Coldsnap: The Billionaire Alpha's Fated Pregnant Princess (GL)-Chapter 368 - To Be Clung Onto

Chapter 368: Chapter 368 - To Be Clung Onto
I found myself dressed in borrowed pajamas made of soft cotton. Which is to say, literally put in them by her after also being toweled off... as if I’d gained a new attendant in this world. Not that I’ve missed the fussing of any of my old ones too terribly.
The hours after that were composed of sitting on the couch with the CEO wrapped around me from behind. Like I’d acquired a very *dedicated* servant whose sole purpose was keeping my back warm and arms occupied with touches and rubs.
Every time I repositioned, she did the same. When I reached for the remote on the coffee table, her arms loosened just enough to allow the movement before tightening again the moment I returned.
> It’s... nice. In a way that makes me want to complain just to maintain some dignity. <
"You don’t have to be here all day. I’m fine."
"I’m not. Do you actually think I should go out and speak with others right now?"
That might have made me feel bad, if I could not hear the happy tone in her voice even as her chin settled against my shoulder. Stubborn wolf. Though I suppose I wasn’t exactly pushing her away, so it’s also my fault.
Vrika was as *content* as she seemed to be. Curled up and drowsing in my mindscape on a bed of marigolds with a full size white wolf representation, like there was nowhere else the spirit would rather be.
> Don’t get used to it. We can’t stay here forever. <
Hands that were playfully scratching at my palm as I tried looking for anything interesting to watch became arms tight against my ribs... when the ding at the private elevator made her entire body tense against mine.
"...Are you going to crush me before whoever that is can try?"
"That’s not a bad idea. I hear such dark fantasies are popular with women these days."
She put her lips right against my ear, whispering... *that* while standing to her feet. Of course, still holding onto me like a life-sized doll. A few noises choke out of my throat - more from her comment and the *treatment* right now rather than her actually holding on too hard.
In the middle of all that, Luca stepped through the open doorway holding what appears to be two ’tiffin’ carriers. His eyes found me first, then flicked to his Alpha.
> I feel like I am the disobedient pet being kept away from company! Can you believe this?! <!
"Chef sent up the dinner request. Quadruple portions..."
She might have nodded, but didn’t seem about to help him with the food. Just watched him travel toward the kitchen, holding the handles on the four-stack of bins, to set the nice but pungent smelling food down.
"Thank you."
He looked at me when I spoke, with my toes barely trailing on the ground... and his leader’s chin over top of my head probably glaring at him to leave immediately. And in the middle of that, decided that commenting something other than a ’you are welcome’ in a flat tone was somehow smarter?
"You know, it makes the job she has been giving others impossible. When someone keeps intentionally escaping their watchers."
"Noted. My ability to flee the attentions of others is not useful if lured into a locked room. I believe you witnessed Exhibit A earlier. You seem less phased by the Exhibit B holding me now."
He tilted his head at what he was seeing. As I waved my hand up toward the woman staking her claim without actually marking me.
"Actually-"
"Do you want to flee?"
Kyrie interrupts whatever he was about to say while setting me down. Though she doesn’t... let go. Her hands curled around the hem of my - her pajama top.
What a question, that. Yes, No, Maybe, all of them are lies to some degree or other. I’m not sure I know the truth myself, or if there even ever is or was one. So I just walk to the counter as her feet drag along behind me.
"I want to eat."
Again, literally, as she is wearing socks for some reason? And is not assisting my steps, just holding tight and sliding along with locked legs. It feels as ridiculous as I imagine it looks.
My eye and cheek are twitching in small annoyance mixed with the desire to laugh at her unfathomable antics. So I focus instead on unpacking the meal.
An unleavened bread in the top container, black lentil and kidney bean curry next, butter chicken on the third tier, and a large dish of jasmine rice on the bottom. Vrika growled softly in response to my irritation at seeing dishes I believe to be from this world’s Indian subcontinent.
When she asked earlier and I told her to just get two of whatever she had intended to eat, there is no way she intended on eating this sort of cuisine, right?
"I’ll bring your purse up in a bit. And I’ll be downstairs if you need anything. Both of you."
He left without waiting for a response. Probably couldn’t take seeing the strong woman he respects acting like... like-
"He’s not wrong. I know you want independence, but if you trusted-"
"How many others were waiting outside in agreement with that man’s methods?"
She doesn’t answer and I don’t press. But I don’t leave it entirely alone, either.
"I get what you are trying to say, but unless you had revealed to them your suspicions of that man, would they not have sent a basic that I was going to the building and then followed me into the trap?"
I felt her breath huff against the back of my neck. Not satisfied with my excuses. Nor did I expect her to be. I’m not really sure what I expect of anything, today.
"The only way it might have been avoided was if I told you or your assistant every intention I had. You... know that I’m never going to do that. Everyone always cared so much about what I did and where I went. It was exhausting."
Finding where I remember she kept her plates and utensils, I grab a set for me and for her. And put them close next to each other while smacking two seats together by the counter. There is no way both of us can fill our stomachs easily with her behind me constantly!
"But you’ve been... bearable, with it. So just sit and eat with me, you silly clingy wolf."
Her arms squeezed tight, another wordless response that somehow said more to me than any actual argument could have. I let it go, because fighting about trust and secrets now seemed pointless.
> Because I know I’ll be gone soon enough anyway. If I can keep myself from warning her how heartless I am. <
I ate while Kyrie picked at her food and kept one hand on my knee, like I really might vanish if she lost contact. And it makes me wonder how terrible of a job I am accomplishing at seeming... normal.
But I also just went through what I did. So did she. So maybe this kind of closeness is just the normal response? Maybe she won’t find it strange that I am leaning into it.
I cleared my plate without thinking. Then reached for seconds while thinking how horrible I am. Then thirds without thinking again.
"Hungry?"
"Starving, apparently."
I didn’t mention that I’d been nauseous all morning. That my body seemed determined to make up for it now by demanding I eat everything in sight. Or how grateful I am that none of this is something that might trigger any hormonal disgust.
When I finished, I see that Kyrie just watched me with her face laying on the counter. Something soft was in her normal brown eyes, unattached from her wolf’s desires. And it made everything in my stomach roil.
> Can she stop looking at me like that? Like I’m precious. Like she’s memorizing this stupid moment. <
After the food was cleared, with Kyrie helping one-handed because apparently she’d developed a phobia of not holding onto me, I picked up the remote again and started flipping through channels with no real goal in mind.
The distraction of hitting the button, gathering some kind of understanding of what was on the screen, and making a small decision to hit the button again or wait a moment was all I had in mind. But eventually I happened upon a movie I’d watched recently, with Edgar.
And the remote was sat down. My lips opened and I all but listed every comparison to my kingdom’s culture I made quietly to myself, back then.
With an Alpha listening and commenting while snuggled against me. Like she was now a citizen that lived on the kingdom of Citra Lomdi.