Page 17 of Bred By the Barge

“You are worthy. You’ve done nothing but protect your sister since I pulled you from the ocean.”

“No, you don’t understand. I—” she gasps in pain and I struggle to remain still as the perfume of her slick thickens the air. “I failed her. I don’t deserve any of this.”

“She’s alive because of you. You kept her afloat when she would’ve drowned. You—”

“I wasn’t there when she needed me most!” She shoves at my shoulders despite her injured hands, but I growl and grit my teeth as she continues. “We got separated between hideaways, and by the time I found her, it was too late. The alpha who attacked her was too high to knot her, otherwise she would’ve—”

I pull my sobbing omega into my arms and stroke her hair and back. She cries until a cramp nearly folds her in half.

When she lifts her head, fury twists her features.

“I wish I had gotten there before he hurt her. I would have killed him, then my parents wouldn’t have gotten involved. We wouldn’t have had to get on that stupid fishing boat and they wouldn’t be dead.”

Her vehemence gives way to grief, and she tucks her face against my shoulder.

She’s allowed the emotions, but the extreme swing between highs and lows is another marker of her strengthening estrous.

“I’m glad you didn’t murder him, Pearl. That type of guilt never goes away,” I mutter.

She jerks her head up and searches my face, but the nagging pain in my chest and the robust smell of her slick test my control. I shift my hands to her shoulders and twist her away to face the walls covered in nesting material and the empty sleeping pad.

“Yours. Mine. Worthy. Not worthy. None of it matters.” I drop my hand to her lower back and give her a gentle nudge toward the shelf. She shuffles on her knees but glances over her shoulder at me. “You’re here. I’m here. Build us a nest, tiny treasure,” I command.

To my delight, she nods and reaches for the nearest stack.

My cock pulses and liquid fire drips onto the floor.

I want her more than I want my next breath, but I need her tucked away in the most luxurious nest before I wreck her.

Because the moment I lay hands on her again, I’m claiming her.

She’s mine.

Chapter 7

Pearl

The bandages on my hands prevent me from feeling the softness of the fabric. In a fit of rage, I sweep the entire stack off the shelf, but the soft thuds as they land on the floor fill me with shame. Tears scratch at the back of my eyes, but they’re too obnoxious for me to let fall. I have no right to cry over my ridiculous actions.

Pain slices through my abdomen and fresh wetness coats my inner thighs. My chest hurts. I don’t like it.

Muscular arms reach down and gather the fallen linen. Fury snaps through me and I snarl and reach for his shoulder. He stands and looms over me without even trying.

“I’m sorry, I—”

“Don’t apologize. Is this your first heat?”

My brain stutters to a halt.

I knew my body was changing, but I refused to acknowledge it. If I kept denying it, then it couldn’t be true and I could keep pretending I wasn’t in this situation.

His question pulls everything into clarity.

“Yes, this is my first heat. I’m glad it’s with you.”

The lines around his eyes soften and he ghosts a fingertip along my chin before hefting the blankets higher on his chest.

“I’ll put these on the sleeping pad,” he says, but I hook my wrist in the crook of his elbow and snarl.

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