“I don’t—” My voice broke as his teeth grazed the newly sensitive spot on my neck, making my back arch. “Kenai, I need more.”
A deep rumble vibrated in his chest, a pleased sound that had arousal soaking my panties. This was so fucking pathetic.
He turned me to face him, and the look in his silver eyes stole my breath. “Say what you really mean, Sylvie.”
His thumb traced my lower lip. “Your body knows it. I can smell it on you—not just the heat, but the fear underneath it. You’re terrified. Tell me why.”
“I’m not—” Another wave of heat crashed through me, stealing my words, my breath, my ability to think. I gasped, my hands already somehow wrapped around his waist.
Kenai pulled me tight against him. “Enough running, Sylvie. Let me help you.”
He started tugging at my shirt, and I pushed his hand away. “I can do it.” But my arms were already sliding around his neck, my face buried against his throat where his scent was strongest.
“I know you can. You can do everything on your own. You’ve been doing it your whole life.” He rolled me onto my back, buried in that massive nest of blankets. “But you don’t have to. Not anymore. Not with me.”
He laid me down gently, and I immediately tried to sit up, to regain some control. “Kenai?—”
“Shh.” He pressed a finger to my lips. “What color?”
The safe word check cut through my panic. He was giving me an out, even now—even when I could smell his rut, see the tension in his body, feel his erection pressed against my stomach.
He’s giving you a choice. He’s safe.
“Green,” I whispered. “But?—”
“No buts.” He climbed over me, propping himself on one elbow so he could peer down at me. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to touch you. Kiss you. Learn what makes you come undone. I’m going to take care of you, like an alpha should.”
His hand traced down my throat, over my collarbone, and I arched into the touch without meaning to.
“But, Sylvie?” His voice dropped lower, intimate as his warm breath tickled the skin beneath my ear. “When you come apart in my arms, when you finally let yourself feel everything you’ve been running from—I’m going to be right here. Holding you. Keeping you safe. Showing you I won’t hurt you. I would never hurt you.”
“You can’t promise that.” My voice was breaking, tears burning my eyes. “You can’t know?—”
“I can.” He kissed my forehead, my cheeks, the corners of my mouth. “Because I see you, Sylvie Hartwell.”
Another wave of heat hit, stronger this time, and I cried out. My body was burning, aching, demanding relief. But Kenai justheld me through it, his hands steady and sure, his voice a low murmur of comfort.
“I’ve got you. Breathe, baby. I’ve got you.”
Baby.The endearment broke something in me.
“That’s not something I know how to do.”
“Then don’t trust me yet.” He kissed away my tears. “Just let me take care of you right now, in this moment. Everything else can wait. Can you do that?”
The heat was overwhelming, narrowing my world to him—to his hands, to the desperate need clawing through me. My omega instincts were screaming at me to surrender, to stop fighting, to let my alpha make it better.
My alpha.
Oh god, I had to stop this before I?—
“Sylvie.” His hand cupped my face, gentle but firm. “Color.”
I looked up at him—at his silver eyes full of patience and tenderness, at the careful way he was holding himself back despite his rut, at the promise of safety written in every line of his body.
“Yellow.”
“Should I stop?”
