"Are you okay?" Kasteil asked, voice low and careful in the sudden quiet.
After the climax, neither of us spoke. We just lay there, tangled together on sweat-damp sheets, chests heaving in uneven rhythm. The room felt smaller now—thicker with the scent of us: salt, musk, the faint metallic tang of exertion. My body buzzed with aftershocks, every nerve still humming, but exhaustion was already creeping in, heavy and insistent.
"Yeah," I managed, the word barely more than a breath.
This is the moment he leaves me alone, huh? The thought slipped in uninvited, cold and familiar. That's what alphas always did. Finish, roll off, disappear. I never hated it before—not really. With Andrew, I'd actually preferred it. The second he was done, I wanted him gone so I could breathe, so I could curl up alone and pretend the ache between my legs wasn't humiliating.
