AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Absolutely not. I’ll still be me, and I’ll remember every word of what we said to each other just now. I’m always your Alpha, and I’m always protecting you, no matter what.”
Isavelle caresses my face. “Thank you, Alpha.”
I fall to one side, wrap my arms around her in the darkness, and hold her tight against my body. “I feel very close to you right now,sha’len.”
Isavelle nuzzles against my bare chest and wraps her arms around me. “You too, Zabriel.”
I groan softly. I thought her scent and her slick and her kisses were delicious, but her trust? Her trust is everything.
I remember that she’s coming out of a false heat and my Omega is probably starving for praise. Sitting up, I pull the blanket from our heads, gather Isavelle into my arms, and gaze down at her in the morning light. “Your Alpha is so happy with you. You’re everything I could have asked for, my sweet Omega.”
I mean that. Isavelle’s not what I expected.
She’s better.
Isavelle whimpers and clutches my biceps. “I don’t deserve that. I feel like I’ve been messing this up every step of the way and disappointing you. Thank you for saying that, Alpha.” Then she seems to lose her head and starts to babble. “Just now all I could think about was your knot. Last night in my nest I only wanted to please you, and I thought of you the whole time I touched myself.”
Isavelle claps her hand over her mouth, shocked at her own words.
Grinning, I help her off the floor and back into bed. “Sleep for a little while longer,sha’len. Or think about me some more. I don’t mind which.” I press a kiss to her mouth while she blushes furiously, and I admire my girl enveloped in soft blankets. “I’ll send word to the temple that they’re to bring you fresh tea.”
“Thank you, Alpha,” she says, burrowing beneath the blankets again.
I take one last look at my mate, then draw the curtains around her bed. Closing the door of her room behind me, I head down the corridor and toward the Flame Temple, smiling the whole way.
25
Isavelle
Awhole day passes while I curl up in my nest and drift in a pink haze of warmth and my Alpha’s approval. I drink so much of the temple’s tea that I think I could fill a pond and go swimming in it. I’m still wearing Zabriel’s shirt, and I haven’t bathed since he threw me into the cold water at the bathhouse. I love the sensation of the linen against my nipples and remembering the delicious, shocking intrusion of his tongue inside me.
I need to stop thinking about Zabriel and sex, eat something, and then go and do something productive. There’s a war happening, and I’m lying around in bed, dreaming of the king.
Reluctantly, I peel myself out of my nest and take off Zabriel’s shirt. Standing before the fire, I use a cloth and a basin of cold water to wash myself, staring dreamily out the window wondering what to do today.
I should probably go down into the city and check for news about the people of western Maledin, and I’d like to see Odanna as well.
Twenty minutes later, I find Fiala and Dusan and we head out the castle gates. When they hear my stomach rumbling, they suggest we stop at a food cart for some breakfast. Despite Fiala’s craving for something called gritty-bitty, which she swears up and down is the best breakfast I’ll ever eat, all the street food in the city is human.
I wave them over to a stall where a woman is wrapping omelets in fried flatbread and slathering them with butter and honey and sprinkling them with salt.
“Eggs with honey?” Dusan asks doubtfully.
“I promise it’s delicious. Salty and crispy and sweet at the same time.” My mouth is watering as I pass out the rolled-up omelets and pay the stallholder.
The three of us walk along together, me munching blissfully, while the other two take tentative bites, and then larger ones.
“I bet Zabriel would love to try these,” I say between mouthfuls. “He’s interested in human culture, like apple fritters. The bits that aren’t Brethren, anyway.”
Fiala and Dusan exchange smirks.
“What’s that look for?” I ask.
“You’re starting to likeMa’len. I knew you would,” Fiala says.
Dusan laughs and swallows before he can choke on his breakfast. “Of course she likes him. It’s in her blood to think he’s hotter than dragons’ breath.”
Fiala gives him a dirty look. “It’s not all about what your body tells you to do. You can want to climb someone like a tree and still think they’re a revolting person.”
