The Alpha King Call Boy
Chapter 224

Fiona

I woke with a jolt, partway through turning my body over in my sleep, and gasped for breath. My hand instinctively reached out for my husband, but my sweaty palm only found cool, empty sheets on his side of the bed. "Hey. Are you okay, sweetheart?" Footsteps neared. Then I felt the mattress dip to absorb Alexander's weight.

I sat up against the headboard a little while blinking my eyes open and was surprised to discover it was still full dark. Alex got under the covers and shuffled toward me. He must have been up walking around with no lights on. "Mm." I cleared my throat. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just woke up abruptly. What time is it?"

"Almost eight."

"Wow. The sun's coming up so late these days."

He didn't respond to that. Just asked if I wanted some water and passed me a glass he apparently already had in his hand.

I took it and drank, while Alex took hold of my other hand and set it in place to cradle his jaw.

Begging me to comb my fingernails through his beard.

I put the water down on my nightstand. Ran my fingers through his soft facial hair and asked teasingly, "When are you gonna shave this? You've been letting it grow for kind of a while now." He turned his face to plant a kiss on my palm.

Slowly. My hand drifted into his unkempt hair and began to drift lightly across his scalp. He leaned his head into my touch and finally answered, quietly," When I return from battle, victorious."

I had not been expecting this heavy answer. Nor could I have anticipated how thinking about such a thing could turn me on. I just suddenly became hyper aware that I was lying in bed with an Alpha King. A valiant slayer of powerful, evil monsters. A legend. A god of war and a god of s*x.

I turned and straddled him, covering his body with mine, clutched at his hair and kissed his lips. A low, restrained growl vibrated in his chest and throat.

With a fluid, rhythmic movement I moved my hands through his hair, pressing my fingernails into his scalp then dragging them down his neck and chest. Alexander's entire body started vibrating now, as he bit back and swallowed down more growls of pleasure. I lowered my lips to his ear, pausing along the way to nuzzle my cheek into his soft golden beard.

I think I whispered, "Sometimes I just want to worship you," or something like that. I don't know for sure because suddenly I was dizzy with desire. My Alpha's energy was pulsing into me everywhere our skin touched. Feeling his on top of my own almost felt like more than one person could possibly handle, but I didn't want to think about my mental wall. I didn't want to block out his energy. I wanted to feel it.

But my golden god's hungry touch turned my body up to max and switched my brain off completely. So I cannot be held responsible for losing control and moaning audibly when his lips found their way to one of my sensitive nipples, mouthing at it through the fabric of my thin nightgown.

Yes, it woke her up. Alexis.

Alex and I both froze and darted our eyes over to the monitor as the small sounds began. She coughed a couple times and whimpered a little.

I started to slide off his lap, but Alexander's arms turned to steel. He held me in place on top of him with an inescapable vise grip. "Shh. Maybe she'll settle back down," he whispered.

God bless her, she did. We watched the video on the monitor together and both our bodies relaxed as it appeared the baby was, in fact, falling back asleep.

Alex kept that firm grasp around my body and nuzzled his face back into my chest. Everything he did felt good, but a little sliver of maternal anxiety had me distracted now. I was fairly certain Lexi was about to wake up again, and it was too hard to be quiet when Alex was touching me like this.

"We should get up anyway, my love."

He stopped what he was doing and sighed. It took a couple seconds but finally he loosened his grip around me, giving me an option to withdraw from his embrace.

I patted his bearded cheek. "We have a busy day ahead of us." I slipped off his lap, moved over to the edge of the bed and tugged on my bedside lamp, finally interrupting the oddly late pre-dawn dark. " Lots to do to prepare for our guests."

Before I could get up and out of bed, though, Alex grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to his side. I flew across the silk sheets easily.

"Fiona," he said quietly, looking deep into my eyes. "I need to say something to you."

"Okay." My heart did a little overtime, unsure if this "something" was something bad... or something very bad. Lately, most serious topics of conversation seemed to fall into one of those two categories.

But to my surprise Alexander said, maintaining that serious tone, "I am so grateful that I have a Luna who understands my role and responsibilities.

You are incredible, Fi. You never make it hard for me to get back to work. You never take it personally when I have to suddenly leave your side. I just want you to know that I don't take it for granted. I don't take you for granted. You deserve to have my undivided attention, and I hate that I just can't give that to you right now. I can't promise we won't be interrupted, but I will make time for us tonight.

Once this busy day's work is done."

I threw my body on top of his once again. The love and gratitude in his words were yet more unexpectedly powerful aphrodisiacs. Alex caught me and pressed me into his lap easily, like we'd choreographed and planned that move. We kissed slowly, deeply, and as quietly as we could.

But that child of ours... she is an attentive creature of mischief. Right on cue, she roused again and this time, she launched right into wailing.

Tracy met me at the front of the palace. She was more nervous this morning than she'd been in the interview, which I found appropriate and acceptable. Her anxiety on her first day of her new job just told me that this mattered to her. The decorator was already hard at work in the East Wing by the time my assistant and I met her there.

And then the three of us entered a time warp - the hours just flew by as we conferred and divided and conquered and made decisions together and straightened picture frames and fluffed pillows.

It's amazing what unlimited money can accomplish. This was a huge renovation, and we were getting it done in just a couple days.

By late afternoon, my stomach was growling, and I realized I'd forgotten about lunch. I also realized, guiltily, that I ought to have been providing my employees with a break. But Tracy and Isabel werehard workers, and they didn't complain.

I left the ladies to a break and returned to the West Wing to check on the baby. She had been napping and giving Nina an easy morning. This allowed me opportunity to sit down at my desk and write out some brief hand-written notes for our guests. Just a few words of greeting and welcome. I'd also prepared some assorted bath items into gift baskets; spa goodies I hoped the couples would enjoy as they relaxed after a long day of traveling.

Lexi woke just as I was finishing up my notes. I fed her, changed her, and then held her while rocking in the chair till she was asleep again. It was a nice, quiet break for me after the bustle of the morning and afternoon.

The construction crews were all gone by the time I got back to the East Wing. Only Tracy and Isabel remained. My eager helpers rushed over to take the unwieldy gift baskets from my arms as soon as they sighted me in the hall.

"It's all ready," Isabel confirmed, once she'd given me the full tour. We'd staged the gift baskets in the bathroom suites along the way.

I thanked the proudly smiling ladies and sent them home. But I lingered behind after they'd left. And wandered over to one of the rooms that we had left empty for now.

A vision filled the space in front of my eyes. A hospital bed along this wall. But a comfortable one.

A big TV directly opposite. So Grandfather could watch his true crime documentaries.

If he even still did that.

The doctor's warning floated back into my mind, telling me I ought to be prepared for how different my beloved relative now looks. I tried to picture it.

His thinned body lying on that imaginary hospital bed, under the flickering glow of a TV screen.

When I realized I hadn't been breathing for so long I was on my way to becoming lightheaded, I forced myself to turn off the light and leave the room without another look.