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Chapter Twelve

Ryder

L ifting Emma up, I carried her into the bedroom, my body and mind in a state of riot. She felt just right nestled in my arms. My beast was clamoring, wanting her in every way, wanting to put his mark on her.

He also needed to make sure she never put herself in danger like that again.

Whatever the fuck was happening between us, whether the instincts writhing inside me were accurate—that with a small push, Emma might reveal as an omega in the same way her sister had—remained to be seen.

I doubted she’d considered it, stressed as she was after what had gone down with her sister.

I understood how much she cared. In everything she’d done and said, right from the very first moment we met, her sister had been at the fore. There had been no mention of parents, so they weren’t in the picture for whatever reason.

But now, I needed her complete submission, or I was never going to calm down.

As I sat on the bed, she clung to me, and that shit went straight to my weak spot. The beast in me fell hard for a needy omega, whether emotional or physical. Emma, and whether she remained the beta or revealed as an omega, had already claimed a piece of me.

It also hadn’t escaped my notice that what had triggered her sudden race to the bathroom to empty her stomach had been the thought of me with anyone else, especially an omega. She didn’t want my hands on them and definitely didn’t want me to mark them.

I had to be honest with myself as I sat there with her tiny body trembling against mine, her arms and legs wrapped around me, and her nose buried against the crook of my neck. The thought of marking another omega ever again, of even touching one, put my body into revolt.

It had been one hell of a day and night, and the crazy wasn’t done yet.

“Come on up,” I said, giving her ass a gentle tap to let her know I meant business.

Her head lifted, and she regarded me through eyes puffy from all the tears she had shed.

“What are you going to do? Are you going to spank me again?”

“No,” I said, seeing surprise flash across her face. “You need something more.”

She blinked a few times. “What do you mean, more?” Her voice was little more than a whisper.

“More means I need to make an impression.” Gathering her hair up into one hand, I slowly tightened my grip. She sucked in a sharp breath as we locked eyes with one another. “I need this. I think you need it too, but if you don’t, if you can’t give me your submission, that’s okay.”

It wasn’t fucking okay. I was lying to both of us, but she had to agree to this. She had to need it.

“I–I don’t understand.”

“I’m going to discipline you with my belt. It’s going to sting like a motherfucker.”

She swallowed. “I realize it wasn’t the greatest idea storming up to the gates like that. I was so upset about Sloane, I completely forgot about how the alphas charged after her…yesterday. I can’t believe it was only yesterday. And it was all so crazy and unreal. So no, I didn’t think it through.”

“Good,” I said. “I’m glad you realize how dangerous it was.

” I ran my fingers down her soft cheek. “It’s going to fucking kill me, but if you can’t let me do this, discipline you how I need to, then I’ll need some time to cool off.

I’m not going to fucking force it, but unless you can accept it, then you need to go.

You can stay with Dane until your sister is ready to see you. ”

She clung tighter. “What are you saying?”

“This needs to be done, baby. Firm discipline. It’s going to hurt. You’re going to cry and beg me to stop. I won’t be able to until I know the point is fully made. Afterward, I will comfort you in any way you want, but I need this, and without it, you must go.”

I tried to ease her off. My demand was unreasonable.

The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became it would be better all-around if she stayed with Dane while I calmed the fuck down.

She was having none of it, though, her arms and legs tightening.

She was as strong as a bloody ox for such a tiny thing.

Everything about her cried out what she was.

Omega , my beast, confirmed. An omega could handle an alpha.

They looked so fucking helpless, yet they could take so much.

I was convinced Emma could take what I needed, but I would never force anything.

I much preferred an erotic sort of spanking, yet I was hard as a fucking rock just thinking about her submitting to me like this.

But it had to be her choice.

She shook her head when I tried to pull her off.

“Don’t you dare put me aside!”

“Baby.” I brushed her hair back from her hot cheeks.

“Dane will look after you. He’s a good one, one of the fucking best, along with Jace.

I had a shitty introduction to Desparion.

My family is full of assholes. I never want to speak their fucking name again.

But I was a rich prick, and when I was tossed into the alpha zone, I got the shit kicked out of me, day after day after day.

” Tears pooled in her eyes. I wasn’t looking for sympathy.

I’d told her this because she needed to know the kind of men Jace and Dane were, so she understood her sister was safe.

“It was Dane’s mother who patched me up.

Not every alpha is so lucky, and many of them die. ”

“That doesn’t sound lucky.”

“I’m not telling you this to upset you.” I brush her tears away with the pad of my thumb.

“I’m telling you so you trust that your sister is safe and that you’ll be safe with Dane.

I thought I could do this, could be around you, but it’s hard.

And it’ll be harder if you can’t allow me to touch you in every way I need.

” I was so close to breaking. I was standing on a fucking ledge.

“I want inside you more than I want my next breath.” My chest heaved.

“I want to pet your sweet little pussy, make you beg and scream in the good kind of way.” I lowered my palm from where it cupped her cheek until I collared her throat.

“I want to do some wicked things to you, but I’ll only ever do what you can take. ”

“I’m nervous,” she said. “But I want you to. When you first said it, it just shocked me. But you’re different, and I didn’t realize how different at first. All my life, Sloane has been there for me.

Our parents died suddenly in a damn stupid accident.

I miss them every day. Sloane took it on herself to care for me, to fill the gap, but in doing so, I lost a sister I loved.

We fight and we argue.” Her smile was rueful.

“She’s the worst, most overprotective sister you could imagine, but I swear I lost my mind when those people from the Dawn Agency came and took her away.

I can’t quite believe she’s an omega. It’s all so unexpected.

But I’m so glad she found one of the good ones. That she’s with Jace.”

“Everything you hear about the Dawn Agency, those rumors going around, they’re all fucking true.

But we got there. Jace wouldn’t have had it any other way…

Then you put yourself in danger. I can’t fucking have that, baby.

I’m trying so fucking hard to temper what I am.

An alpha isn’t like a normal man. I can sense things, animalistic things, that go beyond natural human understanding.

” I was trying to lay the foundations, to tell her in not so many words that I thought she was the match for me—my mate.

She reached up to enclose my face within her hands. “I don’t want you to change a thing. I can handle this, and afterwards, I’m expecting my reward. Please, don’t put me away, even for a moment. I couldn’t bear it again. I want you. All of you.”