Chapter 18: The Morning After

GIANNA

The following morning was something else, to say the least.

I looked at Kol sleeping peacefully, without a care in the world. I stroked the side of his face until he stirred, and his eyes opened partially.

Then I pounced. I straddled him without so much as a warning. He thrust into me like his life depended on it.

~And~

~I~

~fucking~

~loved~

~it.~

The second time we did it was in the shower. I was bent over with my hands at my ankles. The third time, we were half on my window ledge, half against the wall.

The fourth time, we were back in the shower with my leg up around his waist. By the fifth time, I was bent over the bed and practically howling in delight.

After lying on the floor in a sweaty heap, panting, we showered properly this time, separately, before heading downstairs for breakfast.

Both my father and Diego were already sitting there with plates of food in front of them. Diego grunted hello at us, and Dad peered over his morning paper. “Ahem. Did you, um, sleep well, Gianna, dear?” he mumbled. His face was as red as a stoplight.

Kol almost choked on his eggs.

“Yes, I did, Father, thank you,” I replied, plating up some food.

“Reckon she might need a nap later, though, by the sounds of it.” Diego smirked at me over his bacon and eggs.

Kol smirked back smugly in response. That resulted in them both getting a swift sharp kick under the table.

~Oomf.~

“Plans for today, Gianna, darling?” Father enquired, acting completely oblivious to what had just happened.

“Just meeting the girls for coffee.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave the grounds, Gianna,” Father huffed.

I took a deep calming breath, ready to unleash hell on him for locking me up.

“Why don’t you just invite them here, and then you don’t need to leave?” I shot a death look at Kol, but he was stabbing at his eggs, so he didn’t notice.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea, darling. I’ll just call them right now. Excuse me.” I stomped away from the table, ignoring my rumbling tummy, and opened the group chat.

Gianna

Hey girls, slight change of plans dad doesn’t want me to leave the grounds so can you girls come here?

Emily

of course babe omw 😘

Liv

see you soon babes x

Gianna

❤

I made my way to the lounge room and plopped on a beanbag. It didn’t take long for the girls to arrive and our housekeeper, Maria, to bring them to me.

“So, Gia.” Emily plopped on a beanbag beside me. “I’m guessing you’re not a virgin anymore, then.”

“Oh my God, Emily. How did you know?”

“Little birdy told me.” She shrugged. We all burst into a fit of laughter.

“Seriously, though, G, how’re you doing?” Liv asked, patting my leg sympathetically.

“Well, Dad said we need to stay here until all this blows over,” I mumbled, messing with the stitching of my beanbag. Liv opened her mouth to respond, but Emily shushed her.

“No, no, fuck that drama,” she snapped, her gleaming eyes fixated on me. “I want details,” she drooled.

I looked at her, dumbstruck. “Details of what?”

“What do you mean ‘of what’? You KNOW what!!”

I blushed.

Liv nodded. “Yeah, fuck the news; tell us everything.”

A part of me wanted to spill my guts out because they had always told me every little detail, even though I had never actually asked for it, but another part of me wanted to respect the privacy of the situation, which, let’s face it, had gone out the window as soon as that photo was leaked.

So I compromised.

“Okay,” I said, looking up at them. “You each get one question, which I will answer honestly, and then it’s radio silence from here on out. Deal?” They both nodded eagerly.

“Okay here’s mine!” Emily practically screamed. “Is he really as big as the rumors say he is?” Her eyes were wide, waiting for my answer.

I thought about how to answer without saying it straight out. I’d heard rumors of Kol growing up, of course.

He had been in Diego’s class in school even though they ran in completely different circles, and I didn’t think they even acknowledged each other’s presence before he met me.

So he was actually four years older than me, but honestly, the rumors didn’t really do him any justice.

I smirked and looked at Emily. “No,” I began. Her mouth fell open, but I held up a hand to shush her so I could continue. “He’s bigger.”

Her hands flew to her mouth to quiet the scream that came out of it.

“Okay, okay, OKAY!” Liv quieted Emily down and looked at me. “What’s he like in bed?” Her eyes sparkled with mischief.

Of course, back to the whispers of Kol’s performance. I mean, he was the alpha; he’d fucked one half of the town, and my prince of a brother fucked the other half.

Every she-wolf went weak at the knees just at the sight of Kol.

“Oh, he’s amazing,” I gushed. “We did it five times this morning.” My cheeks were on fire at this point.

“FUCK RIGHT OFF!!!” they both screamed at me. When I nodded my head, they melted.

Emily clutched her chest like she might die of a heart attack on the spot, and Liv pretend-fainted onto the beanbag behind her.

DIEGO

Five fucking times. How the fuck? FIVE FUCKING TIMES.

I knew she was my sister, but they weren’t exactly being quiet about it.

FIVE

FUCKING

TIMES.

I glared out the window at the prick. He was lounging off by the pool, drinking a beer. Maria had even set up a cooler of beers beside him. Five fucking—I needed to know how the fuck he’d done that.

I stomped out to him, grabbed a beer out of the cooler, and fell into the lounge beside him.

“How’d you do it?” I grunted, opening my beer with my teeth and spitting out the bottle cap.

He didn’t look at me. “Do what?”

“Five fucking times, man. How the fuck did you do it?”

He smirked and took a gulp of beer. “Struggling to keep it hard, Gray?” he sneered.

I took a deep breath. I was starting to remember why I always hated this dickhead. “Easy, Sanders,” I growled. “Just ’cause you’re married to my sister doesn’t mean I won’t rip you apart.”

He took another gulp of beer and looked at me. “What you wanna know?”

“How the fuck—”

He cut me off. “Your sister’s hot.”

I growled deep into my chest, a warning growl.

“All right, all right. Cut the macho act, Gray. I dunno, man. All right, things are just different now she’s my mate. My wife. It’s not just sex anymore. It’s more connected than that.”

“Cut the spiritual crap, Sanders. From what I heard growing up, you were just as big a player as me if not more.”

“Emphasis on the past tense there, brother. Truthfully, everything changed in the couple of months before I met her. The girls—they just didn’t do it for me anymore.

“It was two months since I’d had sex before I met her. Just didn’t want to.”

I didn’t even hide it. I stared at him, shocked to my core.

~Two~

~fucking~

~months.~

TWO FUCKING MONTHS???

I thought the longest I’d ever gone without sex was two fucking days.

He looked at me and shrugged, taking another beer out of the cooler and handing it to me before getting himself another. “Maybe you just need to find your mate.”

I scoffed, spitting out the bottle cap. “I don’t need a mate, Sanders. Just a good fuck.” I swallowed half the beer in one gulp. There was that tugging feeling again in my navel.

Like the one I’d gotten at the wedding.

~What~

~the~

~fuck~

~is~

~that?~

I cleared my throat. This conversation had already gotten too deep for my liking, but I thought I might as well follow through now.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Pretty sure that’s all you’ve been doing the last half hour, but sure, man, what’s on your mind?”

I closed my eyes, resisting the urge to punch him.

“How did you know?”

“Know what?”

I closed my eyes again, my nostrils flaring. This dickhead was gonna make me work for it, wasn’t he?

I heard him laugh and opened my eyes.

“Easy, Gray, before you have a stroke. I’m just messing with you.

“Honestly, I didn’t really know until I’d seen her, but I just had this vacant feeling that I couldn’t fill, and when I spotted her that night, I just felt drawn to her, and I couldn’t resist.”

He shrugged, gulping down his beer and pulling out another.

I looked down at the beer in my hands. “I—I keep getting this tugging feeling.”

He just stared at me before composing himself “Do you, ah, do you need me to give you a few minutes alone, Gray?”

“~Shut the fuck up, Sanders. Not that kind of tugging~!” I barked at him.

He smirked “Have you ever thought of following it?”

“Excuse me?”

“The, ah, tugging. It’s obviously pulling you somewhere. Have you thought of following it? Maybe the universe is trying to tell you something.”

I pulled out another beer and scoffed. “Yeah, right, Sanders.” He kinda had a point, though, not that I’d ever admit that to him, of course.

“I’m just saying, man, you’re sitting here talking to a guy you barely know about your sister’s love life because you’re unsure of your own.

“Maybe you should listen to your gut. Even the Iron Soldier needs a woman by his side.”

My mouth fell open.

~How the fuck did he know?~

He looked at me and smirked. “I saw what you did to that guy. Couple of things I remembered from reports a few years back.”

We just looked at each other, then I remembered. “I never said thank you.”

“What?”

I cleared my throat. “For what you did for Gia. I never said thank you.”

He waved his hand. “I’d do anything for her.”

“She’s calmed a lot since she met you.”

“I’ve heard the stories over the years. Didn’t she get arrested for coke?”

I snorted. “Yeah, twice, both by human cops. Thought Dad was gonna murder her.”

He let out a chuckle.

“She almost got done for prostitution once too”

He spat out his beer. “She what?!”

“Yeah, thought Dad was gonna tear the cops apart right there in the hospital waiting room. Turns out a wolf from your pack had roofied her.”

He sat bolt upright, staring at me. I raised a hand to him. “I took care of it.”

He sat back and nodded.

Those words ringing in our ears. Knowing what they meant.

~I took care of it.~