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

Chapter 48

chapter

forty-eight

Remi wakesme up just before dawn.

She likes to do that, doesn’t she?

I can feel how early it is before I even open my eyes. That might have pissed me off, two months ago, but, now, I just lower my face into the sweet-scented curls grazing my chin and smile to myself.

My girl.

I move to hold her more securely, feeling unfamiliar aches in my lower back and abdominals. My half-awake mind stumbles over yesterday’s conditioning routine, our practice, our game?—

Oh holy fuck.

The night comes rushing back to me in a blur. The fight, the fog that came over me like a red mist. The rut.

God, no.I rutted her all night. In every position. If I’m sore, how battered is she?

My eyes fly open. I jerk upright, almost knocking her flat onto her back as I shift to put us chest-to-chest. She’s naked but covered in a fuzzy blanket I’ve never seen before. The fact that it’s soaked in her scent keeps me somewhat calm while I scan over her body, looking for injuries.

There are bruises. Around her arms and at her hips mostly. But still, they’re bruises. And I put them there.

A pained sound sticks in my throat while I bend to brush my lips over a patch of marks clustered at the top of her thigh. She shifts, blinking awake.

“Mmm,” she hums. “Bear?”

She doesn’t sound angry. Her voice is sweet and dreamy, full of relief and a little hint of teasing. “Or is it still my alpha down there?”

Her alpha.

I guess I really am, now. I’ve rutted her. Taken her. And judging by the way she’s acting right now? She… liked it?

My arms constrict, a shaky breath sloughing out of my lungs while I tug her closer. “Butterfly. Jesus, I’m so sorry. How long was I gone?”

Remi hums, stretching lightly within the cage of my biceps. “All night,” she murmurs, tilting her head back to peer over at the gray light just barely touching the window strips above us.

That’s when I realize—we aren’t in our bed. We’re inside her nest.

And it’s fucking beautiful.

“Look,” she whispers. “It’s sunrise.”

Yeah, it is. Outside—and in here, too.

Because my girl made our nest to resemble the early-morning view we’ve always shared.

The domed ceiling is a perfect meld of soft pastels. Blended ombre paint creates a smooth effect, blurring the colors from pale pastels to brilliant bright pink, tangerine, and yellow. Her nest cushions match, the colors ranging from the very lightest on one side to the dark, more vibrant hues on the other. Gold accents glint in the weak sunshine coming through the strips of skylight arranged in a sunburst over our heads.

“Rems,” I whisper, looking around. “Baby, did you make us a sunrise nest?”

Her smile is the genuine, guileless one I love so much. She nods, bouncing excitedly while she sits up. “I did the paint! And I picked all these cushions to match. Do you like it?”

Do I like it?

Even after finding Remi and remedying my Alpha Apathy, I couldn’t picture myself getting truly excited about a nest. I’m not a person who “gets” decor or aesthetics the way Smith and Damon do.

I should have known this woman would find a way to make this feel like mine, though. Ours.

“Butterfly,” I husk, rolling on top of her and burrowing my face into her neck. “I love it. I love you.”

She giggles, squirming under my weight. “I’ve never been in here this early,” she says. “Look, you can see the colors through the skylight. They match the ceiling.”

But I can’t look. I can’t see anything but her.

It doesn’t matter anyway. Nothing could possibly be as beautiful as she looks right now, sleep-mussed and starry-eyed, grinning goofily up at me.

And I’m the beast who rutted her all night long.

My scent smolders, and she shifts around again, the humor falling off her face. She traces her fingertips over the crease in my brow. Our eyes meet. I fall into butterfly-blue, lost in the pretty patterns and my own chagrin.

She blinks, her voice softening. “Bear, I’m okay. Everyone is all right. It wasn’t your fault.”

God, she’s too fucking perfect. For any of us. And maybe I ought to feel guilty about that, but I can’t. Because, really? No one could ever deserve her.

But I know I’m damn well going to try.

Palming her soft ass in my hand, I bring her flush with my lower half and wrap her thigh over mine. When I drop my forehead to hers, she sees the intent in my eyes and smiles softly, nodding.

We make love slowly. She lets me hold her the whole time, keeping our faces together and our eyes locked. I touch every part of her, finding all of the secret spots that make moans fly from her lips to feather over my mouth.

Remi lets me make her come twice before I finally push my cock back into her, sliding down to my knot. She kneads her fingers there, every motion soft. After last night, it feels fucking perfect.

When the sun finally rises, it’s a whole new day.

And I’m new, too.