I slide off Alex and settle beside him, his arm wrapping around me as his fingers trace gentle circles on my belly. We sit in silence, neither of us uttering a word, just catching our breaths until Alex finally speaks.
"Was what I witnessed today a usual occurrence?" he inquires, his voice tinged with confusion. I toy with his fingers, tracing patterns on my belly. At that moment, I realized he must have wanted to talk about it earlier but was unable to due to the ceremony and our subsequent need to mate.
"But I don't understand. According to Alice, you were always the one who was pampered by your parents and harsh on her sister," Alex says, confusion evident in his voice.
"Can we not talk about it?" I interject, turning to face him. I don't want to discuss my parents or my difficult re
