Chapter 10 Hayden
Chapter ten
Hayden
Has an alpha ever looked at me the way Thorne is looking at me now?
‘Please let me help you.’ Whenever an alpha has helped me in the past, it was usually just to get his rocks off.
To experience a heat with an omega. Which is fine, I prefer to spend my heat with someone rather than go through all that suffering.
But the way Thorne is looking at me now, with tenderness and desperation.
..it’s everything. I still can’t believe he recognized me so easily, and that he’s here now.
He means it when he says he wants to help me.
I just know it. And if I were to turn him down, he would respectfully listen.
A part of me is tempted to say no, just to see what he’ll do, but that’s too cruel.
Fate has already played her games. For six years.
I never want to do that to him. I never want to play games with this thoughtful, caring alpha.
If he meant everything he said, then this connection between us is double-sided, and I’m done waiting.
All those fears, the insecurities that have started to build up around my heart, melt away under his gaze. The lust in his eyes is lighting me on fire.
I have a feeling this heat is going to be a good one.
Deciding we’ve wasted enough time, I start stripping, remembering how I undressed the first time we were together.
“Are you sure, Hay?”
I love the way he shortens my name. “I’ve been wanting to do this with you for far too long, Alpha.”
He sucks in a deep breath at the title. Just like last time I stripped in front of Thorne, his eyes are darkening with lust as they trail over my body.
It’s intoxicating to know I can do this to such a gorgeous alpha.
When I’m fully naked, I close the distance between us.
My lips slam against his in a collision of heat and passion.
He tastes like sugar cookies and frosting.
“Just exactly how many cookies have you made while I was asleep?”
He chuckles against my lips. “Quite a few, but don’t worry, sweet omega. I’ll feed them to you between your waves. I want to spoil you. To treat you like a fucking king until you’re happy and sated.”
“Yes, Alpha,” I breathe, grinding our hips together. His hard cock is trapped between us, thrusting against my abdomen. The pressure of my cock against his thigh has me panting with lust. My lips return to his, and we continue making out, with me tugging him back into the bedroom.
When the backs of his knees hit the bed, I push him onto it, loving that he’s letting me take control. I drop to my knees, causing him to gasp. “Omega,” he growls.
I shake my head. “Please, Thorne. Let me do this. I never got to the first time.” Plus, once my heat has fully hit, I’ll need him inside of me for the next seven to ten days. I want to taste him before that happens.
I have to taste him.
His dick is a thing of beauty. Thick and curving to the right. Precum leaks from the tip. Using my fingers, I stroke him once, milking more liquid from him before leaning forward for a lick. His arousal is salty and sweet.
When my tongue touches his slit, he makes a choked sound that has me leaking more slick.
Before he can protest, I wrap my lips around the head of his hard cock.
He’s larger than any alpha I’ve ever been with, leaving me to wonder if this is a shifter trait.
Sliding my lips further down his length, I take him in as much as I can.
“Fuck, omega. That feels so good. So. Fucking. Good.”
I can’t believe this is real. Thorne here in my cabin, the feel of my tongue against his cock, his intoxicating scent of cedar and fruit. I take him further into my throat until I gag. And oh, fuck. I love it. I love the feel of him taking away my air and the texture of him in my mouth.
I pull back before sinking back down, again and again, until I find the perfect rhythm that makes him moan and gasp and curse. The sounds he makes only rile me up even more, and suddenly, my heat is forgotten. The only thing that matters is making my alpha come.
“Fucking hell, Hayden. Your tongue. That throat. Slow down, baby,” he gasps. “You’re going to make me come too soon.”
I moan, bobbing my head faster.
“Oh no you don’t, sexy omega,” he says, hauling me to my feet as he stands. With a power I didn’t even realize he possessed, he lifts me up and tosses me on the bed. My cock is throbbing so hard it jerks and leaks precum, needing attention.
“My poor, poor, Hayden. Do you want me to take care of that?” he teases.
His hands are all over me—touching, grazing, caressing.
He tugs on my pebbled nipples until they’re overly sensitive.
He teases my balls and traces patterns over my thighs and stomach.
He drives me wild until I’m begging and needy.
Since I’m in heat, he doesn’t need to prep me; my body is already primed and wet for him.
When I feel like I’m so desperate that I could probably come just from his next touch, he surprises me by thrusting into my hole in one swift move.
Scrambling to grasp the sheets, I arch and moan right as ribbons of cum cover my chest. He pounds into me hard and fast, finding his own rhythm.
All the while, he murmurs filthy praise that has me hard again within minutes.
Thanks to my heat, I’m ready to come again, and when I do, I clench hard around him, forcing the orgasm right out of his cock.
With a roar, he pumps his seed deep inside me. However, the most exciting part is how his knot expands, becoming so thick so quickly that it traps us in place, holding his delicious cum in me.
Goddess, do I even want to think about why my heat ended so early?
It’s been three days since I found Thorne in my cabin.
Three wonderful days of sexual bliss. Three days of Thorne taking care of me, feeding me, and cleaning me in between waves.
During that time, we talked about our lives.
I told him about my toy designs and confessed to how he was the reason I chased my dreams. He told me about taking over his Pride and confessed he had a wishing tree in his town square in honor of our night together.
I’ve never had this much pleasure or been this happy during one of my heats before, and damn, I’m almost sad it didn’t last at least a week.
Three amazing days. That could only mean one thing. I rub my stomach, trying to imagine a baby growing there. I smile.
Thorne’s baby. Ending my heat that quickly most likely means that I’m pregnant. Should I tell him there’s a strong possibility we are having a baby? Or should I wait for the test? As if summoning him with just my thoughts, Thorne enters the living room with a big box in his arms.
He smiles over at me, and my heart swoops with joy. I still can’t believe Thorne is back in my life.
“Why do you have so many decorations?” I ask.
He peers over at me for a moment, and I get the impression he doesn’t want to tell me. I’m about to tell him to forget about it when he starts talking. “I have to be honest with you, Hayden.”
I nod, bracing myself. “Okay.”
“Christmas used to be my favorite holiday. Hell, it still is. But that night…the night I met you changed everything for me. It was perfect and heartbreaking.”
My heart is hammering in my chest. Can he hear it? “It changed things for me, too,” I whisper.
He offers me a sweet smile. “You are my fated mate, Hayden. My soulmate.”
Rather than fill me with the happiness I thought it would, his words break my heart. Six years. Six. Fucking. Years. I swallow hard, trying to clear my throat of the lump that has formed there. “Oh, Thorne. I didn’t know. I walked away from you. From us,” I say, choking back a sob.
A few tears slip, rolling down my cheeks before hitting the floor. “No, sweet Hayden,” he says, gathering me into his arms. “You didn’t know. I didn’t even know, and I should have been able to tell. Neither of us is at fault.”
I embrace him back, not wanting to let go.
Afraid to let go.
I want to believe everything he’s saying, but I’m scared. “Is this real?”
“It is. You’re my fated.”
We’re quiet for a long moment, just the two of us clinging to each other, letting those words sink in.
Fated. “I always wondered why I couldn’t get over you.
It makes no sense. It was one night, and yet it meant more to mean than all my relationships combined,” I admit.
“I think everyone was worried. Even my mother has been trying harder to find me an alpha, but no one could ever compare to you.”
“Same here. I could never forget you. But it’s also why I brought all these decorations. I wanted this time to heal, to recapture my love for Christmas. I was so tired of being sad.”
“And you aren’t sad anymore?”
“Goddess, no.” He smiles. “I found you again. That’s all that matters. You’re all that matters.”
His words hit me. Hard. It sounds like cheesy lines from a romance movie, and yet they feel true. “This is so crazy,” I whisper against his chest. “We shouldn’t feel like this so quickly.”
Thorne tips my chin up so that I meet his striking brown eyes.
He shakes his head. “No, Hayden. It’s fate.
If you were a shifter, you’d know just how powerful a fated mate could be.
Time doesn’t matter when we are written in the stars.
It could be ten minutes or ten years. We are destined to feel this way about each other.
And it’s a beautiful feeling. Don’t fight it. ”
Over the next four days, we spend our time decorating our cabin with garland, twinkling lights, and ornaments.
At one point, we even caved and bought a tree, taking our time hanging baubles and wishes.
We’ve been to all the local shops that sell Christmas décor so many times, the townsfolk know us by name.
“What about here?” I ask, holding up some fake mistletoe over in the kitchen. “We can sneak in a few kisses while we bake.” After trying Thorne’s sugar cookies, I was half convinced they were magical, just like him, and I begged him to teach me how to make them.
“Sounds like a good idea to me.” Thorne wraps his arms around me from behind and presses a kiss against my cheek. His hand spreads possessively over my stomach, and I still. Heart pounding, I wait for him to say something, but he doesn’t. I spin around in his embrace and study his expression.
Does he know what I’m thinking? Goddess, we’ve only just found each other again, so why am I already wishing for babies?
‘Then, I would breed you until you were mine.’ Those words.
Fucking hell, those words. They’ve seeped into my mind and left a mark.
If his goal was to breed me until I was either preggo or so desperate for him that I wouldn’t want to let go, well then, I think he accomplished his goal. One way or another.
“Omega,” Thorne growls in my ear. “What on earth are you thinking about? Your slick is starting to permeate the kitchen.”
My face heats. “Gah, don’t say things like that. It’s embarrassing! And so fucking hot,” I whisper the last part as if someone else is here.
Thorne laughs. “No way, sexy Hayden. You still need time to heal.”
I nod. It’s true. We were a little rough with his knot.
“I was thinking that maybe next year, we could decorate our home like this. I know you said we have the wishing tree in the town square, but I kind of like the idea of hanging some of our own wishes at home.”
After the words leave my mouth, I freeze.
I have no idea why I didn’t think about where we would live.
Okay, that’s a lie. I’ve been avoiding it.
I didn’t want to think about it because a part of me was still a little scared there might be an expiration date on our time together.
While the other part of me that knows that isn’t true, it’s afraid that we might not agree on where we would live.
“Exactly how far away is Stone Joy from the city?” I ask slowly.
He eyes me curiously. “It’s only about three hours away.”
My jaw falls slack before hope starts to bloom in my chest. “That wouldn’t be too far of a drive.”
This time, Thorne freezes. “Hayden,” he chokes out. “Please don’t tell me you plan on making us live hours apart. You’re my fated. I don’t think my lion can handle it. I don’t think I can handle it.”
“No, no. Of course not,” I reply immediately, shocked when I realize I mean it. “I just realized that my family and friends live in the city. And you have your Pride. But assuming they would accept me into their town, I think I would prefer small-town living to city life.”
Thorne starts to smile. “You mean it?”
“I think I do,” I say, grabbing his hand and tugging him into the living room.
“Nora has her own mate now, and she’s always so busy.
My brother and sister have their own lives, and even though we call each other often, we don’t see each other much until birthdays and holidays.
Plus, I’m pretty sure my mother will be over the moon to find out I found love. ”
My heart races as soon as the word slips out of my mouth. Love. Oh crap. We might be fated, but I’m not ready to say it just yet. My heart might be there, but my brain needs time to process and catch up. I whip around to face him.
Thorne must see the panic in my eyes, because he chuckles low in his throat before kissing my forehead and changing the subject. “We should call your mother on Christmas—together,” he says.
Goddess, I could kiss him for saving me like that. I know it’s silly, but, hell, I’m only human. It’s okay to take time to process things like fated mates, shifters, and love. Or so I tell myself.
“Actually.” I snap my fingers. “That might be the perfect Christmas gift for my mother.”
His eyes sparkle. “I thought so too. I know my parents will be just as thrilled.”
“Let’s do it then. Let’s spend our time together enjoying one another and celebrating, getting to know each other, and then, on Christmas Day, let’s call our families and surprise them.”
“Sounds like a wonderful plan, omega.”
Tugging him a few feet to the left, I lean up on my tiptoes to pull him into a filthy kiss. After a few minutes, we surface for air. Eyes glazed over and lips swollen, Thorne peers down at me. “Not that I’m complaining, but damn. What was that for?” he asks.
I point at the mistletoe above us. “Just following the rules, Alpha. Now, we have four more sprigs of mistletoe left to hang. Why don’t we go get creative?”
Thorne’s smile is wide. “I love the way you think, mate.”