42. Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Two
Phoenix
E mma’s kiss is tentative at first, her lips soft and questioning against mine, but then she melts, her body pressing closer, her fingers curling into the fabric of my shirt like she’s afraid I’ll disappear.
I break the kiss just enough to whisper against her lips, “Let me make you feel good, sweetheart.” My thumb brushes the apple of her cheek, tracing the curve of her jaw. “Let me chase away every shadow until all that’s left is just you, just this, just light.”
She whimpers, the sound tearing a path to my soul. “Yes. Please, Phoenix. Make me feel good.”
Then her mouth crashes back into mine, desperate and hungry, her tongue sliding against my bottom lip before diving deep. The kiss turns fevered, her hands fisting in my hair, and fuck , her scent.
That sweet, intoxicating blend of honeysuckle ignites, thickening in the air between us until it’s all I can taste, all I can breathe. It’s arousal, hot and slick and perfect, but underneath it, something deeper. Trust.
My control frays.
A growl rumbles in my chest as I drag her closer, one hand sliding down to grip her thigh, hiking her leg around my hip. She gasps into my mouth as her body arches into mine like she’s trying to fuse us together.
“Phoenix… Please.” My name is a whimper, a prayer, a demand.
I don’t need to be told twice.
My lips leave hers to trail down her throat, nipping at the sensitive skin where her pulse flutters.
“That’s it, Tough Girl. Let me remind you how perfect you are.
” I murmur against her racing heartbeat.
“Can I take this off?” My fingers toy with the hem of her top, brushing the warm skin of her waist.
She nods, a frantic little up and down of her head as she lifts her arms to help me. “Yes, please, Alpha.”
The fabric slips free, revealing her bare breasts, and for a moment, I just stare.
She’s perfect .
Full and soft, crowned with dusky pink nipples already pebbled tight for me. The faintest sprinkle of freckles dust across her pale skin, leading my gaze like a trail of stars. That’s new. The sunshine has done her good. I could spend forever mapping them with my tongue.
“Can I taste you?” My voice is rough, strained with want, but my hands stay gentle, tracing the outer curves with aching slowness.
She squirms, her chest flushing deeper, but her answer is breathless and wanting. “Yeesss.”
I brush my lips over the slope of her breast first, savoring the way her heartbeat thrums beneath my mouth. Then I take her nipple between my lips, sucking as my tongue swirls in slow circles .
“Phoenix!” Her fingers tangle in my hair, holding me closer as her back arches, pressing deeper into my mouth. A needy whimper escapes her when I graze my teeth over the peak, just enough to tease, before soothing it with another lap of my tongue.
I palm her other breast, kneading the supple flesh, thumb flicking over her neglected nipple until it’s as hard as the one in my mouth. My other hand grips her hip. Tremors race through her as I lavish attention on her, gentle and relentless.
She shakes, her breath coming in ragged little gasps, her scent saturating the air. Every sound she makes, every twitch of her body, is a gift.
“So perfect,” I murmur against her skin, switching sides, my tongue tracing the same devoted patterns. “Every inch of you. Mine to cherish. Mine to adore.”
Her choked sob is answer enough.
“Phoenix, please.”
I love the way she begs. It means no darkness is keeping her small. Drowning her in the lies with which monsters filled her head.
“Tell me what you need.” My voice is a dark caress as I pull back just enough to watch her. Flushed, panting, her nipples glistening from my attention.
Emma whines at the loss of contact. “Phoenix…”
I click my tongue, gripping her chin to hold her gaze. “Words, Tough Girl.” My thumb traces her swollen bottom lip. “Beg properly.”
Her breath hitches, her pupils swallowing every bit of blue. Then…
“Put your mouth on me.”
Sweet gods in heaven.
The demand cracks through me sharp as a whip but there’s no denial on my tongue. She’s leaking slick, the honeyed evidence of her need soaking through her yoga pants, darkening the fabric between her thighs.
“I think you’ve ruined these, sweetheart.” I drag a fingertip along the damp seam. She shudders, her hips jerking toward my touch as a fresh wave of her scent hits me—ripe honey turned thick with want.
“You ruined me. In all the best ways,” she gasps.
Heat licks through my veins, molten and insistent at those whispered words .
“Gotta take these off if I’m going to obey your every command.
” My fingers hook into her waistband. She lifts her hips, arching to help me peel the soaked fabric down her legs until she’s finally bare and glowing.
Her skin is flushed pink, her thighs covered with slick.
Her pussy is swollen, petals parted and glistening, her clit a perfect, throbbing pearl begging for attention.
“Watch what I do to you.” I curl my fingers around her knees and angle her body so that her legs are off the chair.
My arms hook under her legs, forcing them wide, my biceps flexing to hold her open before leaning down to drag my tongue through her folds in one long, delicious lick.
I groan at the taste of sweet salt and omega perfection.
Her thighs tighten around my head and a whimper tears from her throat.
“Phoenix!” Her fingers tangle in my hair as I suck her clit into my mouth. My tongue flicks over the sensitive bundle of nerves in ruthless circles. She squirms, her breath coming in desperate gasps, her heels digging into the small of my back.
“That’s it,” I growl against her. “Let me ruin you more.”
And when two of my fingers sink into her dripping heat, curling against that sweet spot inside her, her back arches as her orgasm rips through her with a scream. But I don’t stop. Not even close.
I fuck her through the orgasm, my fingers driving deeper, my tongue circling her throbbing clit in tight, relentless strokes, refusing to let the sensations fade. She sobs, her hands shoving weakly at my shoulders, her body convulsing with oversensitivity.
“P-Phoenix… too much!” she gasps, her voice breaking.
I pull back just enough to smirk up at her, my mouth glistening with her slick, my fingers still working inside her.
“No such thing, Tough Girl. Gonna drive all the bad memories out of you until you know beyond a doubt how perfect you are.” I seal my lips around her clit again and suck hard.
Her hips jerk, her hands flying back to my hair, yanking in silent torment as another climax crashes into her, tearing another broken cry from her throat .
She’s trembling now, her thighs quaking around me, her pussy clenching around my fingers like it’s trying to pull me deeper. The scent of her thickens the air, and it takes everything in me not to turn her over, settle her on the chair and take her right there.
But this?
Her falling apart on my tongue, again and again?
This is the real ruination of the doubts those motherfuckers made her believe about herself. She needs to know how fucking untrue they are. She needs to stop listening to those voices and only hear her mates and her own conviction. I curl my fingers to build her into another orgasm.
“Please, Phoenix, I can't... I can't take anymore.”
Her voice is a shattered whisper, raw and trembling, her body limp against the chair. Her thighs twitch, slick gleaming on her skin, her swollen pussy clenching around my finger embedded inside her as she throbs from the aftershocks.
I lean back, removing my fingers from her pussy to trace slow circles on her inner thigh. “Do you still doubt yourself, Omega?”
She whimpers, her fingers tightening in my hair, not to push me away, just to hold on.
Then, so quiet I almost miss it…
“Take me to my nest.”
A request. A plea. Her walls crumbling.
My chest swells with something so fierce, so elated, it steals my breath. This request, her trusting me with the most sacred space an omega has, is more than just submission.
It's surrender.
It's faith.
I rise in one smooth motion, my arms sliding under her trembling body, lifting her against my chest. She curls into me on instinct, her face burying against my neck, her breath hot and ragged.
Her scent wraps around us as I carry her, step by deliberate step, to the nest she’s been too scared to go into alone .
The mattress is bare apart from the protector.
She should be surrounded by blankets, pillows and all things soft that an omega needs to feel comforted, but even being here is a big step for her.
I lay her down, covering her with my body so she doesn’t notice the bareness, and I tilt her head until our gazes meet.
“Mine,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
“Yes. Yours.” She tangles our fingers together. “I want you to claim me, Phoenix. Please don’t make me wait.”
Joy ignites my veins, bright and blinding, my knot already swelling in anticipation, my cock throbbing with the need to seal us together.
For one wild, breathless moment, all I want is to flip her onto her hands and knees, sink my teeth into her bonding gland, and fuck her until we’re both screaming.
But…
I stop.
Because beneath the storm of need, beneath the alpha roaring inside me, there’s something deeper. Love. Overwhelming, terrifying, perfect love.
I cup her face, my thumb tracing her jaw, my voice rough with restraint. “Emma,” I murmur, holding her gaze like it’s the only thing tethering me to earth. “Tell me you’re sure.”
I already know she is. Her scent is thick with honeyed certainty, but I need to hear her say it without prompting, without pressure.
Her fingers tighten around mine, her other hand sliding up to press over my racing heart. “There’s no doubt. You’re my alpha. My mate. Please Phoenix. Bite me. Claim me .”
I've never moved faster in my life.