Chapter 228

Back at my penthouse, I walk over to my couch and flop face-first down onto my couch.

What. A. Day.

Well, a couple of days.

I’ve ridden a roller coaster of emotions, worried so fiercely about Neil for so long, and then overwhelmed by relief.

Thank all the Gods that Neil pulled through okay.

It was also nice to see Mia well. And for Neil to finally be able to hold her again? My heart clenched just thinking of how meaningful, how special, such a moment was for the both of them.

For the whole family, really.

Everyone except for me.

I press my face down into the cushion, hoping it will swallow me whole.

For a while, despite my own warnings set to myself, I had begun to think of the Pyramid as my home. Now that it is gone… where do I truly belong?

My mom is remarried, and Wyatt lives with them now. I can’t call that house my home.

And this penthouse, though beautiful, is so… empty and quiet. Technically, I guess this is where I live now, but that doesn’t mean it feels like a home.

Although, maybe it was never the place that made the difference. Maybe it was the people.

When I lived in the Pyramid, I had the brothers nearby.

Now, with me gone, the brothers all have each other.

But who do I have?

I miss them, more than I ever want to admit to myself.

I don’t want to think about this anymore. With a sigh, I think about pushing myself to my feet and dragging myself to my bedroom. I haven’t slept in over 24 hours.

But the same exhaustion that makes me want to drag myself to my bedroom also keeps me here, stretched out on the couch. Maybe I don’t need my bed. This couch seems perfectly comfortable to me.

My eyes slowly close, and I drift off to sleep.

I startle awake to someone knocking on my door.

I rub the sleep from my eyes. It’s dark outside and so dark in my room as well. I click on the lamp beside the couch and force myself upright.

How long have I been out? I don’t even know what time it is?

The knocking persists.

“I’m coming,” I say, groaning slightly. By bones are achy, my muscles tight. I must have been asleep for a long time.

I stretch as I stand, and wonder who could be at the door. Debbie perhaps? Probably wondering why I bailed out of class the other day. I haven’t checked my texts in a while. Debbie likely just wants to make sure I’m alive.

Yawning, I head to the door. I don’t check the peephole before I pull it open.

“Sorry, Debbie, I…”

That is not Debbie.

Neil is the one on the other side of the door. Living, breathing Neil, as healthy and handsome as he looked the day I met him.

I’m blindsided by the sight of him. Am I still asleep? Is this a dream?

Neil wears a sheepish-looking kind of smile. “You left without saying goodbye.”

“I don’t understand,” I say. “How are you here?”

“Come, now, Chloe. You should know by now how tough I am. And how strong my wolf is.”

I do, but even so, this recovery appears too miraculous after how low he had been for so long.

“I don’t know if I can believe my eyes,” I say. “I was sleeping just now. I might be sleeping still.”

Neil looks me over. As he does, his eyes darken with heat and fire. “If you cannot believe your eyes, perhaps I should prove my virility in a different way.”

I only have time to lift one lone brow, before he surges, scoops me up into his arms, and carries me back into my penthouse. I reach behind him and swing the door closed before we can get too far away.

But that is the last coherent thought I manage, as his tongue delves into my mouth and he carries me over toward the windows.

He presses me against it, my back to the glass. With his hands under my ass, my legs dangling on either side of his thighs, I’m entirely pinned by the strength of his body.

He is out to prove his strength to me, it seems. I half-wonder if my feet will touch the ground at all during this experience. The other half of my brain is fully occupied with the feel of his lips on my skin as he kisses his way to the corner of my neck and shoulder and sucks in a mark.

I comb my fingers through his long hair. When I reach the hair tie holding it back, I pull it free so that his hair drapes down around his face, touching his shoulders.

He lifts his mouth back to mine and kisses me senseless. As I’m distracted, his hands grip either side of my shirt and pull in opposite directions, ripping the garment clean from my body.

I gasp, breaking from the kiss. He surprises me twice more, by ripping away my bra, and then my pants and panties, until I’m naked against him, with the cool press of glass against my back.

Holding me up, he drops down to his knees, then hooks my legs over his shoulders.

Like this, his face is at the apex of my thighs. He wastes no time. Surging forward, he licks a stripe up my already soaking pussy. The lick ends at my clit. He sucks it into his mouth.

Grabbing handfuls of his hair, I tug perhaps too-hard, though he doesn’t seem bothered. Instead, he moans against me, voice muffled by the press of his mouth to me.

I press backwards. I push my head and body against the cool glass. The rest of me feels like it’s overloading. Heat is boiling me outward, starting at my core.

“Nng, Neil…!”

His attentions are relentless. He alternates between tracing tiny circles around my clit and lap at it eagerly. Then he sucks and I would buck if I had any purchase.

Instead, I am entirely at the mercy of his shoulders holding me up, and his hands cradling and squeezing my backside.

I thrash and I moan and I cry, and every single utterance only adds to the intensity of his ministrations.

He won’t let me go. He won’t let up.

I know without him even saying the words.

He wants me to cum with his name on my lips, and so help me, his name is the only word I can seem to remember in that moment. I’ve certainly already forgotten my own.

“N-Neil! Ah, oh, Neil!”

He must be able to tell I’m close. Securing me closer to the glass with his shoulders, he removes one of his hands from my ass and slips a finger up into my wet folds. He penetrates me gently, moving in and out. When he deems me ready enough, he slips in a second finger.

It feels so good! With his mouth on me and his fingers inside. Gods! I’m not going to survive for much longer.

“N-Neil! Ah…. Neil!!”

I try to give him warning, but the words are jumbled in my mouth.

Then, all at once, release.

And I scream my pleasure.