Chapter 44
forty-four
I run.
So fast, my shoes fly off behind me, and I barely even notice. Fast enough to have my hair bouncing in a blur of blonde, my stomach cramping as I race down the last flight of stairs and make a hard left, flinging my body out of the stairwell and into the second floor’s central corridor.
I can’t hear anyone behind me, but that doesn’t mean anything. At the moment, the only sound echoing in my ears is my own heartbeat.
Nest, nest, nest.
My Omega chants the directive. She might not know what the hell we’re doing, but that’s the one thing she’s certain of. The nest will be soft enough for our rutting alpha not to hurt himself any more… and if he isn’t following the way she wants him to, she’ll want to curl up there to die .
Are all Omegas a bit on the dramatic side, or is it just mine?
The doors to my suite are unlocked. I burst through them and do a quick scan, making sure there are no staffers innocently going about their business. Because if anyone saw Dair like this other than me…
Yep , my Omega says, Death .
She is definitely a drama queen.
Resounding silence greets me, but it doesn’t last. Within seconds, a bone-shattering roar rips into the room.
Dair’s body collides with mine before I can blink. Hard, sweaty muscle and flesh that’s nearly too hot to touch. His frame jostles me just as his scent slices a burning path down my throat. I cry out, falling forward, but his arm hooks around my front, punching the air from my lungs.
When my shriek dies, the alpha rips me right off my feet, his hands frantic and much too rough as he flips me around.
Panic flares inside me. He’s so strong and desperate—and there’s not even a speck of the man I know in those bleary black eyes.
If I want him back, I’m going to have to be the one to bring him out of this. Maybe then he’ll finally see how much I care about him. That I’ve forgiven him. And I can handle anything he throws at me.
Can I, though?
I have no idea what I’m doing . I’ve barely gotten used to regular sex and knotting, let alone a rutting alpha who will want to lock us together again and again…
He could really hurt me. Or himself .
It doesn’t help that he’s currently strangling me against his chest.
Staring into his unseeing eyes, I scrabble for something—anything—I can do . Should I act seductive or try to find another bark? Maybe if I feign confidence…
But every time I’ve tried to be something I’m not, it ends horribly. That’s how I started this whole mess, anyway, pretending to be Addison…
Being myself has been enough for Asher and Bast so far. Is it possible it will work for Dair, too?
If I show him how out of my depth I am, will it make matters better or worse?
And do I even have a choice?
I’m running out of air.
I manage a squeaky whine, letting fear show on my face. Dair’s snarling features freeze, then crumple, his hold loosening.
Air fills my chest, sharpening my mind. I raise a shaking hand to touch the only place I can reach with his arms banded so tightly around me, grazing fingertips over his side.
“Hi,” I whisper. “Hi, Dair.”
The duke responds to my gentle touch with a ragged exhale. Pain pulls at his eyes again, his teeth flashing as one hand fists my dress.
“Shh,” I soothe. “It must hurt so much, alpha. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know, or I would have come to you sooner.”
A choked growl scrapes up his throat as my second hand joins the first, both stroking down the sweat-misted planes of his lower back.
I lean forward to kiss his chest. “I’m here now, okay? I have no idea what to do, but I’m here, and you and I will figure it out together.”
The moment my words register, I’m off my feet. Dair hauls me over his shoulder, his motions coarse, but not painful. Especially when I hear the rumble spring to life in his chest.
Purring .
It’s deeper than the few times I’ve heard it before. More instinctual, perhaps. Not muted by any inhibitions.
The dull roar relaxes my body, leaving me limp as the alpha carries me to the nearest surface. It’s the bed, not the nest. But at least it’s soft?
Before I can make any suggestions, Dair lowers me onto the fluffy blue duvet and tears my dress off. In one tug, both thin straps snap, and the green fabric goes flying behind him.
He doesn’t hesitate at all, bending to rub his face all over my torso. Marking me with his sweat and scent, those tattooed hands flying to my hips and ripping my lace briefs to shreds.
Dair nips at my hip bone, and I gasp, realizing— oh, he could bite me .
“N-no,” I quiver. “We can’t do that, Dair. Anything else you want, but no biting.”
He answers with another growl, though this one is a little more grumbly than his others. It reminds me of my grumpy, reluctant Stalker and all his mulishness. An involuntary smile twitches over my lips.
Amusement must do something to my scent because he groans. A deeply pained, masculine sound that sloughs out of his mouth as he crumbles to his knees, rubbing his lips along my mound.
When I perfume, he snaps out a snarl and dives between my thighs.
Oh!
The way Dair eats me is nothing like the skillful finesse he showed in the limo. This is raw, animalistic need . Teeth scraping at my pussy lips, tongue delving in shameless plunges. He’s so focused on lapping up my slick, his full lips only hit my clit by accident—but when I cry out, he answers with a tortured moan and nuzzles his whole face into me.
I come more from his need—his hoarse growls and shaking fingers and his scent , oh God —than anything else. Slick coats his face and dribbles down to his chest. He rubs an absent hand over it, smearing my essence all over his torso, straight down to rub it on his cock.
Oh. My. GOD.
Satisfied, my alpha rises to his feet, panting down at me. His eyes are still empty, and that sends a slight pang to my heart, but there’s barely time to feel it.
“ Present .”
His bark flips my stomach, lurching me into motion. I start to move, but then I realize…
Oh no .
I taste the salt of my own scent as I shiver. Dair doesn’t like it. His whole face pulls into a tighter, scarier expression. “ Present ,” he barks again.
I cringe into the covers, knowing he won’t understand if I explain. I try anyway, unsure what else to do. “I—I don’t know how to.”
In all of our nights together, neither Bast nor Asher have ever asked me to present. It was such a non-issue, I forgot this is something omegas are supposed to do for their alphas. If I’d remembered, I could have asked Jasmine or one of the other guys to explain. Now it’s too late.
The savage look on Dair’s face melts into another pained expression. A shudder wracks his body, unclasping his hands from around my thighs.
For a horrible second, I think he’ll walk away. But he slides his touch under my backside instead, maneuvering us to the middle of the mattress and then suddenly flipping me over.
Oof .
I sprawl face-down on the duvet, startled and on the verge of hopeless laughter. Until I feel him climb behind me, the burning skin of his thighs sliding against mine. He hooks an arm under my hips and yanks them upright, putting my ass on display. His free hand flies to the back of my neck and takes hold of my nape.
Rough indeed…
So why am I gushing slick?
Dair’s throbbing hardness settles against my clutching pussy, the heat of it searing. I gasp, thinking he’ll ram right in. Scared I’ve already ruined this because I’m so out of my depth.
But he doesn’t shove inside. Instead, my alpha curls over my back and hides his face in my hair. “Omega,” he moans, desperate and raspy. His fingers flex around my throat. “ Mine .”
I nod, turning my face to his. “Yes,” I agree, kissing his sharp cheekbone. “Yours.”
I watch the word register, his blank eyes lighting. My heart lurches when I realize— he’s been waiting for permission . For me to say “yes.”
This sweet, wonderful man who has no idea he can even be sweet. Or wonderful.
I arch into him as he rumbles with a growly purr, canting his hips back and then forward. His cock pierces me in one long glide. My slick pussy grabs at it, tugging his thickness deeper.
Dair chokes and roars, balancing on his knees with one hand banded at my throat and the other gripping my hip, bruising in the most deliciously possessive way. I moan as he drives in and out of my body, his snarls fraying into ragged groans.
After hours of painful priming, it only takes moments for him to come. He sprays out a searing flood, his cum every bit as hot as his feverish skin when it lashes the deepest parts of me.
Another snarl tangles in his throat, tripping over his purr. As I start to turn and look at him, the strong fingers around my neck tighten. “More,” he demands.
But the way he pants says something else: Please. I need you .
I reposition, moving back to the stance he tried to teach me through his haze. “Yes, al?—”
Dair’s hips kick back into motion before I even finish calling him ‘alpha.’ This time, he pounds me in fast, shallow plunges before shocking me into a second orgasm by gliding as deep as he can, popping his knot into place.
The wide, hot swell fills the slick muscles singing for more stretch. Weight and pressure press along my wet, tingling walls, sending them into a series of spasms that white out my vision.
Dair’s breathing stutters. A pained moan splits the air as he comes again, somehow hotter and thicker than before.
“Ivy,” he sobs, releasing his hold on my neck to fall against my back. Purring and panting. His voice both rough alpha and velvet gratitude. Half Dair and half the part he can’t control. “ Omega . Need you.”
I find his tattooed hand sprawled next to mine. That wild bloom, covered in thorns. I lace our fingers, bringing them into the warmth of my body. Wishing he could hear me inside, even as I say the words out loud.
“You have me.”