CHAPTER 40: THE AGREEMENT

AVA’S POV

The air in the east garden was freezing, but the cold felt like a mercy after the suffocating heat of the dining hall. My skin was still buzzing from the proximity of so many Alphas, and my mind was a mess of violet light and burning marks. Ryder was finally under guard, and Ryker and Zephyr were locked away in a strategy room, leaving me alone with the silence of the trees.

I didn't hear him approach, but I felt the shift in the wind before Cax sat down on the stone bench beside me. He didn't ask for permission, he just occupied the space with that calm, fluid grace that always made me feel like he was the only person in the world who wasn't trying to pull me in two different directions. We sat there for a long time, watching the moon reflect off the frost on the leaves, and for once, the silence didn't feel like a threat.

"You're thinking about the mark on his wrist," Cax said, his voice dropping into that low, steady hum that always acted like a balm on my nerves.

"I thought it was over," I whispered, my fingers tracing the place on my own arm where the phantom itch of Ryder’s bond still lived, "I thought when he rejected me, that part of my life died."

"The bond that should be severed isn't, Ava," he said, turning to look at me with an expression that was entirely too perceptive, "Ryder’s ego might be his engine, but his blood is violet, and violet blood doesn't know how to let go. It means you have two fractured bonds pulling at you from the past, and a new one growing right here in this palace."

I let out a short, sharp laugh that sounded more like something breaking than anything resembling joy. "It’s a lot of noise for one person to carry, Cax. I feel like a radio tuned to three different stations at once."

"I can't even imagine what that feels like," he replied, his hand moving slowly across the stone until his pinky finger just barely brushed against mine, "to be hunted by your past while your future is trying to claim you."

I looked at him then, really looked at him, and the quiet burn in his eyes was more overwhelming than Ryder’s arrogance or Ryker’s intensity. Cax was the middle ground, the calm center of the storm, and right now, I needed to drown out the noise of the world. I reached out and caught the front of his shirt, pulling him toward me until our foreheads rested against each other.

"Make it quiet," I breathed, my eyes fluttering shut, "just for tonight, Cax, make everything else go away."

He didn't hesitate, he stood up and lifted me into his arms, carrying me toward the small, heated summer house at the edge of the garden. He set me down on the plush velvet cushions and began to strip my clothes away with a slow, deliberate patience that made my heart race. When I was bare before him, he didn't rush, he just looked at me as if I were a miracle he was still trying to understand.

"Ohh yeah... fuck me! Yes, just like that!" The words tore from my throat the moment his mouth found the sensitive skin of my inner thigh.

He moved between my legs, his hands shaking slightly as he guided his heavy, throbbing dick to my entrance. I was already dripping, my body slick with the scent of a female who had been pushed to her limit. He leaned into me and shoved his cock all the way inside in one deep, smooth, and brutal thrust. The size of him made me scream in pleasure, it was so big that he stretched me completely open, filling every corner of my empty heart.

"Cax! Fuck! Yes!" I screamed, locking my legs around his waist to pull him in even deeper, "give it to me, fuck me harder!"

He started to fuck me with a primal rhythm, his hips slamming against mine with a loud, wet sound that echoed in the small room. Every time he lunged forward, he hammered against my v-spot, sending electric shocks through my body that made the violet light in my mind fade into a beautiful, dark blur. We were covered in sweat, our skin sliding against each other as he fucked me like a beast who had been waiting a lifetime for this moment.

"You like this, don't you, Ava?" he panted, his voice cracking as his own wolf pushed toward the surface, "you like being claimed by someone who actually sees you?"

"Yes! Fuck, yes! I want all of it!" I yelled, my fingers digging into the muscles of his back.

He pulled out with a wet pop and flipped me over onto my hands and knees, grabbing my hips with his big hands. He slammed his cock back into me from behind, and it went even deeper this way, hitting the very back of me with every shove. I pushed my ass up towards him, my body instinctively offering itself, and he began to fuck me with a primal urgency that made the floorboards groan. I was shaking all over, my insides clenching tight around his thick shaft as I moaned in extreme pleasure.

"That's it, Ava... take it all," he groaned, his voice a deep rumble in the dark.

The climax hit me like a ton of bricks, my whole body shaking as my muscles clamped down on his throbbing cock. A second later, Cax let out a loud, animalistic roar and shoved himself in as deep as he could go, holding me tight while he blasted his warm cum deep inside me.

Afterward, the room was silent except for our heavy breathing. We lay tangled together on the cushions, the cold air from the garden starting to creep back in. I stayed still and quiet, watching the shadows on the ceiling, until the weight of everything came rushing back.

"I feel like I'm supposed to feel guilty," I said, my voice barely a whisper.

Cax looked at me steadily, his eyes soft in the moonlight. "For what?"

I shook my head, searching for the words that wouldn't come. "For wanting something good after so much bad."

He was quiet for a long time, his hand tracing the line of my jaw.

"That's not guilt, Ava. That's grief."

I stared at him, the truth of it hitting me harder than the bond ever could. Then, from inside the palace, every alarm in the building goes off simultaneously.