Page 52 of Ruthless Alpha
“You’re in control, then,” I told her. “Take it easy, angel.”
From my position underneath her, it was even more obvious how wrecked she looked. Her hair was frizzy and disheveled, her mouth smudged and pink, her breasts littered with bruises. Her eyes were wide and wanting, and she nodded at my instruction, grinding down gently on my knot until she opened up to it, taking me inside her sliver by sliver.
“Oh,” she gasped. “It’s so—oh!”
“You’re doing so good,” I promised her, my eyes glued to where she was approaching the widest part of me. Reaching out, I began to rub her clit gently with the pad of my thumb, coaxing her to relax, to open up more for me. After a few moments, Rosie’s thighs began to tremble, and then there was liquid rushing over my knot, pooling on my abdomen, dipping down onto the sheets beneath us.
“Holy shit,” I breathed, as she slipped around my knot, taking me in completely. Despite the overwhelm of her scorching flesh around me, I didn’t stop rubbing. As she began to shiver and shake around me, building to another inescapable climax, I bared my neck to her. My mind was utterly blank, wanting nothing but to feel our bond, and if that meant I was the one to carry the mark, then it was an easy decision to make.
As her teeth sank into the junction of my shoulder and neck, we tumbled over the edge together. I could have lived forever in that moment, buried inside her to the hilt while she claimed me as hers. As we came down from our high, she licked and kissed at the fresh mark on my shoulder, and I grinneddumbly up at her, feeding on the joy I could feel through the now solidified bond and sending it right back to her.
“Thank you,” Rosie whispered, and I squeezed her tighter against me.
“You don’t need to reciprocate if you don’t want to,” I assured her, but she shook her head.
“One day,” she promised, and I felt the truth of it in our bond. “Soon.”
The kiss she pressed to my lips was light and chaste, filled with tenderness, and as I pushed her hair out of her face, I noticed the way her eyelids had grown heavy. I settled her against my chest, carefully raking my fingers through her curls.
“I love you,” she breathed.
“I love you, too.”
Rosie hummed contented, and it wasn’t long before the calm that flowed into me through the bond lulled us both into blissful sleep.
Epilogue - Rosie
It was freezing on Telaxis. The large bonfire set up nearby did little to counter the effects of the biting wind, which turned my nose and cheeks pink. It was nothing to the cold on Ensign at this time of year, but at least on Ensign, there was no need to be standing outside for hours on end.
The First Pack had insisted on the goodbye ceremony taking place outside on the winter solstice, and they might be sacred to our people, but I found myself questioning their judgment as I pressed myself against Xander’s side, trying to use his larger body as shelter from the wind. The First Pack themselves must have been even colder than I was, though they didn’t look it. Clad in nothing but thick cloaks of sewn-together rabbit pelts, their feet were bare against the hard, icy ground.
“How do they not get frostbite?” I whispered to Xander, who looked similarly incredulous. It was Jace who leaned down to answer me.
“They cover their feet in animal fat for insulation,” he said, and I wrinkled my nose. As important as it was to keep the shifter tradition alive, I was glad I wasn’t one of our sacred people. I was happy with my electric blanket, my refrigerator, and my shoes, thank you very much. Humans did have good ideas every so often.
We all stood to attention when Sam’s voice boomed out from the raised dais that had been hurriedly erected in the Telaxis town square.
“Friends and Packmates,” he declared, “I thank you all for joining us to bid goodbye to the First Pack, who have blessed our island with their presence for the last five years. This has been asingularly long stay, and for that, the shifters of Telaxis cannot express our gratitude enough.”
This received raucous applause from the Telaxis crowd, and a reserved nod from the members of the First Pack, though the smiles that accompanied them were warm. They’d clearly enjoyed their stay on Telaxis, and I pitied whichever island was due a visit next: they’d have a lot to live up to.
“As a token of our appreciation,” Sam continued, once the shouting had died down, “we employed our friends on Ensign and Opifex to design this parting gift.”
The harness that Sam held out was a far cry from the prototype sitting in our basement. That had been made from cheap leather and decent steel, but this was a work of art. Xander had stayed up far too late the previous evening, sharpening and polishing the obsidian blades until they resembled nothing more than solid oil slicks, all against the dark brown leather, oiled and cured to perfection. It was a thing of beauty.
I didn’t know where to fix my gaze as the First Alpha accepted his gift. Part of me wanted to watch him as he admired the craftsmanship, to take in every detail of his reaction to the priceless object in his hands. The other, stronger part of me couldn’t tear my gaze away from my mate, whowaswatching the First Alpha with an intensity that was only matched by Jace at his side.
Xander bit his lip as the First Apha turned the weapon over in his hands, examining the clasps and mechanisms, running his fingers along the butter-soft leather. He didn’t take a breath for the entire examination, only exhaling in a rush when the First Alpha nodded at Sam.
“This is a worthy gift and evidence of the great craftsmanship of your neighbors. We accept with thanks for your matchless hospitality.”
“Then let us break bread together once more before you leave our shores.” The words sounded strange and old-fashioned, but every shifter on the Nightfire archipelago knew them. Those words had been uttered by every Alpha of every Pack to host the First for centuries. It marked the beginning of the official celebration portion of the ceremony, and every shifter present was glad to hear them. Immediately, there was a rush toward the bonfire. Eventually, the Telaxis females would bring out warm food and vats of mulled cider, but for now, we had nothing but the fire to warm ourselves. Xander caught my arm as I moved with the crowd.
“I’m going to catch Sam before things get loud,” he said. Sam had promised Ensign an enormous portion of their harvest in exchange for the gift, and with winter now thoroughly set in, I knew Xander was eager to get that delivered.
“Do you want me to come with you?” I asked, but he brushed me off.
“Don’t even think about it,” he told me. “Go get warm, angel.”
