He keeps his movements slow and measured as he undoes my sash, and his eyes haven’t left mine. There’s lots going on in them, promises, sweet endearments, insatiable hunger, fear…
“Ram, what happened to your mom, will never happen to me. You know that right?” I say, holding his face in my hands. He drops to his knees and squeezes his eyes shut. “They all loved her, and they protected her, but their story is theirs and it is not ours.”
His eyes open, and I want to say I can read him, but I can’t which is why I have to make sure he hears what I’m trying to tell him.
“You will be an amazing Alpha for us, one who will provide and care for our pack and our children, when they come. I can live with only having one of you in public with me, that’s easy. I can most certainly juggle the different sides of being protective of our identity while also living life to the fullest. I can lie to the whole world. Maybe not my Scorned Girls, but we don’t owe anyone else an explanation.”
“I feel there’s a but coming…” he says.
“There is.” I smile up at him. “I swear to god, Ramses if you ever lie to me, I will lock you out of my nest and my life for eternity.”
“I wouldn’t,” he answers in an instant.
“You would. Because that’s the way you love, Ram, and the way you were brought up. If you have to go help people, you go and help them. If situations are bad, or people are in danger, if you are hurt, if I am at risk, you will tell me at the same time you tell your brothers. I have to know because it would gut me, absolutely destroy me if something were to happen to you. You’re not just the Alpha of our pack, you are not just the leader of a mysterious group of passionate people hell bent on helping others. You are not just the oldest of your brothers. You are my person, my other part. And I need you. I lived too long without you, and I promise I will never abandon or leave you,” I say, my voice fading away.
He shuts his eyes and looks down. I give him a moment because I know what it feels like when someone challenges, and connects, with you on a deeper level. But that is who he and I will be to each other. And that is not discounting my connection with his brothers because going into this we are a pack. But we’ve all got our own love story going on too.
I give him the chance to put all the responsibility aside and simply be my guy. Even if that means he sometimes makes really fucked up decisions. I want him to be selfish, and when we’re alone, I want him to not put everyone else’s needs before his own.
“I’ve carried you with me since the first day I scented you,” he says, his eyes still closed. “You say you need me, and I can’t help but feel so fucking relieved to hear you say that. I’ll be selfish when it comes to you, you’re my weakness and my strength rolled into one beautiful strong woman. Please, let me be your Alpha?”
His eyes open slowly, when he stops speaking and he lets me see the full gamut of his emotions. The deepest ravines would overflow with it too. And he’s giving it all to me.
“I want you. I need you. I’ll be better with you as mine, and me as yours. At the centre of everything is you. And that will never change,” he says and his voice is gentle, because that is who he really is. When no-one is around, not even his brothers, Ramses is as soft as warm gooey liquor from one of those orange filled chocolates.
He suddenly grimaces though, and my heart drops. “The next time I give you flowers, please don’t scream, Heidi. You nearly broke me there and then,” he offers as we finish off being uncharacteristically sweet with each other. Both of us looking a little weirded out by what just occurred, but not even that could detract from this being one of the most fucking beautiful moments in my life.
Ramses stays gentle, and unhurried. He lifts me out of the helicopter before he interlinks our fingers, walking us inside his castle. “You really are my real-life princes? I mean, I was after white knights, but I guess I can do royalty,” I say, tugging on his arm and looking at the inside of the house.
And they were one hundred percent right about the visual clash on the inside of their home. Without a word of a lie, it’s like taking a step back in time. The floors look like they’ve been made by using thick sandstone slabs, the rich ochre colours spreads out in all directions, enhanced by vibrant paintings of Egyptian stylised lotus flowers and water lilies, with Ankh and Djed symbols hidden in earthy colours and a collision of vibrant purples, midnight blues and simmering gold accents.
There are a series of sconces set within the wall with palms separating each one. Between those are carefully framed photos of Ramses and his family. It’s a kaleidoscope of colour and styles from yesterday and today, but it comes together in a unique homey feel that radiates love.
“Ram, this is beautiful,” I say quietly, to not break the serenity of the place.
But I forget they’ve lived here, so he’s not looking at the room with awe, he’s looking at me like that. Of course, he steals my attention with a look, and his museum-like home pales away. He completely bamboozles my thoughts, and when he lets go of his presence, it fills the space we’re standing in, pulling an instant response from me. I squeeze his hand as a small peak of heat and scent rushes over me.
Ramses watches my reactions without saying a word, and I wave him on with a flirty wink. “Yeah, mister, that is all you.”
“Good to know.” He grins, but he still doesn’t rush us, he doesn’t sweep me off my feet to get us there faster.
We go down a flight of stairs, and he walks us through a room the triplets have set up as a huge media room. The sofa hugs two of the walls, and there’s a rug in the middle of the room that I want to lie down on, it looks so thick and soft. Pillows and rugs are rolled up and precisely set, and I know it’s not because I was coming, it’s because this level of neatness was ingrained in them.
Another set of sandstone stairs on a staircase so wide it could fit the four of us curls up a wall to another level. And when I take the final step onto the landing, I walk into a hallway full of nothing but Denali scent.
I swear it’s so thick and pungent, it’s like swimming through a pool of your favourite dessert. Even the viscosity of the air against my skin and in my lungs is different, not only due to it being saturated by tangy-zesty orange overlaid on warm, unrefined maple, and spicy chai latte. I cover my mouth, as I take a couple of steps through the veil of deliciousness.
Of course, he watches me, as he brushes his hand over his dark hair, I swear to God I see crystals of scent shimmering on his fingers like bits of glitter after he pulls them away. Or I'm just adrift and a little lost in the the scent of them.
“How much time do you spend here?” I say eventually, talking around the pooling saliva in my mouth.
“As often as we can. We’ve got a penthouse in the city. One that I bought so I could be close to you.”
“We can put tenants in that one. I want to live here,” I offer, as I tug his arm to a stop. “Ram, we stay together, always.”
“That better not be a question,” he whispers, growling and coming closer. And then he kisses me.
His eyes are wide open, so I can see every reaction and response he has when they happen. And it’s a goddamn buzz.
