Page 39 of Redeeming His Omega Mate

“I want to kiss you, Tala,” he said, his voice steady, unshaken.

He wasn’t asking. He was simply telling me the truth.

My breath caught at the raw honesty in his words, but that flicker of logic I had nearly lost came rushing back. I blinked rapidly and stepped back onto my heels.

“Damian—” I started, but he cut me off.

“Do you want to?”

I hesitated before shaking my head. “I shouldn’t.”

“That’s not what I asked.” He closed the space between us, his presence overwhelming. “Do you want to, Tala? Because I’ve been dying to kiss you since the moment you walked through the gates of the pack house.”

The rawness in his voice and the unfiltered desire burning in his gaze knocked the air right out of my lungs.

I opened my mouth to speak and tell him that he shouldn’t want to kiss me, that whatever this was between us wasn’t right, that in less than four days, he would be mated to another woman. But no words came out.

The cool air wrapped around us, but all I felt was heat. My heartpounded in my ears as I watched his eyes trace the path from my eyes to my nose and down to my lips. I watched the way his own lips parted slightly and his chest rose and fell with barely restrained control. His gaze was locked on me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.

How could I say no?

“Tala,” Damian murmured, his voice rough, thick with need. “Tell me to stop, and I will.”

But I didn’t. I couldn’t.

Deep down, beneath the walls I had built, beneath the resentment and the pain, I wanted this. I wanted him.

I swallowed hard, my throat dry as I whispered, “I want you to kiss me, Damian.”

His breath hitched. And then, in one swift motion, he closed the last bit of space between us. His hand slid to my jaw, tilting my face up to his. His thumb brushed over my lower lip, a touch so reverent that my lips parted on instinct, a silent invitation.

For a heartbeat, he hesitated, his lips a mere breath away from mine as if giving me one last chance to pull away. But I didn’t.

And then he kissed me.

The world around me seemed to come to a standstill. And for the first time in years, I felt the flutter of butterflies in my stomach and the thrill of being alive. From the moment his lips touched mine, the kiss was rough and urgent, a fiery dance of passion that transcended any coordination. Damian kissed me like a man starved, claiming my mouth with desperate hunger, sucking at my lower lip, his tongue delving deep, leaving no space for hesitation and no room to breathe.

I didn’t even want to breathe.

In that moment, wrapped in his touch, lost in his kiss, I had never felt more alive.

My entire body vibrated with need.

Damian shrugged off my robe, his fingers trailing over my bare skin, leaving a path of fire in their wake. A shiver rippled through me, the sensation electrifying. His hands found my waist, gripping me firmly, pulling me impossibly close until there was nothing between us,nothing but heat, nothing but him as he devoured my lips, his kiss searing and consuming.

A small, desperate sound escaped my throat, and that was all it took to ignite him. He lifted my nightwear, his hand palming my bare ass with a firm, possessive grip. I gasped, but he swallowed the sound as his lips crashed back onto mine. I could feel him, every inch of his arousal pressing into me. He was hard. Rock hard.

His hands moved to slip the strap of my nightdress off my shoulder, but before he could, a cry shattered the air, sharp and insistent.

We froze. The haze between us dissipated in an instant, replaced by a chilling realization.

It was Aria.

I tore myself away from Damian and sprinted down the hall, my heart hammering as he followed close behind. Bursting into her room, I found her tangled in the sheets, her small hands gripping the fabric in a white-knuckled hold. Sweat drenched her forehead, her chest rising and falling in frantic gasps.

Something was wrong.

Chapter 17

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