“I have something for you,” I said, fishing her present out of my pocket and placing it in her lap.
The silk of her tiny top was smooth under my fingertips as I stroked her stomach. She wiggled, dragging her bum over my dick in tantalizing movements that had me groaning in her ear. My hand drifted from her belly, down to her bare thighs, caressing the sleep-warmed skin.
A minute later, the tone shifted, and my girl turned cold, sniffling in my arms.
“I did a bad thing,” she whispered, her hands shaking around my gift.
I had a feeling what this “bad thing” was, but wanted her to tell me, so I could prove to her how wrong that belief was. What she’d done was necessary. If left unchecked, that prick would have continued to hurt animals, escalating to people eventually.
What she did was a service, and therapeutic for her. Once she accepted that, the easier it would be.
Now I understood why she was conflicted about her dad, if this happening to a stranger tormented her so much.
“Nonsense,” I said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “You are my good girl.”
“I asked Torin to hurt the guy who injured Shadow.”
The bright light faded from her face, and I pinched her chin, forcing her to look at me.
“And?” I prodded.
Her brows pinched, a tiny frustrated sound rumbling under her sternum.
“Andit’s my fault that someone will spend the rest of their lives suffering. Omegas are supposed to be sweet, quiet, and loving. Not orchestrating pain and murder,” she said, her last few words so quiet I barely heard them.
Such bullshite propaganda.
Everyone assumed omegas were quiet and submissive, and to an extent they were. But at the heart, they were powerful and protective, more so than most alphas. Their maternal instincts were terrifying when unleashed.
Willow was beautiful and venomous, like lily of the valley.
“Oh, mo chroí, you are wrong.”
She hissed, and I chuckled.
“Everyone wants omegas tobelievethat they are fragile, tender things that need an alpha to protect them and take care of them. And that is because alphas egos are so delicate they cannot accept omegas true nature.”
My hands slipped into her hair, holding her attention.
“Omegas are fierce, unyielding, and protective of anyone and anything they deem pack. Shadow isyours,just as I am. You protected her when no one else would.”
A stilted silence hung around us, and slowly, her burned scent shifted, returning to those sweet, floral notes that drove me mad.
“Willow,” I said, making her eyes widen with the intensity of her name on my tongue. “My men are at your command… as am I.”
My words landed, and before she questioned it, I fused her lips to mine. She relented to me, allowing my tongue to slide into her mouth, her body soft and supple. I grinned when she raked her nails across my back.
“Good girl,” I crooned, my lips hovering over hers.
Smirking, she stole another biting kiss, and the fire I loved about her erupted in her gaze.
“I needed to hear that. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” I said, nudging the forgotten box in her lap. “Now open.”
The lightheartedness from earlier reappeared as a broad smile split across her swollen, kiss-bitten lips. My adorable omega wiggled in my lap again, and I choked down the inappropriate thoughts flashing in my mind as she tossed the lid away. She unfurled the piece of paper inside, her eyes narrowing as she reread the legal document multiple times before pouting at me.
“What is it?”
