I felt him come inside me—felt his release pulsing in thick, hot spurts, flooding my depths so completely I could feel the pressure building inside me. The knot kept everything locked in place, kept his seed flooding into me with nowhere to go. I felt fuller and fuller, felt the pressure building as his release continued to pulse inside me, felt my inner walls clenching and fluttering around his enormous knot and ridged length.
Through the bond, his emotions slammed into me like a physical force. Fierce protectiveness, burning so hot it almost hurt. Desperate, savage love that would destroy anyone who threatened me. Violence barely leashed, ready to spring at the first sign of danger. Beneath it all, a vulnerability I hadn't expected—the terror of losing me, the desperate need to keep me safe, the overwhelming relief that I was finally his.
"Mine," he snarled against my throat, his teeth pressed to my racing pulse. His cock still pulsed inside me, still filling me, the knot keeping everything locked in place. "My mate. My omega.Anyone who touches you dies. Anyone who threatens you dies. I'll tear apart the world to keep you safe."
"Yours," I breathed, reaching back to touch his scarred face. Through the bond, I sent him everything I felt—acceptance, love, safety. "I'm yours, Riven. And you're mine."
He shuddered against me, and I felt something break open in him—centuries of loneliness, of violence, of waiting for something he'd never thought he'd have. Tears tracked down his scarred cheeks, and he buried his face against my shoulder, his massive body trembling as he held me. We stayed locked together for long minutes, his knot pulsing inside me, occasional spurts of release still flooding my depths. I could feel how full I was—stretched around his enormous knot, filled with his seed, marked inside and out as his.
When the knot finally began to shrink, he pulled out of me slowly, carefully, and I whimpered at the emptiness. I could feel his release trickling from my vent, and I clenched involuntarily, trying to keep him inside me.
"Rest," he murmured, gathering me in his arms and pulling me against his chest. His hand stroked down my back, surprisingly gentle after the ferocity of his claiming. "The heat will start again. I'll be here."
I woke to the sensation of his hands on my body—stroking, soothing, possessive.
"You were nesting in your sleep," Riven said, amusement coloring his rough voice. "Rearranging the furs. Pulling my things closer."
I blinked, looking around. He was right—I'd gathered the furs into a tighter nest, pulled his weapons closer to form walls around us. One of his bone knives was clutched against my chest like a child's toy.
"I didn't even realize," I admitted, feeling heat rise to my cheeks that had nothing to do with my biological heat.
"It's instinct." He pressed a kiss to my hair, and through the bond I felt his deep satisfaction at watching me nest in his space, with his things. "You're making it ours."
I looked around the cave—at the weapons on the walls, the rough nest I'd improved in my sleep, the scattered items that smelled of both of us now. It did feel like ours. Like a space we'd claimed together.
"Tell me about the weapons," I said softly, running my fingers over the bone knife in my hands. The heat was building again—I could feel it simmering in my blood—but for now, it was manageable. "Where did they come from?"
Riven was quiet for a moment, his fingers tracing patterns on my scales. "Battles," he said finally. "Enemies defeated. Threats eliminated." His voice darkened. "I've spent centuries keeping our pack safe. These are the trophies of that duty."
"You protect them." It wasn't a question.
"I protect what's mine." His arms tightened around me. "And now that includes you. It will always include you." Through the bond, I felt the weight of his words—the centuries of violence in service of protection, the fierce dedication that had kept his pack alive through dangers I couldn't imagine. And now that same ferocity was focused on me.
"Cort," I said softly, feeling his body tense against mine. "You're going to go back for him." It wasn't a question. Through the bond, I could feel his thoughts circling around the sailor who had threatened me—the promises of violence he intended to keep.
"After your heat is satisfied," he said, his voice cold in a way that sent shivers down my spine. "After you're settled and safe. Then I'll return to that ship. I'll remind him what happens to those who threaten what's mine."
I should have been horrified. Should have argued for mercy, for restraint. But all I felt through the bond was dark satisfaction—the omega part of me purring at the knowledge that my alpha would destroy anyone who threatened me.
"Be safe," I whispered instead. "When you go."
He pressed a fierce kiss to my lips. "I'll be thorough."
The heat chose that moment to surge, sudden and overwhelming, and I gasped as my core clenched with desperate need. Riven growled low in his throat, and I felt his arousal pressing against my tail—already hard, already ready.
"Again," he growled, rolling me onto my back, positioning himself between my thighs. His vent was already open, his ridged length pressing against my entrance—still slick from my earlier releases, still hard, still massive. "I'm going to take you again. And again. Until the heat is satisfied and you can't remember your own name."
He thrust inside me in one powerful stroke, and I screamed with pleasure, my oversensitive walls clamping down on his ridged length. The sensation was almost too much—every ridge scraping against walls that were still fluttering from earlier orgasms, every sharp edge catching on nerves that were already overstimulated.
He set a relentless pace—hard, deep thrusts that drove me higher with every stroke. I could feel every ridge with devastating clarity, could feel the way they dragged against my sensitive flesh with each withdrawal, could feel the way they pressed into me with each thrust. My inner walls clenched around him involuntarily, and I felt every ridge shift in response.
When the orgasm hit, it crashed through me with devastating force. My inner walls clamped down on his ridged length, and I felt every edge pressing into my clenching flesh. Through the bond, I felt him follow—his knot swelling, stretching me impossibly wide, locking us together as his release flooded my depths.
I felt the knot pulsing inside me, felt his release spurting in thick waves, felt the pressure building as he filled me again and again. Each pulse of his release sent fresh sparks of pleasure through my oversensitive body, and I sobbed against his shoulder as the pleasure went on and on.
"Mine," he growled against my throat, his teeth pressed to my pulse.
"Yours," I agreed, my voice wrecked, my body trembling around the knot that tied us together. We lay there, locked together, his arms wrapped around me, his presence burning fierce and protective in my mind. Through the bond, I could feel the others—Kaelan's steady strength, Vale's musical warmth, Thane's tender devotion. All of them there, all of them waiting.
