Page 11 of Knot All Is Lost: Part 2

“I’m sorry, you’re right it wasn’t nice of me to tease you when you have every right to be upset about this,” he apologized and moved forward to pull back the covers. “Come,Keksík, I’ll make sure you don’t have any bad dreams and fight off any monsters that might try to harm you as you sleep.”

Blowing out a breath, I climbed into bed and kept to the middle so if there was something under the bed it couldn’t grab me. Savo pulled the blankets up and tucked me in so I was in a tight little cocoon of warmth. He brushed the hair out of my face and let his fingers glide through the rest of the length.

“I didn’t get a chance to tell you before, but I like the new color,” he shared, picking up a lock and running his thumb over it. “Makes you stand out from the rest of the world, because a beautiful soul like yours should be seen.”

Biting my lip, I curled my hands under my chin as my cheeks heated with embarrassment. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“Do you want me to leave the lights on or turn them off?” he asked, letting my hair fall through his fingers as he pulled away.

I looked around the room, seeing the fire was still going strong. “You can turn the lights off,” I answered.

He nodded and did just that before heading into the bathroom.

Chapter 5

Lyingthere,Istaredinto the fire and thought about the time my mom took me to a fall festival. We got to ride the rides, eat yummy food, and at the end of the night, there was a place you could roast marshmallows. I wanted to do it so badly after I saw the other kids enjoying the dessert so much. She shook her head and told me no, we had to get back home.

It was unusual for us to be gone all day like that, normally Mom made sure we were home so she could make Father dinner. I didn’t question it at that point, far too excited and having so much fun I didn’t want it to end. Then I asked her on the way home while we were riding the bus why Father hadn’t come with us. Mom didn’t drive, so it was super rare for us to go and do anything, since Father had the car.

“Of course, he couldn’t come with us, he had to work,” Mom answered. “Didn’t you have a good time with it just being the two of us?”

“Of course, Mom, but it would have been fun to have Father join us. He never looks like he has fun doing anything, always working or yelling at you for silly things,” I reasoned.

Mom gave me a scolding look. “He doesn’t yell at me, he’s teaching me to be a better wife. One day you too will learn the hard lessons of what it means to be a woman in this world. If you think your father is harsh then I fear how you will see the rest of men out there.”

“You are a wonderful wife and mom,” I said, wanting to defend her. “You do everything for Father, all he does is work.”

She ran a hand over my head trying to calm my curls. “My dear sweet, Cambrie, always coming to my defense. I wasn’t always a good wife. You see, there was another man before your father, far more cruel and demanding. This is why I teach you what I now know so you can be a good wife and a sweet girl. If you already know and practice what’s expected of you, then it will make your husband happy. When they are happy, they don’t yell or have a reason to discipline you.”

Had she been talking about this mysterious man who claimed to be my real father? Could my mother have run away from him and got together with the person I’ve believed to be my father? Flashes of memories came faster as I remembered all thelessonsshe had tried to teach me. Don’t put your elbows on the table, keep your back straight, don’t run places—that’s not very ladylike. Could it be that she went through training like this? Had she lived in this house? Why did the idea of that make me sick to my stomach?

Needing to dwell on something else, I rolled over away from the fire. This had me facing the bathroom door, which wasn’t shut all the way, leaving a gap. The light from inside the bathroom streamed out, a stark difference from the warm darkness of the rest of the bedroom. Savo stepped up to the sink to brush his teeth. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and his sleep pants hung low on his waist. I watched his muscles ripple as he moved, doing such a simple mundane task but it still had my body heating up.

The second my perfume flooded into the air, I rubbed my legs together restlessly. Slick oozed out of me, seeping into my nightgown making it cling to my skin. My heat might be over, but the need of an Omega wasn’t something that just stopped altogether. By nature Omegas tended to be more hypersexual, it was our job to provide offspring, and to do that you needed to have sex. Stifling a moan, I hid my face in a pillow unable to watch Savo and control myself.

There’s no way he won’t notice that I’m perfuming right now. Oh god, and after he told me he needed to distance himself from me. What kind of horrible person am I? My body is craving him just as badly as I do my pack.Omegas were meant to find their pack, become bonded, and live happily ever after. Or that’s how it always went in my version.

The sound of the bathroom door opening had me squirming under the covers and tugging them up over my head. Hopefully, if I ignored what was happening then he would do the same. It was wrong of me to feel emotionally or physically attracted to him—right?

“Keksík,why are you…” Savo started to say until I heard a deep intake of breath.

Then a low rumbling purr started that had my head shooting up to look at him wide eyed. There he stood next to the bed, his upper body still on display but now I got to see his powerful chest. He had tattoos running down his left arm, full of shapes and symbols I didn’t recognize. His skin glowed bronze in the firelight, making my mouth dry and my pussy weep with slick.

“Are you perfuming for me right now, little Omega?” Savo asked, his purr adding to the sultriness of his voice.

Unable to speak since my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth, I nodded.

His green eyes flashed with something primal, possessive, and slightly dangerous. Slowly, he crawled onto the bed as if he was waiting for me to tell him to stop, but that was the last thing I wanted to do. He stopped right before me, reaching out to brush down my cheek making me sigh in relief at being touched.

“Better men might be able to turn away and do the right thing, but that isn’t a term I’ve ever used for myself,” Savo said as he pulled back the blankets. “Tell me now, Cambrie, tell me to stop.”

His hand started at my ankle and trailed all the way up over my nightgown until he reached my hip. I gasped and arched backwards and rolled onto my back so his hand could touch more of my body. The heat I could feel from where his hand sat on my stomach was so hot it felt like it could sear through the fabric. That was all that separated him from my skin, I hadn’t put on panties.

I met his gaze and saw he was at war with himself. If we crossed this line, I knew there was no going back, no keeping my distance from him, I would crave him like a drug and he knew it. “Is this what you want?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. “I won’t do anything that will harm you, Cambrie, even if it means protecting you from myself. So many people have stolen choices from you. I can't let myself be one of them.”

This man was going to break me if he walked away again. It was clear to me now that he’d already stolen a part of me when he held me in my room as I cried. Something deep in my soul told me he was mine, and I was meant to be his, but I wouldn’t betray my pack. I couldn’t let myself be swept away without being honest with them first. Yet knowing all of that, I knew tonight I would need his help, this wouldn’t go away unless I got a release.

“I need you, Savo,” I answered in a breathy tone. “But we can’t have sex.”

---