Further we climb. We pass the next floor without stopping. “Empty,” I inform Zilas. The fourth floor, however, we do stop. I step out into the hall.
“This will be your room, Zilas,” I say. Inken steps by us and swings the door open.
The light from the curved windows illuminates the hall, and Zilas calmly drops my hand as he steps forward.
Floor to ceiling windows run along one wall, though they pause for the wall of the turret to curve into the room. There is a bed, dressed in deep blues, inside the space of the turret—as there are on all floors. Plants, a special interest of mine, aredraped everywhere. There is a built-in bookshelf with a desk space under it. A large, fluffy chair sits near the woodstove, which is currently kicking out low warmth.
Zilas turns in a slow circle, dropping the one bag he holds. I step forward, lowering his other. “If you would prefer to paint the bare wood... that would be fine.”
“No, no,” he gasps, “this is... wonderful.Perfect.”
Ink purrs low in her chest, and my rumble answers without thought.
Nervousness wars with the need inside me. Nervous that he will feel... used perhaps, for us to ask him to join us, to pack, and for him to realize, quite soon, that we want him to get our pack omega pregnant. Need because I want to fully claim what is mine: my beta.Mine. My sweet little baker beta.
He deserves to hear it now.
Even though our pack oaths, our signatures, are binding, I still want to tell him before I bend him over and rail him into the next revolution.
“Zilas,” I start, and he spins to me from where he was tentatively touching the bed. “I need to tell you something.”
Ink cringes infinitesimally beside me.She’s worried too.
Zilas quietly responds, “Of course, alpha.”
It makes my need rise.I want him so badly.
“We... pack Traex... applied for an omega. The Concord found us one, in a very short time frame. We needed another pack member.”
His soft smile takes on an edge. “You...?”
He doesn’t use the word ‘lied’ but it’s clear he understands.
I nod firmly. “And we wanted a male beta. To impregnate our omega. We want kits. Several.” My lips tilt up, imaginingthe happiness and noise I experienced in Ink’s home, so unlike my quiet one.
“You picked me... because you want your young to... be like me?” His head turns as he looks between us. “Ouryoung? The kits ofourpack?”
I nod, swallowing dryly.
A grin rises on his face like our star rising above the mountains. “That’s lovely, alphas.” He again looks to us both. He takes in our silent faces. “You weren’t...worriedI was going to be upset, were you?”
Ink nods cautiously. But Zilas’s eyes are locked on me.
“Yes.” My tail taps the ground, a nervous habit of mine. “I don’t want you to not feel...valued.Loved.”
He cautiously walks towards me, standing near but not touching. His tail wraps gently around mine, stopping my tapping as he cradles it. A calm, protective, gentleness fills me.
His hands rise at a slow pace, but pause.
“You can always touch me, Zilas. You’re pack now,” I rumble faintly.
“Why would being wanted for my personality and looks make me not feelvalued?” he asks. “Why would being given the honor of seeding our omega make me feelunloved?”
His hands wrap around my waist, pulling us together. I smile and lean in, our lips meeting.
As I pull away gently, I smile at him. “Your alphas are going to claim you now, Zilas. Do you consent?”
He nods frantically. I let my hand linger across his chest as I walk away. “Disrobe,” I command.
