Chapter 40 #2
“Well, first, they called me some names. My dad couldn’t understand why I had to tell them I was bisexual if there was a possibility I’d end up with a woman.”
“Bi-phobia strikes again,” I utter with contempt.
He cracks a tiny smile. “Unfortunately. He would have preferred I keep it to myself, but I knew who I was, and I didn’t want to hide it.
That made them furious with me.” He shakes his head at the memory.
“They forced me into the car—kicking and screaming—and drove me to a group home for runaways. They just dropped me off and left.”
The admission causes me to freeze. Both in visceral anger and surprise that he is telling me this. The gentle, studious alpha beside me is so strong for everyone around him. I never would have thought he had experienced something that awful. “I thought your grandma raised you,” I say in response.
“She did. After my parents dropped me off, things were eye-opening. I grew up in a very privileged home. My grandfather acquired a large fortune from being in finance, and I never knew what struggling meant. Besides being surrounded by toxic alphas, everything was grand. I had every opportunity I could ever want within reason. I could play any sport, had the best tutors, and always ate three meals a day. I didn’t know what the world looked like outside of that bubble, not until they left me at that group home.
“The kids in that home didn’t grow up like I did.
They had scars deeper than anyone could ever imagine.
Horrible things, horrible memories. I felt useless being near them.
Like my trauma was just the result of my parents having a temper tantrum rather than something serious like what I witnessed there.
I had accepted my fate by the time my grandma showed up to take me home. ”
Despite knowing the details already, I find myself smiling. “That’s how you ended up with her? She came to get you?”
“She showed up about a week later. She was pissed, telling me that she would have come sooner if she had known, but my parents said I went to boarding school. She knew something wasn’t right when they started turning my room into a guest room.
” He shrugs, like that detail isn’t a huge fucking problem that makes my blood boil.
“She got my parents to relinquish their rights so she could take me in. She didn’t care about my sexuality and she loved me no matter what.
So I moved in with her, she cut off my parents from our lives, and everything else is history. ”
As he’s speaking, a lightbulb goes off. “Everything you do… all the charity and volunteering and studying law… is because your life could have been different. You could have stayed in that group home, and you didn’t.”
He nods. “I got a second chance. My grandma gave that to me, and I wasn’t going to screw it up.
I may not have been living in those circumstances anymore, but many children are.
Specifically, children who are victims of homophobia and designation abuse and other horrid things, all because people are more comfortable with their hatred and bias.
I want to be a voice for them, always, just like my grandmother was for me. ”
I’m amazed. This alpha in front of me has been through way more than I thought he had, and that doesn’t make him any less.
Gosh, it makes him so much more. Everything about him is much clearer to me now.
Every flaw, fault, and piece of beauty is so easily explained by this horrible moment in his past.
And he’s sharing it with me, putting everything he wanted to keep hidden on the line for me to inspect, despite the fear of it. And that’s left me feeling warm and honored.
“Why are you telling me this, Sam?” I ask, needing to hear him say it once and for all.
He gives me a soft look. “Because I was told recently that I needed to talk to the people closest to me. Let them in.”
I hold my breath.
“You’re important to me, Opal,” he says. “I needed you to finally know.”
Something cracks within me. Like a million unspoken words falling out of their abyss and right into the open.
“And before this can go any further.” He gestures between us, like there’s a physical link that binds us.
“I need you to know that I’m not perfect.
I try to be, and that’s my problem, because I’m anything but.
I’m compulsive, a workaholic, borderline controlling.
And I think it’s because I need to be the best prime I can to be worthy of my pack, but I’m starting to realize that isn’t true. That I can just be me.”
I swallow down a whine. “You can. That’s all your pack wants you to be,” I say, trying desperately not to include myself in the picture.
His solemn expression bleeds away and is replaced with a soft smile. “I’m sorry it took so long. I should have been here, helping you solve the issues that I avoided because they were proof of my flaws. I just hope it’s not too late—”
“Things are never too late, Sam. You can be there for them now.”
“I don’t know if things will get better overnight. I still feel this need to be… on all the time. Be the perfect pack leader I’m supposed to be.”
“You don’t have to be on all the time. For me, or Kit, or even Thatcher. That’s what being part of a pack means. It’s a safe place to land.”
“Is that what you want?” he asks suddenly. “To be part of our pack?”
I hesitate, but then I let the truth spill out. “Yes.”
He inhales sharply, his hands coming up to hold my face like it’s a reflex. “You do?”
“More than anything—” I barely get the entire sentence out before Sam’s lips are on mine, dominating in a way that leaves me winded and gasping as I clutch his shirt in my fist. A surprised moan escapes me, and he nips my bottom lip in response, meeting me tit for tat with every movement between us.
He tugs me on top of him, and the space where our clothes separate us makes me groan in frustration, wishing I could finally feel him in every possible way.
His scent blooms with heightened arousal, the green apples full of sugar and spice.
“Greedy omega,” Sam taunts as his hands move to my ass and he forces me to rub against him. “I’ve been dying to hear those words. You just gave me the best gift an alpha can receive.”
My hips move faster, my body a shell waiting to be cracked open. My hands stay locked in his shirt, and then, he moves to pull it off. When I see him for the first time, every pristine line and muscle coursing over his abdomen, I let out a whine that could only be described as feral.
My fingers move over his stomach, feeling every ridge that they can before Sam pulls my lips back to his.
It’s slower, more precise as he drives me wild with every swipe of his tongue.
I can’t take much more. My body is a live wire being charged to its capacity, and when I suddenly feel something hard slide against my core, I crumble with a moan and beg for help chasing the thing I need.
“Sam,” I say as he continues to move me on his lap. “More.”
He tsks playfully. “Only if you call me what I want to be called, Omega.” I watch him through half-lidded eyes, noticing how sexy his smirk is as he patiently moves my body any way he wants. “When we’re in my bed, you will call me Alpha, or nothing will happen. If I am yours, you need to claim me.”
This lights me up from the inside out, sparks flying low in my belly.
My fingernails dig into his skin by his shoulders, my omega feeling antsy and invigorated at the same time.
“Alpha,” I say, the sound coming from the deepest part of my chest as I move to hold his face.
“I will claim you in every way, in every position, and with every ounce of breath in my lungs. You will never question or wonder if I am not completely yours in every sense of the word. So, you can have me. You can use me. As long as you let me do the same.”
He flips us over, capturing another heated kiss from my lips.
“I can’t imagine a better way to live my life than being entirely yours to command.
” He pulls my shirt off my body, groans at the sight of me beneath, and ravishes my skin with everything he has.
When his lips reach my nipples, I suck in a breath.
He blows cool air over me, making the bud harden just before he takes it into his mouth.
The movement causes my back to arch, the nerve endings sensitive to his intimate touch.
He moves over them, slowly licking in circles as his eyes close in pleasure.
He moves to the other one and gives it the same treatment, making me feel worshiped and revered.
I could sit here forever with his mouth around me and be the happiest omega ever.
He doesn’t stop as he moves his hand into my pajama pants and groans against my skin at the slick he finds there.
His fingers circle my clit, making me pant from the stimulation already moving through me.
When he moves his attention to my face, to my eyes fluttering shut and my mouth parting in bliss, he lets out an arrogant chuckle that I should find repulsive, but it’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard from his lips.
“Your pussy is so wet, Omega. Is this all for me?” he teases in his low drawl, his fingers slowing their movements as I try to chase the feeling.
“Yes.” I nod, thrusting my hips upwards to get more friction, but then his hand moves away, and I let out a whine of frustration as he sits up on his knees above me.
“Yes, what?” he asks, his intense gaze piercing mine.
His words pull a deep whine from me, and I look up at him with half-lidded eyes. “Yes, Alpha.”
A groan falls from his lips. “Take me out, Omega,” he commands. “Then I’ll give you what you need. I’ll give you every inch until you’re shaking. Until I can’t take it anymore, and I’ll have to knot this pretty pussy for both your and my sanity.”