Knot Her Shot (MVP: Most Valuable Pack Book 2)

Chapter 33

chapter

thirty-three

I wakeup to that tug in my middle.

Remi.

I know she’s close by—but I never imagined she’d be this close.

When I blink and roll over, I find her huddled under my sheets, curled into a ball at the foot of my bed.

What the?—

It was Damon’s night to share her room with her. So how did she end up in here? And why didn’t she wake me? Or at least try to share my pillow?

I guess the bed sort of screams, No Room For You. This mattress is only big enough for one. A very deliberate decision I made when I bought it. But, for her, I would have made room. Or slept on the floor.

Instead, she’s in the fetal position, wadded up between the tops of my feet and the wall I have the bed pushed up against.

“Butterfly,” I mutter in my sleep-drenched rasp, bending to lift her up into my chest. “What are you doing in here, baby?”

She stirs, burying her face against my naked chest. The sheet wrapped around her shifts, showing me that, underneath it, she’s bare, too.

I rearrange us as best I can with little room, flattening her body between mine and the wall. When she hums something incoherent, I nuzzle my face into her hair.

“Was Damon snoring again?”

She sighs. “No. It wasn’t his fault.” Blue-gold eyes blink open to peer at me in the gray pre-dawn. I remember thinking, just a few weeks ago, that everything around me felt gray. And now she’s here, in my dreary bedroom. And all I see are her colors.

Remi’s front teeth sink into her pink, puffy lip. “I’m sorry if I woke you up.”

“’S okay, Rems,” I mumble, lost in the way she smells and feels and—God, wake me up like this every morning.

Her body is so warm and soft against mine. I rub my nose along her temple, inhaling the honey cake sweetness. And freeze.

Is that Smith?

Why is his scent on her? And so strong, too.

When I lean back to lift my brow at her, she bites her lip harder, blanching it. “I’m okay,” she blurts. “He didn’t mean to do anything, but he was in a rut, and I went in his room, and?—”

My entire body stiffens. “He what?”

“No, Bear,” she pleads, trying to grab me before I can jump up from the bed and stalk off to kill my asshole brother. Her fingers slip over my arm, scratching me accidentally when her grasp proves no match for my rage.

I’m on my feet and halfway to the door before a distressed whine stops me cold. When I whip around, she’s curled into a ball, hugging her knees. Her eyes are wide, beseeching.

“Please,” she whispers. “He already hates me. I’m scared. After last night… I don’t want him to make me leave. Please, Cassian. Just drop it.”

My fingers flex into fists. “He can’t just—just—have you like that, Remi. He can’t have you if isn’t going to take care of you the way you deserve. I’ll kill him.”

She stands on shaky legs, wobbling slightly while she weaves around my rumpled piles of clothes and tries not to trip on the sheet clutched over her breasts. “I know,” she murmurs. “We didn’t go that far. He didn’t do anything I didn’t consent to. It was just a little rough. But I’m okay, see?”

Like she’s showing off a new outfit or doing one of her spins for Damon, she twirls in a graceful circle. Some of my fury cools, seeing the small smile on her lips. Even if it looks forced.

God, I want to see her smile for real.

Enough of these half-smirks and shy almost-grins. Even the smiles she gives Damon seem put-on sometimes. Like she thinks she has to flirt with him to make her happiness worth his while.

I look past her, to the balcony and the world beyond. The sky is gray-blue, lightening by the second.

“Come on.”

She takes the hand I stretch out to her, following just behind me while I clear a path to the double doors. They stick, but I muscle one open and step halfway outside, sizing up the situation.

Not too bad. Only about four feet up to the rooftop.

I take my sheet from her clutched hand, snapping it open and bringing the tails together to tie them between her pert little tits. “Cass,” she huffs. “What are you—ah!”

Lifting her with both hands, I stretch up until her arms are level with the edge of the roof. She catches on instantly, scrambling up with an extra boost from my hand on her ass.

Getting myself up beside her takes a little more effort, but years of chin-ups come in handy. I scrabble up beside her, landing on my boxer-covered ass just as I realize I probably should have dressed us both first.

Looking around, though, I see it’s not a problem. Our house is the tallest one on the street by at least half a dozen feet. And the copse of old oak trees surrounding us provides enough coverage to make the neighbors a non-issue anyway.

Even if everyone in the neighborhood saw my boxers, I wouldn’t care. Because when I turn to look at Remi, she’s beaming.

A full, true grin. Just as beautiful and bubbly as I remember it being.

Years fall off her face as she smiles at me. Warmth blooms in my chest. Creeping vines of joy and wonder wrap around my throat, leaving it hoarse as I say, “I knew I picked this room for a good reason.”

Somehow, her grin gets bigger. “Do you know which direction is east?”

I get my bearings and point to the right. She spots a dip between two sections of the roof, and we both crawl over to it, settling down in a secure spot where we can both lie on our backs and face the sunrise.

Keeping her sheet tucked around her, protecting her delicate skin from the rough shingles under us, I pull her into my side and hold her there.

Color climbs into the sky. First, the weakest lavender, followed by thin pink and hazy gold clouds. It’s fucking beautiful. Breathtaking, just like it was the first morning I met her.

Just like all those secret morning meetings, Remi watches the sunrise, and I watch Remi. And slowly, with every breeze that ruffles her hair and every pensive gaze at the pink clouds, something inside of me that’s been broken for a long time feels like it’s finally knitting back together.

When the sun starts to make its appearance on the horizon, she turns to me with a question in her eyes. “Bear?”

It’s just one word. I have no idea how I know exactly what it means, but I do. And I instantly know my answer.

Normally, I kiss her like I literally cannot wait another second. This time, it’s slower. I draw her body into mine, molding my lips over hers gently.

I want to erase whatever happened last night. Show her she can trust me. That I’ll always be here for her, as her friend and her lover and every other goddamn thing she needs.

That I’ll be her alpha in every way, if she’ll have me.

Remi opens her arms and legs, leaving the sheet flat underneath her as I position myself on top. She shucks my boxer briefs, glowing blue eyes snagging on mine when she reaches up to touch my jaw. “Please, Bear,” she whispers. “Are you—are you ready?”

Her arousal is a thick, heavenly burst of honey, hanging in the morning mist around us. But I know that isn’t what she means.

Whatever part of her held back before; she’s ready to let it go now.

Up here, with me. In our secret spot. With a sun rising overhead.

She wants all of me.

I drop my forehead to her shoulder, feathering kisses along her collarbone as I push my cock into her soaked center. She arches her neck, moaning softly as she takes me down to the root, knot and all.

I haven’t swelled all the way yet. While I still can, I work myself in and out of her wet, perfect heat, pausing to grind against her clit on every plunge.

It doesn’t take long before we’re both panting. Her hands slide over my back, feeling the way my muscles move while I pulse in and out of her pussy. I kiss her throat, scraping my teeth over it as my knot begins expanding, tugging at all of the nerves inside of her every time I work it in and out.

She feels fucking exquisite, gripping everything I give her with silky, slippery heat. The final time I bottom out inside of her, she squeals, bucking her hips up into mine as her orgasm moves through her.

Remi’s inner muscles lock my knot into place. Pleasure erupts in my core, sending molten bliss through my veins.

For a moment, I feel like my insides are the same color as the golden mist surrounding us. Even after my climax fades, that feeling lingers in my chest, sinking into the purr that rolls out.

Just for her.

Always for her.