Kaiden
It’s been six days since Revea went into heat. Six. When I told her she’d need a week, that was my alpha talking, posturing. I didn’t realise he meant it.
It’s been a military operation, literally. Unbeknownst to us, Sylvan had already prepped for that. Preordered pre-made food, electrolyte drinks, and even installed a mini fridge in the nest. Meaning we only have to leave to heat up food and use the bathroom.
But now, Revea’s scent is changing, still ridiculously appealing, but softer, smoother. She’s coming to the end of her heat.
I nuzzle her throat, and that small touch is all it takes for her to rouse.
She turns, wide eyes filling with more green than I’ve seen in days.
“Hey.” She smiles.
I lose my breath. My mind stalls. I don’t understand what I did to deserve this. A pack, this heat, her.
But I’ll never take it for granted.
I’m kissing her before I even realise, our tongues slow and lazy. I grip her hips, bringing her up until she’s straddling me while the others sleep, practically passed out.
I know she’s exhausted, we all are, but I’m desperate to feel her like this, eye to eye, like the first time she took my knot.
We don’t speak as I ease her onto my cock, her eyes fluttering shut. I do all the work, moving her up and down with slow, deep thrusts, watching her face in awe as her mouth parts and her head tilts back.
I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than Revea.
She’s so small in my hands, my thumb easily reaching her clit. Every action I perform is slow, measured. I’m taking my time. Indulging. Because I know that after she takes my knot, her heat will break. It needs to break. Her body needs time to recover, we all do, but...
Fuck, I don’t want this to end.
I place my nose to hers. “You ready?” I whisper.
She nods, tilting her head to brush my lips with hers.
I increase my pace, and she moves with me, matching every thrust until we’re panting.
She moans when part of my knot edges in. It isn’t as easy as the previous days, but that just makes us work harder for it, makes our groans turn into desperation as I crave to fill her.
“You can take it,” I reassure, kissing her lips, nipping her throat. “Just one more time for me.”
The praise seems to ease her enough for me to push in.
Her body tenses, locking around me, and I come with her mouth devouring mine.
I can’t move, the pleasure indescribable, yet Revea still tries with soft little shifts of her hips, taking everything from me as she rides out her orgasm, then slumps.
Her scent immediately changes, shifting back into its regular, alluring lull. I kiss her shoulders, her cheeks, anything I can reach while murmuring how perfect she is, how good she feels.
She buries her head against my chest as I lie us down. And with the weight of her on top of me, our racing hearts and soft breaths the only sound, I murmur, “I love you, Revea.”
Her breathing pauses, caught. Then it resumes, and there’s a sniffle.
I tense, easing her back to see her face.
“Baby, what’s wrong? Did I hurt you?” I’m searching her body for any signs, but we’re locked together, and I can’t reach everywhere.
She shakes her head, tears falling, bright green eyes overflowing as they meet mine. “I’m...” She’s trying to get out her words between breaths. “I’m just... really sad... it’s over...”
Her body shakes with sobs she can’t stop as I wrap her in my arms, holding her as close to me as possible, soothing her with kisses to the top of her head.
“I know,” I murmur as she cries. “But this isn’t the end, Revea. Not if you don’t want it to be.”
She tries to stop crying, her chest rising and falling on desperate breaths. “I... I don’t... but I...” She shakes her head against my chest. “I just don’t know how... How will it all work? And I’m... I feel so...”
“Breathe for me, darlin’,” I soothe, fingers caressing her spine. She takes one deep breath that stutters out, then another. “That’s it. Good. So good for me.”
After a few more breaths, her face finally tilts up, her watery eyes searching mine. “I’m so scared, Kaiden.”
My heart aches seeing her like this, so vulnerable and open, nothing like the woman who glared at me on those salon stairs. And yet, I love this version of her just the same, because I know what those words really mean.
What she’s too afraid to say—
“I love you all so much it terrifies me.”
She… she said it.
She loves us.
“Revea.” My voice drags into a growl. “You should be scared.” I lean in, nose to nose. “Because now you’ve said that, I won’t be able to let you go.”
She huffs, but it catches on the remnant of a sob. “Yeah? Even when I’m crying all over you?” She reaches up to brush away her tears.
I smile, thumbing away the few she missed. “Always.”
Her lips part, and I think she’s about to cry again, but she blinks them away and keeps her eyes shut as she says, “But how would it work? With the salon and the press. God, the press. I forgot about them…”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“…and your job! You’ve been so busy with me—what about all your other clients? You won’t have time, and I’ll be travelling for conventions soon, and oh god, how am I going to travel—”
“Revea.”
Her eyes snap open. My slow purr began at the first sign of her panic; now it’s almost as loud as my voice. It works, her words cutting out, gaze set with mine as my chest rumbles against hers.
“We don’t need to talk about this now.” She opens her mouth. “We will, I promise, but not now. Just be here, with me, us.”