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His hand doesn’t stay chaste in my hair – it slides lower, skimming down the side of my neck, tracing the curve of my shoulder until it brushes the side of my breast. My breath catches, but I don’t stop him.

Ishould.

But all I can do is arch into the touch.

He palms me through my jumper, his thumb brushing lightly over the peak until it’s tight and aching. I gasp, my fingers digging into his arms now, trembling all over. My hips shift on their own, searching for pressure, something to ease the ache pooling low in my belly.

“Please—” I whisper, but I don’t know if I’m begging him to stop or toneverstop.

He doesn’t speak. He kisses me again – harder this time – and that wicked thumb brushes over my nipple once more, making me jolt, whimper,need.

My perfume explodes. Apricot osmanthus and fresh rain, honeysuckle and blossom – all of it pours into the room like a tidal wave, thick and unmistakably omega. My cheeks burn with the shame of it, but my omega? She’s practically writhing with pride.Finally, she seems to purr.Finally, someone touched us right.

When he finally pulls back, his chest is heaving, lips wet from the kiss, pupils blown wide.

“You feel that?” he pants. “That’s the bond snapping into place. That’s what happens when fate stops being patient.”

“I—I’ve never—” I choke out.

His expression softens just enough. “I know, baby. Iknow.That was your first kiss, wasn’t it?”

I nod once, still trying to catch my breath.

“And the first time someone touched you like that?”

Another nod. My skin burns where he touched me, where he stillcouldtouch me if I let him.

Xar growls again, softer this time, reverent. “Then I’m honoured it was me.”

I close my eyes again, but this time, I don’t push him away.

I can’t. I’ve been suffocating for so long, and for the first time in years, I feel like I can breathe. And it’s all because of him.

My alpha.

I pull him back to me, back to my lips, and kiss him like I’ve been starved for it. Like he’s the only thing that can silence the ache clawing through me. He groans, deep and approving, like I’m killing him. And maybe I am. The sound fills my omega with confidence and satisfaction. She’s feeling bold, powerful,seen.

His thigh slips between mine, and I grind down on it before I can stop myself, chasing the pressure with a helpless little noise I don’t recognise.

“Evie,” he murmurs against my lips, hoarse and reverent, “you’re driving me fucking insane.”

And I love it. Ilovehow undone he sounds, how much he wants me.

My omega is glowing,purring, preening under his attention.

More, she whispers.Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop.

He ducks his head, mouth grazing the edge of my jaw, the line of my throat, and when his tongue flicks the base of my neck Igasp, hips bucking instinctively. I feel the sharp scrape of his teeth – not biting, not yet – butclose.

My body is seconds away from begging.

His hands slide down, gripping my waist, then lower. He lifts me effortlessly, backing me into the wall with a thud that knocks the breath out of me – but I don’t care. Ineedthis. I need him.

My legs wrap around his hips on instinct. There’s no conscious thought. No filter. Just heat. Craving. Pure animal want.

His mouth breaks from mine only long enough to drag kisses down my jaw, my throat, his tongue tracing the thrum of my pulse. My fingers are in his hair, tugging, guiding. I can’t get close enough.

“You smell like heaven,” he rasps against my skin. “Like apricots and rain and sunshine andfuck, Eviana – your scent’s going to ruin me.”