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I’d always thought it was an omega’s heat that sent couples into days-long sex-fests, but Augustus and I prove that wrong.
For days after our wedding, we’re alone in his quarters. It’s just like when I was in heat, except this time there’s less urgency. I’m not feverish and aching. He’s not shaking every moment he’s not inside me.
We take it slowly. The pleasure builds. For hours, we lay in bed naked, and he trails his finger over my skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake. Up over the hip, across the stomach, dipping down just low enough that I feel the gentle simmer of desire.
And we talk.
Augustus tells me about what happened with Gavyn, about Aurora surprising everyone.
“I still can’t believe you said yes,” he murmurs, at some point in the middle of the night, when we’re both desperately tired but not wanting to fall asleep. “I thought for sure you were going to walk right out of that room. Out of my life. And that I wouldn’t be able to chase you.”
I shake my head at him, head lolling against the pillows beneath me, “You know I never could have said no to you, Augustus.”
Blinking awake, he jerks his head back, propping himself up on his elbow and looking down at me. “But you could have said no, Mylah. I would have let you leave. Hells, I would have given you a car and money so you could leave on your own terms.”
I stare at him and feel my love grow cartoonishly in my chest.
“Love isn’t about forcing someone to be with you,” he goes on, his face stern. “I told myself for a long time that I was keeping you here to keep you safe, but that wasn’t quite true. I mean, yes, I thought you were safer here, but I was keeping you here selfishly. I wanted you but was too much of a coward to let myself ask for that. But I realize, obviously, that was wrong. I want you to know that you’re not stuck here, Mylah. I want you to be with me because you want it. Not because you feel like you don’t have a choice.”
A slow smile stretches over my lips, and I couldn’t stop it even if I wanted to.
It’s not just that he said it to me, but that he said it in front of everyone, too. It makes me feel like things might actually start to change, might actually start to get better for omegas in this pack, in the entire Kault territory.
From the other side of this bond, I know what it feels like to be away from your fated mate. I know the pain you go through when you’re far from them—for him to really let me go, even with the power and influence he has to keep me here forever…
“What?” he asks, after a second, his brows drawing together adorably. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
When I scoot closer to him, our sides come together flush and his hand drops lower. I tip my head up and catch him in a kiss, nuzzling my nose against his.
“Nothing,” I murmur, not wanting to weigh down this moment with all my thoughts of what I can do for the omegas here, now that I’m married to the Alpha king. “Just that I love you.”
He gives me a devilish grin and slides his hand lower, applying pressure as he leans in to kiss me, “I love you, too.”
Epilogue - Augustus
The thought occurs to me at the first pack leader meeting following the wedding.
Mylah and I walk in together, her hand on my arm. I can feel the nerves rolling off her in waves.
My three best friends—the other alpha kings—look up at us. Brack, as always, is able to control his face well, keeping it placid and unmoving. Zade fares slightly worse, his mouth dropping open before he hastily closes it again.
And Denvil stands up from his seat at the table, coming to meet us in the middle of the room.
“Well, if it isn’t our brand-new sister-in-law,” he’d says, sticking his hand out for Mylah to take.
Slowly, uncertainly, she does. He takes the opportunity to draw her into a hug. Considering the fact that my mate is fully two months pregnant, my wolf lets out a low warning growl, even at my friend. I just push on Denvil’s shoulder when the hug lasts a second too long.
“Give her some space, you loon.”
“Sister-in-law?” Mylah whispers to me, her voice low the moment Denvil releases her. Her cheeks are flushed, but they’re always flushed now. Pregnancy glow.
“That’s right,” Denvil says, bounding back to his seat. “Auggie is basically our brother, so that makes you my newest sister.”
“Right,” Mylah says, flushing further when she realizes he heard her. Her hands shake slightly as she takes the seat next to me.
We carry on our meeting like normal, talking about the storehouses and the matter of Gavyn’s remaining men. That night, they’d scattered at the sound of the gunshots, and we’d left him there in a pool of his own blood to die a long and slow, painful death.
But what remains to be seen is if someone else steps up and tries to fill the power vacuum, or if they’re going to dissolve back into individual shifters, tiny groups coming together rather than an attempt at a full-fledged pack.
