Caspian could see how much it bothered him, so he didn’t bring it up either, but he longed to tell Asher that the Alpha shouldn’t stress so much about it. He was fine... He would be fine.
He leaned forward to press a gentle kiss on Asher’s lips, wishing he could help his mate shoulder some of his burden. Even if it was simply the burden of his own safety.
The chaste kiss was immediately wrenched out of his control when Asher tightened his hold around him and deepened the kiss. Caspian relaxed and let Asher take the lead, the sweet kiss tainted by his worry for his mate.
"Can’t sleep?" Asher broke the kiss off to murmur against his cheek.
"I just woke up," He sighed, sinking into Asher’s hold. It really did feel like Asher could do anything, but he needed to stop seeing his mate as indestructible. "Let’s go back to sleep," He urged, caressing Asher’s hair.
Asher’s voice was slurred with sleep, but he didn’t give in easily. "Are you sure? How do you feel?"
"Fine," Caspian was quick to say, holding Asher close, his chest feeling strangely tight. "I love you, baby."
Asher’s response was an unintelligible hum, the Alpha already asleep.
Caspian’s smile was bittersweet, for the first time he wanted to be more like Lake. His friend was able to run his entire Mafia House despite being a pregnant Omega, maybe if he became more proactive in matters involving his Mafia House, Asher would go easier on himself.
But how exactly was he supposed to go about that? This would have been the perfect time for an advice session with Lake, but his friend was thousands of miles away on his honeymoon, not the time and place.
Caspian didn’t sleep for a good long while, grateful for his heat because it provided the perfect opportunity for Asher to get some much-needed rest.
Angelo woke up burning hot and cursing his secondary gender, Nikolai was already out of bed with him in his arms and heading to the bathroom.
He was curious about what the Mafia King was trying to do but not curious enough to work up the energy to ask. He gasped when he was pressed against the cold tiled wall of the shower, warm water soaking his robes.
Nikolai had completely undressed when he had woken the Alpha at dawn, but he had left him in his red night robes, keeping it belted even. So Angelo still had the robes on, it was clinging to his skin like his wet hair.
He sighed internally, lamenting, he had just gotten his hair straightened out and dried, and now it was back to being tangled and wet. He was too exhausted to shrug his wet clothes off, letting Nikolai do whatever he wanted.
At this point, he couldn’t hate the Mafia King’s libido, certain that if it was anyone else, they would have broken. It was barely noon and his body was already demanding more, not at all listening to him.
After staining his wet robes with pearly cum, Nikolai pulled out and let his feet touch the warm water on the ground, long enough to spin him around and push him back, with his face up against the wall.
Angelo didn’t remember passing out, but when he woke up he was back on the bed, the sheets had been changed and his hair was brushed and dried. He sat up slightly as soon as he was properly awake, searching for Nikolai, only to find the room empty.
An unfamiliar panic rushed through him, making him get off the bed in a hurry. He crumbled to the ground with a thud as soon as he was off, wearing a soft purple night robe this time.
Angelo laid on the ground in a swirl of black and light purple for a few long moments before taking the initiative to climb back into bed because standing or walking was out of the question.
The door opened when he was half-way on the bed, Nikolai paused at the door with a mobile tray, taking in his strange position.
Angelo was very prickly about Nikolai fucking him till he couldn’t walk so he lied with a straight face, "I rolled off the bed."
Nikolai’s expression didn’t change, pushing the tray of food inside. He knew that Angelo didn’t roll while he slept so he had already pieced together what had happened.
"Come eat," He invited instead, pushing the tray to the sitting area.
It was already mid-afternoon, Nikolai had stayed with Angelo until he could see traces of the assassin waking up. He got up then to prepare a large meal to make up for the breakfast they had missed, he had been fully expecting to find Angelo awake when he returned.
Angelo had finally gotten on the bed, expending more effort than he expected to. He stared at the distance between himself and the sofas, if he got up, there was no question that he would fall again. Even while he sat, his legs still trembled.
He knew when to accept defeat, so he looked back to Nikolai. "Please help," Although he had managed to ask for help, it had been reluctantly said, his words barely audible.
Nikolai didn’t laugh like he expected the Mafia King to, instead, he swiftly crossed the distance between them and picked him up.
Nikolai wanted to ask if Angelo had hurt himself ’rolling off the bed’, not because he thought the assassin was weak but because he was concerned, but he knew better than to ask. Angelo bringing himself to ask for help even though it was for something as silly and intimate as this had meant a lot to him.
Angelo peeked over while in Nikolai’s arms to try to catch a glimpse of the food the Mafia King had brought. "I hope there are no pancakes in there."
Nikolai didn’t put him down like he expected, instead the Mafia King placed him on his feet for a fraction of a second and in the next, he was sitting on Nikolai.
"I didn’t know you hated pancakes," Nikolai spoke right next to his ear, his voice low and rough.
Angelo didn’t do a great job of hiding his tremble, he didn’t hate pancakes, he was just still a little mad at how many Nikolai made him eat each time the dish made an appearance.