Page 27 of Outcast Island

When Magnus is finally satisfied that I’m dry, he collects me in the puffy towel and carries me back to the bedroom.

As promised, he collects fresh sheets from the closet and offers me a set of choices. “Which do you prefer?” he asks.

I blink at him, finding the question odd, then I glance down and am immediately drawn to the darker shades of blue. “That one,” I say.

He politely puts the others away, then holds my choice of sheets out again. “Would it bother you if I made the bed?”

Another odd question, but I shake my head. “I don’t mind.”

I watch as he discards the dirtied sheets and stretches on the new ones. He takes his time, making sure all the corners are crips, but when he’s done, I stare at the bed, unable to put my finger on what isn’t right.

“What do you need, Omega?” he asks.

He keeps his tone soft, which I appreciate in my sensitive state. I feel as if my entire body is a match ready to be lit. One wrong move and I’ll set on fire.

Glancing at his walk-in closet, I let my instincts guide me.

Magnus is a tidy sort of Alpha, but I find a section of shirts that he’s worn enough times that they still smell like him.

Plucking each one off the hanger, I gather them up until my arms are stuffed with shirts. I take them to the bed and toss them onto it.

“Still not right,” I murmur as my brow furrows.

I climb onto the bed and start arranging the shirts. Magnus doesn’t question me and quietly waits while I work.

I’m not sure how long it takes me, but I’ve arranged the garments in a soft semi-circle that feels more suitable.

“Still something missing,” I say more to myself than to Magnus, then deepen my frown as I notice him smiling at me. “What?”

“You’re nesting,” he says, sounding pleased. “That’s a good sign. Only Omega Vampires close to estrus prepare a nest for fucking.”

I bite the inside of my cheek as I realize he’s right.

But, just because I’m close to estrus doesn’t mean it’ll happen. After everything I have been through—all the Vampire Alpha blood shoved down my throat, followed by numerous Vampire Alphas growling at me at the crash site, my proximity to estrus has been more or less forced.

Magnus is trying to help me the rest of the way, but I know it can’t happen.

“There’s something I have to tell you,” I make myself say.

It’s wrong to lead him on. As much as I need his knot, as much as it’ll hurt when he leaves, I can’t survive the disappointment of his rejection if I lure him into a blood-bond we can’t undo.

It’s wrong. Just like it’s wrong for Vampire Alphas to trick an Omega’s body into estrus, it’s also wrong for me to ensnare Magnus just because he’s the first Alpha who has taken care of me.

A blood-bond now would be enslaving him because I’m being selfish.

Because he meetsmyneeds and I would be giving no care to his own.

I refuse to live up to my Älva name.

I might be an Älva heir, but it doesn’t mean I have to behave like my nest.

“What is it?” he asks as he strokes his cock. I realize now that he’s much bigger than I thought. His hands are large, too, so the proportion had thrown me off.

But I’m sitting on the edge of the bed and he’s standing right in front of me, teasing me with the precum dripping from the head of his cock that might actuallynotfit in my mouth.

I swallow the lump in my throat and force myself to look up at him. “I can’t give you a child, Magnus. An empath can’t go into estrus.”

He paints my lips with his cock, stunning me with the delicious taste of him.

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