“Good way?”
“Of course,” I offer, with a small kiss on the top of her head.
I roll her over, making her face the window. It’s such a pretty view out my window, I want her to watch the new day start, plus it’s easier ignoring the voice urging me to spill all our secrets when I don’t look at her. In time it’s going to be a conversation we need to have but how the fuck do I tell her who we are?
How do any of us look at her and say something like, ‘Hey, Heidi, we are scent matched, and our mom used to tell us to watch out for you because some god whispered in her ear that her sons were fated to be with a woman who would become queen in a world made of men?’ We’d sound fucking crazy, and rightly so. But it is the fucking truth. As is the fact my brothers and I are the rightful heirs and kings of the faceless vigilantes, The Phoenix Group.
Somehow all that takes a back seat as I soak in the magic of my Omega.
Heidi’s body leans against mine and everything clicks into place. She feels like a jigsaw piece as she fits against me, filling in edges and holes I always knew I had. Apple blossom, sweet and crisp fills my lungs… she’s a good way to start any day. I suspect she’ll become even more of an addiction before her time with us is up.
“Ramses, what does this mean?” She asks, interrupting my thoughts. I look down at what she’s talking about. My scorpion tattoo. “Your brothers have one too.”
I’m not blown away by her power of observation. They’re pretty obvious and we all have them in the same place on our left hand. But Kai has another version of our scorpion tattoo bigger and placed right under his heart. Not to be outdone, Darius wears a slightly bigger one on his waist.
“It’s a reminder of who my brothers are. What we are,” I answer, dropping my head to her shoulder.
“What is that?” she says softly. A hint of envy in her voice.
“Family.”
She sighs dreamily. And it’s weird hearing Heidi be so openly feminine. Outside of being around us, she’s anything but.
“I like that. I like the way you are so close. It’s pretty amazing to see,” she says, her voice falling away, letting me know she’s got her eyes closed again.
“It means more than that too though,” I blurt out.
“I kind of figured. It reminds me of ancient Egypt.”
“Yeah, there is that,” I say as I kiss her shoulder. One kiss leads to another because once I start I kind of can’t take my lips off her body.
A few kisses, and a soft groan of encouragement and I’m a complete goner.
I drop her, like she’s fire or ice, and I leap out of her reach.
“What?” she gasps. Her hurt scents the air as quickly as I moved to leave.
I sit on the edge of the bed and lie. “I feel like we’re moving too fast. Not courting you enough.”
She’s quiet and I feel her lock up her emotions, her scent goes from a little tart to almost nothing as she locks it away under the rebuttal of my obvious rejection.
“It’s not you,” I offer.
“That’s fine. I read the situation wrong.” The warmth in her voice is gone. Her softness evaporating. “What’s the plan for today? Darius said we were spending the day together. Is that still on?”
Pulling the comforter up over herself, Heidi keeps looking out the window. I feel like an absolute ass. Who pulls away from their scent-matched partner, from a chance to bond with them on a very personal, intimate level? But to me that’s what sex is. Being physical with another person is hard, it’s a leap of faith. I wasn’t lying when I explained I hadn’t been with anyone since I handed her over because I’d never felt for anyone but her.
Now, I’m sitting on the bed with a cock so hard it’s beating in time with her racing heart and I’m back to denying myself the chance of being with my mate, denying her a part of me in the process.
I start to spiral, looking for answers. Unequivocally, I know my hesitation has everything to do with knowing there’s no turning back; like I wouldn’t bounce back again if she was taken from me. And while that insight scares me, it doesn’t stop me. If anything it’s like my brain is saying, for one final time, ‘this is it’.
I get up off the edge of the mattress and lock my bedroom door, pushing the dresser over to block the door too. I guess I’m acting on instinct because the voice in my head pointing out the fact that I’m doing a great impersonation of a fish right now—flip flopping all over the place—gets shut down.
“It is you actually,” I snap at her. Not in anger but desperate need.
I need her. Always have. My Alpha needs her too. I’m usually pretty apt at locking away my own wants and needs, along with my Alpha’s dominance, but she challenges everything because she’s meant to. She’s the only one who could push me to let go of all the confines I live by because she has the strength to take me as I am - however that is. I’m a fucking fool for even making her think for a second I didn’t want her.
Heidi sits up, twisting around, her body highlighted by the morning sun outside and she’s the personification of every goddamn fantasy I’ve ever had. She flops down on my bed becoming an instant, wanton vixen when she sees me. Or maybe it’s she feels my Alpha making his presence as clear as fucking day.
