Chapter 23
Aaiden’s breathing shifts an hour later, growing shallower. His fingers flex around the chains of the restraints, testing their give. When his eyes open, they take a moment to focus, confusion giving way to clarity as he locks onto mine.
“Good evening,” I say from where I sit on the bed beside him. “Are you ready to talk?”
Aaiden’s jaw works around the ball gag, throat moving in what would be a growl if he could vocalize it. I let him struggle, watching the realization settle over him that this time, he’s not in charge. This time, I control what happens next.
He glares at me, growls rising from his throat.
“Don’t take that tone with me, Aaiden Rockford.” I flick the tip of his nose, and the sound cuts off with a startle of surprise. “You’re the one who suggested using the toys. I thought they shouldn’t go to waste.”
His jaw clenches hard, the rubber ball compressing, and for a moment, I worry he’ll bite right through it.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” I say, leaning over him. “But I needed you to listen without trying to control the conversation.”
Anger flashes through his eyes, but underneath it lurks curiosity. Or maybe respect. Hard to tell with Aaiden, whose expressions have always been measured, doled out only when he chooses.
“I talked to Raphael.” I track the minute change in his face at his brother’s name. “He told me everything. About your plans. About what being your mate would mean outside of simply being with you.”
Aaiden goes still, tension shifting to alertness.
“He told me you’ve been planning for years.
Setting up contingencies. Preparing for a future where I would be your mate, not only in private.
” I’m proud of how calm I sound as my heart kicks at being this close to Aaiden again.
“He told me you were trying to protect me from what claiming me would mean. The loss of anonymity. The end of my work as an enforcer.”
I shift up onto my knees.
“I understand now why you didn’t Mark me.
My Heat came earlier than expected, and we’d only just started…
whatever we were doing.” The admission costs me, but truth matters more than pride now.
“I understand you weren’t rejecting me. You were trying to give me time to understand what I’d be sacrificing. ”
Aaiden’s eyes never leave mine, intense and unreadable above the gag.
“But understanding why doesn’t mean it was the right thing to do.” I poke my finger against his sternum. “You made decisions about my life, my future, without ever talking to me. Without ever asking what I wanted. Without trusting me to choose for myself.”
The anger I’ve kept contained slips through. “You decided what was best for me, just like you always do. Just like every Alpha in this family does. As if I’m not capable of making my own choices.”
I poke him again, and the rumbles start up in his chest.
“That stops now. Tonight.” I work the buckle open on the gag. “I’m going to remove this, and you’re going to listen. If you use Command, I will leave and never come back. Are we clear?”
He gives a single nod, and I pull the gag away from his mouth. He works his jaw, tongue sweeping over his lips to restore moisture before he speaks.
“You have my full attention,” he says, rougher from the restraints.
“Good.” I sit back on my heels. “Here’s what I want. I want to be your mate. I want your Mark. I want everything that comes with belonging to you.”
He grunts in surprise, having not expected this direct admission.
“But I need certain things in return,” I continue before he can speak. “I need to be brought in on decisions that affect my life. I need you to stop protecting me from the consequences and start trusting me to handle them. I need to know that my opinions matter even when they conflict with yours.”
“Jade—”
“I’m not finished,” I say sharply, raising the ball gag in threat, and he snaps his mouth shut.
“I understand what being publicly known as your mate will cost me. I accept losing my anonymity, and will deal with us both being dragged through the media, me for being a gold digger and you for preying on your staff who is half your age—”
“Only fifteen years,” he interjects.
I keep talking. “I accept giving up my work as an enforcer.” I lean forward, ensuring he sees the determination in my eyes. “But I need work that matters. Not some figurehead position, either. Not sitting at home playing house mate while you run the empire.”
“House husband,” he corrects.
A thrill goes through me at the confirmation that he wants this to be legal as well as biological. “Regardless of the label, my statement stands. If you force me to be idle, I will stab someone. Probably you.”
Silence stretches between us as I let him process my words.
When he speaks, it’s to gently ask, “Are you done?”
“For now.”
“Then release me so we can talk properly.”
I purse my lips in consideration. “No, not yet. First, I need to hear what you’re willing to change.”
Frustration flashes across his features before he controls it. “What do you want me to say, Jade? That I was wrong? Fine. I was wrong not to discuss this with you. Wrong to assume I knew what was best without consulting you.”
“That’s a start.”
He exhales, his nostrils flaring. “I’ve spent years preparing for a future with you. Years controlling myself around you. Years waiting until you were ready.”
“That wasn’t your decision to make.”
“Perhaps not.” His gaze holds mine. “But I made it with your best interests at heart.”
“Your version of my best interests.” I rise back onto my knees to loom over him. “That’s the problem, Aaiden. You decided what was best for me based on what you thought I needed. Not what I actually wanted, and in the process, you hurt me, over and over.”
“Jade, I—”
“No, you don’t get to make excuses.” I poke him again, taking pleasure in his wince. “Apologize for stomping all over my feelings for years!”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not good enough!” Poke, poke, poke. “We’re talking about so—” Poke. “Many.” Poke. “Years—” Poke. “Of heartbreak!”
“Poke me again, and so help me…” His muscles bunch as he strains at the handcuffs, and the headboard groans. “I will put you over my knee and spank you until you can’t sit for a week.”
My finger hovers over his chest. “You wouldn’t dare.”
He bares his teeth at me. “Do it and see what happens.”
Slowly, my finger curls into my palm, and I sit back on my heels.
“Now, what do you want?” he asks with the same calmness he uses in a board room, as if he’s the one running this discussion. “Beyond what you’ve already said.”
I purse my lips at him. “I want you to tell me you love me.”
Surprise gives way to confusion. “Under duress?”
“I’ve waited years for this, Aaiden Rockford. You will tell me you love me right this instant.”
His face softens. “I’ve loved you your entire life, Jade.
It wasn’t always romantic. How could it be when you were so young?
It was so confusing and terrifying when you presented as an Omega, when I realized you were meant to be mine.
I fought against it for years. I’m sorry my rejection hurt you, but I would have rather cut off my own hands than touch you back then.
You were Jade, a member of my household, under my protection.
I pulled away because I couldn’t trust myself around you, especially when you made it clear you felt the same way. ”
The admission hits me harder than expected, stealing my breath.
“Then I watched you grow into yourself. Watched you train with Caleb, become skilled and deadly, and so fucking beautiful it hurt to look at you sometimes.”
His eyes grow heated as he continues. “Every time you smiled at me, every time you challenged me, every time you stood your ground when everyone else backed down, I fell harder.”
Heat rises in my face as he continues, relentless now that the dam has broken.
“When you were taken, I almost destroyed myself trying to find you. And when we got you back, when I saw what they’d done to you...” His jaw tightens, the muscle jumping beneath his skin. “I would have burned the world down for hurting you.”
“Stop,” I manage, the raw, unfiltered truth in his words too much after so long without acknowledgment.
“You asked for this,” he reminds me with a twinkle of amusement. “For years, I’ve measured every word, every action around you.”
“No more.”
“If you want honesty, Jade, you’ll get all of it.”
“I didn’t expect...” I trail off, unable to articulate the storm of feelings his words have unleashed.
His eyes trace over me. “I’ve missed you so much. The manor feels empty without you.”
“The residents have doubled in the last year,” I point out.
“None of them are you.” He lifts a leg to rub my thigh. “Over a month.”
I inch closer, unable to resist the contact anymore. “Yeah.”
“Did you…” He licks his lips. “Your Heat…”
I creep closer. “Are you worried because you haven’t been able to find any answers through your contacts at all the local hospitals and Omega Outreach Clinics?”
His breath hitches. “Are you…?”
I arch an eyebrow. “If you’re not mature enough to say the word, then you’re not mature enough to be getting people pregnant, Aaiden Rockford.”
“Are you carrying my child?” he demands.
“No. I’m not.”
He weighs the news before he exhales slowly. “Okay.”
My brows arch. “Okay? That’s all you have to say?”
“No,” he purrs. “Come here.”
Breaths quickening, I shift to plant a hand on the pillow beside his head.
He tilts his chin up. “Kiss me.”
A needy whine escapes me as I lean down, trembling with anticipation. His pheromones flood my senses, making my ass clench and slick dampen my boxers.
As our lips collide, his tongue thrusts into my mouth, claiming me with a growl that vibrates through my bones. He tastes of whiskey and power, and I surrender to it, letting him devour me even while bound. His teeth catch my lower lip, drawing blood that he licks away with a hungry rumble.
With a moan, I slide my leg over to straddle his waist, and my body melts over his. My hard dick drags along the groove of his abs.
He licks and sucks my lips, then noses along my jaw. “I hate not being able to smell you.”
My breath hitches as I tilt my head to give him better access. “You would have sniffed me out right away.”
He rumbles in agreement. “Untie me, Jade. I need to touch you.”
I should. This was always meant to be temporary, just long enough to have this conversation without him taking control. But as I hover over the most powerful Alpha I’ve ever known, secured to his own bed by my hand, a shift happens inside me.
I like seeing him restrained. Like having this small piece of control over a man who controls everything else in his world.
“Not yet,” I say, surprising us both. “I’m not done with you.”
“What are you planning?” he asks, dropping to a register that has my dick jumping to attention.
I let my eyes travel down his restrained body, lingering on the hard bulge that strains the front of his pants, then back up. For the first time since I walked out of Rockford Manor, the balance of power has tipped in my favor.
“I’m planning,” I say, wiggling my way down his body, “to take what I want for once.”
Aaiden’s breath catches, his body tensing beneath me, and the restraints pull taut as he tests them, though he doesn’t seem to be trying to escape anymore.
“And what do you want, Jade?”
Everything. But on my terms.
I lean down to nuzzle his happy trail and inhale his pheromones. “You’ll find out when I’m ready for you to know.”