When We Were Mates (Demetra and Emris) novel Chapter 116

19:37 Mon, May 18 OM

Chapter 116

Chapter 116

Demetra Pride Covenant.

The first thing I feel is sunlight on my face but it’s cool.

And I smell Emris. Cedar and smoke, something that’s always felt like home even when I didn’t want it to. Which is a good plus from the nightmare that happened to me last night.

I

open my eyes and he’s already looking at me.

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“Do you remember saying you love me or are you about to take that back?” There’s a sly, slow smile pulling at the corner of his mouth means he really thinks the martinis did it last night. He doesn’t know I was apologizing for how I kissed a stranger last night. A man I didn’t intend to kiss.

I don’t know what happened or why I let it happen. Maybe it was the martinis at this point.

My memory of it is strange. Slow and underwater, like I was watching myself from somewhere far above. Like something else was pulling the strings while I just stood there behind my own eyes, confused and distant and not entirely present. I don’t know how to explain it, even to myself.

I inhale.

“No.”

He shifts against the pillows, propping himself up to look at me more carefully.

“You remember saying it?”

“Yes, Emris.”

He runs a hand over his face, almost laughing, almost not.

“I could have sworn you completely hated me. After everything. After the countless things that have happened between us.”

“Maybe I’m tired of arguing.” I say and that’s the entire truth.

Stupid of me to think that I wanted to mess with other men. I hated it. Every second of it. Trying to get the attention of anyone who is not my mate made my skin crawl. It felt wrong in the way that only things that go against your nature feel wrong. Bone–deep and disorienting. Like trying to write with the wrong hand. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to tell

him about it.

Not yet. Maybe not ever.

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Chapter 116

“I feel the same way and I need to apologize. For a lot of things.”

I open my mouth but he shakes his head gently.

“… I want to apologize first for not letting you finish. That was low of me. Then, the Elena situation. I should have told you she was staying in the back house. I let Regan convince me she needed to be close to Milo cause she was struggling and had never been away from him. I wasn’t gonna agree, but I saw how you practically bonded with me so you could be close to Amira, so I wanted to extend that same consideration to Elena. I just-” He exhales. “I should have told you. I’m sorry.”

The word sounds like it costs him something real.

sorry

“I’m for how I looked at you. For holding your hand too tight.” His jaw tightens briefly. “For hating your pack all this time, when it was always supposed to be this pack. That was mine to own and I didn’t.”

He puts his hand on my waist, and I feel it warm through the sheets.

“I’m sorry. I used Amira to get you to bond with me. I’ve made it hard for you to accept this bond when all I I’ve ever wanted was for you to feel like you chose it. Like you chose me. I want to make up for all of it. The love I didn’t show right. The home I didn’t make right.” He rises slightly, adjusting above me, and stops when he sees my face because I’m crying, just a little, just at the corners.

He sees it and something in him goes still. “I know you didn’t hurt Elena on purpose. That’s not who

you are. I want you and Amira to feel at home here…genuinely and completely. She’s my daughter and you are my mate, and this pack, this place… this pack belongs to both of you as much as anyone else. But the way I got you two makes it impossible.”

I reach up and cup his face with both hands. There’s regret written all over him in the set of his jaw, in the tension around his eyes and I hold it like I’m holding him responsible and forgiving him in the same motion. He leans into my palms and brings his lips to mine.

I kiss him fiercely and pull back just enough to breathe.

“Let’s forget.” I rest my forehead against his. “All of it. Let’s just forget.”

“Yeah?” His thumb traces my bottom lip.

“Yes.” I chuckle before he grabs me and flips me from where I’m lying to on top of him as he rolls over the bed with me on it. The sheets twist around us.

“Stop-” I’m laughing into his neck ridiculously, and I absolutely do not want him to stop.

Emris stops to just start looking at me so much that I feel shy under his stare. Which is absurd, honestly, because this man has seen me at every possible angle and still manages to

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Chapter 116

make me feel like I’m being looked at for the first time.

With this stare, I know what comes next and I crave it-

The door explodes open and two small tornadoes come screaming through it at full volume before we even see them.

“MORNING MOMMY! MORNING DADDY!”

The nanny appears two seconds behind them with the universal expression of someone who tried their best.

“I’m so sorry, Alpha and Luna…they were too fast, I couldn’t-”

“It’s fine.” Emris’s voice is long–suffering in the most loving possible way. He pushes himself upright as Amira and Milo scale the bed like it’s a jungle gym, landing on us with no regard for physics or human comfort.

Amira crashes into my chest. I wrap my arms around her automatically and something sugary that she absolutely was not supposed to have before breakfast.

I look at Emris over her head.

“Wait. The kids are getting along again!?”

“Yeah.” He looks quietly pleased with himself. “I talked to them. Had Elena clear up the misunderstanding too.”

“I’m sorry, Mommy.” Milo little hands holds his ears as he says it.

My heart just melts at him. I pull him closer and hug him with my hand mildly fluffing his hair,.

“It’s okay, Milo.” I press my lips to the top of his head. I look over at Amira too, who has made herself completely at home on my chest. “Omg, I’m so relieved you two aren’t fighting anymore. Do you know how miserable that was?”

“Alright.” Emris claps his hands once. “Both of you…go take your baths. Daddy wants some time with Mommy.”

He says it so confidently, literally prying the kids out of my hands while I cover my face, laughing hysterically at him.

“No! We want to PLAY-”

Emris literally pulls them off me them and I’m absolutely losing it-

He picks both of them up…one under each arm as their little legs kick and throws them over

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Chapter 116

his shoulders like two mini sacks of potatoes. Amira is shrieking with laughter as her braids flopping against his back. Milo is pretending to be a superhero, yelling “fly, Daddy, fly!”

He carries them out of the room and I can still hear their squeals down the hallway.

I’m still laughing when Emris returns.

First thing he does is to take off his shirt before he even gets into the bed. And his eyes lessen because desire darkens them.

The monster of an Alpha gets into the bed and pulls the sheets up over both of us, so that we are completely covered underneath it.

I kiss him under the sheet.

But not the way he expects. the kind of ki

s a good i

Luna gives

her Alpha.

No.

I kiss him like a seductress.

I bite his bottom lip first and he inhales sharply against my mouth. I feel that little intake of air then I suck his tongue into my mouth, slow and deep, like I’m drinking him in. He makes this helpless moan that vibrates from his throat into my chest.

His hands find my waist but I don’t let him lead. I pull back just enough to look at him through my lashes, and then I kiss him again, taking his mouth like I own it.

And the whole time, my ha

travels down under the sheet.

Past his stomach. Past the hard lines of his abs. Until I find the ropes of his grey joggers.

I pull the strings loose.

Emris’s lips tighten against mine. His teeth graze my mouth with a bite…could be a warning, or could be a plea as my hand proceeds around his groin area.

Once the rope comes off, I dip my hand inside.

And I stroke Emris where he’s already rising so thickly. It happens so fast…one second he’s soft and warm, the next he’s pulsing against my palm, growing heavier with every pass of my fingers.

I bring him out free from the waistband of his joggers, and I feel him warmly twitch against my palm like it has a mind of its own. It whispers out in response to my touch, standing tall and proud and so beautiful that I almost forget to breathe.

I stop kissing him just to look at his jewel.

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Chapter 116

It’s large. So large that my fingers don’t fully close around it. Thick at the base, thicker in the middle, tapering to a flushed, angry tip that’s already wet with him. It’s veined…those lovely blue lines that run along the shaft like rivers on a map I want to trace with my tongue. The head is perfect and it’s pointing straight at me like an arrow aimed at my heart.

I stroke it softly.

Just the pad of my thumb circling that desperate little slit.

“Emris?” I whisper his name like a question.

He gasps.

No.

He moans.

Right there in my hands, with his mouth wide open and his eyes already rolling back, he moans like I’ve ruined him. His hips twitch off the bed. His hands grip the sheets like he’s falling.

I stroke the long line of his strong tool and watch Emris’s eyes close. His teeth clench…fast and then slow, fast and then slow, like he’s trying to control and losing. His chest muscles tighten, ridges of definition stand out under his skin. I go faster around him-

“Ah–ah- Demetra-”

His hips jerk. Uncontrollably. He thrusts into my hand like he can’t help himself, like stopping would actually kill him.

“Demetra- I’m gonna–I can’t- slow down–no, don’t slow down–please- please-

The Alpha of all Alphas. Begging me?

And that’s when I decide he hasn’t suffered enough.

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I come down under the sheets to press kisses against his stomach, his hip bone, the sharp V

of his pelvis. His muscles jump under my lips. His whole body is trembling now, he’s about to shatter.

shaking like

And then I close my lips around his tip.

Just the first inch. My tongue circles him once and I add suction.

Above me, I can tell Emris has stopped breathing entirely.

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