I crowded her back, towering over her. The backs of my knuckles brushed along her arm as I tucked her hair behind her ear. A thick wave of her scent clouded my senses as Willow perfumed. My lips rested against her temple.
“Good girl,” I cooed, relishing the keening noise she treated me with. “This is for you.”
The latch on the velvet box clicked as I opened it, removing the platinum necklace. The morning after our kiss, after Willow confirmed she trusted me, I went out and bought the present, working with the same jeweler that my father used for decades. I told my omega that I would court and worship her, and I did nothing in halves.
All omegas adored gifts, but I had a feeling my omega would be annoyingly stubborn, and she did not disappoint. I clipped the necklace around her slender neck, my fingers gliding over her creamy skin as I draped the brilliant sapphire stone at the hollow of her throat.
“You can’t give me this,” she shrieked, tracing over the glittering gem. “It’s obscene.”
Her face betrayed her words. While she tried to hide it, I didn’t miss the way her eyes sparkled. She struggled with the joy it brought her to receive a gift from me, nervous about what it implied.
“Do you think you can tell me what I can and can’t give you, Willow?”
“Yes,” she said, a furrow creasing between her brows as she glared at me.
Pride swelled within me as I kept my face stone-still, matching her glower. Warmth turned to desire, all my blood rushing south.
There she was. My queen.
Flames danced in her eyes as she crossed her arms, making her tits strain against the delicate material covering them.
Technically, she was not wrong.
Everyone believed omegas were beneath alphas, the weakest of the designations, but nothing could be further from the truth. Anyone who had seen a true mated alpha and omega knew omegas had their alphas wrapped around their fingers.
A bonded alpha would level a city to protect their omega, would drop to their knees to please them.
Willow had never seen that type of devotion. The only reference she had was her parents, and based on what I found, their relationship was abusive. I didn’t know if she knew of any other mated pairs. Probably not, given how skittish she was. Not only around me, but all alphas, it seemed. I wish my parents were still alive, so I could show her what it meant to be bonded to your mate.
Bracketing her hips, I spun her around to face me.
“It is a courting gift, Willow. Will you still deny it?”
I had a feeling she didn’t connect the two at first. While she didn’t admit it, I knew my Willow had never been courted before by an alpha. Every instinct told her to brush away my gift, to refuse it. But once I confirmed what she didn’t dare to expect, realization flittered across her features. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out.
“I will be so good for you. That is my promise to you. I will cherish you like you deserve. My scent calls to you, as yours does to me. Don’t withhold what you want because you are frightened. You said I didn’t scare you.”
If anyone found out about me begging an omega to accept me, I would bury them alive. A tiny, hollow laugh fell from her as hair spilled over her delicate collarbone. When her eyes found mine again, they glittered with a beautiful resolve that made my alpha roar with delight.
“I never said that,” she breathed, and I arched a brow.
She stepped forward, fusing our bodies together as she dug a finger into my chest.
“I said,” she paused, poking me, “what youdiddidn’t scare me.You,you terrify me. Your scent, your eyes, everything about you is intoxicating, and I’m afraid of what I feel, afraid of what this all means. Afraid of getting hurt.”
The last declaration was barely audible as she mumbled the words, her hand falling limp at her side. Tension hung in the air, her scent taking on a slight burned tinge. I tightened my hold on her waist to keep her from running. All the muscles in her body seized, and I did the only thing I could.
I purred.
Never once had I purred for an omega. Willow would be my first and my last. The rumble grew in my chest, my scent thickening.
After a beat, she relented, perfuming as her body went limp in my hold. I pressed my lips to the top of her head, closing my eyes and focusing on the lulling rumble that soothed my omega. Cold hands wrapped around my neck when she murmured into me.
“Okay.”
“Okay, what?” I asked, tipping her chin up with two knuckles.
“I’ll accept your courting gift.”
