Page 17

Miranda

My scream dies before it even leaves my lips.

Rai. His hand is on my face. My flesh. And he’s...still him. Solid and warm.

The kind, gorgeous smile he gives me makes tears spring to my eyes, which I close as I nuzzle into his palm, my lips gliding along his skin.

I should be furious with him. He had no idea he would live after touching me.

The anger doesn’t come, though, as I look at his face again and see the love there. The adoration.

He leans in, touches his forehead to mine, and breathes, “I would die a thousand deaths for one chance to touch you.”

The tears flow now, gravity taking them across my face to the pillow below. That ache in my chest isn’t born of sadness but of love. Acceptance. Things I’ve never experienced before.

I don’t know who moves first, but our lips touch, tentative and soft. A simple press; a graze that increases in pressure until our mouths open, tongues seeking one another out. And when Rai pulls my body taut against his, the blanket a barrier between us, I’m frantic to pull my gloves from my hands and fling them across the room. My fingers dive into his snowy hair, even softer than I dared to imagine.

A thought nags at the back of my mind that I have no idea what I’m doing, but surely Rai knows, given my curse. Still, I pull away with reluctance, pressing my forehead back to his, both our coming breaths hard and fast. “I must be really awkward at this,” I whisper.

His head tilts slightly. “I didn’t notice. Not like I’ve ever kissed someone before.”

This confession sends a jolt of surprise through my spine. “Really? But you’re so…”

One brow rises in question. “So...what?”

“Beautiful.”

The deep chuckle that flows from his lips does dangerous things to my body. “You’re one to talk.”

“You can also touch people without killing them.”

“You’re the only woman I’ve ever wanted to touch. And look at you, touching me without turning me into a popsicle.”

I huff and gently slap his chest, head shaking. “I can’t believe this is real. I just know I’m going to wake up facing grave disappointment.”

His lips crash back to mine, one of his hands sliding down my back, dangerously close to the swell of my ass, and fisting there. When he pulls back, he says, “This is real, my hime .”

I blink at him, clearing the haze from my mind. “Hee-may? What does that mean?”

His smile is everything. “It means ‘princess.’”

My nose wrinkles. “I’m not a princess.” I don’t think I want to be considered one, either, all snobby and self-centered.

A huff of laughter escapes him before he grows serious once more. “You are the princess of my heart.”

My lips part in surprise, the utter tenderness of his tone warming my heart.

I take it back. I like the idea of being a princess very much. His princess.

I want to say something equally sweet in return, but a stabbing pain wells deep in my lower abdomen, and it steals my breath with a moan.

“ Hime?” Rai sits up before I know it, and his concerned face looms over me. “What’s wrong?”

“I…” I gasp, clench my belly, and let out a whine like no sound I’ve ever made in my life. “Idunno,” I breathe the words as one. And then, on my next breath, my body grows hot, achy, and when I whine again without meaning to, there’s wetness between my legs.

I groan, reach for Rai’s hand, and place it on my breast; the contact brings small comfort as I writhe on the bed.

I vaguely register Rai’s shocked expression before he asks, “Have you had your suppressants?”

I nod, aware the movements are languid, groggy, like I’d seen drunken people behave.

“How…?” He shakes his head. “ Hime ...Mira, love...you’re going into heat.”

His words don’t even register fully before I answer in one, pained breath, “But I’ve never had my heat before.”

The energy in the room stills, Rai’s statuesque frame locked in a shocked expression that surely mirrors my own.

I’ve never said the words aloud. The words that would have gotten me killed on the spot, Cursed or not. Any Omega who doesn’t come into her heat is taken away by the GBE, never to be seen or heard from again. This was my most closely guarded secret, more so than being Cursed.

But I trust Rai. Trust him with my life. My body. With my heart.

He inhales deeply, a growl emanating from his chest, his shoulders rising and falling rapidly. His eyes are still filled with love, but there’s something else behind them. Something carnal and animalistic. Possessive.

His scent suddenly fills the room, that smoky cherry blossom that belongs to him alone, and it soothes me, my pain and frustration.

He takes another breath, this time through his mouth, and slowly lets it out. “My beautiful hime . Your heat won’t go away on its own.” His hand grips my breast tighter, moving in a small circle, and brings another whine from me. “Let me help you,” he breathes. “Let me take this suffering from you, my love. And help me, in turn.” He takes my hand that isn’t gripping my belly and places it on his lap, moving it to grasp the hardened length beneath his pants. We groan in unison, my body burning hotter, the wetness—my slick—pooling even further as my body writhes.

“Take this from me,” I whine. Then my voice grows into something I don’t recognize, something animal. “Claim me. We belong.”

Rai’s growl grows louder, deeper. “Keep touching me.” His voice is like mine was, different and primal.

I follow his instructions, keeping my hand on his cock, rubbing and gripping it tightly as he pulls the shirt from his body with one yank over his head from behind his back.

It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. That and the beautiful, toned, lean torso that greets me, illuminated by the damned collar around his neck.

Something slithers inside me, angry, vicious, and I want to crush that infernal thing. But more level thoughts remind me of the danger, and that beast reluctantly pulls back, watching our Alpha’s every move with anticipation.

Our Alpha.

Is this thing moving inside me a different entity? Or an extension of myself?

I don’t have time to consider as Rai tears the blanket from my bed and moves like a jungle cat, pawing his way over my still writhing body and straddling my hips, rolling his against me. The movement draws another high-pitched, needy whine from me, and his eyes flash serious, his hand swooping up to grip my jaw and neck and position my face to look at him.

“My love,” his tone is low, calm. “You will draw attention with all this noise. I know you are hurting, but if you want me to take this pain away,” he moves closer to my face with each word that follows, “you must. Be. Silent.” Rai covers my mouth with his, and I almost whine again, but something flares in my brain, and I cut the sound off.

Silence will bring bliss. Believe in our Alpha.

I don’t know where the thought comes from, and I don’t care when he sits back up, gripping my shirt in his hands and tears it from my body, drawing a stuttering gasp from me as my breasts bounce with the movement. My back bows, pushing my chest toward him, keeping as quiet as I’m able. I’m rewarded when he drops his face to my chest, rubbing his smooth, shaven jaw across one nipple as he plucks the other between his fingers. My mouth falls open in silent elation, my legs part, knees bend, hips rolling with need.

Then he takes my nipple into his mouth and sucks.

The fire in my veins turns to an inferno, a small sound slips through my lips, and his hand moves from one breast to cover my mouth, his other returning to my neck and squeezing, just a little.

The sensations that wrack my body are like nothing I’ve ever felt before, and my body jerks again and again as his tongue and lips and teeth work on one nipple before moving on to the next.

I don’t know how long he teases me, making my slick pool until it registers in the back of my mind as uncomfortable, but I don’t have the will to care.

Rai moves to lay on top of me, his hips between mine, grinding. His grip moves from my neck to my jaw and moves my head to the side, then he’s lacing his fingers with mine and bringing them beside my head on the pillow. His lips touch the shell of my ear, his voice quiet, filled with growling promise. “I am going to rut you. Knot you. Claim you.” I turn my head toward him, our noses touch. “And one day, I will breed you. Mark. My. Words.”

The groan settles in my throat, unable to escape as the beast inside my chest growls at me with wordless warning, a demand that I don’t fuck this up for us.

Rai’s hips snap, sending his hardened length slapping against my pussy, and I decide then that there are still way too many clothes between us. Moving to pull the pants I’d been sleeping in down my hips, Rai doesn’t protest, instead kneeling up between my legs and undoing the button of his fly before unzipping his pants. He pulls them down his thighs, taking whatever underwear he may have on with them, and lets his cock spring free, bouncing upward before pointing straight at me.

My hand reaches for it in awe as I press my lips between my teeth to keep from making a sound. When I grasp it and my fingers barely meet my thumb, my mouth goes dry.

Is this...going to work? Will this hurt?

Does it really matter?

I take my hand back as he maneuvers his pants off his ankles and throws them to the floor, but my wet pajama bottoms are stuck between me and his body, my legs spread wide.

Rai runs his fingers up and down my covered slit, my hips gyrating of their own accord, pushing toward his hand. Then he grips the fabric with both hands and tears it down the seam, the elastic snapping in his grasp. The carnal smile that spreads across his face is wicked, his eyes grow impossibly dark as he stares at my pussy, his breath ragged. “I wish we had more time,” he whispers.

My fogged brain is unable to process what he means, and then he’s laying on top of me once more, his skin against mine everywhere but my legs, still covered by my pants like flimsy cloth chaps. He places the head of his cock at my entrance before framing my face with both hands and reconnecting our lips. Mouths fused, Rai’s cock plunges inside me, one sure and deep stroke, and I scream into his mouth, the cry a mix of pain at the almost audible pop deep inside my body, and of pleasure like I’ve never known as his skin slides, frictionless, along my inner walls which gladly welcome him into me, hugging his cock like a long lost friend.

He doesn’t move again until he rears his head back and looks into my eyes. “I’m sorry it hurt.” His voice is calm, quiet, almost breathless.

My head shakes slowly, and my hand rises to caress his cheek. The pain is already gone, replaced with ever-growing need. “No apologies. We belong, Rai.”

The smile he gives me is filled with love, adoration. I’ve never been the subject of someone’s deepest desires before—or perhaps I never let myself believe that I was since I could never reciprocate—but here, in Rai’s embrace, his cock slowly gliding out of my pussy then leisurely sliding back in, our foreheads touching, there is nowhere in the world I want to be other than here.

He is my Alpha. I am his Omega. We are meant to be.

My mind briefly registers that the whine building in my chest is...annoying. As if I shouldn’t be so needy or weak. But something happens...something I’ve never heard of before.

A vibration radiates from Rai’s chest into my body, calming my whining and nerves. It’s deep in tone and audible and reminds me of a cat. A big one.

The thought snaps me from my reverie, my brows drawing with confusion. “Are you...purring?”

Rai’s expression is as questioning as mine, but he doesn’t speak, doesn’t stop. His thrusts increase in pace and fierceness, and I no longer care what the sound is. His pounding in and out of me, mixed with the vibrations, makes my body quake with pleasure, hips turning upward, seeking more of him. Deeper. Faster. Harder.

When the tip of his cock finds this one place inside me, my mouth falls open with bliss.

Rai is watching me, my every reaction. He adjusts his movements based on my cues, and I love him for his attentiveness.

His thrusts become even harder, but not as fast, hitting that spot over and over until the edges of my vision go white, and he draws from me a sound I’ve never made, a mix of a scream and a moan that causes him to have to cover my mouth with his palm.

Any orgasms I’d brought myself in the past were nothing like this. This is an explosion of pleasure that causes my slick to cover the sheets. I can feel it pump out of me with every spasm that wracks my body.

Rai doesn’t stop. He continues to pound into me, over and over, frantic, grunting, and still vibrating. He lifts his upper body like he’s doing a push-up, and somewhere in the back of my mind, it registers that my mouth is no longer covered.

I don’t give a shit.

As he thrusts in and pulls out, over and over, my fingers grip my aching nipples and pinch so hard I’m sure I’ll bruise.

I still don’t give a shit.

Another orgasm builds deep inside my core, and this time, when I let out a strangled cry, Rai roars like a lion. His coal black eyes go white, glowing in the darkness.

And that voice inside me screams, Now!

My body reacts without my permission, and it happens in a blink.

My teeth ache and grow inside my mouth, something foreign. A growl rumbles inside my chest. I grab Rai, bring his body back down to mine, and sink my teeth into the flesh of his shoulder, the taste of his blood more sweet than coppery on my tongue. The moment I do, he growls and reciprocates with a bite of his own near my collarbone, and his cock swells inside of me.

We stay there, locked by teeth and knot, the only sound in the room our heavy breathing and the quieting purr in Rai’s chest.

That overwhelming need inside of me is replaced by sheer contentment.

The feeling of my teeth shifting back to normal leaves an ache in my gums as I release his flesh, my tongue lathing at the wound I left behind. The golden lights of our collars illuminate the mark, and that creature inside of me—whatever it is—is pleased beyond measure at the sight of it.

Rai licks at my wound as well, slow and deliberate. His mark doesn’t hurt so much, but as my brain begins to calm, I wonder if that will change soon.

When our eyes meet once more, I bite my lip before whispering, “We marked each other.”

The corner of his mouth ticks up a fraction before he grows serious. “We did.”

“What does this mean?”

“We belong to each other.” His hand gently smooths the hair at my scalp. “It also means…” his voice trails, carried away by his thoughts.

But I don’t need him to finish. I know what he was going to say.

For as little safety as we had at the academy, we are far more unsafe now. If we’re found out, not only are we breaking the rules by having sex but claiming one another—that’s forming a pack bond…

Rai’s knot begins to deflate, and I feel his cock slip from my body, leaving me empty yet sated.

“I don’t want to leave,” he says, “but I can’t stay here until morning.”

“I know,” I whisper with a faint smile.

As he slowly rises from my body and off the bed, he goes on. “I have a trusted friend in housekeeping. I’ll have her bring additional scent blockers and burn your bedding.” He reaches down to pick up his clothing and begins putting it back on. “I’ll hit the showers and do all I can to mask…” He trails off again, this time a crazed look shadows his face as he reaches for the bedside lamp and switches it on.

“What’s wrong?” I can feel his panic deep in my bones.

And that’s when he raises a school tablet to his face from my nightstand. An electronic device.

Rai isn’t touching me, and his blindfold is still off.

My lips part, close, then part again. What in the world is going on?

His head tilts, eyes squinting as though he’s concentrating—no, listening to something. His brow draws tighter, and then those onyx eyes bleed white once again, the glow reflecting off the skin of his cheeks and eyelids. As I sit up in a whirl, his head gives a little twitch at the neck, and the tablet in his grasp comes to life, lights flashing and bouncing off the surfaces around us. From the transparent back, I can see videos playing, text scrolling, images flashing.

Those white glowing orbs turn to me, his voice barely audible. “My curse...” He shuts his eyes tight, and when he opens them again, those dark orbs I love have returned. “I can control it.”