it’s crazy, but I already love you. Without the claiming even.”
My lips twisted as I caught her gaze with mine. “I loved you the second I saw you in Ethan’s arms.” I released a sigh, then shielded my eyes from hers, closing them so I didn’t let her see all the secrets I wasn’t sure she could handle yet. “I knew what you were to me the instant I felt them approach. I waited for them, and then, when you were there, it was only confirmed.”
“How?”
“Scent, but more than that, the connection.”
“Why didn’t the twins feel it?”
“They did, but they were confused. They’d just lost their omega, and like I told you, the omega shields the pack from a lot. She’s the barrier between the pack and the rest of the world.”
“That’s a lot of responsibility.”
“It is. But you have the shoulders to bear it, and you have the mates who will shore you up.
“Alphas rarely understand the power of the omega. Without her, we are nothing but a bunch of brutes. We have no softness, no means of seeking calm. We let the wolves out to play without fear of what that might cause. An omega is the true alpha of the pack. I, for example, am your servant. I’ve known that for a long time though, back when I saw how things were for mother. I knew it then.”
“Did your father?”
“If he did, he was from another time and an era where women weren’t the bosses of men.” I shrugged. “I never bothered to argue with him about that because it was futile. He was who he was, and he believed what he wanted to.”
“My father was a traditionalist too.”
I snorted. “Mine would have made your father look like a modern thinker. My dad was ten when he met mother, and he was ninety-eight when he died, Sabina. That’s a long time to be alive, and a long time to be set in your ways, especially when we’re all children of our generation.”
She hummed. “I’m glad you’re not like that.”
I laughed. “I’m sure I have my weaknesses too, but I recognize what you are, and I will always worship you for the calm you bring to us.”
She reached over and cupped my chin, forcing me to look in her direction again. I didn’t open my eyes, though, not really wanting this conversation, even though I knew the importance of it.
When she sighed my name, I looked at her because I had no choice. I needed to see her face when she sighed it like it was a benediction.
Like my name on her lips was a prayer.
When our gazes caught and held, she whispered, “Make me yours?”
The words held power, especially after what I’d just told her, and though I wanted nothing more than to make her mine, I didn’t.
Couldn’t.
“You’re not ready. After what you went through this morning, you want time, and I get that. There’s no rush. We have all the time in this world.”
She tutted. “You’re not listening.”
One second, she was beside me, the next, she straddled me. Her hands moved to either side of my head, and she leaned over me, her large tits swaying with the force and speed of the movement, her hair draping over us like it was a curtain shielding us from the unseeing eyes this place had.
I didn’t care about them, because I was of a dual nature. I was used to being out and exposed, free with nature and at one with it.
Sabina?
I was less sure if she’d be happy.
But I found no shame in what we were doing, it was only natural. Only a declaration of intent, a cementing of vows that those very eyes who were watching us had granted us in the first place.
In the cocoon of her hair, I sucked it in, loving that the scent of her was filling my lungs.
I didn’t touch her, didn’t move my hands, because I wanted her to have this.
I wanted her to own me, and when I took her again, I’d show her what it was like to be owned by me too.
So I let her move, let her take things at her own pace.
Neither of us said a word as she seduced me, but she didn’t realize she had no need to do so.
I was hers. I was born to be hers, to claim her, to possess her. To be claimed and be possessed by her. But I figured this was a lesson she needed to learn.