The Alpha Kings And Their Stripper Mate

Chapter 130: Chapter 129: Meeting Damon

They held each other for a moment, both grateful for this reconnection, both aware that things had changed but hoping their friendship could weather it.

When they pulled apart, Maya looked at Eve seriously. "I really am glad you’re okay Eve. I am really glad that you are happy. You deserve this, Eve. After everything yoo’ve been therough, you deserve to be loved and protected and worshipped by three gorgeous men."

"Thank you," Eve whispered, emotion clogging her throat again. "For not giving up on me. For coming here. For still being my friend even after I ghosted you for four months. It means a lot to me"

"Always," Maya promised. "You’re stuck with me, honey. No matter what happens with the brothers or the contract or whatever mysterious life you’re living now....I’m not going anywhere."

The door opened again, and this time both women turned to see who entered.

Damon stood in the doorway, and the effect on Maya was immediate and devastating.

She stopped breathing entirely, her entire body going rigid, her eyes going so wide they looked like they might fall out of her head as she stared at Damon.

Because if Silas had been overwhelming, Damon was catastrophic.

He radiated a wild, untamed energy that seemed to fill the entire room. His green eyes....so bright they almost glowed....locked onto Maya with predatory focus. His smile was sharp and knowing, like he could sense exactly what effect he was having on her and found it amusing.

"Well, well," Damon drawled, moving into the room with that loose-limbed grace that somehow suggested violence and sex in equal measure. "This must be the famous Maya."

He crossed directly to where Maya stood frozen and extended his hand. "Damon Blackwood. Pleasure to meet you."

Maya stared at his offered hand like it might bite her. Then, moving like someone in a trance, she reached out and shook it.

The moment their skin made contact, her knees actually buckled slightly.

Eve moved quickly to steady her friend, shooting Damon a warning look. Tone it down.

Damon’s grin widened, but he did ease back on the overwhelming alpha presence slightly. "Sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "Sometimes I forget how intense we can be for...." He paused deliberately. "....regular people."

Maya made a sound that might have been agreement or might have been a whimper. It was hard to tell.

Damon released her hand and looked at Eve. "Damian wants to see you in his office before training. Something about security protocols for your friend’s visit."

Translation: We need to discuss whether it’s safe to have a human in the estate right now, with assassins potentially targeting you.

Eve nodded. "I’ll be there in a minute."

Damon studied Maya for another moment....long enough to make her squirm under his intense gaze....then smiled again. "It really is nice to meet you, Maya. Any friend of Eve’s is welcome here."

Then he was gone, leaving behind only the lingering scent of pine and something wild.

Maya collapsed back onto the sofa, her hand over her racing heart. "Okay," she said faintly. "I officially cannot handle meeting the third one. I will actually die Eve. I am very sure that my heart will give out. Please tell me he’s not in the house right now."

Eve bit her lip, trying not to laugh at her friend’s dramatic reaction. "He’s probably in his office."

"Then I’m avoiding that hallway like it’s on fire," Maya declared. "Because honey, I cannot take another one of those. Three of them? Living in the same house? Girl! How are you still alive? How has your brain not melted from constant exposure to that much masculine perfection?"

"You get used to it," Eve lied.

She didn’t. Not really. The brothers still made her breath catch, still made her heart race, still affected her on a visceral level that had nothing to do with conscious thought.

But she’d learned to function through it. Had adapted to their overwhelming presence out of necessity.

Maya looked at her with something like awe. "Look at you saying it so casually as if you are not living every woman’s fantasy Eve, you know that right? And somehow you’re acting like it’s normal."

"It’s my normal now," Eve said, and realized it was true.

This was her life now. These impossible men, this supernatural world, this constant balancing act between danger and desire.

And despite everything.....the threats, the training, the political games.....she wouldn’t trade it for anything. freewēbnoveℓ.com

The door opened one more time, and Maya actually whimpered.

But it was just Lora, the omega from earlier. "Luna, the Alphas are ready for you whenever you’re available."

"Thank you, Lora," Eve said. "Please show Maya to the guest dining room and make sure she has anything she needs. I’ll join her for lunch after my meeting."

"Of course, Luna," Lora said, bowing.

Eve turned to Maya. "Will you be okay for a bit? I need to handle some business, but I’ll be back as soon as I can."

Maya waved her hand weakly. "Go. Handle your mysterious business with your impossibly hot triplet boyfriends. I’ll be fine. Probably."

Eve laughed and squeezed her friend’s shoulder. "I’ll see you soon."

As she left the sitting room and headed toward Damian’s office, Eve felt lighter than she had in weeks.

Maya was here. Her best friend.....her connection to her old life, to the person she’d been before all this.....was here and solid and real.

Whatever came next....training, threats, Court politics.....at least she had this. This reminder that she was still Eve. Still the girl who’d danced at the Eclipse and survived on stubbornness and friendship.

Just... also a succubus princess with three alpha mates and a destiny she was only beginning to understand.

She smiled to herself as she knocked on Damian’s office door.

Complicated didn’t even begin to cover it.

But she wouldn’t have it any other way.