The truth in Kaelen’s words stirred a passion inside me, igniting a spark that caught flame and consumed me like a dying phoenix.
He took the stairs two at a time, making me giggle with his urgency. We passed my room, instead moving through the door at the end of the hall. My mouth parted in a small O when we entered his bedroom.
A muted gray colored the walls, while everything else was adorned in forest greens and rich burgundies. Along the center of the far wall stood a grand four-poster bed, draped in shining silk sheets and heavy damask blankets.
My omega was desperate to burrow beneath the bedding and mark it with her scent.
Above the bed, a chandelier cast a glow, mimicking the flames sputtering from the unpolished stone fireplace.
Kaelen placed me on the bed, and I scrambled to my knees, the skirt of my sapphire gown pooling around my legs and exposing my thigh. He stood there, watching me, like a king surveying his kingdom.
I crawled around the bed, smiling as he followed my movements. Silk slid under my fingertips as I splayed them in the sheets before rearranging the mountain of pillows. They were too tidy and organized, too sterile. I burrowed into one, lighting up at the scent of my alpha. I turned, about to ask him for his shirt to add to it, pausing when his piercing stare pinned me to the spot.
“Are you nesting, little omega?” he asked, crossing his thick, tattooed forearms.
Something twinkled in his eyes, like the early morning sun bouncing off the maple leaves. The hint of a smirk appeared, slowly unweaving the tight coil of uncertainty in my belly.
Outside of my heat, I didn’t nest. Not really. Never had the instinct. I was a useless omega. Around this man, however, it became second nature to build the perfect place for us. A cozy spot drenched in our scents where he would knot me and make me his.
“Oh. Um. No. Maybe,” I added, freezing with a decorativepillow clutched between my greedy fingers.
Chuckling at my expense, he crawled onto the bed, the mattress sinking under his weight. I licked my lips, slick pooling in my panties. My pussy clenched, and I choked down a pathetic whine. He gently tugged my abused lip free of my teeth. My chest ached, each breath more painful than the last, with a stabbing need for this alpha to claim me.
A voice in the back of my head told me he didn’t want me. Why would he want a broken omega who didn’t even know how to build a proper nest?
“Go ahead, mo chroí. Make this place ours. So I can knot that tight cunt of yours until you’re screaming my name.”
I squeaked, my eyes so wide they watered. His filthy words stoked something primal in me. Shadows from the fire danced along his back, making him look like the devil shrouded in smoke. I would sin at his altar, lay myself bare as my confession until he drained every last drop of purity from me.
“Can I have your shirt?” I asked, already tugging at the collar.
He chuckled, the sound warming me like coffee on a winter morning. He spread his arms wide, like an offering. Taking it as permission, I yanked off his jacket, wiggling my ass as I threaded it into a spot between the wall of pillows.
Blood thundered in my ears as my fingers hovered over the buttons of his shirt. My nipples pebbled, straining against the thin material of my dress. Two knuckles slid under my chin, tilting my head back, his eyes almost black.
“Take it off, Omega,” he commanded, his velvety voice almost sinful in the orange glow of the fire.
“Yes, Alpha,” I said, unable to deny him anything when he looked at me like I was the reason for the moon and stars.
With shaky hands, I slowly exposed the expanse of muscled, tattooed skin, littered with scars. Some old. Some fresh.
Nesting now forgotten, I pushed the material off him, mesmerized by the stories woven into his skin. His hands rested on my arms, playing with the thin straps there.
“Let me see you,” he said, his demand raw and teetering on the verge of desperation.
My anxiety spiked, almost making me forget what hid underneath my pretty dress. No one had ever seen them. My fingers traced over the spot below my collarbone. I always wore shirts when I slept with anyone else, or insisted that the lights stayed off.
It wouldn’t help much in this case. Not with the firelight. Best to get it over with. The quicker he realized I wasn’t what he thought, the better. It meant less time for me to get attached to him. I nodded, the motion jittery as his fingers found the zipper. He dragged it down, each second more drawn out than the last, feeling like a condemned person on my walk to the gallows.
With the zipper down, he fisted the hem of the dress, pulling it over my head, exposing me to him. I hadn’t worn a bra, couldn’t with the material. All that was left between me and Kaelen was a pair of black lace panties.
For one hopeful second, I thought he might not notice, that he might claim my lips in a passionate kiss.
But no, I wasn’t so lucky.
All at once, the desire on his face twisted into something chilling as his nostrils flared and the vein in his neck throbbed. His fingers flexed, his knuckles turning white as he made to touch the marks below my clavicle.
I shrunk away at the motion, and he froze, the two of us suspended in this bleak reality. I couldn’t take it. My eyes focused on the blanket I was shredding between my fingers.
