Lethia, startled by the abrupt halt of her pleasure, squinted in confusion at the frown shadowing Caelum’s face.
Their eyes met—both laced with internal conflict and unspoken questions.
"Why—?" Lethia asked awkwardly. She wanted to ask why he was stopping, but her pride wouldn’t let the rest slip out of her mouth.
"You don’t know?" Caelum replied, equally confused. "Ah, right. You’re wolfless. That’s why you can’t communicate with your pup. But this isn’t even my pup, so why is it growling at me?"
Lethia frowned in annoyance—her pleasure completely disrupted by a question she didn’t even understand.
The heat between her thighs was already soaking through, her need pulsing so badly that if Caelum really stopped now, she might just touch herself without shame.
"What do you mean?"
"Are you not feeling anything weird in your lower belly?"
The only fucking thing she felt was her arousal dragging her mercilessly toward the edge. But her face? Still calm. Still collected.
"No. Why?"
Caelum smirked and crawled back to her side, propping himself up on one elbow so their eyes were on the same level.
"It won’t let me inside you. When I kissed your lower belly earlier, your pup’s wolf growled at me. Annoyed. Like a warning that I can’t fully claim you."
Lethia blinked, utterly confused.
’Whisney, what the hell is he talking about? My pup what?’
["Ah... is that why its energy burned like mad when I possessed you in Renar’s bathtub? I had to use an insane amount of power just to keep up with the heat. Is it angry? Ha ha ha... this little wolf is kinda cute."]
’And you didn’t tell me?!’
["Didn’t I say I can’t talk to it? We only exchange energy. I’ve no clue what kind of energy it throws at me. We’re not the same being. That’s why Caelum can feel it. Well, since you’re wolfless, that’s your problem, you can’t speak to it."]
Lethia frowned, her hand gripping the bedsheet as she pulled herself up to sit. She couldn’t wrap her head around the new fact she’d just uncovered—one that made her laugh bitterly inside.
This was her fucking body. First, a damn fox spirit invaded it and did whatever the hell it pleased. Now, her own baby wouldn’t let anyone satisfy her hunger.
But what the fuck was worse? The fact that she was getting even more aroused the bigger her pregnancy grew.
She ran her palm over her belly, trying to feel something, anything—hoping maybe, just maybe, she could telepathically connect with her pup.
But there was only silence. And for a moment, it stung. Caelum, a complete stranger, could communicate with her pup... yet she, its mother, couldn’t even hear a whisper.
But wait—wasn’t telepathy with an unborn pup only possible if there was a blood connection?
Then why?
Her gaze slid to Caelum, who now sat beside her on the bed.
"Are you sure it was the pup’s growl? Not just you... teasing me?" she asked, biting the inside of her cheek, afraid of her own suspicion.
"Oh my luscious Queen," he groaned, "can’t you see what’s goin’ on down here? I’m as desperate as you are. But you do know, right? If we force it without the pup’s consent, it could hurt both of you."
Lethia followed his gaze down to the throbbing bulge inside his trousers—twitching, restless, like a caged prisoner furiously clawing for freedom.
What Caelum said wasn’t a myth. The bond between an unborn pup and its mother was powerful, especially in telepathy, as long as the mother had a wolf inside.
And usually, the one who could pleasure the mother safely... was the pup’s father.
But what the hell was she supposed to do now? Her center was still pulsing, the need hadn’t left—it only grew heavier.
Lethia locked eyes with Caelum. "Then... we can just do it on our own, right?"
Pouting in frustration, she moved to leave the bed, but Caelum’s hand shot out, gripping her wrist and stopping her.
"What do you mean?" he growled low, voice rough with want. "Didn’t I tell you—I’d satisfy you like a hundred Caelums wreckin’ your body?"
Caelum gently pulled Lethia toward him, and now they sat face to face at the edge of the bed.
He caressed her hair, trailing down from her ear to her neck, and then to the peak of her breast—his fingers grazing over it sent a jolt straight to her core.
Lethia could feel her center throb with every teasing pinch he gave her nipple.
The ache was almost unbearable when Caelum stared at her breasts with that admiring look.
That look again.
Every time he looked at her, like he was undressing her with his eyes, her cheeks flushed with a mix of shyness and need.
She lowered her gaze, following the path of his hand as he stroked, pinched, and fondled her breasts like he was worshipping a masterpiece, wanting to touch every curve, cherishing each one.
Watching her breasts being touched like that, adored by Caelum’s long fingers, made her breathing uneven and her chest rise in need.
Her heart pounded again when Caelum lifted her chin, making her look into those calm, sage-green eyes of his.
"Do you know how sinful your beauty is, my queen?"
A strange flutter passed through her chest at his words—so gentle, the way his smile deepened that damn dimple of his.
And in that moment, she realized something—since meeting Caelum, he’d never once said her name. It was always his queen this, his queen that.
At first, she found it annoying and didn’t give a damn. But now... every time the word queen came out from his mouth, it sent butterflies flying from her belly to her very core, following the path of Caelum’s hand now resting on her waist.
"Is that why you like me?" Her gaze dropped to his thin lips, remembering how sweet those plush lips had tasted.
"Do I need a reason to?"
Without thinking, Lethia’s hand was already on his cheek, tracing the smirk on those soft lips.
She leaned in until only inches separated them. "It... doesn’t matter."
Their lips crashed, wild and urgent, like they’d been starving for each other all along.