Page 20 of Broken By the Battleship

It’s nothing compared to the pain in my heart.

I see him now. The bond between us glows with his masculine strength.

Everything he has is mine now, which means everything I have is his, so he knows how precious my brothers are to me.

I’ve given him access to my soul.

As I slip into exhausted slumber, I wait for panic to rise, but it doesn’t.

He may hurt and challenge me in ways I never expected, but he’ll never be a heartless monster like my father.

He’s mine. I claimed him.

Now I just have to convince him to give me my brothers back.

Chapter 8

Aft

I shift my sleeping omega off my chest and slip from our nest. My cock pulses at being denied, but after two days of near constant use, he can wait a few minutes while I gather supplies.

My kitten may not want food while in estrous, but she needs the calories. After she almost passed out during our last joining, I worry she won’t have the stamina to survive until her heat breaks.

She needs hydration, too. I refuse to damage her perfect pussy, so I fill the cup and a pitcher from the cabinet and place both on the floor beside the nest before stalking to the washroom. The dark red blotches staining the bandage wrapped around my torso catch my attention in the mirror, but I don’t have the patience to see to my wounds when my omega is in need. Remembering the oozing bite mark on her shoulder, I snag the first aid box and turn toward the door.

A feminine whimper heightens my senses, and I hurry through the living room in anticipation, but stop in the doorway to our den. I stare at our empty nest, not comprehending until another soft sound comes from behind me.

My heart lurches in my chest as I turn around and see my kitten curled up by the exit. Her red and swollen pussy weeps my seed as her eyes leak silent tears. The pink splotches on her throat and breasts will fade with time, but the raised crescent on her shoulder worries me.

I lost control. Our first mating was too rough on her delicate body.

She doesn’t reach for the door, but the pain shining from her eyes etches a permanent scar on my heart.

I drop the first aid box and close the distance between us. She leans against my chest when I scoop her off the floor.

“It hurts,” she whispers.

She isn’t talking about her body. The bonds between her and her siblings throb in agony.

“I’ll take care of you, kitten.” I settle her into our nest and stroke her matted hair away from her face. “Don’t move.”

I wait until she nods before retrieving the box and pulling out the ointment and a few bandages. She flinches when I circle the mark on her shoulder, but relaxes into the pillows. Miserable tears flow down her temples as she stares blankly up at the swaying chains.

I don’t regret hanging them—they represent all the long, lonely nights her father forced me to endure—but I’d do anything to erase the pain wafting from her.

She sighs as I smear ointment on her shoulder and lies still as I tape a bandage over her wound, but when I pull my hand away, she clutches my wrist with both hands. After writhing through an intense wave of hormones, she sucks down a deep breath to settle her nerves and struggles to sit up. I flatten my hand over her sternum, but she pierces me with eyes as clear as a cloudless sky.

“My turn,” she demands before tugging my wrist.

I follow her lead and take her place in the nest. When she rummages in the first aid box, I release a low growl. She grabs her stomach and hunches her shoulders as her womb cramps. Fresh slick scents the air, but none trickles down her thighs.

“Stop, kitten. You need—”

She swings tortured eyes over her bandaged shoulder at me. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth and my words dry up.

A shiver works down my spine as she stares at me. The hard glint in her eyes brooks no argument, and for the first time since I was a child, I feel small.

Reprimanded. Put in my place.

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