For a heartbeat, everything is perfect.
And then I feel him pulling back.
“No.” My hands clutch at his shoulders, my voice breaking. “Please.”
He freezes above me, resignation etched across his face. He swallows hard, jaw flexing, and then he gives in. He sinks deeper, hips locking against mine, and his knot swells, stretching me wide. Wider than I thought possible.
I gasp, the breath punched out of me as the pressure builds, almost too much, almost unbearable—until it isn’t. Until it’s everything. Until I’m full in a way that makes me dizzy, breathless.
He collapses onto me, chest slick against mine, his weight pressing me into the bed. My arms wrap around him automatically, holding him like I’ll never let go.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbles against my shoulder, voice muffled.
“For what?” My fingers trace the ridges of his back, sliding over the raw indents my nails left behind.
He lifts his head, eyes red, expression torn apart. “For what I said. Yesterday. Today. All of it. I’m just… sorry.”
The words sting. They feel like a taking-back. Like he’s retreating even now, even with his knot locked inside me, even after whispering I love you with his release still hot in my body.
“Do you mean it?” My voice is small, betraying me.
His gaze doesn’t waver. “Yes.”
I bite down a sob and kiss him instead, clutching at him, clenching around his knot like I can anchor him to me with just my body. “Then we need to talk. About everything. Because I likeyou, Boone. I might even love you. But we can’t keep running in circles like this.”
He nods, forehead pressed to mine, breath uneven. “I know.”
Our lips meet again, slower this time, softer, like we’re relearning each other in the wreckage. His hand slides into my hair, holding me close, and for a moment I believe we can make it through.
Until he pulls back, eyes shadowed. “Sadie… I think you need to go to the police. Get a restraining order against Scott.”
The words slice me open. The bubble bursts.
“That’s the last thing I want to talk about right now,” I whisper, shaking my head. The thought of Scott intruding into this moment, into this fragile, broken, beautiful thing Boone and I are trying to build—it makes me want to scream.
“Sadie—”
“No.” My voice is sharp, final. I kiss him again, swallowing the rest of his words, clinging to the only truth I can hold onto. Him. Here. Us.
Because the world can wait.
But my heat, my heart, my hunger for him—none of that can.
Boone is still inside me, his weight draped heavy over my body, his knot locked so deep I can feel every twitch of him. My chest rises and falls under his, sweat drying tacky between us, and I can hear his heart hammering in sync with mine.
Neither of us speaks. I don’t know if he’s avoiding it, or if he’s just too raw to start. But the silence feels like it’s pressing down on us, demanding to be broken.
“Do you know what it’s like for an Omega?” I whisper finally.
His head shifts on the pillow, eyes dark, watching me. “Tell me.”
I lick my lips, gathering the courage. “It’s not just sex. It’s need. It’s biology turned into fire. My body doesn’t ask permission—it takes, it burns, it devours. Heat is like beingtrapped in a storm you can’t control, and every nerve in me screams for relief. You think this is about them—Shepard, Gabe. But it’s not. It’s about me. My body. My choices. Boone, I asked them because I needed help. Not because you weren’t enough.”
He flinches at the word.
“Not because I wanted to hurt you,” I add quickly, my fingers sliding through his damp hair. “You’re the first man I’ve been comfortable with in years. The first man I’ve trusted with my body, my safety, my heart. You’re my best friend. But I like them, too. I can’t pretend I don’t. They make me feel safe in different ways. And I don’t want to lie to you about that.”
His throat works, eyes flickering away.
