“And if you want vengeance…” I murmured. “I’ll carve it into whoever hurt you.”
I pressed my forehead to hers, voice quiet but unbreakable.
“Whatever you ask for, Lena. You understand that?”
My thumb lifted her chin so she had to meet my eyes.
“You chose me.”
A slow breath left me.
“Now everything I am is yours.”
A tear slipped from the corner of her eye as she nodded. Then her head fell back as my knot pushed hard, slipping inside her core.
I covered her mouth again just in time to catch the scream that tore free as another wave crashed through her. Her body trembled in my arms, pulse after pulse tightening around me as she rode out the release. Her pussy coated my lap in slick as it poured from her.
Once knotted, I found my release too, pumping her full of seed, as she milked my knot with orgasm after orgasm.
She moved against me with wild abandon, chasing pleasure, grinding down on my knot as I held her close. I buried my face between her soft bouncing breasts as she came apart in my arms, again and again, until the last of the tension drained from her body.
Looking down, I watched the little mute as she rested against me, waiting for my knot to deflate. Despite everything Marco had done to her, Lena was rebuilding herself little by little. He had broken so many pieces of her, but she kept finding strength in the places he had failed to destroy.
And now, for the first time, she was letting go, leaning into touch instead of shrinking from it.
Chapter 18: Lena
Everything had changed since the stakeout.
My hand lifted unconsciously, brushing Silas’ mark at my neck. Only a short time ago I thought even benign touch was impossible for me. Now I had been marked by my alpha handler in the most intimate way possible, and I’d wanted it.
A blush crept across my cheeks as the three of us sat around the conference table at the safe house, eating breakfast.
Both men's eyes tracked my every move, careful and cautious of my reactions. But the weight of their attention didn't unnerve me anymore. Instead, it made me feel… protected.
Just as Dr. Hampton had promised, these men, my alpha handlers, were starting to make me feel safe for the first time in a long time.
Knox piled my breakfast plate with a ridiculous amount of grapes. Far more than I could ever eat. When he carried the plate over and set it in front of me, a small giggle slipped out before I could stop it.
Knox beamed.
He seemed absurdly proud of any reaction he coaxed from me, but laughter was quickly becoming his favorite.
It surprised me that I could still remember how to laugh.
For so long, every sound had felt dangerous. Every reaction was something Marco could use against me.
But slowly and surely, little pieces of myself were returning.
Speech remained difficult. Every word resisted, halting and unsure, as if my voice had forgotten how to belong to me. I couldn't help hesitating before speaking, as my throat tightened with an old instinct that told me silence was safer.
Touch wasn’t easy either.
Even after my breakthrough during the stakeout, there were still plenty of moments when a sudden movement made me flinch before I could stop myself. When someone stepped too close and a flicker of fear raced through my chest. As muchas I tried, my body still remembered things my mind tried to forget.
That would probably linger for a long time.
Maybe the rest of my life.
