Page 43 of Chain Me Knot

Emma

The warm spray beats gently against my bare skin, but all I feel is Asher’s hands cradling my face, tender and gentle, like he's afraid I might shatter beneath his touch. When our lips meet, my heart stutters. His kiss is careful. Achingly delicate. This isn’t a kiss born from domination or conquest. Instead, his mouth brushes mine as though I'm something precious, fragile.

Something worth treasuring.

Whole and total truth.

He opened himself to me. Unfolded layer upon hidden layer to bare every secret part of his soul and it’sbreathtaking. Emotions wash through the bond, pouring through me with striking vulnerability. Above all is his protectiveness,raw and fierce. A genuine promise that he will shelter me, fight for me, bleed himself dry before he allowed harm to find me again.

Guilt follows. Powerful, deep remorse floods my senses, laced with bitter self-loathing for the claiming bite I never consented to, yet carried on a current of determination to redeem himself. To heal me. To make it right.

My hands tremble against his chest as awe comes next, wrapped carefully around gentle admiration. He sees strength in my scars, courage in my survival, beauty in what I considered my shattered remains. And then, trembling at the very core of our connection...love.

The sweetness of him floods my senses. Something breaks inside my chest, cracking open with fierce longing at the gentleness of it. The world is too small for what he offers. A devotion that promises not just shelter, but acceptance, trust, patience, forever.

Asher's thumb strokes across my cheekbone as he deepens the kiss. There’s no force here, no demanding pressure. Only patient exploration as his tongue gently traces the seam of my lips, coaxing, offering rather than taking as I clutch him tight. And beneath everything something new forms, tentative, shining and clear.

Trust.

Slow, fragile, and precious—butthere.

A soft, needy sound escapes me. Asher shudders beneath my fingertips tangled in his hair, and pleasure sparks through me at his answering groan. Behind him Phoenix inhales, and Soren’s hands tremble where he braces my back.

Fresh slick gathers warm between my thighs, my omega nature awakening fully beneath the careful tenderness they've surrounded me with. Heat, yes but also something deeper. Richer. More complicated.

Hope.

I break the kiss, drawing in a shaky breath as I look into Asher's eyes, finding reassurance and quiet awe in their depths.

“Alpha,” I whisper, the word spilling from my lips not as submission or surrender but full of wonder and recognition. My scent blooms, sweet and musky, my body understanding what my heart desperately wants to accept.

This alpha—these alphas—aredifferent.

Asher rests his forehead against mine, his presence steadying me even as my heart races. The tenderness of his impossibly careful touch makes me ache for more, craving closeness I'd never dared to want before.

“I've got you, Moonbeam,” he murmurs, his smoky voice is a promise wrapped in silk. “We've all got you.”

In the next breath, my muscles clench tight, pleasure and pain twisting inside me so sharply I gasp. My hips rock desperately against his thigh, instinctively chasing friction I can’t fully comprehend. Fire burns beneath my skin, relentless and needful. “I need…” The words shiver off my tongue, lost and pleading. “I need…”

Asher's thumb brushes gently over my cheekbone, his voice soft as he asks, “Can Soren and Phoenix help too? Can they kiss you, touch you…help you feel good?”

Phoenix and Soren shift closer, drawn in by my distress. Their strength and warmth spill like sunlight, sweetly protective and tenderly fierce. I turn my head toward my other alphas, breathing shaking as I meet their cautious, hopeful eyes.

“We’ll go slow. We’ll stop the second you want.” Phoenix’s summer-sky eyes hold infinite softness, gentleness woven with strength. I need his careful hands moving over my skin, his mouth slowly erasing my pain, piece by fragile piece.

“We’re only here to worship you,” Soren murmurs, his voice a soothing balm to my battered soul. I want his touch to trace every inch of my body, anchoring me with tenderness as he helps me discover the new parts of myself.

Desire throbs, matching the desperate ache I feel for Asher. My body yearns for all three of them, equally and fiercely, with no hesitation or reservation. For once, I don’t hesitate.

Iwantthem.

Icravethem.

I let the heady fog of heat pull me down into the clutches of my most base instinct. My fingers uncurl from Asher's shirt, pulse skittering wild beneath my skin as I reach out toward them. “Please.”

Soren skims his hands down my arms until his fingers twine with mine. “Feel us, omega,” he breathes into my ear, warmth shivering straight down my spine at his words. “We’re here for you.”

He places tender kisses along the vulnerable line of my neck, lingering over every bruise, every faded scar until his warm breath huffs over a tender breast. A broken sound slips past my lips when his mouth closes around one aching nipple, warmth and wetness sparking pleasure through my entire body.

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