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I roll us onto our sides with my knot locked inside of her.
She mumbles something, but it’s incoherent and laced with sleep, so I just press a kiss to her ear.
A word I never thought I’d say attempts to tumble from my lips.
But I keep it inside.
Instead, I stare longingly at her mating gland, wishing I could sink my teeth into it.
It’s tempting. I could do it now, and she would be mine permanently.
I shake the thought away. If she wants me fully, it will be on her terms.
Holding her close, I fall asleep with her, our bodies entwined.
* * *
I wake up later to Skylar whimpering, her scent clouded with grief.
It pulls me out of my own dreamless sleep.
She’s suffering from a nightmare so terrible that she lets out a quiet sob.
“Shh, shh, baby,” I murmur, holding her closer and pressing a kiss to her ear. “I’m here, sweetheart.”
“I’m sorry,” she mumbles, sniffling.
“Sorry for what?” I whisper, running my hands through her hair. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”
She continues whimpering, and I speak the words before I can stop myself.
“I want to give you everything,” I confess. “I want to claim you, beautiful. I never want to leave you alone after this.”
She’s silent for a moment at my confession, and I’m worried I fucked up.
I’m still knotted inside her, but that doesn’t mean she wants me to mate her.
Idiot, I think to myself.
I put off having a Rut for so long and took more supplements than necessary for years, just so I could focus on cases.
Now, the hormones are making me say things I never thought I would.
But my admission of feelings falls on deaf ears.
“I’m sorry…April,” she whispers, and guilt makes my chest clench.
She’s having a nightmare about her best friend.
The friend that we still haven’t been able to find.
“I’ll find her,” I whisper to her. “It’ll be okay, sweetheart. I promise.”
Her whimpers quiet and her breathing steadies, but I curse myself internally for what I just did.
You never promise something like that.
Even if she was asleep, I still did it.
