Alle Kapitel von Alpha Romanov: Kapitel 21 – Kapitel 30

Nikolai:“I am sorry.”The words felt foreign in my mouth, like a language I had not practiced in years. Valeria went still against me, her hands resting on my chest but no longer pushing me away. Her breathing was uneven; every now and then a small tremor ran through her shoulders. I hated that I had caused it.My wolf watched in a silence that was not satisfied so much as expectant. I tightened my arms around her and waited for the moment she would pull away. When she finally did, she looked at me with an expression that said my apology was only the beginning of what she wanted.“Why did you apologize?” She asked, taking me off guard.“Because I doubted you,” I said, looking down at her. “I should have seen the truth in your eyes, and for that I am sorry.”Her eyes narrowed. “That is all?”“What else do you want me to say?” I asked, and the wrongness of the answer showed on her face immediately. She shoved me, and this time I let her go.“I knew you couldn’t manage it for more than t

Nikolai:By the time we stepped back inside, the cold had seeped into my coat and left Valeria’s cheeks a bright, honest pink.She was smiling, not at me exactly, but at something she had seen outside: the frozen fountain, the horses near the lower stables, the way the garden looked under a dusting of snow. I had expected the walk to last ten minutes, twenty at most. Instead we had been gone nearly an hour, and I had allowed her to ask questions about everything we passed.“Who lives in those smaller houses?” she asked as we walked past a row of servants’ cottages.“Caretakers, gardeners, a few retired guards,” I answered. “Families who have been here for generations.”“How old are the gardens?” she asked, looking at the hedges as she smiled.“Older than most of the portraits in this hall,” I said. “They were planted by my great-grandfather. We mainly maintain them now and add a few every year, but the main gardens were designed by him.”“Does the lake freeze solid in winter?” she a

Valeria:I shifted on the couch, my breath hitching as Nikolai pressed me deep into the cushions. He was a wall of solid muscle and heat, his perfume filling my senses and making my head swim.His mouth was hungry, his tongue sliding against mine in a slow, rhythmic dance that made my toes curl. I had never felt anything like this; every touch felt electric, every brush of his skin against mine sending shivers racing down my spine.His hands, large and calloused, slid from my waist to my thighs, bunching up my skirt. I let out a soft whimper, my fingers tangling in his hair, pulling him closer.He groaned into the kiss, a low, vibrating sound that felt more like a growl than a human noise. The raw power of him was intoxicating, but there was a tenderness in the way he held me, as if he knew exactly how fragile I felt in the face of this overwhelming desire.He pulled away to look me in the eye, squeezing his eyes shut as he tried to control himself. I looked at him, studying his expres

Valeria:I woke with my cheek pressed against Nikolai’s chest and his arm wrapped firmly around my waist.For a few seconds I did not move. The room was warmer than my own usually was in the mornings; the curtains were still drawn enough to keep most of the light outside, and beneath my ear I could hear the steady beat of his heart. Then everything from the night before rushed back, dinner, the couch, his mouth on mine, and everything that had followed.Heat crept up my neck. I closed my eyes as if that could make me disappear.Wonderful. I had slept with the man who had rejected me. Not only slept with him, but apparently spent the entire night curled against his chest as though I had forgotten every argument we’d had since the day I arrived.I shifted carefully, intending to move away before he woke. Pain pulled through me and I winced. “Shit.”Nikolai woke almost instantly. His arm tightened around me before his eyes had even fully opened.“Valeria…?”I tried to sit up and immediate

Valeria:By the time I stepped out of the shower, the soreness had dulled enough that I could walk without wincing at every other step, and that alone felt like progress.I tightened the robe around myself and opened the bathroom door, expecting to find Nikolai by the couch or standing at the window with that permanently serious expression he wore like armor. Instead, my attention went straight to the bed.Clothes were spread across it; several dresses, a pair of trousers with two different blouses, a softer dress folded near the pillows.Nikolai stood beside the breakfast table, speaking quietly to one of the maids who had just finished arranging the plates. I looked back at the bed, then at him.“What is this?” I asked.He turned. His eyes skimmed me for half a second before returning to my face. Standing in his bedroom in nothing but a robe made my cheeks warm. Wonderful.“I had the maids bring you something to wear,” he said. “I asked them to bring in a few that you would be willi