She sniffed and wiped her tears on my shirt. “That’s so fucking codependent of you.”
Against all odds, I snorted out a laugh. This girl.
“There she is. I love that Westin. She’s the one haunting my every step with her vibrance and snark, bringing color back into my world when I’d accepted all the gray. I’m not afraid of her.”
“I am,” she confessed. “Everyone leaves her.”
My breath caught in my chest. “It fucking kills me that you believe that, and that I made you feel that way when I should have been showing you all along how loveable you are. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before, and that scared me. But there’s no excuse. I’ve been here all this time, making you feel even more lonely when I should have been here for you and believed you. But I’m here now.”
“You’re here now.” She relaxed the tiniest bit in my hold.
“Yes, princess.”
“You’re not leaving?”
“Not leaving,” I said, digging my fingers into her skin.
“You don’t hate me.”
“I could never hate you.”
“I hate you,” she said softly, pressing her face into my chest.
“I know, love. I know.” I rocked her gently back and forth until she relaxed fully in my arms. I did my best to ignore the fact that her hand was still moving in her underwear, but my cock was not listening. I tried to shift her so my hard-on wasn’t pressed against her hip.
“I don’t want to be alone.” Another whine escaped her lips.
“You never have to be again.” The words felt right as I spoke them. I wanted forever with this omega, and the only thing that scared me now was the chance that I’d fucked things up too much for her to forgive me.
“Even when I tell you to go away?” she asked.
“Even then. If something happened to you, I would never be okay.”
“I don’t feel good,” she said again with a whimper. “I feel so empty.”
“I think you are in heat, princess.” I couldn’t understand why I still couldn’t scent her. I had thought it was because she was wearing de-scenter, but no de-scenter was strong enough to fully cover an omega’s scent while they were in heat. Her perfume should be filling the room. Even so, all the signs pointed towards this being heat.
She shifted in my hold to straddle me even as she shook her head. “I can’t be,” she said, grinding her sweet pussy against my now rock-hard cock.
I hesitated, part of me wanting to argue with her, but if she needed to be in denial right now, that was okay. “Alright, love.” I cupped her face, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead, and then choked as she started unzipping my pants.
“Westin, no,” I said gently, gripping her wrists. Fuck, there was nothing I wanted more than to be inside her, but I didn’t want it like this. Not until she was thinking clearly and I had the chance to beg her forgiveness.
“You said you’d be here for me,” she said, fighting against my hold.
“Not like this, princess,” I said, but my resolve was breaking. The only other option to spare her suffering was to bring her to the hospital, and after her last experience there, I doubted she would want to return.
“But I need you,” she cried out. She met my gaze, tears streaking down her cheeks. “It hurts, Gray, so much. Please, please don’t leave me alone.”
I released her wrists, and she immediately unzipped my slacks. When she couldn’t get my boxers down, she growled angrily, further proof that her omega was at the surface.
I gently lifted her off my lap so I could strip my pants and boxers off, and then I helped her out of her clothes, groaning at the sight of her perfect pink pussy with its triangle of silver hair.
“Fuck. You’re beautiful.”
She sat back down on my lap, tugging at my shirt until I pulled that off, too. The press of her soft breasts against my chest was almost my undoing.
I threaded my fingers through her hair, tilting her head back. “Can I kiss you?”
