Chapter 22
Chapter twenty-two
Solana
I move forward, sliding against his length, and the sensation that shoots through me is electric. Pleasure blooms from that point of contact, spreading outward through my body in waves that make my toes curl. More slick gushes from me at the feeling, coating both of us and making the slide easier.
My head falls to his shoulder as I continue the movement, seeking that friction that feels so impossibly good.
The cramps are still there, a dull ache low in my belly, but they're being overshadowed by the pleasure building with each rock of my hips.
This is what I needed, what my body has been crying out for.
"In, in, put it in!" The words tumble from my lips in a desperate rush, my hips moving faster now as I chase the relief I’m hoping is waiting for me.
Kade kisses the top of my head, the gesture tender despite the tension I can feel thrumming through his body. His hands move from my waist, one sliding between us to grip his length as he positions himself at my entrance, the blunt head of his cock pressing against me.
"I've got you, sunshine," he murmurs against my hair. "Just relax and let me in."
I try to relax but my body is wound so tight with need that it's difficult.
Kade's free hand comes back to my waist, guiding me slowly as he pushes up and I sink down.
The stretch is intense, my body opening for him inch by inch.
I gasp at the feeling, at the fullness that keeps growing as he slides deeper.
I've never felt so full in my life. The few experiences I had before Harmony House were rushed and fumbling, over before they really began. But this is different. Kade is thick and long, filling me in ways I didn't know were possible.
My mind starts to slip away, rational thought giving way to pure instinct.
My heat-addled brain takes over completely, my Omega rising to the surface and pushing everything else aside.
I clutch at Kade's shoulders, my fingers digging into the solid muscle there as he holds me in place.
We're not moving yet, just staying locked together while my body adjusts to having him inside me.
And then I feel it. Euphoria crashes over me like a wave, pleasure so intense it borders on painful washing through every nerve ending.
I clench around him involuntarily, my body recognizing on some fundamental level that this is exactly what it needs.
An Alpha inside me, filling me, completing me in a way nothing else can.
Suddenly, a memory comes back to me with startling clarity.
My best friend at Harmony House, before she was chosen and I never saw her again.
We'd found this book hidden in the library, tucked behind some medical texts where the Wardens would never think to look.
It was about an Omega living this dream-like life, her pack surrounding her and catering to her every need.
Alphas who worshipped her instead of controlling her, who found pleasure in her pleasure.
I remember reading it with such longing, such desperate hope that maybe something like that existed somewhere in the world.
But my friend had just laughed sadly and told me it was fantasy, nothing more.
The Alphas that came to Harmony House were looking to break Omegas, not give them new lives.
They wanted compliance and submission, property they could control.
But this... this feels like heaven. This feels like those pages come to life, like maybe that book wasn't fantasy after all. Maybe it is possible to have Alphas who care about what I need, who want to make me feel good.
I feel almost drunk on Kade's scent, cedarwood and leather wrapping around me until I can't tell where he ends and I begin. My nose presses against his chest, breathing him in deeply as slurred words fall from my lips. "Move. Please move."
Kade gently wraps one hand around the back of my neck, his fingers threading through my hair and holding me steady. The other hand clutches my waist as he starts to move, pumping up into me with slow, controlled thrusts that have me seeing stars.
Each thrust hits something inside me that sends sparks of pleasure racing up my spine. I'm falling apart already, my body wound so tight from the building heat that it doesn't take much to push me over the edge. I come with a cry, clenching around him as waves of pleasure crash over me.
But Kade doesn't stop. He keeps going, working me through the orgasm and building toward another one.
It feels amazing, better than anything I've ever experienced.
More slick gushes from me, coating both of us and the obscene wet sounds as Kade thrusts up into me, filling the room.
I should be embarrassed but I can't bring myself to care, too lost in the feeling of him moving inside me.
That's when I feel the ring of muscle pushing inside of me, expanding at the base of his cock. My eyes fly open in confusion and a hint of fear, my fingers tightening into his shoulders hard enough that I’ll probably leave marks.
"What is that?" My voice comes out higher than normal, panic creeping in at the edges of the pleasure.
"Breathe, sweetheart," Kade commands, his hand on the back of my neck applying gentle pressure. "It's my knot. It's going to feel good, I promise. Just breathe through it."
I try to do as he says, forcing air into my lungs even as I feel his knot starting to expand inside me.
It's stretching me even more than I already am, pushing against my walls in ways that are almost overwhelming. Memories of Harmony House’s warnings about knotting flood back.
They said it was dangerous, that it could hurt, that Omegas needed medical supervision if an Alpha ever tried to knot them.
But even as the fear rises, so does the pleasure. His knot swells up inside of me, the cramps from earlier dissipating completely. A whimper tears from my throat, my body caught between the fear of the unknown and the building pleasure that's threatening to consume me entirely.
His knot expands fully, locking us together as Kade’s cock throbs inside of me, his release following seconds later.
The sensation of him pouring into me triggers the hardest, most satisfying orgasm I've ever felt in my life.
Nothing else exists except this moment, this feeling of being completely filled and claimed and satisfied.
A scream tears from my throat as pleasure whites out everything else. Kade pulses inside me, each spurt of his release extending my own pleasure until I think I might die from how good it feels.
Kade steals my lips in a fierce kiss, his mouth claiming mine. When he pulls back, he murmurs praise against my lips. "So beautiful. You're so fucking beautiful like this, sunshine. Perfect. Absolutely perfect."
The pain from the knot stretching me vanishes completely, replaced entirely by bliss. I rest my head against his chest, my whole body going limp as the last tremors fade into bone-deep satisfaction.
"They keep so many things from you–I mean, us, the Omegas," I murmur, my words slurred from exhaustion and satisfaction. "If I had known it felt good..."
I trail off, unable to finish the thought.
If I had known heats could be like this, that knotting felt like heaven instead of hell, would I have fought harder to escape Harmony House?
I sag completely against Kade, my body suddenly so heavy I can barely keep my eyes open.
"I'm so tired now. Why..." I try to shift closer to Kade but can't move much, locked in place by his knot still firmly inside me.
A soft but deep vibration runs through me, followed by a rumbling noise.
It takes me a few moments to realize it’s Kade’s purr, the sound soothing my anxieties and making my Omega instincts sing.
I try to get impossibly closer to him, pressing every inch of my body against his despite already being as close as two people can physically be.
"Your Omega is accepting your Alpha," Dustin's voice comes from somewhere beside us in the nest. I'd almost forgotten he was there. "Allowing you to rest while he protects you."
The words make sense on some instinctual level, even if my rational mind is too foggy to fully process them. "How long does this stay?" I mumble against Kade's chest, my words barely coherent as sleep pulls at me.
"For as long as your body needs it," Kade answers, his hand stroking up and down my back. "Could be twenty minutes, could be an hour. Your body will decide when it's ready to let go."
All I know is that I'm comfortable, satisfied, and safe. My eyes drift closed despite my best efforts to keep them open. I want to stay present for this, to savor every second of feeling this good. But my body has other ideas, exhaustion winning out in the end.
"Sleep, sunshine," Kade murmurs, his lips pressing against the top of my head. "We've got you. You're safe."
I believe him. For the first time in longer than I can remember, I actually believe that I'm safe. That I can let go and rest without fear of what will happen when I wake up.
The last thing I'm aware of before sleep claims me is Dustin's hand joining Kade's on my back, both of them touching me with such tenderness. Then darkness pulls me under, dragging me down into sleep that's deeper and more restful than anything I've experienced in years.