Page 40 of Own to Obtain

“Yes,” Kardos nodded. “But your choice weighs heavily in the pairing process. Usually, it is Betas that are paired and their choice weights much less. As an Omega, you will be more successful breeding with the Alpha you choose.” His gaze intensified. “And you chose me. It wasn’t a mistake, Shaya.”

Shaya exhaled as she thought for a long moment. “Then why did you put me in the mountains?”

Kardos exhaled heavily. “Because it solved many problems at once. And I never, ever doubted you would survive. You did so well, little bird. You did better than almost every Alpha that has gone through that journey. You proved you are more than worthy of ruling next to me, and I cannot even explain how proud I am.”

But he didn’t need to, because she had felt it in her chest before she dulled the bond. Only, she couldn’t imagine that the feeling had been caused because he was proud of her. “But why didn’t you just tell me all of this? Do you think I wouldn’t have chosen to go there if you asked?”

“No one can know they are about to go on the discovery journey,” Kardos replied. “It is forbidden to warn a journeyer or prepare them for what is to come. I knew you would be confused about being in there, but I believed with everything I am that you would make it. You are my mate. And we do not fail.” He paused. “Mostly I missed you while you were in there, like I miss you in my arms now. You think if you go through your portal you won’t still suffer, but you will, Shaya. We both will. And so will our people. They need us and we need each other. That will never change, no matter where you are, no matter what you do.”

Shaya lowered her eyes. A lot of what he said made sense, but she had to think.

“Come here, Shaya.”

Shaya stepped closer to him, just out of his arms’ reach as she rose her head to gaze at him.

His eyes were sincere, his expression solemn, and serious. “We have to go home,” he urged. “The blizzards are arriving and we need to help. Let me show you why it was so important for you to learn the way you did.”

Shaya breathed shallowly as she considered it. “And if I still want to go afterward… you will let me?”

Kardos’ voice was so low it sent a delicious tingle fluttering in her stomach and coiled down between her legs. “No, little bird. Once you are my arms again, I am never letting you go.”

So if she went back to him, she would be trapped; although, maybe it wouldn’t be as much of a prison as she thought. She so desperately wanted to return to him if everything he was saying was true. “Will you punish me?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper.

Kardos’ eyes searched her face. “Have you suffered without the bond? Have you suffered as I have suffered—without your presence?”

Shaya squeezed her fingers together and nodded, regret trickling through her.

“Then that is punishment enough,” he said, hoarsely. His eyes captured so deeply, and the pain within them pierced her heart. He was suffering. The potion may not have caused him pain but the absence of the bond had—the absence ofherhad. If a blizzard was truly approaching Nyek, he had left his people vulnerable, he had left his seat, to come and get her—to return her to them when they needed her.

A flickering in her chest caught her attention. The bond.If either you or your Alpha were to feel extremely strong, powerful emotions, more powerful than any previous experience, you would both feel it.Kardos’ emotions were powerful enough in this moment that she could feel it.

And suddenly her mind was made up.

Shaya glanced up at the warriors in the room and their weapons were lowered. When she turned to look at Kyus her expression was one of amazement and she could only blink at Shaya. Shaya smiled at her and nodded, hoping she would understand her choice.

Turning back to Kardos, she took a tiny step forward.

Kardos moved so quickly she barely saw him.

He whipped forward and grabbed her, closing his arms around her as he pulled her into his warm chest.

The sensation was more wonderful than she ever thought possible. The relief and pleasure of being against him again, his hard chest against her cheek, his scent surrounding her as he stroked her skin, sent every nerve in her body bursting with pleasure. She couldn’t help but moan and press her nose into his chest, clawing him, trying to get as close to him as possible.

He shifted and moved, cradling her in his arms as he lay her slightly to one side. She grumbled about being moved from his chest, but when she looked up, instead of standing and carrying her out of the room, she realized he was sitting on the floor with her in his lap.

She blinked, looking up at him as he loomed over her, his eyes drinking in every part of her face, his entire body cocooning her so he was all she could see.

Just as she was about to ask him why he hadn’t left the room, something caught his attention. His face snapped up to growl at whatever was happening outside of their little space. His growl turned into a roar, the veins on his neck bulging as he bellowed to somebody beyond them.

Shaya didn’t even bother to look. It was probably the warriors leaving the room that had him alert and angry, but she suddenly realized how vulnerable that he had left himself when he lowered to his knees without his weapon. They could have attacked him at any time and he would have let them. He put himself at risk, made himself vulnerable so she would talk to him, but he was still the beast she always knew. And although that angry bellowing beast above her was tense and fraught with energy, she was no longer agitated by it. She had to accept that this was her Alpha, her beast. She was his as he was hers, and she loved the way his ferocity made her feel, digging deep into her and stirring desires and feelings she never thought possible.

As she watched him, she slowly lifted her hand to his face. As soon as her finger brushed his beard, his attention whipped back to her, his roar falling to a low rumbling in his throat, the intensity of his gaze capturing her. It made her feel like she was the only thing important to him, and now she knew since being on the ship that had been the case.

As she continued to stroke his beard with her finger, it petered out until only his purr remained.

The gaze between them ignited a deep desire and satisfaction in her that she never thought possible. Shaya was so comfortable in his arms as she stroked him and his purr crescendoed into a heavy, rolling vibration that penetrated her, hardening her nipples and stirring deep in her belly.

Shaya looked at him closely, trying to figure out what had changed, but the only difference was that she was touching him. Maybe he liked that.

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