Chapter 14 #2
"He touched her." The words barely made it past my teeth. My claws were fully extended, my body rigid with the need to hunt, to kill, to destroy. "He put his hands on her. He left marks."
"I know." Kaelan's voice was strained, his own claws digging into my shoulder.
"I'm going to kill him." The words were calm. Certain. A promise carved in bone.
"Yes." Kaelan's voice was calm. Certain. "You are. But not tonight."
"Tonight." I tried to pull away, to surge toward the ship, but his grip tightened. And then Vale was there too, and Thane, all of them holding me back from the violence I craved.
"Look at her." Kaelan's voice dropped into alpha register, and even though he wasn't my pack alpha in the traditional sense, even though I didn't have to obey—I looked.
Lily was shaking. Not from the cold. Not from fear of the water. She was shaking because of me. Because I was snarling and raging and half-feral with the need to tear something apart, and she was caught in the middle of it.
You're scaring her, some distant part of my brain whispered. Stop. You're scaring her.
I couldn't stop. Couldn't calm down. The rage was too big, too consuming.
It had been building for days. Every moment of watching her suffer.
Every time I had to let her go back to that ship.
Every night I spent circling in the dark, imagining all the ways they could hurt her while I was helpless to intervene.
Now one of them had actually done it. Had put his filthy human hands on her. Had left bruises on her perfect skin.
"Riven." Her voice was small and scared, but reaching for me anyway. Her hands cupped my face, forcing me to look at her. Her fingers trembled against my scarred skin, but she didn't pull away. "Riven, I'm okay. I'm here. I'm safe."
"You're not safe." The words came out broken. "You're not safe up there. You're never safe up there. And I can't—I can't—"
"Breathe." Her thumbs stroked my cheekbones, her touch impossibly gentle. Her eyes—those impossible human eyes, held mine. "Breathe with me."
I couldn't breathe. I didn't need to breathe. But I tried anyway, for her. Drew water through my gills in a rhythm that matched hers, focused on the feeling of her hands on my skin, her body pressed against mine.
"That's it." Her voice was steadier now. Soothing. She pressed her forehead to mine, her breath warm against my lips. "That's it. I'm right here. I'm okay."
"He touched you." My voice cracked on the words.
"He grabbed my wrist. It scared me, but he didn't hurt me. Not really." Her fingers continued their gentle stroking along my cheekbones, and I could feel the rage slowly—slowly—beginning to recede.
"He left marks." I caught her wrist—gently, so gently, my claws carefully retracted—and turned it to show the red fingerprints on her skin. "These are marks. These are his marks. On my omega."
Something flickered in her eyes. Not fear. Something else. Something that made my heart stutter in my chest.
"Then maybe," she said softly, her chin lifting with that defiance I loved so much, "you should replace them with yours."
I went still. Completely, utterly still. Like a predator who has just spotted prey and doesn't dare move for fear of scaring it away.
"What did you say?" My voice came out rough. Desperate.
"You heard me." Her eyes sparked with challenge, with want, with something that looked almost like hunger. "He put his marks on me. I don't want his marks. I want yours."
Something inside me broke. I surged forward, and this time no one tried to stop me.
My hands found her waist, her hips, pulling her flush against me.
My face buried in her neck, and I breathed—dragging her scent deep into my lungs, letting it wash away everything else.
I could still smell him. Faint, underneath her natural sweetness.
The oily, aggressive scent of a human alpha who thought he had the right to touch what was mine.
A snarl built in my chest.
"I'm going to scent you." The words came out as a growl, pressed against the skin of her throat.
"I'm going to put my scent all over you.
In your hair, on your skin, everywhere he touched and everywhere he didn't. When you go back to that ship, every alpha with working instincts will know you're claimed. "
"Yes." The word was barely a whisper. Breathless. Her fingers curled into my shoulders, holding on.
"They won't know what it is. Something in their hindbrain will recognize it. Will make them hesitate. Will make them afraid." I pulled back just enough to meet her eyes, my golden gaze burning into hers. "Is that what you want?"
"Yes." Stronger this time. Certain. Her pupils were dilated, her lips parted.
"Good omega." The praise fell from my lips without thought, and I watched her shiver. Watched her pupils dilate further, her lips part wider, her whole body go soft and pliant in my arms. "Such a good omega. Asking for what you need. Letting us take care of you."
I pressed my wrist to her throat. The effect was immediate.
Her eyes fluttered closed. A sound escaped her, that purr we'd heard for the first time yesterday, rumbling up from her chest like she couldn't control it.
Her head tilted back, baring more of her throat, offering herself up like a sacrifice.
Mine, something ancient and primal roared inside me. Mine, mine, MINE.
I rubbed my scent gland against her pulse point. Slow circles, pressing firmly, making sure the scent sank deep into her skin. She whimpered—actually whimpered—and her hands fisted in my hair like she needed something to hold onto.
"That's it." I moved to the other side of her throat, repeating the process. Marking her. Claiming her. "That's my good girl. Taking my scent so sweetly."
"Riven—" Her voice was wrecked. Broken. Her whole body was trembling against mine, and I could feel her pulse racing under my wrist—rabbit-fast, desperate.
"I know." I pressed my lips to her pulse, felt it flutter against my mouth.
"I know what you need. I'm going to give it to you.
" I moved lower, pressing my wrist to her collarbone, rubbing the scent into the delicate skin there.
She made a sound—half moan, half sob—and her body sag against me.
I caught her easily, one arm around her waist, holding her up while I continued to mark her.
"So responsive." The words came out rough, admiring, as I watched the flush spread down her throat. "Such a perfect omega. Letting me scent you. Letting me claim you."
"More." The word was barely audible, a plea on her trembling lips. "Please. More." Something in me howled with satisfaction.
"More?" I pulled back just enough to look at her face. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes glazed, her lips parted. She looked ruined. Wrecked. And I had barely started. "You want more of my scent on you?"
"Yes." No hesitation. Her fingers tightened in my hair. "I want—I want to smell like you. I want everyone to know I'm yours."
Fuck. The word echoed through my mind, human and crude but the only thing that fit.
"Then you'll have it." I pressed my wrist to her shoulder, rubbing firmly, watching her shudder at the contact.
"Every inch of you. Every part of you that he touched and every part he didn't. You're going to reek of me, little human.
You're going to smell so strongly of us that no alpha will be able to get within ten feet of you without knowing you're claimed. "
Her omega keened. I could hear it, that subsonic sound that only alphas could detect, the sound of an omega in desperate need of her pack. It hit me like a physical blow, making my claws extend, my pupils dilate, every predatory instinct screaming at me to take, claim, MINE.
"Good omega." I pressed my forehead to hers, breathing her in, feeling her tremble against me. "Such a good omega. Making those sounds for me. Letting me hear what you need."
"I need—I need—" She couldn't finish. Could barely think, from the look of her.
"I know what you need." I ran my wrists through her hair, and she shuddered, her whole body swaying into mine.
"I'm not done." I pulled back, and before she could protest, I was weaving my scent into her hair.
The braid Vale had made yesterday was still there—shells and pearl intact—but I threaded my scent through the strands around it, making sure every part of her smelled like us.
"You're so beautiful like this." The words fell from my lips without permission, my voice rough with awe. "Covered in my scent. Trembling for me. So desperate to be claimed that you can barely stand."
"Riven." My name was a plea on her lips, her eyes still closed, her body swaying.
"I'm here." I pressed a kiss to her temple, gentle despite the violence still thrumming through my veins.
"I've got you. I'm not going anywhere." The others were watching.
I could feel their eyes on me, their hunger, their desperate need to touch her, too.
They held back and let me have this. Let me replace the marks of the alpha who had dared to lay hands on what was ours.
I saved her wrist for last. I lifted it to my mouth, pressing my lips to the red fingerprints that marred her perfect skin. She shivered. I could feel her pulse racing under my mouth, could smell the spike of arousal mixing with her natural scent.
"I'm going to erase him." I pressed my scent gland to her wrist, rubbing firmly, my eyes never leaving her face. "Every trace of him. Every mark he left. Gone."
"Yes." The word came out as a moan, her head falling back. I rubbed until the red marks were covered in my scent. Until there was nothing left of him. Until she smelled like me—like us—so strongly that no creature in the ocean could miss it.
Only then did I pull back. She was a mess. Flushed and trembling, her eyes glazed, her lips parted. Her hair was wild from my hands running through it, and she was swaying slightly, like she couldn't quite remember how to stand.