Chapter 328: Chapter 328: I need To Be Inside You Right Now

"Those are titles. Roles." Damian turned in her embrace so he could see her face. "But who am I when I’m not actively defending against threats? When there’s no crisis to manage, no enemy to outmaneuver, no battle to fight?"

Eve’s eyes searched his face. "I don’t know," she said honestly. "Who do you want to be?"

The question landed like a blow.

Because Damian realized he didn’t know. Hadn’t thought about it. Hadn’t allowed himself to think about it because there had always been something more urgent, more important, more dangerous demanding his attention.

"I don’t know," he admitted quietly. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Eve’s hand came up to cup his face. "Then maybe it’s time to figure it out. You’ve spent twelve years being who you needed to be for everyone else. Maybe now you get to choose who you want to be for yourself."

"What if I don’t know how?"

"Then you learn." Her smile was soft. "The same way you learned to be Alpha. The same way you learned to be a good mate. One day at a time, one choice at a time, until it becomes natural."

Damian pulled her closer, burying his face in her hair, breathing in her scent. "I don’t want to lose this," he said, the admission raw. "Don’t want to lose who I am in the process of figuring out who I could be."

"You won’t." Eve’s voice was absolutely certain. "Because you’re not alone in this. You have Damon and Silas. You have the pack. You have me." She pulled back to look at him. "We’re not going anywhere. And whatever you decide you want to be, whatever you choose for yourself...we’ll be right there with you."

Something in Damian’s chest cracked open. The tight control he’d maintained for so long, the walls he’d built to keep himself functional through crisis after crisis, suddenly felt less necessary.

"I love you," he said, and the words felt like confession and revelation and promise all at once.

Eve’s smile was radiant. "I love you too. All of you. Even the parts you’re still figuring out."

Then she kissed him.

It started gentle...soft and sweet and full of affection. But Damian was wound tight with emotion and uncertainty and the overwhelming need to feel something solid and real, and the kiss quickly deepened into something more urgent.

His hands slid down to her hips, lifting her, and Eve’s legs wrapped around his waist automatically. He turned and set her on the desk, stepping between her thighs, and the shirt she’d borrowed rode up to reveal she wasn’t wearing anything underneath.

"Damian," Eve breathed as his mouth moved to her neck.

"I need you," he said against her skin. "Need to feel you. Need...."

"Yes." Her hands were already working the buttons of his shirt. "Yes, whatever you need. Take it."

He captured her mouth again, swallowing her gasp as his hand slid between her legs and found her already wet. The knowledge that she wanted him this much, that her body responded to him even in the grey light of pre-dawn, made something possessive and primal surge through him.

"Mine," he growled against her lips.

"Yours," Eve confirmed, her hips lifting into his touch. "Always yours."

Damian worked her with his fingers, building her up with the practiced skill of someone who’d learned every response of her body. When she was trembling and gasping and right on the edge, he withdrew his hand and freed himself from his pants.

"Look at me," he commanded.

Eve’s eyes opened, hazy with desire, and locked on his.

Damian pushed inside her in one smooth thrust that made them both groan. From this angle he was deep, hitting that spot that made her gasp, and he set a rhythm that was more about connection than technique....just the two of them, joined completely, losing themselves in each other.

"I don’t know who I am without the fight," Damian admitted, his forehead resting against hers, his hips never stopping their steady rhythm. "Don’t know what I want or who I’m supposed to be now."

"Then figure it out," Eve said, her hands gripping his shoulders. "We have time. We have peace. We have each other. Figure it out, Damian. Choose something for yourself instead of just reacting to threats."

His pace increased, each thrust harder than the last. "What if I choose wrong?"

"Then you choose again." Eve’s inner walls clenched around him. "You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be honest. With yourself. With us."

The words hit something deep inside him. Damian’s control shattered, and he drove into her with abandon, chasing release and connection and the reassurance that she was here, she was real, she was his.

"Come with me," he ordered, his hand sliding between them to find her clit. "Right now. Together."

Eve cried out as the orgasm hit her, her whole body clenching around him, and Damian followed a heartbeat later with a groan that sounded like it had been torn from somewhere deep in his chest.

They stayed locked together as the aftershocks faded, both breathing hard, both trembling slightly.

"I want to be happy," Damian said quietly, the admission easier in the vulnerable aftermath of sex. "I want to enjoy what we’ve built instead of just protecting it. I want to laugh with my brothers without waiting for the next crisis. I want to take you on trips that aren’t about politics or strategy. I want to just... live."

Eve’s arms came around him, holding him close. "Then do that. Choose happiness. Choose living. The pack will be fine. The Court will be fine. Let yourself be fine too."

"What if I don’t know how?"

"Then I’ll teach you." Her smile was warm against his shoulder. "One day at a time. Starting now."

They stayed in the office as the sun rose properly, talking quietly about nothing and everything. About what Damian wanted his days to look like now that he wasn’t constantly strategizing. About hobbies he’d abandoned when he became Alpha. About places he’d never had time to visit.

"I used to paint," Damian admitted at one point. "Before everything. Landscapes mostly. Haven’t touched a brush in over a decade."

"Then paint again," Eve said simply. "Set up a studio. Take time for it. Let yourself have something that’s just yours, that has nothing to do with being Alpha or King or anything else."

"That feels... indulgent."

"It’s not indulgent. It’s healthy." Eve turned in his arms to face him properly. "You can’t pour from an empty cup, Damian. And you’ve been running on empty for a long time. If painting fills your cup, then paint. If it’s something else, do that instead. But find something that’s just for you."