* * *
When I come to,I’m in my old cottage, the one I shared with Bjornick, I realize with a pang in my chest. Some of his old clothes are still there, draped over the back of the chair. I remember scolding him about it. It was all in good fun, of course. I told him an alpha needed to be more organized, and he told me hewas, just in his own special way.
It was an endearing little quirk…and now even that was gone.
The sound of a growl wakes me completely, and I gasp, pulling the covers up around my chest. Memories of the last few days rush back in in an instant.
Bjornick is gone. I was in heat.
Oh, and this growly alpha was gonna ‘help’ me through it.
What a sacrifice, I think while rolling my eyes. Really taking one for the team. But my snark fades when I see him sniffing Bjornick’s discarded sweater.
The growl that resonates from his chest is deeper than any sound I’ve ever heard. It rattles around in my chest and settles deep into my belly, the warmth there reaching inferno levels.
This isn’t right to be lusting after some alien alpha I just met. But then again, isn’t that what I signed up for? It was only through a quirk of timing that I had more time to get to know Bjornick, but somehow, that little miscalculation had brought me here, laying in bed with a hulking golden alien snarling at me.
“These clothes,” he says with a scowl. “They reek.”
Okay, so Bjornick wasn’t the best-smelling alien, true, but…
“Just put them over—“
“No.” It’s a hard, cold word that leaves no room for argument. “I do not like smelling another male in your nest. Not while you’re with me.”
Oh. I open my mouth to retort, but find that I can’t. My pussy contracts at his possessive words, and I’d be lying to say it didn’t steal the breath right from my chest.
Hewantsme.
And, despite everything, I want him too.
“Get up.” He strides to the bed and scowls at the blankets like they might bite. “Now.”
Before I even have time to move, he gathers me in his arms and gently sets me in the plush chair before returning to the bed. With a single motion, he tears the sheets and blankets off of the bed, tossing them into a corner.
“What are you doing?” I ask when I finally find my voice. “How are we going to—“
Orri rounds on me, his demeanor savage but his touches are nothing but gentle. He eases me out of the chair, holding me close in a way that speaks to all of my omega urges. He leans down so that his lips brush the shell of my ear. I shiver at his boldness.
“If I’m going to take you, I will not do it with the smell of another male inmyomega’s nest.”
I suck in a breath.Hisomega. I wasn’t. Not really.
But when he said it like that?
Maybe I could be. At least for now.
My thoughts wander and I find myself thinking about Orri with another woman in his bed. Pleasuring her, whispering all the sweet nothings into her ears just as he had into mine.
To my surprise, it frightens me. No, more than that. Itenragesme in a way I have never felt before.
A small growl of my own rips free before I can stop it. I didn’t even know I could make those kinds of noises. But Orri pushes all of my buttons, even the ones I didn’t know I had before.
Heat crawls up my neck and centers on the point where his lips meet my ear. With a ragged sigh, I can’t hold it back anymore. I melt into his touch, and whisper to him with just the same ferocity, “Then let’s get started.”
BREEDING INSTINCTS
ISABELLA