Page 19 of Hidden Nature

I flipped on the shower, turning on all the different heads, so neither of us would be cold as we washed up. It was one reason I’d never been a fan of shower sex. Someone was always left in the cold. Zander had found the solution to it, even if that wasn’t the intent when he had it built.

Peeling out of my clothes, I stepped under the steaming water and hummed at the feeling of finally cleaning up after all we’d been through. A body stepped up behind me, settling his hands on my hips as I leaned back into him. He kissed down my neck opposite of Colt’s mark while brushing his hands upward until he cupped my breasts, his thumbs caressing my nipples that were begging for the attention. My body didn’t care that we’d had sex a few hours ago. It begged to be touched as if I was starved.

“So beautiful,” Rath murmured in my ear. “The fates blessed me when they gave me you to treasure, my love.”

His lips journeyed from my ear down my neck, licking the water off the hollow of my collarbone. My skin burned where he touched it, leaving me completely aware of everything he was doing. I rubbed my ass against his erection, nestled between my cheeks, begging for attention.

“Trust me, nin mel I want nothing more than to pin you against the wall of the shower and show you just how much I yearn to know what your body feels like. But I think it’s best if we get you cleaned up first. You’re tired, even if you aren’t letting yourself feel it yet. You didn’t get much sleep the other night. Then there is the massive amount of power you used that would have knocked anyone out for a day at least. Let me treasure you for now. We have all the time in the world to explore each other.”

I couldn’t help but whimper in my disappointment, hearing he didn’t want me. My wolf was disheartened and my magic rebelled at the idea our mate would reject our advances.

Were we not good enough for him?

Did he desire another?

That thought made me growl in anger. Stepping away from him, I let out a whine.

“Maybe you should shower on your own then, since we have all the time in the world,” I tossed back at him, grabbing the shampoo Zander had bought for me.

Rath sucked in a breath, telling me he figured out I was upset with him. “Nin mel…”

I sidestepped him as he reached for me. “No, you made it clear that my advances at the moment aren’t welcome.”

“That is not what I meant at all. We are new to each other and I didn’t want you to feel forced to be intimate with me if you weren’t ready. Our bond wants us to finish the process. We’ve bound our souls together but not our bodies, so it’s tricking your body into thinking that’s what needs to happen. I don’t want what happened when you went into heat to happen between us as well,” Rath reasoned.

Glaring at him, I shook my head. “You don’t get it. They gave me the option to have them leave or have the betas take care of me because it would be easier for them not to mark me. I wanted them. Deep down in my soul, I knew they were mine, and I was theirs. Was it the most romantic situation or something I expected? No. Do I regret it? Fuck no. They are my mates and so are the others. They trusted me to know what the right call was. Lane was like you, feeling as if he was taking advantage of me, but if you believe that the fates brought us together, then there shouldn’t be any doubt from you in regard to me.”

Rath opened his mouth to argue, but Zander entered the bathroom, shedding his shirt, and entered the shower to scoop me up and cradle me to his chest. “I tried to leave you two alone to figure it out, but I couldn’t ignore your whine any longer. My wolf was going crazy, and I wasn’t sure I could hold him back much longer. That and it doesn’t seem like things were going in the right direction between you two.”

Zander sat down on the tiled bench that ran the whole length of the shower, running a hand over my hip, making me purr at the touch. Zander wanted me. I could smell it pouring out of every pore of his body. Holding me like this, I could also feel his cock harden under my ass.

“How much do you know about omegas?” Zander asked Rath.

“I suppose what most people know about them. They hold the pack together, although they are incredibly submissive, holding the lowest rank in the pack. They are guarded and treasured by their alphas and other pack members, and can only be produced by wolves, typically born wolves. The fact that Finley has become one must have something to do with her being an elf since I’ve never heard of one being created from a bite before,” Rath said as he looked down at me in Zander’s arms.

Zander nodded as if that’s what he expected to hear. “Most of that is true but does nothing to tell you what an omega truly is. Omegas are the barometer of how well the pack is doing. A happy, healthy omega means a happy, healthy pack. They are treasured, and not simply because they are rare or weak but because they are the living, breathing heart of the pack. Finley is new to ours, and the pack is still getting to know her, which is also true for her. Once the bond grows between a pack and an omega, that’s when the magic truly happens. Omegas run on pure emotion, giving from themselves as they receive from others.”

“Elves are emotional beings as well but only with their nos due to the connection they have being mated,” Rath shared. “I’m not sure what that has to do with why Finley is upset with me?”

“Omegas also have the need to please those they bond or mate with along with having a high sex drive. Being intimate with their chosen person or, in our case, people is needed for them to feel confident in their connection to each other. You told her no, and I’m guessing the reason you gave her didn’t calm her fears about you finding her appealing in that way. I can also tell that something was stirred up in her other nature because she was pissed at you. I’ve seen her mad, but the scent I got off her told me it wasn’t because she didn’t agree with a rule or an order you gave her. It was personal.”

As Zander laid out my feelings for Rath, I hid my face in his neck, not wanting to look at whatever expression Rath had on his face now that he knew his words hurt me. Rationally, I knew he had no right to be mad at me, and I was allowed to feel how I was feeling, but being back around the pack brought my omega tendencies out more. The interesting part was that it made my magic more volatile and I didn’t know what to do about it. My emotions swung all over the spectrum and it caused chaos in all my natures equally.

“Nin mel, will you tell me why you are truly upset with me?” Rath asked, his hand running down my arm.

Peeking at him, I found he was now kneeling in front of Zander, so he was eye level with me. “You rejected me. The only reason you would do that is if you didn’t want me or had another you wanted instead.”

Saying it out loud made me groan. I sounded like a child whose feelings were hurt. Never in my life had I cared if someone was into me or not. Just when I thought I was getting a hang on these emotions, shit like this kept popping up. I started to pull out of Zander’s hold, but he gave me a warning growl and held tighter.

“No, little dove, this is important,” Zander scolded. “The only way we will all work together in this is if we deal with our problems and not brush them off. I get that emotion and situations like this are hard for you, not having much experience, but this needs to be fixed.”

Letting out a sigh, I turned to face Rath. The matter was in his hands how he wanted to move forward.

“Do you really believe that I don’t want you?” Rath asked, his seafoam-colored eyes pinning me where I sat.

“I can’t scent any desire from you, and you still have me shut out of your emotions. The only thing I have to judge you on is your words and actions, which both told me you didn’t want my advances,” I answered bluntly.

“Alright, I can fix one of those problems because I’m not sure how to deal with the scent part of it. Elves don’t give off much scent. It’s what made it so easy to live in the forest among the animals. They were never afraid of our presence or the scent we gave off. It made us the elite fighters we are,” Rath educated me. “As for my emotions, I need to learn how to allow you to feel them without them overwhelming you considering your sensitivity to them, but I won’t shut you out anymore.”