A Rejected Wolf and a Court of Ash (Eden and Azriel) novel Chapter 108

Chapter 108

Chapter 108

Axel

I can’t sleep with Elvira pressed into me like she is cold and I’m the solution. I’m hard. Aching to be one with her and the worst part? The little evil mastermind is fast asleep with a smile. I bet she planned for this to happen. She knew there was no chance in hell a man like me could fight his instincts with her dainty butt pressed up against my front.

Fuck…

What did I do to deserve this???

Elvira makes a satisfied sound in her sleep and it almost kills me. I’m trying so hard to behave, to stroke my calloused fingertips over her skin.

But fighting my wolf and the mate bond is driving me mad.

I want her.

Can’t have her.

I close my eyes, try to sleep…until she moans in her sleep and I’m forced to watch her. Listen to the sounds she makes and then made into a very, very tortured man when she shifts in her sleep and decides to sleep with her face pressed into my upper abs.

“I won’t make it out alive…” I mutter.

Elvira snorts in her sleep as if agreeing and I sigh before trying to distract me with the cave. It is rather silent except for the occasional drip of water and the low, steady thrum of magic from the lake. It buzzes like a lullaby in the walls, and I wonder if Evlira can still feel it in her sleep.

I shift slightly, trying to relieve the pressure in my pants without waking her. No luck. My body is fully awake, apparently determined to betray me. Every time she exhales, my nipples harden as if wanting her to bite them. Every time she adjusts her position, her thighs brush against mine.

I want her.

I want her in a way that doesn’t feel fair. Not after what she has been through. Not when her body is still healing, when her voice still trembles with doubt

and grief.

But my wolf doesn’t care about that. It only knows that she is warmyand soft and here, in my arms, trusting me not to break her further.

She sighs in her sleep and presses her lips to my sternum.

Fuck. I bite back a groan.

Get it together, Axel.

This isn’t about you.

I close my eyes and hug her to me.

She stirs.

“Axel?”

My voice comes out rougher than intended. “Yeah?”

She shifts to face me, blinking blindly. Her eyes are still unfocused, glassy and pale with magic.

“Are you fine with…this?”

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Chapter 108

I hesitate. Then nod, forgetting she can’t see. “Yeah, you’re…cold.”

Something flickers across her face. An emotion I can’t name. She reaches out and touches my jaw with cold fingers.

“And you’re warm,” she murmurs. “You feel… safe.”

I close my eyes for a second, trying not to fall apart. “You can stay with me.”

She smiles, then mutters, “Wish I weren’t blind.”

“You’re still you.”

She lets out a quiet breath. “Do you think I will stay like this?”

I hate the question. Not because I don’t have hope, but because I can hear the fear in it. The way she is bracing for the worst. Preparing to carry a punishment she never deserved.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “But I will be with you either way.”

She’s quiet for a moment. Then her fingers trail down from my jaw to my chest, resting over my steady, beating heart. “It’s strong.”

I catch her hand, hold it in place. “Only because you’re here.”

Another silence, deeper this time. The kind that stretches between people who are on the edge of something. Not danger. Not desire. Just… the truth.

“I keep thinking I deserve this,” she says quietly. “The blindness. The pain. The weight of what I did.”

I shift so we’re eye to eye, or as close as I can get. “Elvira, you were confused and scared. You made a mistake. That doesn’t make you a monster.”

“It makes me weak.”

“It makes you human.”

She doesn’t respond. I brush a strand of hair behind her ear and pull her a little closer. Her forehead resting on my chest. She is so small. That does something to me. Makes my heart swell. I want to protect her so badly. Keep her safe from the world.

“I don’t know what comes next,” I whisper. “But I want to face it with you.”

Her lips part, but no words come. Instead, she presses her nose to my skin, and I feel the wetness of her tears, I wrap both arms around her and hold on.

“You’re so nice, Axel…”

I brush my hand through her hair. “I know.”

She freezes at that. “…what kind of answer is that?”

I chuckle. “What did you expect?”

“I…I don’t know? Maybe say that I do deserve you?”

Another chuckle. “You want me to compliment you now?”

“Wh–what? No! Of course not.”

“Your tone suggest that you do.”

“L–lies!”

“I think you’re really pretty. Small, but pretty.”

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Chapter 108

She makes a sound that sounds suspiciously embarrassed.

I chuckle. “Want me to dial it down? The flirting?”

“Yes, please…”

I just smile and continue holding her. The danger isn’t gone. The mist is still out there. The realm is still watching us.

But for now, in this pocket of warmth and trust, I have her.

And she has me.

And maybe that’s enough.

Until the cave trembles.

A vibration, subtle but sharp, pulses through the rock. I go still.

Elvira lifts her head. “What was that?”

I listen. Count the beats between sounds.

Then I hear it again.

Not a tremor.

Footsteps.

“Elvira,” I whisper. “Get dressed.”

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