Page 53 of Lock

I forced my eyes open. He was right there, his face inches from my stomach, staring up at me like he could read every thought I didn’t say out loud.

“If I keep going,” Silas said quietly, “I need you to be sure.”

“I am.”

“I need you to say it.”

His thumb brushed my hip, warm and grounding.

“I need you to want this more than you’re afraid of me.”

My throat tightened.

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“You should be.”

The words were rough, but there was no victory in them…only something that sounded like regret.

“I trust you,” I said anyway, because it was true. Every omega instinct I had should’ve been screaming, but instead they’d gone soft and quiet around him.

Even if it didn’t make sense.

Even if it was stupid…insane…

Even if it was the kind of thing my father would call weakness… and would never forgive.

He exhaled hard, like the words hit him somewhere deep.

“Okay,” he murmured. “Then open your legs for me.”

Heat shot through me so fast my breath stuttered.

But I did it…slowly, shakily and with my heart hammering.

His hands came to my thighs, big and warm, sliding them apart a little more. He looked like he was fighting himself the whole time, his jaw clenched tight, and his eyes were darker than I’d ever seen them.

“Good boy,” he said under his breath.

The words landed somewhere low in my spine and lit up every nerve…omega-soft and obedient in a way I didn’t even recognize in myself.

My body reacted instantly, my hips lifted, my breath caught and, need roared up like it had been waiting in the dark for someone to speak to it in exactly that tone.

Silas noticed.

A sound came out of him—half groan, half curse. He dragged his hand up the inside of my thigh, slow and reverent, like he couldn’t stop himself even if he tried.

“You have no idea what you’re doing to me,” he muttered.

“I… think I do,” I said, voice shaky.

He huffed a small, disbelieving laugh. “You have no idea. But you will.”

My entire body went hot.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the inside of my knee—soft, almost careful. It made something tight and fragile snap inside my chest.

No one had ever touched me like this.