I’d been hoping it wasn’t—but hadn’t dared to think it aloud. If she only wanted me to have an additional hand to satisfy her, I would have suffered through the pangs of not being wanted for real.
But that wasn’t what I wanted.
I wanted her viscerally, desperately, painfully.
I wanted her teeth sinking into my skin, and mine punching through hers to claim her for good.
I wanted forever with the woman who’d forced us to face ourselves and the half lives we were living. Who’d plucked at the strings of my alpha instincts with her innocence and simultaneous ability to protect herself.
“Why do you want me, princess?” I asked.
She had to say it out loud, so I knew for certain.
“I might be falling in love with you.”
Quirking one eyebrow, the other side twitched amidst the tight scarring. “Might?”
Her hands fisted the sheets, every second bringing more of her coconut chocolate scent into the air. More slick pooling beneath her, too. I should still get Leighton to help her. It shouldn’t be me, not before I’d talked to Leighton and made sure she was OK with this.
Then again, I trusted them to handle their relationship as much as I trusted myself to handle mine with Mercury.
If I gave Kiara the knot she was desperate for right now, Mercury wouldn’t be upset—which was the only reason I was even considering it.
Kiara wasn’t yet in heat, so for her to be asking me for anything at all… they’d already talked about it.
“Maybe, if you knot me, it’ll change to a definitely,” she said.
Her cheeks were flushed but she was smirking, and that sass was enough for me to dive in and press our lips together.
She didn’t hesitate to kiss me back. I knew she was new to kissing and everything else I wanted to do to her, but she didn’t seem like it. Leighton had taught her all the ways to make me lose my mind with a kiss, and her omega instincts were taking care of the rest.
Kiara squirmed and groaned beneath me. I crawled onto the bed to hover over her, not breaking the kiss.
Her legs wrapped around my waist, wet pussy pressing against the bulge in my jeans. The whine she released ignited a feral part of my brain that I couldn’t control.
“Good girl,” I growled. “Rub yourself all over me, princess.”
She bit my lip hard enough to draw blood, wrapping her arms around me and raking her nails down my back.
Such an animalistic little omega.
If she weren’t so close to heat, and if this weren’t our first time, I would have disciplined her for that. As it was, I was too thrilled to be the object of her desire. She would learn the next time.
“Ambrose,” she whimpered. One hand trailed down to tug at the waistband of my jeans. “Off.”
“Is that how you ask?”
I skimmed my lips down her jaw to her neck, scraping my teeth against the skin. She keened and jolted against me, a new rush of slick drenching my thighs.
“Please! Please take them off.”
With another quick nip, I drew back. Kiara panted and strained to follow me, but I kept her away with a hand on her shoulder. My belt landed on the floor a second later, but I paused before undoing my jeans.
“Princess, you’re going to take them off for me.”
Her hazy eyes cleared, showcasing their dazzling blue and the nervousness within their depths. Trembles wracked her as she reached for me, and I caught her wrist before she could complete the task.
My lips pressed softly against her palm. “You’re nervous.”
