Page 97 of The Ashpaw: Part One

“But she’s an omega, and you’re an alpha, and—”

“Do you doubt my control? My love for you, which eclipses everything?”

“But I saw you—”

“Shh, it was the moon that rode me, that is all. She means nothing to me…”

Fern squeezed her eyes tight to fight the tears, her chest suppressing the building sob.

“Then show me. Show me how much I mean to you.”

A groan. A gasp. A growl, and bodies falling on something soft.

Furniture squeaked.

“Fuck, my love… so perfect, so mine. The only one I need.”

A familiar scent hit her before the sound of him did, and she looked up to find Reinn—fully dressed now—walking quietly towards her.

He placed his finger in front of his lips to signal a request for silence, and then leaned against the door. A loud thud and a moan from Kyntha had him grimacing and taking a step back.

Then he looked down at her. “Why are you here?”

Fern sniffed. “He told me to leave, but not where to go.”

A muscle feathered in his jaw as he looked at her, thoughts and calculations made quickly behind his amber eyes.

“Well, you certainly can’t stay there.”

He bent down and offered her his hand. “Come. You look like you might want a bath.”

Fern sniffed, wiping a tear off her cheek with the back of her hand. “Are you telling me I need one?”

He sighed. “Desperately.”

Chapter 23

Fern

Several scents lingered in the air beneath the smoke of the hearth in Reinn’s room—cedar oil, old parchment, and chamomile, which reminded Fern of her mother’s favorite tea. Clothes had been draped carelessly across the backs of chairs and over the foot of the bed, while an open trunk sat near the wall, half filled with folded fabrics so fine Fern was almost afraid they’d break apart just from her looking at them too long.

Books were stacked in uneven piles beside the hearth and atop the bedside table, some splayed open face-down as though abandoned halfway through reading. A silver brush rested near a shallow wash basin alongside several combs carved from bone and ivory, their teeth still threaded with strands of moon-pale hair.

Fern lingered in the doorway, her fingers twitching at her sides as she spied the bed. It was smaller than Darion’s, though softer looking, buried beneath thick blankets and far too many pillows.

Reinn followed her line of vision and chuckled. “Sometimes I wonder if I’m not part omega myself with how much I like to nest.”

Ha! her wolf barked. I told you!

“Nest?”

He sat down on the bed, his hand caressing a particularly nice looking pelt. A tease or an invitation. Fern bit her lip.

“Perhaps it’s for the best I came across you, because I doubt your alpha would have the time or wherewithal to teach you about your designation.”

Then he gestured towards a door in the back. “Go, wash yourself, and return. I’m happy to be your tutor while we wait for my cousin to tire herself out. Knowing her, it could be hours.”

A sharp pain stabbed her in the stomach for a moment at just imagining the two of them together for so long, but she breathed through it as she started to move.