Her release sweeps over her like a wave and she thrashes under my grip, screaming my name into the house. I lick up every drop of her release as her honey-scented slick flows from her, grinding my hips urgently into the bedding as I feast.
For a moment I almost surge up, ready to sink into her but the tiny remaining rational part of my brain tells me she might be a virgin. I don’t want to steal her first time from her, especially after last night. I have some making up to do. I come with a jerk, my fluids spurting into the bedding as I groan. It’s easily the best orgasm I’ve ever had and I’m not even inside her.What are you doing to me, princess?
Her small hands grip at my shoulders and I follow her direction. She pulls me back over her body and I lean in, leaving small kisses over her shoulder and up her jawline as she catches her breath.
Her eyes meet mine with a slight amount of uncertainty. “Good girl,” I purr, stroking my hand down her spine as I roll onto my back, taking her with me.
“I can taste your slick on my tongue, princess.” Drawing her face to mine, I slip my tongue into her mouth, wanting to share the taste with her. Her eyes widen before she sucks it off me. Her obedience settles something inside me, and a twitch tells me that my body is more than up for a second round. I tug her down so her head rests on my shoulder and she takes slow, deep breaths, inhaling my scent.
She shifts, still wearing the remnants of Gabe’s shirt. Looking down, I catch uncertainty in her expression. Time to revisit our earlier conversation.
“I’m sorry I spoke to you like that, princess,” I whisper. Shame curls through me again at the memory.
She looks away from me. “It doesn’t matter. If I did anything—”
“It does matter. You didn’t do a single thing.” My voice is firm. I won’t let her think that anything about the way I’ve behaved is her fault. Blowing out a breath, I turn my gaze to the ceiling. I owe her an explanation.
“You know, I didn’t want an omega here,” I start, and I feel her flinch down to my bones.
Fuck.I’m already making a fucking mess of this.
I shift us both until we’re facing each other. Her brow is creased, confusion in her whiskey eyes, but she holds my gaze steadily. Those eyes feel like they’re looking through me to my damned soul.
“I’m no good at this shit, princess. I don’t have the right words and I say things the wrong way. But yesterday wasn’t about you. I’ve had this… thing, about omegas, since I was a kid. You just had the misfortune to be the first omega I’ve ever spent time with as an adult. I’m sorry I took it out on you. It wasn’t fair.”
She thinks over my words before she responds, her brows furrowed.
“Will you… will you tell me why you don’t like omegas?”
Her voice wavers slightly, an edge of pain lining them. I pull her a little closer.
“When I was a kid, my father killed my mom. She was an omega.”
She gasps, but I don’t stop. I need to get this out before I lose my nerve.
“I was really close to them both. But then the war started. My mom gave up her job and stayed home with me a lot. I was just a five-year-old kid, though. I didn’t know much about omegas, or alphas, except that I was one.”
I swallow, pushing the memories back.
“This one night, my mom woke me up and put me in my closet. She told me to stay there and be really quiet and she’d come back for me.”
I stayed there for hours. Sat hugging my knees, trying not to cry.
“I didn’t hear anything for a while. Then there was banging, and shouting, and screaming. I remember this snarling sound. It felt like the whole house was shaking around me.”
Harper listens in silence, her hand reaching up to stroke my cheek. I grab her hand, anchoring her to me, turning my head to breathe her in.
“My dad ripped the closet door open, but his face was allwrong. It was twisted up and it was like he couldn’t seeme. Then he fell over, and he wasn’t snarling anymore. But there was red all over his face.”
I leave out the part where I wet my pants. My dad’s face is the part that features most in my nightmares.
“What happened?” she whispers.
“These soldiers came and took me away, and they put me in a building with these other kids. They told me mom had been controlling my dad and it made him go crazy. He killed her, and they had to put him down. Like an animal.”
They’d told me that on repeat. Over and over again until the message got through. Omegas were bad. Omegas took my parents away. My mom couldn’t control her instincts, and it cost me them both.
Tears slip down Harper’s face.
