Chapter 377 Back in the Cave  

If you like music while you read, try "Stay" by Thirty Seconds to Mars. It's what I was listening to while writing the following chapters!

*****

~ SASHA ~

Sasha had expected it to be dark again, as it was the night they arrived. But between the sunlight that made the walls glow a dark, neon blue around them, and the fact that Zev had apparently had someone come out ahead of them—the lanterns were lit, a fire crackled in the wide fireplace, though it was low now and…

Sasha beamed.

Someone had set up the massive pot to warm bathwater.

She turned a full circle as they walked into the cave, drinking in the high ceiling, the massive bed, the Yhet-sized furniture.

"I can't believe we're here!" she said gleefully, throwing her arms wide and letting herself fall backwards onto the bed.

Zev smiled, but his chin was low and his eyes intense on her as he dropped their bags next the massive set of drawers on the side of the cave and walked over to where she was sprawled on the bed.

She pushed herself up onto her elbows and met his smile, heat-for-heat.

Then she bit her lip and let her eyes scan the room around them. "So… what's first?"

Zev raised an eyebrow. "I'm submitted to my Alpha," he said with that heated purr in his throat that made her belly tingle.

"But there's so many options. How could I choose? The bath… the rug… the bed…"

Sasha's legs hung off the end of the bed, so Zev stepped up between her knees and leaned over her, bracing himself on the furs at either side of her shoulders.

Neither of them spoke for a moment, then he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, soft and slow, a low growl puttering in his throat when she took his lip between her teeth for a moment.

But before he could deepen the kiss, she pulled back and stared at him.

Zev froze, opened his eyes and stared. "What? What's wrong?"

Sasha, no longer smiling, put a hand to his forehead. "No fever," she murmured. "And you promise me that you aren't bleeding anywhere? No hidden illnesses or infections? I can't have you fainting on me again—"

With a playful growl, Zev slid his arms under her and lifted her off the bed. "Cheeky female," he snarled, nipping at her neck with his teeth. "Too many furs, too many clothes for a warm cave. Definitely need those off," he muttered, setting her on her feet and starting on her buttons—but instead of kissing and playing, he pretended to be stern as he tugged at her buttons and tickled her sides when he got his hands under her furs.

Sasha giggled and twitched, fighting him off. "I'm just m-making sure you're completely healthy—an ap-propriate m-mate for the Alpha!" she sniggered as Zev's cold hands found her ribs.

"I'm sick for you, if that counts?" he muttered.

Sasha snorted, then started on his buttons. Both of them undressing each other without kissing, but allowing themselves moments to stroke and squeeze as skin was revealed and clothes tossed to the floor.

When they were both naked, Sasha—slightly chilled, leaned into his body and lay her mouth open at that spot on his chest where the bond thrummed.

Her own heart pattered, pounding against her ribs as if it wanted to reach through and become one with his.

Neither of them were laughing anymore as Zev pulled her face up and kissed her, long and deep, slowly enough to savor, but with all the heat and promise that got her blood pumping so that she quickly wasn't feeling cold anymore.

"I think…" Zev breathed against her lips moments later, "I think we have a tradition to uphold," he whispered, dropping his chin to nudge her jaw up so he could kiss her neck.

"Hmmm?" Sasha said, focused entirely on the tingles spreading down her back and side when his lips played at her skin.

Then he took her mouth again, hard and fast, then stepped back.

Sasha rocked forward, taken by surprise, but Zev just waggled his eyebrows and hurried over to the fireplace to pull the big pot off the flames, throw more wood on the embers, and drag the massive bath out to the rug.

He made short work of pouring the steaming water in, then refilling with cold to add to it. Sasha stood there watching his muscles bunch and ripple as he shifted the huge weights like they were nothing. She loved the way his jaw cast a shadow, the way the lines of his body seemed cut from marble. The tendon that stood out on his neck when he braced to lift the heavy pot…

She still couldn't quite believe he was so completely hers, but fuck… she loved him.

Then he dipped a hand in the water of the bath and stirred at it, nodding, then looked up at her standing there watching him completely naked.

"Perfect," he breathed.

And he wasn't talking about the water.

He stepped around the tub to come for her, his long strides slow and rolling, reminding her of a cat prowling, though she knew he wouldn't appreciate the comparison.

When he reached her, he wrapped an arm around her lower back and pulled her against him. Sasha let herself lean back, let him take her weight, while she watched herself run her hands up his torso to his shoulders, then laced her fingers behind his neck.

They stared at each other for a long moment, both their chests rising and falling faster and faster. Sasha's heart trilled, wondering what he would do.

Zev didn't say a word, but his gaze only intensified as he led her back towards the tub and urged her to step in, but he held her hand to keep her up when she started to lower herself into it. She was going to ask, but something in his eyes stopped her from speaking.

When she was standing at one end of the large tub, Zev stepped in too, then put his hands at her waist before dropping to kneel in front of her. Her breath caught. The sight of him, down on his knees, his broad shoulders rippling in the light of the flames at their sides, his back a landscape of valleys and rounds when he leaned forward, was stunning.

Then he lifted his eyes to hers, nudged her thighs apart, and with a tortured whisper of her name, put his mouth to her.