Chapter 45
Conrí
The more agitated she got the tighter she squeezed—and the irony was that would only keep my knot lodged inside her for longer.
“What do you mean you can’t take it out? For how long? And why?”
I lifted my head to inspect her flushed face.
“Who knows,” I said lazily. “I’ve never knotted inside anyone before.”
Her jaw dropped.
Isn’t she perfect? Kael said, mooning over the sight of her with absolutely no dignity whatsoever.
“You mean I could be like this for hours?” She paused, reached for one of my shirts and rubbed it against her cheek without breaking eye contact. “It’s really stuck.”
I hid my smile and dropped my lips to her exposed neck. Another squeeze around my knot—immediate, involuntary, entirely counterproductive to her complaint.
I worked my way down, pressing her breasts together as she groaned into the shirt.
I peppered her chest with kisses before dragging my tongue from one nipple to the next, back and forth, until her hips began to twitch beneath me.
“Once you’ve released me,” I murmured, drawing a nipple into my mouth and sucking slowly before releasing it to inspect the glistening peak, “you’re going to present to me. Like a bad girl. On your belly.”
She may have said something.
I shifted to her other side and began to knead her breast. Her grip around my knot told me everything I needed to know.
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Day Two
Her neck was extra sensitive. She didn’t know yet that she needed my bite—but she would by the end of her heat. And there was no indication she was broken. Yes, she had her quirks. We loved those. There was a chance and that knowledge drove my rut into hyperdrive.
There was little sleep for her. Even when she dozed off I remained inside her—and in her slumber she still clung to me, burying her face into my scent while I tirelessly worked for both of us.
Yes, you deserve an award, Kael grunted.
I’m glad you’re acknowledging my efforts.
I eased her onto her belly. Her hand came to rest on what remained of her nest. I tucked her legs beneath her until she was in position and trailed my fingertips down the length of her slender back to the soft curve of her buttocks.
How could I refuse such a sight?
A pause.
Kael hummed his agreement.
I smiled, leaning over her to grip her neck as I guided myself inside—felt the immediate rapid contraction welcoming me back. A silent acknowledgement of our union. Our bodies knew what our minds were still catching up to.
A vibration beneath my fingers as she spoke.
“Alpha,” she croaked, attempting to shift and finding it impossible with her legs pinned. “Doesn’t that thing go down?”
“Thirty-six years I’ve waited,” I reminded her.
“Don’t wake me up when you’re done,” she groaned, and pressed her face deeper into my clothing.
The carefully selected, sealed clothing that had been in my car for weeks in preparation for this moment. She’d built a nest from it without knowing that was what she was doing.
She built a nest for us, Kael sighed. For us.
I didn’t answer. I was too occupied noting the scent of my seed clinging to her thighs, the evidence of what we’d built between us. When I spread her apart the flesh was a deeper pink—bordering on red. We may have overindulged slightly.
I massaged gently with my fingertips.
Her muffled snores followed almost immediately.
She was constantly underestimating me.
I dipped lower, circling the sensitive bundle of nerves. Still wet. Still swollen. Responsive even in sleep.
Her head jerked until she lay on her cheek, part of her face exposed.
“There you are,” I murmured, guiding the blunt head between her lips.
The rut was still intense—that deep, insistent pull that had no interest in patience—but I curbed the animalistic need. Not yet.
Her heat drew me in. I held her hip and rested my hand at her nape.
“Yes,” she whispered, still half-asleep. “Oh, yes. Right there.”
Her muscles tightened around that spot. I held it for a moment before I began to move—slow, deliberate pumps aimed precisely, watching her start to squirm beneath me.
Then I wrapped both hands around her neck and lifted, bending her back until her spine arched. The moment her lips were close enough I took them—kissing and driving into her simultaneously while her fingers clawed at my clothing.
I didn’t stop.
Slap. Slap. Slap.
My knot began to echo through her room.
The acoustics were quite extraordinary.
It might have been the double glazing. Possibly the high ceiling.
Her gasps and pants were muffled against my lips. I kept my grip on her neck. I moved faster, hauling her higher until her hands braced on her knees.
“Awake now, aren’t you?” I growled against her cheek. “Taking my cock like a bad little mate.”
She tried to nod. My grip was too firm.
I drove harder. She was still clenching—that beautiful, maddening tightness that wouldn’t allow my knot entry.
“Let. Me. In,” I growled, each word landing with a thrust.
Another contraction.
I loosened my grip and felt her muscles ease in response.
“That may have been my fault,” I rasped, catching my breath. “I forgot how much you love getting choked out.”
I couldn’t see her face but her snort said everything. I kissed the top of her head and soldiered on—with stamina, with fearlessness, and with the quiet certainty of a man who had waited years for exactly this.
The heat between us was filthy. Sweat and seed and everything in between. I couldn’t get enough of her. I doubted I ever would.
“Open for me, my love,” I whispered.
Please, Kael added, privately.
She relaxed—by degrees, then all at once—and this time I squeezed in.
Slick. Tight. Mine.
She gulped and I felt her throat ripple beneath my fingers.
“Now,” she hissed.
By the Gods, her wish was my command.
I pushed—felt more of my knot being swallowed—and her gasp was still in the air when I drove the rest of it home. I resumed my grip and began to pump with everything I had.
“So fucking—good,” she screamed between pants.
I held her upright.
My eyes found her neck.
My teeth began to lengthen. Not because the moment demanded it. Not because I’d decided. Pure instinct—the age-old, bone-deep drive to claim what was ours.
Do it. Do it. Do it.
The voice grew louder.
Nika began to jerk, her muscles locking around me.
Do it now.
She pushed back—impaled herself on my knot entirely—and my eyes rolled as she milked me again.
I wrapped my arm around her chest, my hips jerking as my seed reached its destination.
I tipped her head back and took her mouth instead.
Poured everything into that. Anything to keep my teeth from her neck.
I wouldn’t break her trust.
Not when she was vulnerable. Not like this. Not without her full understanding of what it meant.
It wasn’t until I’d breathed easy again—until I’d moved us onto the mattress and felt her settle against me—that I admitted to myself what I’d already known.
The voice had been mine.
Not Kael’s.
Mine.
That was a close call.
Fuck.
She’d put a knife through our knot and balls while biting the relevant anatomy clean off.
There’s something wrong with you, Kael muttered.
I cradled her belly with one hand.
That soft little paunch.
It would grow.