Page 39 of Knot Shattered
“I wish I were.”
She giggled, curling closer, cheek brushing against my chest. My heart beat hard and steady beneath her.
The shadows in her eyes are becoming less and less. It seems whatever Micha did healed her more than she realized. The days that have passed since we’ve all noticed her acting happier, lighter, and more carefree. The moment stretched quietly again. Not heavy, just soft. And I figured if I was going to give it to her, this was the moment.
I slipped my hand below the pillow under me, grabbing the small black velvet pouch. She didn’t notice until I gently pulled her arm away from my side and slid the cuff into place on her bicep.
The gold was warm against her skin, gleaming like sunlight. A single Valkyrie was etched into the surface, wings spread wide, hair wild, sword raised.
Odette blinked down at it, then looked up at me, eyes wide. “Salem…?”
“It’s a courting gift,” I said softly, brushing my fingers over the metal. “I wanted you to have something that reminds you who you are.”
Her lips parted, but she didn’t speak. I let the silence hold while I gently smoothed her hair behind her ear.
“You’re a warrior,” I told her. “Not because of what happened to you, but because of how you rose from it. What you survived… that wasn’t weakness. That was a goddamn battle. And you won.”
She stared at the cuff, then at me, tears glassing her eyes. “A Valkyrie?”
I nodded. “Fierce. Beautiful. Brave enough to ride into battle and pull souls out of it.”
She swallowed hard. “Yours?”
I leaned down, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Mine. My Valkyrie. My omega. My heart.” When she threw her arms around me, burying her face in my chest, I held her tighter than I ever had before, because I meant every word.
After a quiet moment, I felt her soft and warm lips begin to press slow, deliberate kisses down the center of my chest. Each one left a trail of heat in its wake. I sucked in a breath. “Odette?” I whispered her name, breaking from me almost involuntarily as my muscles twitched under her touch. “What… what are you doing?”
I felt her laugh more than I heard, a gentle puff of breath against my skin, amused and unbothered. “I thought that would be obvious,” she murmured, her voice low and teasing as she kissed a little lower.
My hand slid to her shoulder, not to stop her, but out of instinct, like I needed to anchor myself before I drowned in her.
“O,” I said, soft but earnest, “you don’t have to do this. Just because I gave you a gift doesn’t mean—”
She pulled back just enough to look up at me, her hair falling into her face with the movement. She brushed it aside with a quick flick of her fingers, and when our eyes met, I saw something fierce burning in her expression, determined, confident, and so utterly hers.
“Salem I-Don’t-Know-Your-Middle-Name Hael,” she said sharply, brow arched. “Don’t you dare cheapen this.”
I blinked, startled and amused all at once, and she leaned forward again, resting her weight lightly against me.
“I want this,” she continued, her voice softer now but no less intense. “I’m assuming you do too… So let me show my appreciation the way I see fit. It’s selfish, honestly.” She smirked, tilting her head. “For some reason, I’ve developed a… kink for licking abs.”
I stared at her, stunned for a heartbeat, then let out a sharp laugh—genuine, breathless, a little amazed. “Well,” I said between chuckles, “by all means. Who am I to kink shame?”
That earned me a wide, pleased, and wickedly beautiful grin. She looked positively delighted as she dipped her head again, lips grazing across my stomach, slow and reverent. Her mouth was warm, and her tongue traced lazy patterns across my skin like she was memorizing me one inch at a time.
A low groan escaped me before I could stop it.
The teasing melted into something more intimate, more intense. Her kisses grew deeper, her touch more insistent. Every brush of her lips felt like a promise, of pleasure, of connection, of surrender.
My hands threaded through her hair as she continued her slow descent, and my pulse pounded in my ears, anticipation coiling tighter with every second. With a playful glint in her eye, Odette gave a quick tug to the waistband of my shorts. A breath later, my cock sprang free, hard, aching, and entirely unrestrained. It smacked against her cheek with an audiblethwap, startling both of us.
She blinked, wide-eyed, frozen mid-motion as though she wasn’t quite sure what had just happened.
For a second, all we could do was stare at each other in stunned silence, me pressing my lips together in a desperate attempt not to laugh. Then something in the air cracked, maybeit was the ridiculousness of the moment, maybe the intimacy of it, and we both lost it.
Laughter erupted between us, loud and unfiltered, the kind that left our cheeks flushed and our chests heaving.
The bedroom door swings open, and Haze wanders in. “Oh! Am I invited to this party?” He’s wearing another one of his ridiculous T-shirts. This one saysThe risk was calculated. I’m just bad at math.His jeans are already unbuttoned as he walks barefoot towards us.
