Page 54 of In Control

I let my gaze sweep down her body. “I think you’re quite aware, pretty little thing, that you own more than enough to keep our interest piqued.”

Closer to her, I can smell the notes of her perfume, so different from the heavy scents of my alphas, and mint on her breath.

Her skin is smooth. She’s young. Young pretending to be older. I remember what that was like. I sense we are similar, the two of us. She’s hiding behind a facade just like me, and I find I have a deep urge to smash that facade into pieces and find the girl behind.

Shit, I want to protect her. I’m an omega. I’m the one who should want to be protected.

“You’re studying physics?”

“Yes … for now,” she adds.

I stroke my fingers over her thigh and she rests her knee against mine. “Is my alpha scaring you away?”

“No, I’ve fallen out of love with it.” She stares down at her drink. “I don’t know what I’ll do next.”

“You have to decide what you want from your life.”

“You always knew you wanted to be a dancer, I suppose.”

“Yes and no,” I say, swigging back the last of my champagne and holding my empty glass for Liam to fill. “When I presented as an omega, it threw my world into chaos. There were a lot of people who told me I could never be a dancer. That my body would be too weak, that I’d be a mess of emotions, that I’d drive the other dancers crazy with my scent. I was told to find a nice alpha, settle down, and sit back with my feet up for the rest of my days.”

“But you didn’t want that?”

“No, dancing runs through my blood.”

“I can tell,” she whispers, “you look entranced when you dance, like you’re somewhere else, like you’re floating.”

I meet her gaze, staring into the depths of sapphire and silver. “Yes,” I murmur, “that’s how it feels. It’s like sex. You’re in your body but you’re not. And sometimes it hurts but the pleasure, the bliss, blows you away.”

“That sounds like good sex.” She curls her hair behind her ear.

“You should know,” I say, glancing towards Liam.

“She does,” he confirms, and my blood warms, desire threading across my skin.

“Let’s dance,” I tell them both, offering my hand to Sophia.

She takes it and her fingers are warm. I twine mine through hers and offer my other hand to Liam. He takes it and I lead them out onto the dancefloor, my pulse pounding with the need to move, the dance floor vibrating under my feet.

Space forms for us, mostly due to the large alpha in our group, and I spin the sexy thing around to face me, my hands landing on her waist. I turn her slowly 360 degrees, caressing her tiny waist as I do, and then, when we’re nose to nose again, I thread her arms around my neck and pull her in close to me. I sway our bodies in time to the music, encouraging her to go supple in my hold. She leans her head back, swishing her dark locks from side to side, and I nudge my thigh between hers, feeling her core against my leg.

She bites her lip. Her pupils are blown.

I peer up at Liam, hovering behind her, and he understands what I’m saying, can feel my desire thrumming through the bond. He closes the space between us. Sliding Sophia’s hair to one side, he kisses the curve of her neck. Then I grind, I grind my hips against hers as I move us to the music, all the other dancers on the floor, blurring and disappearing away. It’s only us. The three of us. Liam moving with us, grinding into Sophia from behind.

It’s so hot and I realise then and there that I want to do more with this woman than watch and be watched. I want to share her, I want to fuck her with my alpha.

I spin her around again until she’s facing my mate and sway our bodies as he reaches down to kiss her lips. I let my hold fall lower to the flare of her hips. I remember how soft her skin felt and I lean down to press my mouth on her shoulder, inching along until I reach her neck.

I can hear the sound they both make when they kiss, The smack of their wet lips, her quiet moans, his loud grunt. The noise penetrates straight to my cock and I grind my hardness into her round little bottom. Soft again, not hard and firm like the cheeks of my alphas’.

Maybe this is what we need in our lives. A sweet, soft little thing, to temper all our hard edges.

“Let’s go home,” I say to them both and they break their kiss.

“Can we?” Liam asks her. “Can we take you home, Sophia?”

“No,” she says, my stomach plummeting with disappointment until she adds: “I’m taking you home.”