Chapter 9 #2
I burst through the doors to the courtyard, hurrying down the steps, my heels clattering on the wood and stone path. I keep running. I can’t stop. I can’t—
I nearly trip on my own two feet, falling over a damn vase onto the ground and then the heat hits harder than ever. I grimace, squeezing my legs together and hunching my shoulders as I try to ride out the harshest, most brutal heat wave I’ve ever felt.
The scent of caramel and spice mixed with apples and that undeniable alpha scent hit me like a brick. I whine.
“Emily, look at me.” Luke’s voice is smooth, warm. Like the caramel that fills my lungs.
“I can’t,” I say, because I’m afraid of what I’ll see reflected in those bright green pools.
My body shakes as I try to brace through it, the cool air kissing my skin a welcome sensation.
But it turns to a shiver rather quickly, and then I feel warmth like I’ve never felt before. It’s not heat. It’s not a fire.
It’s comfort.
The deep scent of caramel is stronger here. Without thinking, I breathe it in and curl closer to the fire that surrounds me. Large hands secure me, and I realize when I open my eyes that Luke’s placed his jacket around me and he’s holding me. Against his hard, solid chest.
I can’t fight his scent or his hold, something inside of me unlocking like a dam.
“It’s alright,” he says, his voice shaky. “Just… breathe.”
He sucks in a breath and lets it out. And then he does it again, and I follow his lead.
“That’s it,” he says. “Good girl.”
Something about those two words settle every panicking cell in my body.
Our alpha is pleased with us.
I blink, trying to dispel the thought, but the moment it lands, I know it’s true.
I’m his, whether he knows it or not. Whether he accepts me or not…
When did that happen?
I can’t be sure, but I know there is no denying it.
“I’m sorry, I—”
His arms tighten around me.
“There’s no need to apologize, Emily. You can’t fight your omega any more than I can fight my damn alpha,” he grumbles.
The tone, the words, his warm, comfortable hold… I can’t help but laugh.
“What is so funny?” He holds me out, looking at me in question. “Have you gone daft?”
“Probably,” I say with another chuckle as I look up at him, the truth of this energy between us undeniable.
“I mean, we’re in the middle of a damn courtyard and I’m having the worst heat stroke of my life and you—”
Luke shifts his stance, and I don’t miss the way he adjusts himself. I realize there’s no one around us, as we’re in some private part of the courtyard flanked by topiaries and rock fountains.
“Are experiencing the worst knot of my life,” he grunts as he tenses. “But I promise you I will not—”
“You want to knot me?” I ask, realization hitting me.
Luke lets out a heavy sigh.
“That does not matter. What matters is—”
“Yes or no, Lucas.”
His eyebrows furrow at my use of his full name.
“It’s a simple question.”
It feels like forever until he speaks.
“Yes,” he says, quickly adding, “But it doesn’t make a difference, I—”
“If I asked you to knot me right now, would you?” I ask.
He licks his lips, letting out a heavy sigh.
“Emily…”
“Yes or no.”
He swallows hard. “Of course, if it was what you wanted.”
“Even though we are not mates.” I know his next answer will be my undoing.
Because if he says yes, I’ll know. I’ll be ruined forever because I don’t think my omega will ever feel for any other alpha what I feel for him.
I brace for it like a heavy brick, but his answer is not what I expect.
“No,” he says carefully. “I would knot you because it is what you need and I would never deny you what you need. Because you are my mate, Emily Marie Gardner. And I think you know that.”
I look up at him with tears in my eyes as that one word settles between us.
Mate.
“But I’m irritating, and I piss you off, and I—”
Luke chuckles as he leans into my space, settling a hand in my hair. He gently pulls my chin towards him, catching my gaze with his jade irises.
“I told you once your bite is your best feature.” He smirks. “And I meant it.” He kisses my lips softly.
“Next to your Emily Blue eyes, of course,” he whispers.
And it is like the floodgates have broken, because I know with that one kiss, that one snarky ass statement, it’s true.
Lucas does see me the way I see him.
“You are insufferable, Lucas Pembrooke,” I whisper against his lips.
“So I have been told,” he says as he kisses me once more, this time fully and without hesitation.
I fall into his kiss, sliding my hands in his hair.
His lips part for me, and I waste no time caressing his tongue with mine, and it’s a frenzy after that.
It’s a fight of hands and mouths, of growls and whines.
I kiss him hard, my omega coming alive under those words.
Because you are my mate.
I know that truth in the depth of my soul.
“Do it,” I whisper against his lips as I rove my hands down his body, my fingers seeking his waistband of his suit pants. He leans forward, his strained cock pressing against me as my dress slides up around my legs. He hovers his lips above mine as his palm rests on my thigh, warm to the touch.
“Emily, are you—”
“Yes, I am sure,” I say with hurried ecstasy. I find the waistband of his pants and though I expect him to push me away, he doesn’t. His body is tense, though. Like he’s nervous. A strange thought enters my brain as I look up at him.
“You have knotted an omega before… right?”
He lets out a smooth chuckle, his fingers carefully sliding up my thigh to push my dress up. His thumb gently slips underneath the strap of my panties.
“Yes, Emily. I have knotted an omega before,” he says confidently, but then that sheen of confidence fades as he slowly slides his thumb over my heat, making the omega inside me fray at the seams. I groan as his thumb slips through my folds, gently caressing my sensitive nub.
Before I can speak, he slides one finger inside of me, and I whimper in defeat.
“But I have never knotted you,” he says. “My mate.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” I ask, thrusting my hips against his finger. It’s not enough, I need more. I need every bit of Lucas Pembrooke.
“Christmas,” he says as he curls his finger inside me while stroking my clit with his thumb, and I come undone like a spool of thread.
My orgasm hits me hard, out of nowhere, and the moan that escapes me is not quiet in the least.
Luke’s mouth finds mine quickly, silencing my moan. Devouring it like a slice of apple pie.
I manage to unbutton and unzip his pants in record time. I press my palm to his thick, heavy cock protruding from his tight briefs.
The swell of his knot is prevalent, which only makes my insides twist with delight, knowing that it’s because of me.
That it’s for me.
Heat ransacks my body as I shove his pants down while his mouth continues to accost me with feverish kisses. I grab his cock in my hand, trying to lead him, but he resists me.
He shakes his head as his lips press against my neck.
“Not yet,” he says, and I whine.
“Do not make me wait, Luke. I’m in heat, I can’t—”
Luke’s mouth trails kisses down my neck to my chest as he removes his fingers and slides my panties down my thighs, over my ankles and then throws them into the fucking topiary.
I have half a mind to be pissed about this because those are my panties for God’s sakes, but when his mouth finds my heated core, his tongue flicking my clit, I forget all about discarded panties.
My legs shake and my entire body vibrates because I just came and everything is so sensitive…
My eyes fall shut as I lose myself in his ministrations. The swirl of his tongue, the eagerness of his mouth. Before I know it, I’m culminating again, and I fear I won’t be able to hold off.
“Luke, I need your knot. Now. Please…”
When he comes up, mouth gleaming with the evidence of my heat, I feel the animal in me awaken in a whole new way.
I lean up and kiss him, shoving my tongue in his mouth.
I can taste myself, and it’s not as awful as it sounds.
I reach for his cock, but he stops me. I whine, worried somehow he’s changed his mind. That he’s rejecting me.
His hands find my hips and he pulls me gently as he leans back onto the stone beneath us. The water fountain echoes as the wind blows and the crickets chirp, and I can hear the faint sounds of music from the house, reminding me we’re just a stone’s throw away from the Social.
He pulls me gently, his green eyes finding mine as I realize he wants me on top of him.
I know enough to know alphas usually prefer to be on top. At least, most of the alphas I’ve been with have preferred that, and I was under the impression such a thing was typical alpha behavior, but…
Luke wants me like this, and I can’t deny him—my mate.
So I wordlessly straddle his cock, relishing in the ease of which he enters me.
I’m already slick from the onslaught of orgasms and his saliva.
It’s a slow, perfect entrance, and when I feel the widening of his knot, I brace for it, but like the rest of him, he goes in easy as pie.
He growls as he bottoms out, and I freeze, unable to move because it’s been years since I’ve had a knot and I’ve certainly never had one as thick as Luke. His palm settles on my hip, his voice a soft whisper.
“You are so beautiful right now,” he mutters like a lovestruck lunatic.
My omega preens at his praise. I let out a breath as I get used to the feel of him.
I look down at him, noting the glow in his eyes, but it’s not the color that gets me. It’s the way he’s looking at me.
Like I’m truly a sight to behold, here in this courtyard, my dress up to my thighs, coveting his cock and knot while his pack and family socialize none the wiser.
And that alone instills a confidence in me I thought I’d lost. I bend over carefully, claiming his lips with mine.
“So do you,” I whisper. “You look so pretty beneath me.”
His groan echoes in my chest as he kisses me, thrusting up in tandem with my movement.
His warm palms guide my hips as I establish a slow rhythm. I can faintly make out the strings playing in the background, though I can’t discern the song. But it doesn’t matter.
The only song I want to hear is this man, this alpha, muttering my name when he breaks.
And I will break him, the same way he’s broken me. That I am certain.
Because he’s mine, now and forever.
I kiss him with all that I am as I meet his slow, steady thrusts. My hand settles on his chest, his heartbeat heavy against my palm.
“Claim me then,” he says, his dark voice like smooth silk.
I nearly stop at his words.
He must sense my surprise, because he slides his hands up my hips, underneath my breasts before they find their way to my neck, holding me still, forcing me to look at him.
“But an alpha is supposed to—”
“Oh, make no mistake, Emily, I will claim you. I will sink my teeth into you and never let go.”
His words light a fire within me.
“But I want you to mark me first,” he breathes. “Because I promise you, Emily Marie Gardner, you will always be first. In everything I am and everything I do.”
His eyes glisten with shifting energy, and I see the faint grimace in his expression. His cock throbs inside of me and I just… know.
Call it instinct, call it a bond.
I know he’s close, and though I have a desire to punish him because he’s made me wait I also know how badly he needs this—how badly he needs me.
To accept this bond between us. To make him mine the same way he will do for me. And that reality wins out over petulance.
I lean down and kiss him softly before I move my mouth to his neck. He sucks in a breath, his nerves evident.
“Are you sure?” I ask, needing to hear him say the words.
He nods.
“What are you waiting for?” he asks, his voice a whisper.
“Christmas,” I say as I kiss his neck before sinking my teeth into his flesh. He doesn’t growl or cry out, but I feel him everywhere. Heat floods me everywhere. But this heat is different. It’s warm and wonderful and comfortable and so very perfect.
Because, it’s not a fire, but a comfort.
It’s a bond between me and my mate. And there is no warmth that can compete with that. Not even fire.
“Bugger, I’m coming,” he bites out, his voice nearly a hiss as he detonates.
I barely have time to comprehend his words before he lunges forth, upending me onto my back, but I don’t hit the ground.
His arms cradle me, a soft landing as he thrusts himself inside of me, chasing his ecstasy.
And then without warning, his teeth sink into my neck with sharpness, and my insides start to spasm, the blood rushing through my veins in renewed vigor.
I whine, low and deep, as I wrap my legs around him. My heart beats like my pulse where his fangs live at the moment. My pussy pulses along with the beat of his heart, the twitch of his cock.
Everything around me pales in comparison to this.
I don’t know how long we lay there, connected as one. All I know is that I’ve never felt more whole in my life.
When he finally exits from me, he breathes a sigh of relief.
“So, I guess this means you don’t find me so insufferable after all,” he says, and I can hear the exhaustion in his voice. I laugh. Really laugh, because the nerve of this man.
“Perhaps you are like dancing,” I tease.
“Are you saying my performance is tolerable?” He chuckles.
“Quite the opposite, actually. I find your performance most enjoyable.”
Luke smiles, and his dimples light up.
“You still owe me a dance, Emily Marie.”
It’s my turn to smile as my omega basks in the afterglow. His release continues to drip down my thighs. My panties are God knows where. And I will have to go home in a few weeks, but at the moment, none of that matters.
The only thing that matters is this.
Us. My mate and I.
“Do I now?” I ask, my voice full of mischief and excitement. Luke casts me that boyish smirk that has my insides dancing a waltz of their own.
“Yes,” he says as he swiftly tucks his cock back in his pants, stands, and tries his best to make himself look presentable. He holds his hand out to me, and I take it, letting him help me up.
“So how about it?” he asks, tucking some hair behind my ear. His fingers grace the sensitive mark on my neck. His mark.
His claim.
“Right here?” I ask, feeling warm from my head to my toes.
He slides his arms around my waist, pulling me close as he nuzzles my neck where he bit me, and starts to sway.
“Yes. Right here is perfect.”
The faint sounds of the music carry and I smile.
Because for once, I couldn’t agree more with my alpha.
Thank You for reading A Shift Of Heart!