Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
DOMINIC
W e happen in slow motion. I can’t look away from her hauntingly beautiful eyes, currently rippling in delighted shock. Nor can I shield her from my remorse at taking away her choice on whether we would pack.
Simona won’t let me.
“Mine,” she growls aggressively against my mouth.
She is not wrong though. She is mine, and I am hers.
Her eyes—now vibrantly full and swimming with want, and need, happiness and freedom make it impossible for me to feel guilt for what happened. It certainly wasn’t my intention to claim her right this second. Down the track, sure. I would have set it up differently to start with. I would have promised her a night full of memories and luxury but instead we happened like this. Which in a lot of ways only makes our bond more beautiful, more poignant because it happened when it was meant to.
Invariably the fallout will come, but she will never hear one word of regret from me or see it in anything I do for the simple fact I have wanted her as mine since she climbed on my lap on New Year’s Day.
Wrapping my hand around her face, I add more distance to look into her eyes, though it’s more like staring right into her soul. Now that her lips are not on mine, it gives us both the chance to regain our composure. It’s impossible to miss the regret that clouds her eyes, although given what I know of Simona those emotions are not directed towards herself.
“I will treasure you until the day I die, my beautiful woman. This may be a case of divine timing as the impetus but at the same time, I’m thankful it has happened. I’ll happily be on my knees everyday offering my thanks to fate for delivering you to me.”
Her head tips to the side while her scent still tainted by anguish slowly becomes sweeter as it fills with blossoming hope.
“Since I held you, I had plans of ensuring our bonding reflected your wildest dreams. If you wanted flowers, I would have given you a flower market. If you wanted me to claim you in the snow, I would have booked out the Arctic Circle for a season. I am sorry it happened without us discovering more about each other first, but I promise, on Hendrix and Ryder’s life, if you do not want me as your Alpha now or in ten years down the track, then we make it happen. I won’t take your freedom and lock you into something you don’t want, I will, however, adore and protect you.”
“You don’t regret it?” she asks, and the dip in her confidence breaks my heart.
“How could I regret making you mine?”
“Are you sure, Dominic? Because I’m really good at pretending everything is fine when it’s not. If you didn’t want me, I would give you space and return home. The distance would make it difficult for the bond to settle, impossible probably. After a while you could go on with your life with me as just a memory. I would have no claim on you.”
“Tell me what you want,” I insist. My designation flares because I need her honesty. And without the push, she will keep reverting to her altruistic nature, which is seeped within Simona’s exquisite and compassionate personality. However, given the gravity of our situation, Simona needs to consider and decide what it is she wants on a personal level.
Her blue eyes flare wide, and I use the other tools in my arsenal to soften my bark. My scent becomes so thick, I nearly lose her delightful cookies and cream perfume, and my presence wraps around her soft like a pashmina. I squeeze her waist.
“I want to hear what you want, Simona. You.” I use the same push, but I am not manipulating her. I am giving her permission which is an awful way of putting it, but Simona has been raised like that, so it is all she knows. I will be encouraging her though for as long as I live, to be the strong woman capable of making decisions I know she is. I will lend her my faith in her when she has none.
I let her guide us. When Simona tucks herself under my chin, where she slept all night, I offer no resistance or complaints. A rumbling purr is the only noise I make, my hands sweeping up and down her body as she takes the time and actually thinks about what she wants.
“Truth?” she asks quietly.
“Only the truth,” I confirm, holding her tighter.
“I woke up at Unity alone and sick as a dog. I was a mess, honestly. I had left home and was so damn relieved to get away from Brody. I’d also met Ryder on the very first day, which was like the universe teasing me with glimpses of the life I wanted, while reminding me of the one I had. I still have no memory of meeting you, so I also couldn’t figure out how a blanket soaked in your scent ended up in my possession. You were my second reminder that sometimes dreams are only for the foolish.”
“Why?” I interrupt, needing to understand more.
“I told myself you had rejected me because you weren’t there when I woke up, which is absurd. I realise that but the notion of you still wormed inside me. I know I’m fragile and some people would say I’m probably stupid, but those things didn’t counter the emotional fallout and conflict I found myself dealing with. Even though I had no idea who you were, a part of me, the naive, desperate romantic, was constantly assuring me you were mine. Whatever dark place I found myself in, I took you with me. Your scent became my salvation. God, even now I find it hard not to fall asleep when I don’t have your blanket near me.”
“I was searching for you the next day, when I was laid up sick in bed with the flu,” I insist. I feel a small exhale against my skin, confirmation she heard, relief at what I said.
Simona keeps explaining herself. “Some days I believed even if you found me, you wouldn’t want me. Other days I talked myself out of the notion of thinking about you, or Hendrix or Ryder, because of Brody. I was scared sick what he would do if he knew I was fantasizing about being with anyone but him. I knew you were my scent match, and I also knew the same for Hendrix and Ryder. Even when I didn’t know you were a pack, I dreamed of us making one. I am absolutely terrified of Brody and my own family finding out about you and what we have done, but I would face them and tell them the truth if the ending to my story included you all.” She sits up in my lap and stares into my eyes, no longer searching for answers. “I want you with everything I am, Dominic. I want to be theirs too. Please make my dreams come true.”
“Make?” I whisper before breathing in a lungful of her sweet perfume. “There was nothing holding me back except you. I needed you to want this. I needed it more than I needed my heart to beat.”
Trouble sparkles in her eyes. Instantly. And a teasing smirk pulling her lips, making me growl against them. “Are you sure about that? I think a beating heart is pretty important. Although you are the lawyer in our pack, I’m sure you have some valid reason you don’t need one.”
And then the teasing smile on her lips changes as quickly as I claimed her. Her scent gives away the direction of her thoughts and before she can utter a word, her lust heats her cookies and cream scent. “I want you inside me. Claiming me properly.”
“And what about your visit to the hospital?”
She ignores me but still addresses the problem at hand. “Dominic, please, now I have an Alpha I want. I want to experience everything for the first time.”
“Surely you want your first time?—”
“In the nest you made for me,” she whispers quietly before nearly screeching in joy. “You made me a nest, Dominic! So yeah, excuse me for being forward, but I want to be knotted for the first time in there. Now.”
There’s no fake bravado to her voice, just blazing strength and conviction. I’d like to argue that I should take her home, for her to be surrounded by the others but she presses her lips to mine, not to kiss but to beg.
Simona starts her exploration running her fingers through my hair, and I’ve never felt anything like it. Echoes of her touch trickle from the top of my head down my spine, all the way to my feet, making my muscles spasm in desire.
I lean back and let her do whatever she wants, because watching, and being a part of Simona reclaiming and rediscovering who she is, is an occasion I will never forget. Her faith in me is an honour.
I don’t doubt her. She has a beautiful clear, loud voice and she has made it abundantly clear what she wants. I also have the added insight of our flickering bond allowing me to feel her emotions while I see them on her face. And right now, all I see and feel is her wonder, hunger, and power.
Her fingers bury into my shirt before they rip the rest of the buttons off as she tears it open. My hand hooks under her ass, and I make sure to keep very intentional in the way I move and the way I touch so she is present and not distracted by memories. Standing, I slide her down my body, though she wraps her legs tight around my sides, pressing as much of herself against me as possible.
“You’re testing my control, Amore Mio.”
“What does that mean?”
I grin. “Amore Mio is Italian for my love.”
She rolls like a cat in my arms, rubbing her face over mine. “That’s the idea. I want you to know how much I want to be yours, Dominic.”
I sink to my knees as she undresses me. She presses her face to my chest, scent marking me. It’s an entirely different feeling having an Omega scent mark you as opposed to an Alpha—it’s not more intimate or deeper, it is just different.
And then in her exploration she comes across the scars. Bite marks from Hendrix and Ryder, silvered by age. I don’t need to explain them, nor who they are from, and when her tongue trails along edge, fire races up my spine as she ignites my desire to fever pitch.
“Jesus, Simona, each of your touches reverberates through me. Look at you, already knowing how to pleasure me. I’m going to enjoy teaching you exactly what I like.”
She lets her legs go from around my waist, intentionally dragging her nails down my chest as she sinks to the floor. I stand, knees locked, still letting her guide our pace. Of course I keep watch, waiting in case she changes her mind but there’s no shake in her hands as she reaches for my belt, and confidence burns in her eyes. Her gaze flits from watching me to focusing on undoing both the belt and the buttons until my pants hang open.
She falters, perhaps coming face to face with how much I want her. Her eyes fly back to mine, and for the first time, I see her fear.
“Take my cock in your hand, baby. You did that. I’m already lost to your touch.” I talk to keep her with me and not a prisoner of her past. And it’s only a handful of words she needs. When she looks at me next, her smile is wider, her desire more obvious.
“How did you know?” she asks while also tugging my pants down, boxers and all, until my cock falls free.
Simona moves like she has been mine forever. With no hesitation she bobs down lower before dragging the thick of her tongue up my length. Her eyelashes flutter as she tastes me—I’ve never seen anything more erotic, nor beautiful.
I falter. And she is very much the reason for that loss of composure. Falling forward to rest my hands on my desk, I spread my legs, bending at the knee so she has better access to do what she wants.
Instead of staying up near the tip of my dick, she smirks and dips down to take one of my balls in her mouth. My knees shake so hard, I gouge nail marks in my desk in an attempt not to drop down. When she moves to suck on the engorged edge of my knot, I admit defeat.
With one hand my fingers dig encouragingly through her hair, moving her focus back to my cock. I’m entrapped by those sapphire eyes, unable to do a thing as she opens her mouth, moaning in delight even before I’ve slid an inch in.
I see everything in her eyes, and she lets me see it all. There are no shields or walls between us, and it scares me how she’s managed to get past my defences. It terrifies me really. Making me worried she’ll be left disappointed once her lust is sated.
Her eyes crease, and she sits back on her heels, demanding an explanation.
I realise how alike we are. I had nothing in place to keep my own trauma from stealing from us. It happened a long time ago when I was a different Alpha, ruined by an asshole, but trauma that deep stays with you, and she saw it all.
“My father. Not you. He is responsible for a lot of bad memories. One day you’ll have to listen while I tell you the whole sordid tale. You get all my secrets now.”
And the doubt that had crept into this special moment morphs into a pledge, a promise. She smiles softly, tentatively, as her small fist wraps around my cock. “Together we should make better memories then.”
“Yes, we should.”
And then it’s her turn to hesitate. Her voice is tentative, but she doesn’t hide her fear. “I’ve never been knotted, Dominic. What if you’re disappointed?”
Leaning forward, I grip her chin before I drag my cock back to her lips. Wiping my scent and beading arousal on to them. Making it unnecessary for us to use words.
Sinking to my knees, I undress her this time taking my time to taste each inch of her I bare. I make her shiver and giggle in eagerness; I manage to make her panting breaths come faster. I sit back once I have removed all her clothes, needing to sear her spread out in front of me in my memories forever. Like she said, we’re making better memories together and seeing her naked for the first time is a big one.
I’m not enchanted; I’m enamoured.
“I wish Hendrix was here. Only he would be able to properly capture what I see. I’d hang the photo of you on a surface in my bedroom, my office, every room in every house we own,” I confess as I crawl over her legs before dipping down, purposely avoiding her pussy because that is a honey trap for sure. Full of sticky goodness.
My tongue circles her bellybutton, making her whine and I chuckle against her skin when I make the sound change as I bite one of his marks. Intentionally, I leave a hickey on her skin until my claim is brighter. She makes it impossible for me to question whether I did the right thing. Her body undulates as she reaches for me, so I find the next one. A few more love bites have her scent sweetening so much that I know her slick is coating her thighs.
Under my desk, in the nest I made for her, Simona’s desire becomes a ravenous beast. Her arm circles around my neck, making it hard for me to move, but she can. And she does. She bends herself in half, planting her feet up on the underside of my desk before letting me go.
She is presenting. Using her body to show me what she wants, and it’s not my face in her cunt. Despite the tight confines, we find a way. I shove pillows under her, keeping her elevated but more comfortable. I open a drawer for her foot to rest on, the other she refuses to move. Stirred on by her whimpering need and her flowing slick, I kiss her mouth desperately as I rub my cock over her entrance.
I’d like to give in, give her what she wants, sink balls deep inside her body and knot her until her voice screams hoarse, but she’s not ready. Her mind might be, but her body isn’t. Resting on one elbow I suck on the claiming mark on her inside lip while I keep rubbing my cock at her entrance. I don’t want to tease her, but I don’t want to hurt her either.
I completely misjudged her. In the blink of an eye, Simona grabs a hold of either side of my hips, tips her hips when I am right at her entrance, and drives me inside her body. Deep inside.
“Simona.” I groan against her lips as I sink deeper inside her. Jesus, she feels insane, like she is made for me if I’m honest.
Her breath is saturated with pleasure. Her soft whimpers turn into delight filled moans as I hold her still, so I can gently rock, letting our bodies acquaint and adjust. I swear, just doing this I’d orgasm.
“Baby, you can’t do that. I could hurt you and I’d never forgive myself.”
She leans up and kisses the concern off my lips, before wiggling her hips. A clear indication she wants more.