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Just a shift. A subtle, careful little tug of his hips like he’s trying to sneak out of me without waking the very exhausted, emotionally fragile omega he absolutely just folded in half.
“Lucian?” I mumble, half-asleep and full of bond-laced regret that I didn’t eat more toast earlier. “Are you trying tosneak out?”
He freezes like a kid caught stealing cookies. His hand stills on my thigh.
I blink blearily in the low light. “I swear to god, if you roll away while your knot is still in me, I will find a way to sue you for emotional damage.”
Lucian exhales, long and low, and gently pulls me down with him. Not out of me, thank god - no, just repositioning.
Onto his chest first, then he rolls us until I’m curled on my side, back against his chest.
Big spoon: alpha edition.
His arm wraps around my waist. His face presses into my hair like he’s trying to disappear inside it.
And for some reason… that’s what breaks me.
Not the knot. Not the sex. Not the emotional rollercoaster I’ve been riding with no seatbelt for the past however many days.
This.
Him, tucked against me like I’m something he wants to keep warm. Like I’m not too much. Like I’m not too broken. Like I don’t come with a full set of emotional baggage and illegal suppressants and a pack of alphas who weren’t supposed to exist in my life.
His hand starts rubbing gentle little circles on my stomach like it’s no big deal, as if it’s not the most intimate, terrifyingly sweet thing anyone has ever done to me.
I almost start crying.
But I don’t. Because I’m not sad. I’m not even scared. I’m just… cracked open.
Everything in me is soft and pink and raw,and I feel that pulse beneath my ribs again.
A heartbeat I didn’t know was mine.
“...Can you feel that too?”
Lucian hums low behind me. “Yeah.”
I turn just enough to meet his eyes over my shoulder.
“It’s new,” I say. “I didn’t know it would feel like this. I don’t know how any of this works.”
His lips tilt into something just shy of a smile. “Neither do I.”
I blink. “Wait.You? Lucian Vale? Mr. Ice Spine and Death Stare?Youdon’t know what you’re doing?”
That earns me a breathy laugh - small, but real. “Apparently, I’ve got a lot to learn.”
“Well,” I murmur, grinning into the dark, “that makes two of us. Though in fairness, Ihavebeen faking it for seven years, so technically I’m ahead on hours.”
He squeezes my waist gently. “You’re doing just fine.”
That. That right there? The calm, simple way he says it?
I almost sob.
Instead, I take another deep breath. Let it fill every part of me. Let myself feel what I’ve been too scared to say aloud.
I’m not alone anymore.
