Page 12 of Merciless & Mated

I didn’t want to screw any of the others out of having an omega. I had to play this the right way when we got back to the compound.

My knot went down and Gianna moved languidly away from me, rolling over to stare at me with those baby blues. She gave an exhausted groan and stretched luxuriously, flexing every muscle before curling up and burying her face against the sheets.

“There’s too much light in here,” she complained.

I peeled myself off the bed, flicked on one of the wall mounted bedside lights, and turned off the overhead. “Better?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“You’re being remarkably pleasant.”

“Too fucking exhausted for anything else.”

Her stomach growled and I reached for the phone, putting in an order for us that arrived a few minutes later. She inhaled the beef and barley soup, gulping it down from the cup they brought it in before moving on to the club sandwich. I ate more sedately and chugged down water from the bottles they had included in the order, making sure she did the same. When every dish had been cleaned, she sank back against the bed and resumed her staring.

“What?”

“No bonding?” she asked.

“We’ll get to it.”

Her expression turned pensive and soft. “Thanks, I guess.”

“It’s just a delay. You’re not getting out of it.”

“I know. How long have you worked for Bianca?”

Too long. “About twenty years, though part of that was when her father was in control.”

“Is she better or worse than her father?”

I shrugged. “Same snake, different skin. You disrespect either and you end up dead.”

“You don’t sound like you like her.”

“I respect her authority and the empire she managed to keep when her father stepped down. Her strength has always been admirable. Are you asking me all these things because you’re feeling sentimental now that I’ve dicked you down?”

Her nose wrinkled. “Way to ruin a fucking moment.”

“The next heat spike will bring it back.”

“You’re an ass. You know that, right?”

“So I’ve been told.”

I stretched out next to her, exhaustion deep in my bones. We both needed to rest before the next spike hit. Gianna closed her eyes and stretched out one leg, the tips of her toes brushing my skin.

“You can get closer,” I pointed out.

“I’m not giving you the ego boost.”

Instead of replying, I reached out and dragged her close until she was pressed up against the length of me, wiggling indignantly. I held her too tightly for her to go anywhere.

“Relax,” I ordered. “No sense wasting your strength.”

“Fuck—” She yawned. “—you.”

Despite her protest, she did actually relax, snippets of a broken purr sneaking out as she drifted closer and closer to sleep.

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