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I feel it – my omega stretching and waking inside me. It’s not just a phantom sensation like before. It’s like a real, living thing – an entity inside me that’s been dormant, chained for years,finally stretching out with a quiet need. She’s been suffocating, and now, she’s fully awake and she wantshim. She wants his scent, his presence, his power.

God, no.

I can’t breathe. I try to focus, try to think about anything other than him, but it’s impossible. The room is full of him, of that scent, of the overwhelming pull of it. My body betrays me again, a soft whimper leaving my throat, and I want to crawl into myself, bury it all away. But it’s too late. My omega is alive now, and she’s demanding.

I try to fight it, to ignore it, but it’s impossible.

My skin flushes, my body heating with the rush of his scent, and my omega is pressing, pushing, aching to respond to his presence. I can’t keep still. My body wants to lean into him, to give in to it, but I can’t.

I try to step away, to distance myself from him, but my feet are glued to the floor. There’s a pull deep in my chest – a strange ache, a hunger – that makes me want to step into his arms, to let him take control, to let him claim me.

“Evie, baby…” Xar says again, his voice low, rumbling with that unspoken command. His eyes are steady on me, but there’s something in them – something predatory. He’s sensing it, too.

Shit.

I close my eyes, squeezing them shut, but it doesn’t help. The weight of his scent wrapping around me, his alpha nature pushing against mine. The pull is too strong. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up, how much longer I can keep fighting it. Internally, my omega whines, desperate to submit to him, but I can’t.

I won’t.

I want to scream, to run, but instead, my body gives in. My chest tightens, my pulse races, and I feel myself leaning towardhim – almost uncontrollably. The moment his scent fills my lungs again, my omega whines, and this time, we both hear it.

Again. Louder this time, and the ache in my chest intensifies. It’s like I’ve lost all control over my body. I feel my pulse in my throat, my body trembling with need. I want him. I want to be near him, to breathe him in, to be close to him in a way that feels right, even if it terrifies me.

I can’t stop this.

Xar’s eyes narrow, his gaze flicking to my neck, to the way my body is reacting. “Omega…” His voice drops even lower, his hand reaching out toward me, a quiet command in his voice that sends a jolt through me.

I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to stop this, how to stop myself from giving in. I’ve not been raised to understand. I have no idea what I’m meant to do, but inside my omega is chantingsubmit, submit, submit.

I should be angry, I should be pushing him away, but instead, I’m leaning into him, instinctively, my head tilting slightly as if I’m offering myself to him without even thinking.

He steps even closer, his heat wrapping around me like a velvet chain, pulling me into a cocoon of safety and desire I don’t know how to resist. His palm rises to my face, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear, and I freeze. My lips part to speak, but the words dissolve before they form. Because the only thing I can think isyes.

His hand slides into my hair, fingers threading through the silken strands as his thumb brushes over my cheekbone, the touch reverent but possessive. My omegathrumsin my chest, smile curling, spine arching, desperate for more.

“Mine,” he growls, voice low and rough enough to scrape down my spine like a match.

The sound cracks something open inside me, ripping the breath from my lungs. My knees threaten to give out as my omegaroarsto life, flooding me with instinct, hunger,need.

Yes! Yours!my omega purrs even as I scream at her that she’s mistaken. She has to be.

Then every thought is replaced by sensation. The scent of him – dark spice and something sharper beneath – coats the air and clings to my skin, flooding me with pure, instinctive need. Every nerve lights up as his lips crash into mine – hot, demanding, claiming. I moan, the sound caught somewhere between shock andrelief. Because yes. Yes, I’ve been waiting for this. My omega purrs loud and deep, a tide that pulls the rest of me under.

The kiss isn’t sweet. It’sstarving.

More, more, more!my omega screams.

It’s not soft. It’s not tentative. It’s everything I’ve never let myself want. Hot, fierce, consuming. Our lips crash together like we’re made to collide, like his mouth was crafted just to fit against mine. My fingers fist the front of his shirt, needing something to anchor myself to as my bodyignites.

I gasp into the kiss, and his arm locks around my waist, hauling me into his chest like I belong there. My hands grip his shoulders, helpless against the wave of sensation crashing through me. He kisses like he knows I’m already his – like he’s just waiting for me to realise it too.

My first kiss. Wow.

It’s nothing like I expected – it’s a storm, wild and consuming, like lightning striking the same place over and over again, relentless and explosive. I feel it all the way down to my toes.

His thumb strokes the edge of my jaw, possessive but tender. “Mine,” he says again, a murmur this time, voice husky and rich.

Then his mouth is on mine again. The kiss is slower now. Exploring. Tempting. Reverent. But when I lean into him, responding with a soft whimper, something shifts. He growls low in his throat and deepens the kiss again, tongue sweeping into my mouth with a hunger that undoes me. It makes me throb. Ache. My thighs clench tight, instinctive and helpless.