26. Gabriella #2
My pulse jumps. I nod and reach for my shirt.
His eyes follow my hands.
Every. Single. Movement.
I pull the shirt over my head. Rowan backs up and watches.
There’s something almost unbearably intimate about it.
No embarrassment.
No hesitation.
No sense that he’s comparing me to anyone else.
Just that burning golden stare fixed entirely on me.
Wanting me.
His Honey Girl.
What’s amazing is that right now, all those old doubts and self-deprecating thoughts?
They’re gone.
Just... gone.
Like magic.
I don’t have a single negative thought about myself while I undress for my mate. And I know what I look like.
I’ve had a child. My belly is soft. I have rolls and stretch marks. My thighs are thick and jiggly. My breasts nursed my son, and they aren’t as perky as they used to be.
And so fucking what?
This body made Matteo.
It carried him when he was the most precious secret I had. It nourished him. Protected him. It carried both of us away from the Suicide Cliff Wake when staying would have meant losing everything.
This body survived.
I survived.
And right now, there’s a gorgeous, Viking-looking Alpha Wolf standing in front of me, staring at every inch like I’m the most beautiful fucking thing he’s ever seen.
There’s no judgment in those molten-gold eyes. No disappointment. Just hunger.
Want.
Need.
Something deeper that makes the matebond glow warm inside my chest.
And for once, I let myself see what Rowan apparently sees when he looks at me.
Not flaws. Not a body I need to apologize for.
Me.
His mate.
His Omega.
And damn if I don’t feel fucking beautiful.
“Christ, look at you,” he growls so softly I wonder if his words are meant for me.
My knees weaken as I watch his hand move down his body while he stares. Rowan cups his balls, gives them a good squeeze. Then he grips his cock at the root with his left hand, takes his right hand and runs it over the bead of precum leaking at the tip.
Then he strokes himself.
And fuck me, it is so hot.
That low belly ache returns and intensifies. Heat fills my body. I suck in a breath.
Rowan’s expression sharpens. His hand stops moving.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
At least, I think I am.
I reach for my shorts. Then that sensation in my lower abdomen comes back.
Harder.
I freeze.
What the hell?
Another pull.
Then a cramp—a big one.
“Ow.”
Rowan is kneeling in front of me before I can blink.
“Honey Girl? What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine.”
“You don't look fine.”
“It’s just a cramp.”
His hands hover near my waist without touching.
The fact that he waits for permission even when concern is written all over his face does something stupidly tender to my heart.
“I’m okay,” I assure him.
His jaw tightens.
“Gabby—”
Another cramp hits. This one nearly buckles my knees.
Rowan catches me instantly.
“Fuck. No, you're not fine.”
“Oh, I think...”
My brows furrow as another strange wave rolls through me.
“Um, excuse me. I just need the bathroom.”
I slip out of his arms and hurry toward the bathroom. Any embarrassment I’d normally feel is overshadowed by confusion.
The entire way, I can feel his stare following me.
“Gabby?”
“Just give me one second, please.”
He nods, and I close the door. I don’t lock it. Somehow that distinction matters.
I barely make it to the toilet before another cramp hits.
“Shit.”
I breathe through it, waiting for the pain to subside.
Then I pull down my shorts.
And I stare.
“What the...?”
Inside my panties is a thick, viscous discharge, and right there in the middle of it is a small, bent piece of copper.
I stare at it, my brain refusing to make sense of what I’m seeing.
It’s my IUD.
My fucking IUD is lying inside my panties.
Expelled from my body all on its own.
For several seconds, I just stare at it.
That isn’t—
How did—
What the actual fuck?
My hand instinctively covers my lower belly. A little flicker of fear moves through me.
Then confusion.
Then something else.
Because my body feels wrong.
No. Not wrong.
Different.
Like something has shifted.
Changed.
Unlocked.
My other nature surges beneath my skin, and the matebond flares so intensely that I gasp. But this time, it comes with something else.
Heat.
Not the warmth I feel when Rowan touches me. Not even the delicious burn that races through me when the matebond pulses between us.
This is different.
Primal.
Demanding.
It starts low in my belly and spreads outward until my entire body feels like it’s caught fire from the inside.
“Gabby?”
Rowan’s voice comes through the door.
I should answer. I know I should. Instead, another wave hits me.
My knees nearly buckle. Not in pain this time. It’s desire. It’s lust. And need.
God, so much fucking need.
It floods through my abdomen, my chest, my limbs until every inch of me feels hypersensitive. My breasts ache. My skin feels too tight. Even the brush of my own clothing becomes unbearable.
And underneath it all?
Empty.
That’s the only word for it. Suddenly, I feel painfully, impossibly empty. And every instinct inside me knows exactly what’s missing.
Him.
My Alpha.
My mate.
My body wants Rowan with a ferocity that frightens me.
No. Not just with me.
Inside me.
Knotted with me.
My hand flies to my lower belly. The thought doesn’t feel entirely like mine.
It comes from somewhere deeper.
Older.
A place where instinct and magic tangle together until I can’t tell where Gabriella ends and my other nature begins.
Mate.
Alpha.
Baby.
Oh, God.
A moan slips out before I can stop it. Silence falls on the other side of the door.
Then, a moment later, I hear him.
“Gabby?”
The doorknob rattles.
“Talk to me.”
I open my mouth. Nothing comes out. My pulse pounds. My skin burns. And beneath it all, my other nature pushes closer.
Closer than she has been in years. But she isn’t angry. She isn’t frightened. She’s calling out.
Calling out to him.
The matebond stretches between us like a live wire, and suddenly I swear I can feel Rowan on the other side of that door.
His worry. His confusion. Then something sharp and wild.
Recognition.
“Gabby!”
His voice changes.
“Honey Girl, I’m coming in.”
The doorknob turns. He steps inside. His eyes find me immediately.
The Wolf is right there. Gold floods his gaze. His nostrils flare. And Rowan goes completely fucking rigid.
His hand clamps around the doorframe.
Hard.
So hard the wood creaks beneath his fingers.
“Fuck.”
The word is barely audible. I don’t know what he scents. Don’t know what he sees.
But I see him.
Rowan.
My Alpha.
My mate.
His chest rises sharply.
Falls.
Rises again.
He looks like a man fighting himself with everything he has. And despite the raw hunger blazing in his golden eyes, concern is carved into every hard line of his face.
“Honey Girl?”
Another wave of heat crashes through me. I whimper. His eyes squeeze shut.
“Fuck.”
“Rowan.”
His gaze snaps back to mine. I reach for him.
He takes one instinctive step toward me. Then stops.
Actually fucking stops.
“Rowan?”
“Don't.”
The word comes out as a growl. I freeze. My heart twists.
He sees it. Immediately.
“No. Fuck. Not like that.” His expression tightens. “Come here if you need me, Honey. I'll hold you. I'll fucking hold you all night. Just... I need you to understand what's happening before we do anything else.”
I stare at him.
“What is happening?”
His nostrils flare again. A shudder moves through his huge body.
Monster growls so loudly I hear him. And something inside me answers.
My thighs press together. Moisture floods between them, and it’s dripping down my legs.
Rowan notices.
Of course he fucking notices.
His jaw clenches.
“You're in heat.”
“What?”
“It’s your first heat as a mated Omega.”
“I've never had a heat.”
“I know.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“Because if you'd smelled like this before, some Alpha would've fucking noticed.”
Possession lashes through the matebond so fiercely that my breath catches. His eyes narrow.
“Don't like thinking about that.”
Despite everything happening to me, a breathless laugh escapes.
“You're jealous of hypothetical Alphas now?”
“Yes.”
At least he’s honest.
“Rowan.”
“Honey Girl, I'm hanging on by a fucking thread here. Don't tease me.”
The rough vulnerability beneath the words sobers me immediately.
“What does this mean, Rowan?”
His eyes drop to the IUD. Then back to me.
“I think the matebond must have triggered it. And that.”
My hand settles protectively over my stomach.
“The matebond got rid of my IUD?”
“Maybe. I don't know enough about your kind to tell you why your body rejected it. But I know what I'm smelling.”
He takes another breath and instantly regrets it. His eyes turn molten.
“Fuck.”
“What?”
“You're ovulating.”
My heart stops.
“What?”
“I can smell it.”
“You can smell that?”
“Wolf.”
“That is disturbingly invasive.”
“Trust me, I'm not trying to steal this information from you.”
That almost makes me smile.
Almost.
Then another cramp of need twists through me, and I grab the counter. Rowan moves instantly. One second he’s across the bathroom. The next he’s right there, his hands on my arms, holding me upright.
“Easy.”
The relief from his touch is immediate. I sag against him.
“Oh, God.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Matebond.”
His hand strokes my back.
Slow.
Steady.
Not taking.
Comforting.
And somehow that makes me want him even more. I turn my face into his chest and breathe him in.
Alpha.
Mate.
Home.
My body practically sings.
“Rowan, I need you.”
His entire body trembles.
“I know.”
“No. I mean—”
“I know exactly what you mean.”
He cups my face and makes me look at him. There is so much hunger in his expression it steals my breath. But his hands remain gentle.
“Honey Girl, listen to me.”
I nod.
“I can take the edge off. I can use my mouth. My hands. But if I knot you tonight—really knot you while you're like this—there's a damn good chance you're going to conceive.”
Everything inside me stills. The heat remains. So does the aching need. But suddenly there’s room for Gabriella again.
For me.