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“Hang on,” she murmured, inserting the key in the lock and twisting it. “Just let me...”
The cuff clicked open. She moved the hinge back and forth, checking how it locked automatically when she swung it closed again. Then she repeated the same thing with the second cuff.
“Okay,” she said, her expression clearing. “I’ve got this. Give me your wrist again, darling.”
Something secret, some place hidden deep inside me, wriggled in pleasure at the endearments.Sweetheart. Darling. No one called me those things. Not once in my life. Notever. Why would they, after all?
That warm satisfaction was a different feeling to the burning want that centered in my dick and made my mouth salivate with the need to get teeth in her neck. It was an even older wound than my fear of hurting her during sex... something more broken; more fragile.
I offered her first one wrist, then the other.
Still with that same air of careful concentration, she snapped on the first cuff, threaded the chain of the cuffs through the solid corner post of the bedframe, and snapped on the second one. I shuffled into a more comfortable position on my back, lying diagonally across the bed with my arms stretched out behind my head.
You can’t hurt her now, I thought, surprised by the swell of contentment that loosened my muscles at the same time it loosened some of the tangled knots inside my head.
“How’s that feel, love?” she asked, stroking the backs of her fingers along my cheek. “Is it okay?”
I leaned into the tender contact shamelessly, wondering if this was how Princess had felt when she realized she didn’t have to fight for her life anymore. “S’good.”
Even to my own ears, I sounded drunk... without ever having touched a drop of alcohol.
“You look so good like this, Emiel,” she said earnestly. “But before I put the gag in, I need you to tell me exactly what you want.”
“Want you,” I said, because... wasn’t it obvious?
“I want you, too,” she promised. “But I need to know if you want me to make you come and then use the knotting sleeve, or something else.”
“Wantyou,” I repeated with more emphasis. “I want to knot you, Mia.”
Why did she look so surprised? A niggle of worry wormed past the contentment.
“I’dlovefor you to knot me,” she assured me before the worry could take root, petting my cheek again. “I’ve wanted that since my heat. Um... we’ll probably need a condom, in that case. Sorry—I should have thought of that first, before we started.”
“Nightstand drawer,” I said, because I might not want any barriers between me and her, but I also wanted to keep her safe. I’d bought them at the same time I’d gotten the cuffs and the gag—just in case.
Her worried expression brightened. “Perfect. One last thing, sweetheart. I know you won’t be able to talk, but I’m going to talka lot. I’m going to keep asking you if things are okay, and when I do, I need you to either nod yes or shake your head no. If you shake your head no, I’ll stop. But I’ll also stop if you don’t answer. Is that all right?”
I nodded yes.
A sunny smile bloomed across her face. “Perfect. You’re justperfect, darling. Now, do you want the gag?”
Another nod.
She took a deep breath as though centering herself, and settled her shoulders as she let it out. “God, I just want all of you at once. Where to even start?”
“With the gag,” I reminded her, half-teasing and half-serious.
She snorted in amusement and got up to get it. “You know, you’re pretty bossy for an alpha handcuffed to a bed.”
Something about the words made my dick jump and throb, the ache of need growing worse as she carefully slid the red rubber ball between my teeth and sorted out the straps, buckling it snugly into place around my skull.
I thought I probably shouldn’t like the feeling of having it there in my mouth so much, big and intrusive and impossible to ignore.
She straightened, surveying her handiwork. “I’m going to take off the rest of my clothes now,” she said. “Can I take off your pants, too?”
I nodded, thinking about how it was going to feel having her skin directly against mine. I hadn’t seen Mia’s bare legs since her heat—and back then, I’d been too busy losing my shit to appreciate them properly. God, she was so pretty. Her skin had this sort of golden glow with olive undertones, and I could barely tear my eyes away from the way her hips flared below the slight roundness of her belly.
The fact that I was chained to the bed and couldn’t hurt her made me feel safe enough to think about grabbing those hips and leaving finger-shaped bruises on them that wouldn’t fade fordays. I thought about Luca and Byron seeing my marks on her and knowing I’d put them there. The mental picture was enough to make a possessive growl rumble up from my chest.