Page 149 of The Heat of Us

“Ben.” He looked at me like he still couldn’t believe he was hearing his name. “You did so well.”

The last few days had been fuzzy for me. Shunted to a very small, lonely corner of myself. Phantom scents and elusive sensations found their way to me through the fog. Voices that tugged at my soul growing clearer.

My pack.

Leading me back home guided by the alpha in my arms.

“Do you want to know how I feel about you?” I couldn’t seem to hold him close enough. Not even when we were entwined, his heart next to mine, and running my cheek aggressively trying to get my scent deep into his pores. It just never seemed like enough.

His affectionate laugh at my antics was precious. After everything we’d been through it was all I wanted to hear. His eyes were lustrous as they met mine. “Please.”

“Maybe it’s better if I show you,” I said mysteriously.

Then I sank my teeth into his neck.

“Oh god. Hazel. This is…fuck.” His whole body spasmed under my grip. I wasn’t gentle, claiming him the way he deserved to be claimed. Whole-heartedly with my entire chest, his blood metallic on my tongue.

“You’re mine.” I lapped at the droplets seeping from the fresh wound. “I-I love you too.”

Saying it out loud was so…freeing. Running, quashing, fighting it for so long felt so pointless. Why did I deny myself this?

“Hey.”

I don’t know why it was so hard to look at him.

“I have no regrets. None. Not about the way we met, the time it took to get to know you, how you needed to keep us at arms length for a while.” Ben’s lips slanted gently over mine, his touch tracing my spine.

Even with the weak bond between us, he could sense all my entangled, complex emotions. Completing his side would make it permanent. I wanted it. Wanted the tiny shadow of him inside me to unfurl into the beautiful, complex phenomenon I knew it would be.

And I needed my scent so deeply embedded with his so everyone knew he was mine.

My hands slipped beneath his shirt, my touch going from exploratory to hungry. I let my emotions rise to the forefront so he would sense it. My growing fixation on all the places our bodies were touching. Fingers tracing his tense muscles. My breasts against his rising chest. My core on top of his hardening length.

“Claim me, alpha. I’m yours.”

I thought hard about his teeth in my neck and my arousal bloomed lush between us.

I could feel his control slipping.

Yes.

“I had plans,” he muttered. “Courtship presents, new additions to your nest and definitely some sort of grand gesture beforehand.”

I was listening to what he was saying. But I was also removing our clothes and searching for his skin on mine.

“Courtship presents…those donuts during my period were pretty nice,” I mused.

“Hazel, no. I meant—”

“New additions to my nest?” I plowed on, getting up momentarily so I could take our pants off. “Didn’t you buy me an entire nest, already?”

“Well, yeah but you could always do with more—”

I resettled myself on his lap, my slick pussy hugging the length of his shaft, enjoying the way his hips kicked involuntarily. “And I’m not sure if you can top a gesture as grand as spending days loving and caring for me until my omega felt safe again,” I said, unable to hide the catch in my voice.

“You really want this, here and now?”

“I want you always.”

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