Chapter 209: Enough Time To Get Pregnant
Her hand gave him a firmer squeeze in response. "You killed them, didn’t you?"
"A few," he admitted with a chuckle, his free hand now teasing the line of her waistband. "Some were too arrogant for their own good. Others were just loud."
Reana tilted her head back against his shoulder and he leaned in to plant a soft kiss on her parted lips. Her breath was uneven and her face was flushed. "So you left."
"To the Southern Islands," Ryder murmured, nipping her earlobe. "Didn’t come back until now."
"And the Islands didn’t bore you?" Her voice cracked a little as his hand moved lower, his fingers pressing just right through the barrier of her clothing.
He didn’t answer right away. Just slid his hand up under her shirt, palm splayed over her bare stomach, fingers dipping teasingly lower again. "At some point, it did. But they weren’t annoying like the Alphas."
Reana’s breath hitched as she continued her strokes. "How many women did you have over the course of eight hundred years?" she asked, a hint of jealousy creeping into her voice despite the pleasure he was giving her.
Ryder’s chuckle rumbled low in his chest, his lips curling into a smirk against her neck. "None. All our lives, it’s been you. And you only."
Reana didn’t respond immediately, her fingers still stroking his hardness, though now her touch was firmer, more possessive. "Your life must have been... unbearably long without me," she whispered, her voice thick with lust and a hint of pity.
Ryder’s hand stilled for a moment beneath her shirt, then slid back up to cup her face, turning it gently so he could meet her eyes. The shadows made his expression hard to read, but there was no mistaking the raw truth in his voice.
"It was. Centuries of silence, blood, and meaningless victories. Nothing tasted sweet. Nothing felt real. Until I found you again."