Page 66 of Fated or Knot

The other males didn’t grouse too much. I’d picked Marius to sidestep any more chances to fool around. He’d keep me safe but wouldn’t try to touch me intimately. Since Kauz had touched up my suppressant tattoo before bedtime, I was in the right mind to make a sound decision.

When we lay down and turned off the essence lamp, Marius avoided touching me at all by keeping most of the cot’s space between us. His back was essentially pressed against the wall.

I held my pillow and drifted off, mostly content. I had Fal’s mask to hold for his scent. Tormund also gave me his cloak to sleep with—the undamaged one, its fabric orange with gold accents—which was basically a blanket. It was made of fireproof material, heavy and scratchy, but I burrowed into it for the trace smell of smoke and mallows clinging to it.

When I woke, waterlily and wild mint were the dominant scents in my nostrils, and I made a pleased hum. Marius reallydid smell amazing. And he put off a lot of heat, chasing away the chill hanging in the morning air.

I cracked open my eyes, taking note of how I’d shifted while asleep with a sinking feeling. At some point in the night, I’d discarded the pillow and moved across the cot to snuggle with an unwilling Marius instead. My legs were wrapped around one of his muscular thighs, and my arm had failed to encircle his chest, so my palm rested over his heart instead.

Stars, how mortifying.He was an early riser, too, and I could feel him shifting under me.

He was nuzzling my hair and scenting me with deep breaths through his nose. My embarrassment cooled some as this registered, along with the vibrations through his body I could feel rather than hear. His silent purr could’ve lulled me back to sleep, but I’d caught enough rest yesterday by sleeping half the day away.

I tilted my head up to catch a glimpse of his expression before he shut it behind an unreadable wall. His pupils were extra dilated, swallowing up more than the smallest rim of yellow. When they focused on my face, he merely tilted his head to inspect my face more closely with one eye. He seemed captivated by whatever he saw.

“Good morning,” I whispered.

“I know you,” he answered. Instead of speaking in his usual deep, authority-filled rumble, there was a roughened texture to his voice. It reminded me of when we’d met in the pawn shop and he scented my impending heat. His pupils had been huge then, too. I’d thought it was a reaction to my heat scent, but maybe it was a Marius thing.

I laughed nervously. “What do you mean?” I murmured. “We’ve been traveling together for a while.”

He growled low, like a roll of thunder. “Mate,” he rasped. “I’ve been loyal.”

Stars, this wasn’t quite Marius. It was something else within him, as if his beast was speaking through him. He was a shifter, even if I hadn’t seen his beast form, so it stood to reason there was a bit of him that was still an animal while he walked on two legs.

“Where have you been?” his beast asked, sounding almost hurt. “I’ve waited for you.”

I glanced away only for a moment, taking in the dim light filtering in from the window. It was earlier than I usually roused, and by the soft snores and heavy breaths around the room, the other princes were asleep.

Marius tugged me closer, marking either side of my neck with long brushes of his cheeks. He’d shaved last night, leaving his skin smooth against mine. Each contact was electric, and I bit down on a moan. Something told me if I made a sound of pleasure, his beast would run wild. There was no way of knowing whether the male was in there, aware and fighting for control, or if he’d gone to sleep as Marius and only partially woken up with the beast making the decisions.

“Mine,” he rumbled.

Because the beast wasdefinitelyin charge right now.

“Marius, can you hear me?” I asked. I tried to ease away from his side, but he caught me with a heavy arm and dragged me fully on top of him. This trapped the length of his cock, harder than a metal bar, right up against my belly. It felthuge. My face flamed. Alphas were supposedly bigger, knot included, but I hadn’t realized just how much larger that actually meant.

He growled possessively and nipped my neck with his fangs. I sucked in a breath and bit my lip harder to conceal my body’s reaction.Think, Lark.Okay, so he was aroused. I could get his brothers’ attention, or I could figure out how to wake him. But I had to pick one of the two before he took his animal instincts too far.

I tried one more time to get through to him before I planned to resort to screaming. I pushed him away, and he went without argument, resting his head back on his pillow. He grinned, the very image of a predator who had his prey exactly where he wanted her. With the pull of his scar, his smile was lopsided—if his beast wasn’t looking at me with such lustful intent, it’d be a charming sight. I wished he smiled this openly more often.

“Mate,” I said.

He rumbled eagerly. “Aye.”

So, the beast could hear me. It just didn’t answer to Marius’s name.

“You can’t claim me yet,” I said urgently.

His brow pinched. “I will. You are mine. I’ll leave my bite right here…”

With a swift yank on my collar, he exposed the stretch of bare skin above my left breast and pressed his finger over top my racing pulse. His frown only intensified. “Where is your mark?” he rasped.

He traced the horseshoe-like omega symbol starting where his fingertip had landed. I had an odd sensation of curiosity. Every omega manifested their mark in a different place, though it tended to be in an easily bitable location. Did Marius’s beast sense where mine would manifest?

“It’s not ready,” I whispered.

“Hmm. You’ll claim me first anyway. Bite me here, mate.” He took hold of my hand and pressed my palm to his hipbone.

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