“Then we loaded the collider into the back of the truck, and drove back here.”
“Okay then,” said Eden. “That’s very helpful. Now I will know how to make my shop even more impenetrable once I go back home.”
Chris looked at the down comforter on top of Eden’s bed. He picked at a small feather that was poking out. “Is that your plan? To go home once you get the Hadron Collider to work?”
“Well, yeah. Obviously.”
“Right,” said Chris. “I guess that makes sense. There would be no reason for you to stay here after that. The portals will be closed, we won’t need anymore battle witches working for us. I might keep a few on staff, if they want to stay, just for extra security, but I doubt you’d want to do that.”
“Not exactly,” she said. “Sorry.”
Chris stood up and shrugged. “Hey, no need to apologize to me. It’s your life. Which I know is super ironic coming from the guy who bought you at a black-market auction, but…” he trailed off.
“But what?” Eden asked. She stood up as well. There was only about a foot’s distance between them.
“But nothing,” said Chris. “I have no excuse for my actions, besides maybe crippling, mind-melting fear. That’s why I did it, why I bought you from an auction and freaked out when you tried to assert your independence or when you ran away. I was scared of what would happen to me, and to everyone else here, if I didn’t provide the right protection. Which was you.”
“I understand.”
“I just needed you to know that.”
Somehow, the space between them had become even smaller, but Eden wasn’t sure if she was the one who had inched closer or if had been him.
“You’re welcome to stay though,” he said after a moment of intensely charged silence. “If you want. We would love to have you here, Leo and I both.”
She smiled. “Maybe,” she said. “I’ll think about it.”
“Please do.”
Now was the natural moment for the conversation to end, and for Chris to say goodnight and excuse himself. Instead, he remained where he stood, inches from her, looking at her with a stare that made her heart pound. There was an electricity between them. She could feel it, and not just because she specialized in reading energy waves.
They had a choice to make.
One of them could break the silence, break the spell. Say goodnight, and end the moment. Or…
Chris wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled Eden into a kiss that made her head spin. His lips were soft and he tasted a little like wine. Their mouths opened and closed in perfect timing, as if the two of them had been kissing for decades, as if their lips had danced before.
Eden held Chris’s face with her hands and she rubbed his cheeks gently with her thumbs. He started to lift her up and instinctively she wrapped her legs around his middle and her hands around the back of his neck. He lifted her as if she weighed nothing, and something about this demonstration of strength drove her wild. Eden had never been with a wolf shifter before, and it had been a while since she’d slept with any man in general. Most of the guys she’d been with were humans, one snake shifter during her teenage rebellious years, but none of them were anywhere near as powerful as Chris.
Knowing that she and him were at least somewhat matched in strength, and most definitely in determination, made Eden want him that much more. Her excitement was palpable. Her legs were trembling against Chris’ sides as he sat down on the bed. She was now on his lap and they took a break from kissing to take each other's shirts off. He kissed her neck, her shoulders, her chest, and then his mouth found its way to her breast. She moaned and ran her hands through his hair, messing up what she assumed had probably taken him a good twenty minutes to style.
Reaching down between her legs, Eden fiddled with Chris’s belt. She couldn’t quite get it unbuckled from their current position. Chris took the hint without her having to say anything. He put his arms around her back and guided her to a lying position on the bed. He then stood and took his own pants and boxers off. She looked at his toned, naked body and suddenly realized that it wasn’t what she had been expecting. Because of how little she knew about wolf shifters, she wasn’t sure how much of their body was actual humanoid. Turns out, at least in Chris’s case, when they were in their human form, they were all human. Chris was all man.
She watched how his arm muscles tensed as he went about removing her pants. She helped him, shimming out of the rest of her clothes, and soon they were both naked. He leaned his weight on one of his forearms, and laid to the side of her. He kissed her, this time with tongue, and let his free hand explore her body. He cupped her breast, and then the other one, softly caressing her nipples until they were hard with anticipation.
The tips of his fingers tickled her stomach as he glided them over her belly button and then down her upper thighs. Slowly, tauntingly, he finally reached his hand between her legs and used his fingers to open her up. She was already wet. He rubbed her all over at first, just feeling her, waking her up. Then he put two of his fingers inside her and used his thumb to massage her clitoris.
Eden was moaning and crying out so loudly at this point, she was worried somebody would hear. But as Chris moved his fingers in and out of her, and his thumb in perfect little circles, she couldn’t contain her sounds of pleasure. She gasped when she came and her whole back arched with intensity of her orgasm.
Chris didn’t stop touching her immediately after she had finished. He softened his touch, however, and went back to rubbing her all over. His hand came back up to her chest once again. Eden wasn’t sure why he wasn’t entering her. She was ready, she wanted it. But then she remembered how she had been the one to kiss him first. Chris seemed like such a take-charge kind of guy in his daily life, but maybe in the bedroom, he needed someone else to call the shots.
Eden was more than happy to be that person.
She pushed his shoulder down, prompting him to lay on his back. He did. She climbed on top of him and used her hand to guide him inside of her. He moaned once he was in and she moved her hips in careful circles, then up and down.
His breath quickened and he reached out for her.
She bent over him and kissed him, at one point biting his bottom lip, which seemed to drive him crazy. She kept her movements swift and purposeful. She started to feel a second wave of pleasure and satisfaction wash over her and she moved up and down with more vigor. They were both gasping for air and she was letting out short, high pitched cries of thrill, and they climaxed at the same time.
Eden straightened her back and took a few deep breaths, Chris still inside her. Then she carefully removed him and crawled off. She laid down next to him, on her back, a few inches between them. She didn’t want to just assume he was interested in cuddling, or even interested in staying at all. If he wanted to walk out of there and ask her to never speak of this again, Eden was alright with that. At least, she thought she was alright with that. Why shouldn’t she be? It’s not like the two of them are in love, right?
Chris lifted his arm and reached it around Eden’s head and shoulders. She readjusted so that she was resting her head on his chest.
He ran his fingers through her hair, which was still short, but it had grown enough that there was at least something to touch.
“Your hair is beautiful, you know?” Chris said quietly. “I bet it would look amazing if you let it grow out.”
Eden didn’t say anything. She just smiled to herself and closed her eyes, letting the symphony of their ever so slightly out of sync breathing lull her to sleep.
The next morning was just a series of awkward encounters and uncomfortable silences.
Eden had woken up when the sun did, at around 6:20, but instead of getting out of bed and heading right downstairs towards the coffee machine, she opted to sleep in a little. Chris was still asleep next to her, and she wasn’t sure she was ready to start the day yet.
Starting the day meant facing the truth; she and Chris had s
lept together. She would have to ask herself the hard questions like what did this mean for them? Did he see her as someone he could actually be interested in romantically? Or was she still just some servant to him? Had he used her? Had she let him? And what about Leo?
Oh god. Leo.
What the hell were they going to tell Leo?
She pushed the questions out of her head for the time being and tried to fall back asleep.
Promptly at 6:30 am, right as Eden was about to slip back into slumber, somebody knocked at the door.
“Eden?” Leo said softly through the door. “I hate to wake you, but it’s important. May I come in?”
Both Chris and Eden shot up like rockets. They looked at each other, both of them still naked, with wide-eyed terror.
“What do we do?” Chris whispered.
“You need to hide!” said Eden.
“I’m not going to hide,” he said. “We are adults.”
“So you want to just tell him?” Eden asked. She stood and started searching the room for something to wear. She found her shirt from the day before and pulled it on. “Just a minute!” she called to Leo.
“Okay,” Leo said.
“Here!” She threw a bundle of Chris’ clothes at him. “Get dressed and we can pretend you just came here this morning to talk to me about something.” He gave her a look as if to say ‘c’mon, you really think that’ll work?’ but she ignored him and finished getting dressed herself.
“Where are my boxers?” Chris asked, holding up his pants.
“There’s no time! Just put the pants on!”
They looked disheveled, with their clothes wrinkled and Chris’s hair all a mess, but she convinced herself they could pull this off, if they both really sold it.
She opened the door and smiled.
“Leo, come on in!” she said, sounding a little more chipper than she meant to. “Chris is here as well. He came just a few minutes before you got here to talk to me about something too.”
Leo frowned at the two of them. “Oh, uh, okay. Good morning, Chris.”
“Good morning.” Chris grinned at his cousin. “How was your night?”
Leo shrugged, still eyeing the two of them with obvious suspicion. “It got better. Lord Wellson was cleared to travel by the doctor this morning, so he and his party all left.”
“Were they still pretty mad?” Eden asked.
“Yes,” said Leo. “They were all quite furious. I’m sure they will be speaking to my parents about this, but that’s okay. My parents have always been very reasonable people who taught me to treat those who work for me with respect and dignity. They might be a little worried we will lose face in the community, but it was bound to happen at some point. We’ve always been the black sheep in our royal circle.”
“I’m so sorry,” said Eden. “I have no idea what came over me. I understand that I hurt you, and I wish I could take it all back. Truly.”
Leo didn’t appear to be listening to her. He was staring at the ground near the foot of her bed. “Chris,” he said, his eyes not leaving the spot on the floor. “What was it you wanted to speak to Eden about?”
“It was having to do with the Hadron Collider,” Chris improvised. “I wanted to verify that I knew which parts she still needed so that I could give a list to my guys who are hitting the black markets this week.”
“I see,” said Leo. “So, why then, did you need to take your boxers off in order to have this conversation?” He bent down and picked up Chris’s boxers, which had been under the bed but slightly sticking out. He held them up and looked back and forth between Eden and Chris.
“Those,” said Eden. “Aren’t his.” She wasn’t sure exactly why she said that, because the obvious next question would be “well then whose are they?” which she most certainly didn’t have a good answer to.
“You’re right,” said Leo. “Their mine.”
“What?” said Eden.
“He borrowed them from me a few weeks ago, when our washing machine needed fixing and he ran out of clean ones,” Leo explained. “He must’ve forgotten to return them. Funny how they ended up here.”
“Look man,” said Chris. “It just sort of happened.”
Leo nodded and dropped the boxers. “Sure. I get it. I have to go now. I will be working most of the day, but maybe I will see you two at dinner.” He walked past Eden, who tried to force eye contact with him, but he kept his head firmly facing down.
“Leo—” she started to say.
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” He walked out of the room and closed the door.
This was the first uncomfortable silence of the morning.
After a while, Eden let her shoulders fall and she sighed. “Fuck,” she said. “This could be bad.”
Chris shook his head. “It’ll be fine. I’ll talk to him.”
“No,” she said. “I should do it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I’m sure. I’ll talk to him today.”
“Okay,” said Chris. “In the meantime, do you want to grab some breakfast?” He smiled at her, and she felt the corners of her own mouth starting to pull.
She did smile, but refused his offer.
“No thanks,” she said. “I sort of want to be alone right now, if that’s okay.”
Chris said it was fine, but she could tell he was disappointed. He excused himself and left Eden alone with her thoughts. Once he was gone, she threw herself down onto the bed and put her hands over her eyes.
It was going to be a long, long day.
Eden found Leo holed up in his bedroom, which he also used as an office. It was close to noon. She had spent most of the morning in her own room, trying to figure out what she was going to say to Leo, and how she could make this right. She stalled the conversation a little by insisting, to herself, that she needed to check on the collider and have something to eat first. Soon, however, she had run out of excuses, and she went to face the music.
She knocked on his door and hoped he would say “Come in” without asking who it was.
“Who is it?” he said.
“It’s me,” she said. “Eden.”
Now came the second uncomfortable silence of the morning. After a few heavy seconds, Leo finally said, “What do you want?”
“Can we talk?”
Again, he was quiet. Eventually Eden just tried the handle and found that it was unlocked. She let herself in.
He was sitting at his desk, bent over some paperwork.
“I’m not really in the mood to talk,” he said.
“I understand,” said Eden. “I’ll do all the talking. You just listen.”
He didn’t look at her, but he didn’t say no or tell her to leave either, so Eden took that as a good sign and went on.
“First of all, I want to apologize again for what happened with Lord Wellson. But it’s sort of like what you said about how you grew up cow-towing to people like him and I didn’t. Instead, I was raised by parents who told me every day that I am my own person and that I didn’t owe anyone anything. Then, after they died, I was on my own. I became independent and untrusting, and I didn’t take shit from anyone. I mean anyone. It goes against my nature, really.” She sighed and took a step closer to Leo. Now she was only about a foot away, but he still wasn’t looking at her. “I snapped okay. But you have to understand. It has been a really hard few weeks for me. There’s only so much a witch can take.”
He turned his head and there was empathy in his expression.
“I know,” he said. “I shouldn’t have blown up at you yesterday. It wasn’t your fault. None of this is your fault. You didn’t ask for any of this.”
He moved in his chair so that his body was facing hers.
“You can sit down,” he said. Motioning to the bed, which was across from him. “If you want.”
She took him up on the offer and sat. “So, now onto my second apology.”
Leo let out a long, unhappy breath.
“I know,” said Eden. “I wish we didn’t have to talk about it either, but we do.”
He nodded.
“Chris and I slept together,” she said, getting the worst part over with first. “We didn’t plan it. Like he said, it just sort of happened.”
“Okay.”
“I’m not really sure what it means,” she said. “He and I haven’t even really talked about it. But I felt like I should be the one to tell you because… well, because I consider you a friend. You’ve been good to me since day one, and you have treated me with respect. I get the sense that you…” She cleared her throat. Her chest felt tight all the sudden but she pushed through. “Care about me?”
Leo looked down at his lap and wrung his hands.
“I do,” he said, after what seemed to Eden like hours of stalling. “I care about you a lot.”
“And I care about you!” she said. “I care about both you and Chris. Which, now that I’m saying it out loud, sounds crazy considering just last week I would have shot you both point blank in the face if I had been given the chance.” They both laughed. It felt really good to laugh. “But it’s true. I can’t pretend it isn’t.”
“So what does this mean?” Leo asked. “Are you and Chris like… together now?”
Eden sucked in a panicked breath at the word “together”. This was the topic of conversation she had hoped to avoid.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Probably not. I’m not sure about him, but I’m not exactly looking to change the dynamic we have going. I have more important stuff to worry about anyway. We just felt a connection and went for it. I think we both needed to let off a little steam.”
“I can relate to that,” he said. “And look, I’d be lying if I didn’t say the thought hadn’t crossed my mind a few times.”
“The thought of Chris and I?” said Eden. She knew what Leo meant, but she wanted to hear him say it for some reason.
“No!” he said. “The thought of you and me, you know… having a connection, as you put it.”
“We do have a connection,” she said. “That’s undeniable.”
Leo smiled. “I’m glad to hear you say that.”
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