the tea cup, he wondered what had been in it. He kept clearing his throat to free up the tightness.

Before he could scrounge up an excuse to dismiss Penny, the pack doctor cut in via the pack link.

“Alpha, the human stopped breathing.”

***

Tinnitus rang in his ears for a couple of seconds before he snapped back. The pack doctor was saying something about not being equipped to treat humans, how she didn’t have the equipment to restart Thora’s heart.

Essentially, she was bracing him up for a potential loss of his human Luna, and the permanent damage that their marriage record would do to the Valcourt name.

Roman didn’t move an inch from where he stood, even when he heard Thora being carried to Matilda’s, so the witch could try reviving her with magic. He was so distracted he didn’t see Penny leave.

“Axel?” He called for the umpteenth time, but his wolf was eerily quiet. He couldn’t even feel a thing. He yanked off his wedding band and tried again. “AXEL!”

Still nothing. Raking a hand through his hair, he took deep breaths. His chest hurt. Gradually, the pain grew. He had no idea what he wanted to do, but a singular thought floated in his brain.

He had had a lot of unexplainable coincidences with Thora. He needed definitive proof once and for all.

So, he made a beeline for Matilda’s quarters. As he swung the door open, her impassioned face greeted him.

“How is she?”

She shook her head. “Nothing so far. I’m trying my best. She’s cold, and her lips are greying. That’s never a good sign for humans.”

Roman moved closer, his face a brick wall.

“I have applied some balm all over to warm up her organs, assuming this is all because the cold got to them. There’s no more trick up my sleeve, alpha. If she doesn’t pull through…”

“I understand.”

With a somber look, she stepped out.

It took him a lot of thought before his hand moved. It didn’t stop till it touched Thora’s icy fingers. Feeling nothing, he closed a palm over hers, then held it more firmly. Weirdly, he was almost positive he felt something warm beneath the cold.

His chest rose with hope.

After stealing a glance behind him to ensure they were alone, he drew in a lungful of air. This was going to go down in history as the worst day of his life, but he needed to know.

In one swift move, he leaned forward and captured her lips with his. At first, they were stiff and bland. He pried them open with some effort, and went to work nibbling and sucking.

His heart pounded furiously in his chest. His hand was still locked with hers. He felt hot all over. Tingles traveled through the network of nerves in his body.

With his eyes shut, he called her name via mate link. “Thora!”

When he reared his head back, Thora’s eyes were wide open, and she was staring up at him.