Page 76 of Shadowlands Omega

“Am I repeating myself?”

Another jerking shake.

“Are you…listening to me?”

He nods.

“So, what were you doing with her, then?”

“Commissioning the robes you’ll wear for me under the light of the red moon.” His eyes open and his gaze pierces me like a spear, impaling me in place.

“Oh.” Oh ancestors strike me down… Embarassment doesn’t begin to describe the Omega I’ve become… “I’m sorry, Yaron. I feel…um. Never mind. About all of it — any of it. Anyways, what were we doing? Should we…eat, then? The rat sounds particularly delightful…”

“Would you have presented for anyone? Out in the woods?” His voice is gravel, a spike-studded rope soaked in pitch and set aflame.

“I…” I roll my foot and wonder if it would give him the wrong idea if I slipped my foot out of my boot. Right now, one wrong move feels like it could send the inn crumbling to pieces around us. Carefully, like I’m trying to talk down a wild animal or a serial killer on a rampage —I suppose he’s both— I slowly say, “I don’t know if I could have prevented it.”

He covers his mouth with his hand and I notice that he has claws tipping three of his fingers. His thumb, ring and pinky fingers. But his middle and pointer fingers are still tipped by blunted nails. My mind fires with a vision of him touching me with those two fingers, deep, deep inside…

“But…” My throat threatens to close. The room is closing around us. “I’m glad it was you. Even if I hated and feard you then, I’m still glad it was you…if…I…if it had to be anyone, I would have wanted it to be you…I think,” I conclude lamely.

But he seems to be only half listening because he rapidly fires out, “Are you attracted to me?”

It’s my turn to nod silently. Because if I open my mouth, I’ll confess something I never intend to,ever. That I’vealwaysbeen attracted to him. Even when I hated him. Even when I hated him more than anything, I still thought he was the most attractive male in the world. I was attracted to him before the before the before.

“I don’t want to frighten you.” He grabs his belt so suddenly I jump. He growls, bows his head and speaks to the floor. “Fuck…”

“If this is you trying not to frighten me, you’re doing a pretty bad job, Yaron.” I smile, trying to joke. He doesn’t rise to it atall. “Yaron?”

“I’m feeling strangely close to rut in your presence.” He rubs his face again. “And yes, I do mean in your presence. I would not fall into rut for anyone else.”

Warmth sizzles through me, but it’snormal,more contained. It isn’t uncontrollable. I’m not salivating and falling to the ground, though…I wonder if I should be? “Isn’t it…shouldn’t I…is that possible? For you to be in rut without me being in heat?”

“Normally a heat triggers a rut. In same sex couples it is obviously different. I suppose my rut could…” His voice lifts in a hope that’s dashed the moment he looks back at me. “But you don’t feel it.” He makes a brutish sound and looks to the left. “I cannot explain this and I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to be near you, and I sure as fuck can’t let you leave.”

My breath catches in my throat. I can’t swallow. I feel my breasts tingle against the underside of my corset. The ultra-soft fabric of my dress feels abrasive against my nipples. My underpants are tight around my waist and ankles. My hunger is forgotten. I’m too hot and have the urge to rip off everything I’m wearing and everything he’s wearing.

My mouth is dry, but I part my lips anyways and speak. “Are you…in pain? I just remember when I went into heat, it hurt.”

He grunts-laughs and shakes his head again. He pulls on a leather chestpiece — the harness he wears for his axe. It falls. His hand snatches out and grabs the axe handle before it hits the floor and then he places it gingerly against the wall. “It doesn’t cause pain yet, but I sense its imminent arrival.”

“Maybe I can help you, Yaron.”

Everything freezes. Him. Me. The stale, slightly moldy-smelling air between us. “Are you offering what I think you are?”

“Maybe…”

“No. Not maybe. Yes or no. This is not the time to be coy with me, Kiandah.” He bares his teeth and growls low.

“Yes!” I all but shout the word. “Yes. Yes, I’m offering.” I sound like an idiot. “It’s only fair, after all.”

“Yes.” His hand curls into a fist at the buckle of his belt. “It would be fair.” His nostrils flare and his pupils have fully dilated. He sounds like he’s so barely restrained that I’m surprised he doesn’t just charge at me and take me down until I realize…he’s waiting.

Liquid steel floods my spine and I remember who I am and who he is and what he’s learned to want. “So, what are you waiting for? Get on your knees, my Lord.” His hand drops from his belt to the growing bulge beneath it. He palms himself and I shake my head quickly. “Ah ah ah…no touching what’s mine, Yaron.”

“Fuck.” He falls to his knees with a loud thud. “I don’t have long.” He speaks like he’s in pain even though he denies it.

“Then when you crawl, I suggest you do soquickly.”

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