“I’m not tired.”
“I didn’t say to sleep.”
“But I’m not in heat anymore,” Elena protested, jumping up from her chair to gain a few more steps away from him. She swayed in the open space, uncertain and without a bulwark to defend her nearby. All she could do is run from him, and that would only excite him more.
“Do you think that is the only time I would have you in my bed?” Leon continued to watch, to stare as Elena began to tremble. Seeming to enjoy her terror as she quickstepped back another handful of paces.
“What you’re insisting on isn’t done,” Elena hissed, clawing at her chest as that insidious voice whispered sweetly to bow tohim. The harder she scratched at it, the deeper it went, spinning a web of honeyed lies around her heart. Binding her soul with vicious sweetness until Elena thought she might shatter to a thousand pieces right then and there.
“And what would you know of how it’s done,” Leon asked as if bored with her vehemence.
“I… I…” Elena’s anger fell flat as she realized she didn’t know a thing. It wasn’t something explained to them. She had only her father’s house and his way of doing things to go by. For all she knew, each Alpha had his own way of arranging the many partners in their lives. There was only one thing she did know for certain, and there was no way around it. “Omegas have their own rooms.”
“Perhaps when I take on another Omega, or when I decide to marry, yes. Until then, I see no reason to have to come hunting you down when I want to fuck you.”
Elena cringed at the coarseness of his words, the bald statement turning her cheeks hot even as she went cold all over. For a horrid moment, the thought of him with another, pleasing them, making them scream his name just as Elena had sent her rage spiraling. Then she remembered herself.
She was nothing and nobody to this man. First Omega or not, the only position that accorded her was among other Omegas. Not him.
The fight drained out of her in an instant, leaving her quaking and adrift. Elena bowed her head and turned to go up the stairs. She returned to the bedroom, hugging her middle tight as the cold stole through her, icy tendrils working their way through her limbs as she undressed with mechanical motions.
Climbing into the bed, she curled up into a tight ball on her side to stare out of the sliver of window peeking through the curtains.
Leon didn’t join her for some time. The first fingers of dawnwere spearing through the sky to lighten the glass when he came in. Peeling away his clothes, he made no effort not to rouse her. Knowing she was still awake. Waiting for him.
He got into the bed behind her, a perturbed grunt escaping his lips as his searching fingers found her hand rubbing the spot on her chest raw. Gripping her shoulder, he rolled Elena under him, crushing her beneath his weight. Forcing her to unwind from her defensive huddle until she lay open and bare to him in every sense.
Aligning their chests, he offered a subtle growl. An almost purr that crackled through tensed muscle and gritted teeth until suddenly all the tension drained from her body at once. Exhaling a shuddering sigh as some point between them connected, sending a surge of warmth through her body, Elena melted into the bed.
She offered no protests as Leon hefted her leg to his hip. Made no denials as he kneaded her breasts. Gave him her quiet moan as he ravaged her mouth with his, luring her in with his devastating kisses.
Only instincts.
Elena reminded herself of the fact she was primed to respond to him. Fresh from her estrous, mated and pregnant.
As he trailed his lips down her neck, exhaustion filled her. A great lassitude weighed down her limbs as she relaxed further into the bed. Her lids became heavy, unable to keep them open as she struggled to watch the Alpha above her devouring her body.
She was just so very tired.
Her breaths grew deep and even as he gripped her breast, laving its peak with long swipes of his tongue. Elena gave a sleepy moan, her hands soft and weighty as she stroked over his shoulders.
She’d rest for just a moment.
NINETEEN
LEON
She’d fallen asleep right in the middle of everything. Part of him wanted to wake her, to make her recognize his prowess, but the far larger part had him slipping free of her slack grip. Arranging Elena among the pillows remaining after she destroyed her nest, he pulled the blankets high to her chin and pushed the hair from her face.
She was a vision in sleep. All softness and without guile, not a hint of her anger to be found. It wasn’t until those incredible hazel eyes opened that she would remember to hate him, to be terrified.
He’d done nothing to truly hurt her and everything in his considerable power to see to her every need. His words had been harsh during their interactions, but nothing was wounded except her pride. Leon couldn’t understand how a female could be so adamant and vicious when she knew nothing of the world at all.
Laying a light kiss on her forehead he left her to dress and try to get some work done. He’d abandoned it once tonight already, thinking he could get Elena off his mind with a quickroll in the sheets, but she’d ruined that plan. He couldn’t find it in himself to be angry about it.
She was carrying his child. A fact he could hardly believe. Leon hadn’t thought it would happen so quickly, but there it was.
He was going to be a father and with a beautiful, kind Omega as its mother.
