Captive Mate BL-Chapter 502: + - +

Author’s Note - Hello everyone, it’s been such a fulfilling journey writing this book with all the support I’ve gotten. It’s my very first book to get to 500 Chapters so it’s pretty special lol.

Unfortunately, I’ve got a bit of bad news to share. I’ll be taking a necessary creative break off writing. The slow Chapters recently haven’t been because I’ve been busy but because I’ve been struggling to write.

All signs point to me being burnt out so I will be taking a month break to rest and recover.

Captive Mate will resume in May and the updates will be as quick as it used to be.

I apologize for the lengthy break and I hope to see you guys again when I resume the book. Thanks for reading and lots of love!

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Angelo got right to his feet after stuffing himself full with food, determined to be the one to take himself to bed tonight.

It was tempting to curl up on the couch and watch cartoons for a while longer but he was already so sleepy, there was no doubt that he would fall asleep in the living room if he did that.

His hair had more or less dried by the time he made his way to his room. It was a Sunday the next day and he planned to sleep in.

As indestructible as Nikolai seemed, the Mafia King had to at least take the next day off to recover.

He yawned as he got under the covers, the seasons never meant much to him before but as he laid down, he could hear the gentle patter of rain, and couldn’t help but think of how cozy it would make his night.

Angelo didn’t forget to set a couple alarms that would ring through the night. It would be annoying to have to ruin his sleep multiple times but he would rather not die in his sleep.

Not when being alive didn’t feel like a chore anymore. The world had slowed down around him enough for him to enjoy food and crave sleep.

He was practically fast asleep as soon as his eyes closed, unaware of the quiet shadow that slipped into his room.

Nikolai should sit on the couch like he usually did but his legs carried him unerringly to the bed. He carefully got on the other side of the bed, propped against the headboard with no intention to fall asleep.

Nikolai was a hot mess, he hadn’t gotten a proper night of sleep since Angelo kicked him out of his bed. Even the drugged wine didn’t seem to cut it anymore.

And here was Angelo, blissfully fast asleep without a care in the world, while he was slowly being driven insane by the assassin.

There was a smile on his face at his thoughts but it was anything but humorous. He had been the one to put the restraints on himself...

For someone who always went for what he wanted, he was sitting right next to something he wanted more than anything else but all he could do was keep his hands and thoughts to himself.

Angelo turned around startling him, the assassin never moved in his sleep so he was certain he had woken up, and he would be caught red handed.

But the assassin had just turned in his direction, his barely visible eyes closed, his hair obscuring most of his face.

Nikolai’s expression softened as he reached out to push Angelo’s hair out of his face. His obsession with the assassin’s hair had never been to tick him off, it was just one of the few ways he was able to express his chaotic feelings, even before he figured out what they were.

He could see why the assassin preferred to keep his hair up before he slept but Nikolai didn’t mind staying awake just to keep his hair out of his face.

The rain kept a steady cadence, gentle and quiet, it filled up the silence in the room.

Nikolai kept an eye on Angelo’s phone, dismissing his alarm as soon as it started to ring, something he quickly realized was a not so great idea.

How he would explain why he was in the assassin’s bed aside, he didn’t hesitate to rouse Angelo, not about to take any chance.

Angelo was alert almost immediately, his pale eyes dark in the dim room. "Nikolai?" He called in a quiet voice, raspy from sleep. "Why are you awake?"

Nikolai was pleased that the first question out of Angelo wasn’t what he was doing in his room, although that would have been very justified.

"Set an alarm in case you didn’t wake up." He lied with ease.

"I’m not dead," Angelo mumbled, already ducking under the covers one more time. "Go drink some wine, you’re injured."

Nikolai should have known that Angelo wouldn’t buy his lies, rising to his feet. If he took the drugs, he wouldn’t be able to wake Angelo again. Not to mention, recently, he felt like shit after waking up, unable to get proper rest.

But he dutifully went off to get himself a glass of wine, returning even though he didn’t have to. Angelo was already fast asleep by the time he returned, the assassin had taken his phone back and the device was now right next to his pillow.

Nikolai emptied the glass and then got back on the bed. It was still raining and Angelo’s gentle breathing was as steady as the raindrops.

Angelo’s scent made him breathe in deeply, letting his eyes slip shut.

A few hours later, Angelo’s alarm went off and the assassin sleepily turned it off. The presence of someone else in his bed forced his eyes awake.

He looked Nikolai over, the Mafia King was fast asleep. He didn’t mind his unexplained presence in his bed, laying back down to go back to sleep.

It had stopped raining now but Nikolai scent was even better than the rain, it made him want to inch closer, content.

He had already woken up twice, there was no reason to keep interrupting his sleep with alarms, so he turned his phone off. It was in the early hours of the morning, the smell of rain still in the air, it was fresh and cold.

Angelo was the first to wake up, it was already bright in the room, and a quick look at the time showed that it was late in the morning.

He was pressed up right against Nikolai and he couldn’t say who had closed the distance between them.

Nikolai looked tired, his skin a little pale, with contrasting harsh shadows. It made Angelo pause on the bed, worry creeping in.

Worrying about Nikolai came easily, the Mafia King was worse than he was at taking care of himself, and that was already something special.

But recently, Angelo could see that he had been doing better. He had an appetite and he felt sleepy, and he looked forward to things.

The more time he spent around Nikolai, the more he realized that the Mafia King wasn’t some larger than life demigod who was capable of practically everything.

So it was easy to be worried, it looked like Nikolai hadn’t been sleeping well. Angelo considered scheming up ways to make Nikolai sleep in his room because if he did that, he would know if the Mafia King had truly gotten some sleep or not.

And sleeping with Nikolai had it’s perks, the Mafia King’s scent for one, was a huge bonus, and maybe Angelo was still touch-starved.

He got out of bed carefully, pleasantly surprised to find Nikolai still fast asleep. He put up his hair and made his way to the bathroom to clean up, his stomach rumbled as he dressed up.

It startled him, his stomach rumbling wasn’t a common occurrence but now it was happening so often. He couldn’t believe he was hungry again after the feast of last night.

Angelo was dressed in a hoodie again because while he had bought clothes for work, he hadn’t thought about what he would wear inside. But it was cold so the hoodies worked great for now, he might even need more jackets when it started to get colder.

He ordered food and ate alone while watching cartoons, his eyes constantly straying to the time, worried about how long Nikolai had been asleep.

Did the Mafia King also hit his head yesterday? Had they been worried about the wrong person all night?

Just as Angelo was about to get to his feet to wake Nikolai up, the Mafia King showed up. It looked like he had just gotten out up bed, his hair messy.

"Sleep well?" Angelo asked, relaxing.

Nikolai looked a little lost, the hard lines on his face softened by sleep. "Yeah. Did you eat without me?" He had the nerve to demand although it was already mid-afternoon.

"I’ll eat again, what do you want?"

Nikolai paused, a smile playing on the edge of his lips. "Pancakes."

Angelo kept a straight face, since he was the one doing the ordering, he could just get something else for himself. He also schemed to get back at Nikolai.

The food arrived as Nikolai returned, his blond hair tamed, dressed in a night robe set.

Angelo glanced at him as he headed for the door to get their food, Nikolai seemed to have an entire store worth of night robes, the Mafia King probably wouldn’t notice if a few went missing. He would notice though, when Angelo paraded around the apartment with his night robes on.

There were two stacks of pancakes as expected but when they sat down to eat, Angelo pushed them both in Nikolai’s direction. "Your pancakes." He said solemnly with a serious expression.

Nikolai eyed the pancake stacks, "Where’s yours?"

"I didn’t say I..." wanted pancakes. Angelo started to say, playing his trump card.

"But I ate fish and Chinese with you," Nikolai cut in, already pushing a tray of pancakes in his direction.

"Wait- what?"

"That’s yours and this is mine." Nikolai doggedly went on.

Angelo narrowed his eyes, conceding defeat. Next time, he would make sure that no pancakes would be ordered at all. He had a feeling that even if he had only ordered one serving, Nikolai would have found a way to make him eat still.