by AJ Merlin
“You want to play this game?” His hand left my thigh to cup my jaw, and with a glance at his face I saw he was still smiling. “You have two seconds to stop touching those, sweet girl.”
His words hit me hard, finding some deep, hidden part of me that hadn’t reared her head in years. What had he called me?
Sweet girl.
I met his eyes and jingled the cuffs again.
“You don’t follow direction very well, do you?” he teased, muscles tensing. I prepared myself to do what I had to in order to keep him below me, intent on teasing him for awhile longer.
But that quickly became impossible and I realized how much I’d underestimated this alpha.
Roman got to his feet, hands on my hips as he lifted me up as well. I growled, stomach twisting in that moment of anticipation of what he might do while my brain cycled through ways to get him back under me.
Roman, apparently, was not on the same page.
He dropped me unceremoniously onto the sofa, thwarting my attempts to get space for myself by pinning me down, his body pressed my back once more.
My heart fluttered in my chest when I found that I was trapped against the back of the sofa and the wall of his body. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t find a way to stand up that didn’t involve dumping him on his ass.
Which I tried to do. Multiple times.
With one arm around my waist and his body acting as a barrier, I heard the jingle of the cuffs at his waist as my body clenched in anticipation. My breathing hitched, mind on the fact that somehow he was able to grab my right arm and click the cold, metal cuff securely on my wrist.
“Tell me if it’s too tight, sweet girl,” the alpha purred in my ear as I flailed with my other arm to make his job just a little bit harder.
If it was, he didn’t show it. Almost unerringly he caught my arm, and a second later a matching metal cuff had secured that wrist to the other, both of them behind my back.
“You’re too good at this,” I laughed breathlessly. “Clearly you’ve had too much practice.”
He leaned in to brush his lips against mine and I met his mouth with a growl, nipping at his lower lip before he could pull away.
When he pressed his body to mine again, I could feel him at my lower back, even more excited now than he had been with me over him on the bed.
“You’re not gonna be a good girl? Even with the cuffs on?” he asked, hand going to my hair and tangling in my loose red tresses.
“If you want me to be a good girl for you, you’ll have to do a lot more to earn it,” I laughed, unable to keep the grin off my face or stop my body from arching back against his.
“I have no other pressing matters,” Roman said, tugging on the cuffs. “Besides, I have a feeling you’d like submitting to me much more than you’re willing to admit with your words.”
“And how will you ever know, if I’m not willing to say it?” I teased, loving that he pulled me back against him snugly.
Roman growled once more, and this close I could feel the soft rumble in his chest as he snaked one arm around my body, fingers dipping into my panties and running along my slit.
Oh shit. I’d expected a few things, but not for him to just go for it.
I gasped, his touch electric, and only his hand at the base of my throat kept me from probably levitating.
“How will I know?” he repeated, his fingers dipping into me and curling forward.
I fought not to moan, and failed, though the sound turned to frustration when he pulled his hand away from my body.
“Because I don’t need your words to tell me.” He pressed his now slick fingers to my mouth, taking advantage of my parted lips.
I couldn’t help it. I closed my mouth around his fingers, letting him pull my head back against his shoulder.
“Clean them off for me, sweet girl,” he purred, watching me while I did just that.
And then I bit him. Just for good measure. Teeth sinking into his fingertips, I watched him when my fangs pressed against his skin.
“Oh really?” Roman drew his fingers from my mouth and I silently begged him to put them back where they’d been before my mouth. His hand slid down my body and stopped at my hip as I pushed back against him. “I don’t think so,” he continued. “Not after you biting me.”
Fuck me and my fucking attitude, apparently.
“It was affectionate. A love bite,” I argued, batting my eyes at him as he pulled me back to the couch by my arm.
“Sure it was,” Roman agreed, his smile wide as he pushed me down on the sofa under him, his body bracketing mine.
My stomach churned pleasantly, heat finding its way through my body as I spread my thighs wide for the alpha to sit between them.
With my hands behind my back and all of him hovering over me, I felt incredibly powerless in the best of ways.
Distantly I worried about that thought, my rationalities trying to remind me that I was cautious for a good reason.
But then Roman purred, his lips parted slightly as he sank down to kiss me hungrily. His mouth slanted against mine, then moved so he could nip and tease along my jaw.
I gasped at the feel of his hand on my hip that pushed the fabric of my dress higher, as if I wasn’t already mostly exposed to him.
“You’re so sweet when you’re under me,” the alpha breathed into my ear, and a shiver of anticipation tingled down my spine. “My own very sweet girl.”
I loved it when he called me that. Everything in my body thrummed for more of his touch, and as if he knew that, Roman pushed aside my panties so he could run his finger up my slit again.
“I’m not sure you deserve this,” he teased, his index finger sinking into me up to the first knuckle. “You did bite me.”
“Love bite,” I reminded him breathily, writhing under him in an attempt to get him to go deeper. A low, needy whine left my throat.
His blue eyes met mine and a grin touched his lips, his finger pushing deeper into me. One became two, and finally I gasped and arched when he thrust three of his fingers inside me.
With a jolt of surprise, I realized that I was already so, so aroused for him. He’d proven how wet I was, and his fingers slid in and out of me easily as he fucked me with them.
“Just like this?” he purred, eyes never leaving my face.
“Y-yeah,” I agreed, arching my body off the sofa as he sped up a little. “Just like-“ I broke off with a surprised intake of breath when his thumb found my clit, and he rubbed it gently as he fingered me.
“Too much?” His tone was teasing. He fucking knew it wasn’t.
“Not enough,” I shot back cheekily.
One brow rose on his handsome face and a fourth finger sank into me, making me feel suddenly very full.
And fuck-I loved every bit of the feeling. I wanted more than this, too, but thankfully my traitor mouth did not beg him to fuck me with something other than his fingers.
No matter that I couldn’t help the way my body begged for his cock.
His thumb found my clit again and he rubbed harder. The hand on my leg moved slightly to push my leg higher, giving him better access to my center.
“You like this, don’t you?” Roman purred, his voice a little hoarse. It was the only thing about him that let me know he was just as into this.
Well, that and the way his jeans tented between us.
I was willing to bet he wanted to be inside me just as much as I wanted him there.
Fuck.
“I do,” I whined, hips bucking to meet the thrusting of his fingers. “I really do-“ He was so good at this, and it had been an embarrassingly long time since I’d gotten intimate with anyone, alpha or otherwise.
God, I was so fucking close it was unreal.
Then Roman did the unthinkable. His fingers slowed, and he hummed in his throat at my ensuing snarl.
“You bit me,” the alpha reminded me, his blue eyes bright and canines sharp in his mouth.
“Love-bite-“ I gritted o
ut, trying to wiggle my hips enough to get him to finish what he’d started.
“Maybe it hurt my feelings.”
Glaring at him, I fought to hold onto the feeling. I’d been so fucking close. Just a little more and I would’ve cum.
“I am so sorry for hurting your feelings-“
“Oh yeah? Sorry because you want me to finish you off?” he asked teasingly, interrupting my own words.
When I didn’t answer, Roman went on. “I think you should beg me, sweet girl.”
“Beg you?”
His answering grin was wide. “Those bright copper eyes of yours aren’t going to scare me into giving you what you want. Neither will any growl or purr you can make.”
“I…” I squirmed under him, finding I was a bit embarrassed at the request.
Not much. Not much at all. Mostly, I was caught off guard, and the feeling of him watching me, waiting for me to beg was almost enough to get me off right there.
But alas, it was not.
“Please,” I murmured, accompanying it with a whine for good measure.
“Please what.”
“Please keep going.”
“Why should I?”
“Because I…it was a love bite?” I batted my eyes at him, wiggling again and trying to look enticing.
“Or because you want to cum?”
Well of course I wanted to cum. But I didn’t answer.
“Come on. You can say it. Ask me nicely. Ask me to let you cum, Alek.”
I loved every single one of his words as they dripped out of his sinful mouth. Every single one curled in my stomach, and I bit my lip to hide my reaction.
By his face, I didn’t do a very good job. His eyes darkened, and his fingers teased just over my clit again. “You can do it,” he encouraged. “It’s so easy. Just ask.”
“Please…” I murmured, wishing I could move my hands and jerk him back down to me. “Please Roman. Please let me cum.”
His fingers sank into me again, a pleased smile on his lips.
“Keep going,” he urged, slowly picking back up the thrusting of his fingers and the brush of his thumb over my clit.
“Please-please-I just want to cum for you. I need it.”
“You need it, sweet girl?” His fingers reached deeper in me, stretching me just so.
And fuck-it felt so amazing. He knew just how to tease me, and he brought me back to the edge easily once more.
“Pleasepleaseplease-“
“Please what?”
“Please let me-please make me-“
“Then cum for me. Right now, all over my fingers. Come on, you can do it for me right now, can’t you?”
As if his words held some kind of magic pull, I came hard. My muscles spasmed around his fingers, and I cried out with his name on my lips as he stroked me through my orgasm.
Finally he pulled away, only to lean forward to kiss my jaw again, moving downward to bite and lick at my throat as I panted, thighs shaking around his body as I rode out the aftershocks for as long as I possibly could.
Chapter Seven
“I have to go for a minute,” Roman grumbled against my neck, sounding just as disappointed as I felt.
“Okay,” I said, trying to hide the bit of hurt that slithered through my veins.
It obviously didn’t work. Roman pulled back, his blue eyes fixed on mine. “Just for a few minutes,” he teased, and I did not miss the way one minute had turned into a few.
“It’s fine–“ Before I could continue, Roman pressed his lips to mine in our sweetest kiss yet.
“It’s not,” he said. “But I’d love to talk for a little while, okay?”
“Okay,” I said again, pretty sure I was willing to do just about anything he wanted to do.
He sighed again and got to his feet, then returned with a small silver key in his hands. “I appreciate you not trying to break them,” the alpha teased, reaching around behind me and unlocking both cuffs effortlessly.
I chuckled, a smile curving over my lips. “Trying? I could’ve had them apart if I really wanted to.” Probably. I hadn’t gotten to really yank at them, but the handcuffs did seem sturdier than I was used to or had expected.
Roman met my eyes with an incredulous, if amused, look. “Alek, these are cuffs made for shifters.” He dangled the silver bangles in front of my eyes as I rubbed my slightly red wrists. “You weren’t getting out of them.”
Immediately my brows shot up, nearly disappearing into my bangs. “You have shifter grade cuffs? What are you, the shifter police?”
Not that there was such a thing, exactly. Sure, there were enforcer packs that kept order in the city per the commands of whatever clan was in charge, but I doubted an enforcer alpha would be caught dead at a place like this.
Clearly Roman had picked these up on the black market.
Or the internet.
He laughed and got to his feet, pulling me up as well. “I’ll be back,” he said again, eyes lingering on my face, then taking a quick trip down my body and making me shiver under the heat of his gaze.
“Okay,” I breathed, watching him open the door.
Unfortunately, he took that glorious, sweet scent of his with him.
And left me with cold, unforgiving reality.
“Oh, Alek,” I breathed, finally able to think and not just react to all of the amazing sensations being thrown right at me. Roman really was everything an omega like me could ask for. Playful, considerate, kinky…
All it would take was a well placed good girl against my ear and I would probably be willing to hop in his car and go anywhere with him, no questions asked.
And that was the problem.
We don’t play with alphas we don’t know. That was the rule, the mantra, the chant that I sang in my head any time I walked into a dungeon.
“I fucked up,” I told the bed, hands on my hips. He was going to come back in here and expect something more.
And-okay, so what if he did? What if he did come back in here and wanted to take this further? Was that so bad?
Not according to my body. If the way I was unconsciously clenching my thighs together was anything to go by, I wouldn’t mind at all if he came back in here and tackled me onto the nearest horizontal surface to finish what we’d started.
It nagged at me that I was so willing to sleep with him, when we’d only just met. I wasn’t like this. No matter how an alpha smelled, I wasn’t an omega who would just roll over because they said something sexy.
“I fucked up,” I said again, this time to the sofa.
There was only one logical option.
Escape.
I would leave, and I would never see Roman again. Atlanta was a big place, after all, and I’d lived here for awhile without running into him until tonight.
I could easily go the rest of my life without being on his radar.
It wasn’t that he’d done anything wrong. Quite the opposite. Roman was perfect. Like a mashup of all the things I wanted in an alpha.
But that was the problem, wasn’t it? Things like that didn’t just drop into someone’s lap.
And more than that, I was afraid of what I might agree to if I stuck around and let myself be more and more infatuated with the blue-eyed alpha.
With the door already open, I slipped out of the bedroom quietly.
There was no one in the hallway, which I was glad of, and no one around the corner. Roman’s scent was faint, almost nonexistent.
Hopefully he’d gone the other way.
It was time to collect Noah and go.
God, I hoped he wasn’t playing with anyone. It was always hit or miss with him. While I was the one more likely to hang out and have social time with our friends, there was a good chance my friend would find some sexy lady to do all the things he liked with.
One more hallway, then I would be back in the kitchen and almost home free. I wouldn’t even stop for Noah. Just do a drive by grab while apologizing to our friends, and–
It was a test
ament to my distraction that the moment Hades’ scent hit me was when he rounded the open door to my right.
Like a cannon, it blasted me into a state of surprise, and only served to amp up my arousal to what it had been when Roman had been in the room with me.
As if he was equally as shocked to see me, Hades looked me over with slightly wide eyes and an almost surprised expression.
“Hi,” he said, voice very soft.
It didn’t matter how friendly or welcoming he sounded. I would’ve been rooted to the spot by a whisper or a roar if it came from him.
Was Noah right? Maybe I just really needed to spend the night with an alpha. Maybe I was going through withdrawals.
Admittedly, I’d never gone all the way with an alpha. Not with everything that entailed like biting and marathon sex and knotting–
“Wow, okay.” Hades cleared his throat, lifting his hand as if he might be about to shield his mouth and nose. “Are you okay?”
Was my scent offensive to him?
The thought slammed me back into my boots and right out of fantasy land. Because of course my scent didn’t affect him the same way it affected me.
What did you expect, Alek? I chastised myself silently. For the heartthrob prince to fall at your feet and press his face against your skin? Grow up.
He definitely looked mildly uncomfortable.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, pushing an errant lock of hair over my ear. It was uncharacteristically meek of me to volunteer an apology to an alpha, but I was just so flustered and scattered that I wasn’t sure what else to do.
“Why?” Hades stared at me, incredulous. “You have no reason to be sorry. At all.”
“My scent is uh, bothering you….obviously?” I gestured at myself as if I was making some profound point or he didn’t understand my words.
Hades just stared at me, as if I’d spoken another language.
“Are you okay?” he asked again, instead of answering. I noticed him shift, his eyes darting into the room he’d come out of.
“I’m fine.”
He didn’t mention our little exchange earlier, and that was fine with me. I wasn’t going to bring it up if he didn’t.
Did he treat all omegas who made eyes at him like this?
I balled my hands into fists, hating the way that thought made my stomach clench in refusal at the possibility.
