Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)-Chapter 172 - First Night In A Lonely Apartment

> Well. We can talk about that another day. I’m too tired to spiral into existential panic tonight. Yours or mine. <

I closed the interface and headed for the bedroom, thinking about changing into the comfortable sleep clothes I’d bought. But the sheets on this bed were softer than I expected and bare contact curled up into them would be better...

"My body runs hot anyway here, its fine.

The queen-sized bed felt enormous as I settled under the covers - like it was designed and begging for two. My phone buzzed one more time shortly after thinking that and I really hoped it might be Kyrie... texting almost anything.

But it was just an automated message about my new bank account. It was set up with this number as the contact, and I guess the heartless computer doesn’t care that it is past a reasonable bedtime.

Flopping back into the comfort and lying there in the darkness, I found my thoughts drifting and thinking about... her. About the heat in her glowing orange eyes when she’d defended me from those rogues.

How she’d asked permission to protect me after I treated her like... well certainly not like someone who respected an Alpha or a werewolf, let alone a fated mate. No, I treated her almost like someone in charge of her. instead of just assuming she could.

"And she listened so well... it makes me wonder how strong that will of hers is. As well as tells me how weak mine is. What am I thinking about here?"

Forming ideas around what I could get away with if I just told her not to move is not the kind of calming and restful thoughts one should be engaging in at this hour. Not when you are alone...

> Tomorrow I’ll figure out how to access that warehouse Claire mentioned. Tomorrow I’ll deal with the glut of weapons that man had. Maybe shop for some better shelving and see how hard it is to build it. What do you say, huh? <

My wolf opened an eye and snorted at me. Well, I can’t fault the wolf. Acting like I would be any good at following instructions, especially ones written down, merely because Helene did it once and failed sort of spectacularly is...

"Hubris. That’s why it’s so fun. Finding the limits I have in this world is important."

Besides, I could always hire someone to build them for me. I even have enough to pay them a monthly retaining salary and keep them on hand. That might not be a bad idea, getting an assist-

> Son of a Solar Deity! It was her assistant! <

Yelling at the top of my lungs in my own soul makes me feel better and the black wolf spirit worse. But I just realized who Claire was. And that it wasn’t the first time that she was the target of my irrational... jealousies.

When I first met Kyrie at that pawn shop, I’m pretty sure I insinuated something about the Alpha ordering the people under her, the assistant that had been on the other line for the spa booking, to commit lascivious acts with her.

Only to think the nice woman was sharing a bed with her again. What is really wrong with me? Am I not cursed?

Curling into a comfortable position, I put to mind all the wild swings of luck. All the good, all the bad - so little nice and calm attractive middle in between where I hadn’t broken down emotionally from the sheer normality.

"As much as I complain, I knew I wouldn’t have it any other way."

Just like the pregnancy... like the misunderstandings around it that had been cleared up. I seem to thrive on the danger of the wild rises and falls of fortune.

The admission about my pattern hit me as I was alone in a bed built for two. As I was thinking about someone while doing absolutely nothing about it.

"What’s the point of pretending I don’t want what I want?"

I reached for my phone, the screen’s glow harsh in the darkness. The camera app opened with a simple tap, and I held it up experimentally. Taking a few examples in the dark, utilizing the flash.

Eventually I rolled over and turned on the room light The angle I wanted was everything - not my face, but like it is capturing what that face is looking at. Nothing too explicit, either, just...

> A little suggestion. A tiny invitation to imagine. <

I stretched my arm toward the empty side of the bed, letting my leg extend naturally into the frame. The curve of my breast was visible, but the ’important’ part was hidden by my arm., My thigh and knee curled up as everything created leading lines.

Toward all that open, empty space in the bed here beside me. The photo captured the view that was perfect for someone to fill. Without slowing down my heartbeat, I attached the image to a message and hit send.

No words as a caption. No follow up explanation. Just... that.

> What’s she going to think? What’s she going to do? <

The possibilities made my heart race and my face burn with heat. I dropped the phone onto the nightstand like it had caught fire, when really it was just colder than I was by far. Feeling like I was about to evaporite into steam on the surface, an even deeper part of me felt satisfied.

Let her wonder what I meant. Let her imagine what I was suggesting. Let her want, just like I am left feeling right now...

⧖ ☾ ❄ ☽ ⧖

A thudding knock woke me from what I think was a neighboring apartment. Along with a splitting unfinished rest headache. A state brought on from the crushing weight of my own choices.

> And staring at a phone on a nightstand like it could come alive and eat me for two hours. <

"Ugh. Why am I like this?"

My device sat as innocently there as Vrika in my mindscape. Just looking at either of them made my stomach churn. Not because I’d taken the photos in the first place - those had turned out quite artistic, actually.

No, I was disgusted with myself because I’d played games and lost. Because I’d used my attraction to her like a weapon, then retreated the moment I’d fired the shot - the arrow, not a good time to think about guns going off.

Just watching and waiting for the ammunition to land. Waiting for any return fire if it hits, misses... or is caught out of midair like one of this world’s movie ’martial artists’.

The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr(e)𝒆novelkiss