Chapter 342 - 304: Cannot Stop
Chapter 342: Chapter 304: Cannot Stop
CRACK!
The roaring fire crackled, and a cold wind slipped through the cracks of the house, making the flames flicker and sway.
On the wall, a shapeless black shadow danced with the firelight, accompanied by breaths that alternated between suppressed and frantic, like the gasps of someone drowning—
"Alex..."
Gu Ning’s voice, muffled and hoarse, came from under the fur blanket. If one listened closely, they could hear it trembling.
"Hm?"
Alex’s tone was relatively steady as he responded. He lifted a corner of the blanket slightly, bent down to kiss the top of her somewhat sweaty hair, then pressed the blanket back down to prevent any drafts from chilling Gu Ning.
It also kept her from seeing the savage look on his face—the look of a predator wanting to tear its prey apart.
’He and Gu Ning needed more time to adjust to each other. He couldn’t scare her. He also needed to get used to this feeling of being on the brink of death.’
Alex wrapped the fur blanket tighter. One of his hands held it down from above, while the other disappeared beneath it.
The edges of the shadow on the wall undulated. It was impossible to tell if it was just the flickering fire or something else. The only thing certain was Gu Ning’s strained cry.
"Ale...x..."
"Mm."
Alex stared at the ceiling, sweat trickling from his swaying hair into his eyes, blurring his vision.
He closed his eyes, hiding the tumultuous emotions within as the muscles in his arms, waist, and legs grew increasingly taut.
’Even so.’
’He couldn’t... stop.’
"Alex!"
Gu Ning’s voice grew high and sharp.
"Mm, almost there..." Alex said hoarsely, soothingly stroking her trembling back through the blanket. The sweat on his hair grew thicker, beads of it rolling down his cheeks like tiny streams. His brow furrowed ever tighter.
"..."
The small human, braced against the alpha wolf’s chest, finally gave out. Her arms, aching under the assault of his deft claws, could no longer hold her up, and she collapsed. Her face pressed against the alpha’s sweat-slicked chest, listening to the powerful thumping of his heart, which sounded as if it would burst from his ribcage, and the controlled breaths coming from deep within his lungs.
Her knees, however, still held firm, supporting the middle of her torso and receiving the alpha wolf’s methodical work.
She didn’t know how much time had passed. By her own perception, it felt like only a few minutes, or perhaps even less.
Though she had lost count of how many "few minutes" it had been.
With the Beastman beneath her repeating the same motions over and over, time stretched on, seemingly without end.
The gradually dimming, flickering firelight seemed to be in sync with him, or perhaps he was in sync with it.
Gu Ning didn’t know. Smothered under the fur blanket, she felt like she couldn’t breathe anymore.
The air she breathed felt like fire, and her knees were about to catch fire too.
She was breathing too heavily; the small corner Alex had lifted for her was no longer enough to get air.
Her preoccupied mind made her forget she could have poked her head out for fresh air. As her thoughts began to drift again, Gu Ning’s tightly-pressed knees finally gave way, sliding apart—
and she straddled him.
The firelight stopped flickering for an instant. The moment the soft little human made contact with the stone-hard alpha wolf, the same word appeared in both their minds:
Screwed.
Before all this began, it had been Gu Ning’s suggestion.
’Now she felt it was completely out of her hands.’
After a few seconds of stillness, the thick arm wrapped around her through the blanket tightened, pulling her forcefully down onto her side—
[...]
[...]
Following two short, muffled groans—one deep, one soft—the swaying shadow on the wall grew still.
"Haaaah—"
Gu Ning poked her head out from the fur blanket and rested it weakly on Alex’s shoulder.
’This is... more exhausting than working on a construction site.’
CRACK...!
It was late in the night. The dimming, dying fire suddenly let out a loud spark.
Gu Ning stared dazedly at the nearly extinguished fire. ’Well, now I’m warm,’ she thought.
’Too warm, in fact.’
’If not for the fact that she was covered in sweat and couldn’t risk a chill, she would have thrown off the blanket to cool down.’
"Are you okay?" Alex’s palm ran through the small female’s messy hair, stroking all the way down to her sweaty back.
Gu Ning’s voice was raspy. "I’m okay."
’More than okay.’
’But next time... we should try a different way.’
"What about you?" Gu Ning looked up at Alex.
’She felt like he wasn’t satisfied, that it had ended too abruptly just now.’
Alex looked at the small female’s slightly red, tear-bright eyes and her expression of sated contentment. ’Even if it wasn’t enough,’ he thought, ’psychologically, I’m satisfied.’
He reached out and tucked a strand of hair from her cheek, sighing. "This is good enough."
’Just this much had made her cry. He couldn’t imagine if she would be able to withstand actual mating.’
’He knew he couldn’t ask for more right now.’
’In the future, he and Gu Ning would have plenty of time to slowly adjust to each other.’
"Alex, if..."
Gu Ning paused for a moment before voicing the worry in her heart. "If we... can never..."
"...mate."
It seemed to take all her effort to say that word.
’To her, she and Alex were already in the most intimate state possible; the only difference was that the final step hadn’t been a successful fit.’
’And every time, he... cleaned up very thoroughly.’
’She wanted to know what Alex truly thought about this problem.’
’She was human, and Alex was a Beastman. There were bound to be conflicts in their ways of thinking.’
’And there was another issue, one she worried about, even feared.’
’She hoped—prayed, even—that she and Beastmen were reproductively isolated.’
’Otherwise, with Alex’s size, she felt she would be in extreme danger.’
’She didn’t know how females in this world carried children, but she knew about humans and her own body.’
Alex heard the deep-seated worry in Gu Ning’s words and kissed her forehead. "My understanding of females is just some theoretical knowledge taught in school. This world is vast, and not everyone is the same. I know you’re not like the females of this land, and I’m not like the people you’ve known."
Alex’s gaze on Gu Ning was lingering and tender. He chose his words carefully to soothe her anxiety. "Ningning, just being accepted by you, being able to stay by your side and live with you for a long time... I already feel incredibly lucky."
Gu Ning was moved by his words. After a moment of silence, she took his hand and placed it on her abdomen. "We... are different."
"I can’t..." Gu Ning searched her mind for the right words. "In here, there can’t be any little wolves."
Hearing the somewhat sad tone in her voice, Alex froze for a second before hugging her tighter. "Do you want wolf cubs? When I’m old enough to raise cubs, I’ll get you lots of them. I’ll get you as many as you want."
The youngest wolves to join the Wolf Pack were fifteen and up. At that age, wolf cubs were already learning how to court mates. They were too old to be raised as children.
Gu Ning froze, blinking. "That’s not..." ’Wait a minute,’ she thought.
Alex continued, "You don’t want wolf cubs? Do you like puppies? Or cubs from other species are fine, too."
Gu Ning was dumbfounded. That wasn’t what she meant.
"But we can only raise male cubs, is that okay?" Alex asked, patting her back soothingly. "Female cubs are all raised in the Central Green Area by the Beast Alliance until they’re adults. When we pass the Central Green Area’s review, I’ll take you to see them."
Gu Ning fell silent, her mind racing.
’Why does it feel like Alex already knew and accepted that she was reproductively isolated from him?’
Alex mistook her silence for sadness and coaxed her, "You’re too small right now. How about we wait a few more years before we think about having wolf cubs?"
’After a few years, he would figure out a way to make Gu Ning accept the fact that she couldn’t have his wolf cubs.’