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CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

GRACE

A s the storm clears, I work up the courage to start a conversation. We don’t have to be friends, but it sure would be nice to share more between us than stony silence after we made so much progress. The sun rises strong and proud, almost as proud as my alpha as I gaze down at him.

It wasn’t that long ago that I wanted to gouge these pretty eyes out of his head. And now here I am, kissing each eye lid as I coax him back to sleep from a nightmare.

“Ridiculous,” I murmur as I pull away, running from his suffocating scent.

I can’t stand it. I crave it. I don’t want to be forced back into heat.

“Wait!”

Suddenly, he has a vice grip on my wrist. He releases me slowly, turning me gently to face the cliff. Soaking wet, dark strands of hair curtain my vision as he pulls me into his chest.

I’m so tired of trying to piece together why he despises me. I just want to understand.

Why did you bring me here? So I can feel sorry for you? I sneer, glancing at the wreckage of the old airplane.

“I want you to understand me.” he pauses and licks his lips. “I want you to want me too.”

“You’re not the hero of this story, so stop pretending.”

“I don’t have to be. I am the villain. You know this, and I know that too.

“So fall from grace with me, my omega. Be a good girl, and rule this island beside me, beside us, as our queen.”

But as the storm clears, and he kisses me tenderly, I realize my alphas haven’t just taken my body hostage…

He’s taken my heart hostage, too.

I’ll be your shelter from the storm.

Raphael’s words rattle me more than I care to let on.

I don’t understand how he has this effect on me.

He’s the same monster that trapped me in this inescapable Bond.

And yet he’s the same man that saved me from a fate worse than death.

The duality of those opposing truths only seem to wreck them themselves themselves when he has his knots, fucking me deep and hard so that all my common sense is gone.

So what excuse do I have right now as he holds me tight to keep me warm in a non-sexual embrace for my heart to flutter. Who or what can I blame for the way I snuggle deeper?

He twirls a soaked strand of my hair around his finger, before cupping my chin. Raphael presses his thumb against my bottom lip until I’m sucking the tip. I twirl my tongue around the edge, reaching up slowly to dig my nails into his wolf cut.

You’re not in heat, he whispers, as if that will stop us or me.

I’m aware, I attempt to joke at the same time he pulls his thumb out and strokes my swollen lip.

His gaze is intoxicating, icy blue eyes melting into something so warm and soft I can’t help but sigh.

Water drips down his clavicle, and I want so badly to reach for it, to run my tongue against the screaming skull tattooed onto his neck and bite hard enough that he bleeds. So hard I can pretend I’ve claimed a piece of his soul, like he’s claimed mine.

But I’m not foolish enough to even pretend a mere omega can be anything other than—

What did you just say?

Don’t make me beg.

As if you would.

I would for you.

Then beg.

He slides down my chest, my nipples pebbling from the contact as well as the cold rain.

“Please,” he whispers before kissing my inner thigh again with reverence, “spread your legs.”

I take him by surprise when my lips collide with his in a passionate kiss. My alpha’s masculine scent floods my heat-stricken mind, salt, sun, and sand soothing my soul.

He groans against my trembling lips, pulling away to trail kisses along his claim, a bite mark embedded in my neck.

“What do you desire, my omega?” he asks.

I go on tiptoes and whisper into his ear, “You.”