That was a relief to hear, because so far she didn’t feel any different about the vast expanse of wilderness that existed right on the other side of the wall. It still felt far too big. Far too dangerous. Like it could swallow her up at any moment.
The last thing in the world it felt like was home.
“Different how?” she pried.
Kian shook his head. “Not sure,” he said. “I never really paid attention.”
Paige’s shoulders fell. Of course not. She remembered the words he’d slung a few hours before they’d both succumbed to a haze of lust and hormones.
You’re right. I don’t want any of this.
He hadn’t paid attention to what happened to the omegas because he’d never wanted one of his own.
Her eyes fell down to her plate. To the food that he’d been up early preparing for her. The eggs he must collected by hand. The bread he’d kneaded and baked himself. So much work. All for someone he didn’t really want around.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice was a whisper.
Kian’s fork immediately stopped clinking against his plate. She could feel the air in the room change as he stilled, becoming heavier.
“For what?” It was more of a demand than a question.
“I know you didn’t ask for any of this,” she said. “I know you didn’t want me.”
He broke in with a heavy sigh. “So, now we’re back to what you know.”
Paige pressed on anyway, past the sting of tears that were welling up in her eyes. “But I promise that I’ll pull my own weight for however long I’m here.”
“However long?” Anger exploded through his words. He pushed back from the table, standing and looming over her.
Paige tried her best not to cower, but she couldn’t help bending her head even father down.
“I just meant that I won’t be a burden,” she said. “I can cook for myself. Wash my own clothes.”
Kian was around the corner in a heartbeat, lifting her up to her feet. Crooking one finger under her chin, he tilted her head back, forcing her to look in his eyes.
“I’m done with what you know or what you mean,” he said. “There’s only one truth that matters. You are my omega. Mine. Do you understand?”
Paige blinked up at him in surprise. She didn’t know how to react to such a passionate reaction. When she didn’t answer, Kian shook her once by the arms.
“Do you understand?” he asked again, hitting every word hard.
Paige gave a shaky nod.
He looked far from convinced. In one smooth motion, he lifted her up into his arms.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he carried her through the front door of the cabin and out into the woods.
“Proving it to you.”
The words rumbled through his chest and into her body, bringing with them a strange sense of calm. Even though the energy pouring out of him was aggressive and intense, she found herself fighting against the urge to curl up in his arms. To press herself even more fully against his chest. To calm his anger with her purrs.
This was different than the loss of control that she’d felt falling into heat. Her thoughts were her own. Her emotions were her own. For some unknown reason, this just felt right.
This was what she wanted. To be cradled by him. Held tight and safe. To feel his intensity and his strength. All she knew was this was where she was supposed to be.
Paige heard the water before she saw it, the light babble of water against rocks a few feet ahead. She lifted her head and spotted a spring feeding into a good-sized pool, large enough to accommodate both her and Kian.
Without a word, he ripped the stained and tattered sheet off her chest and let it fall to the moss-covered ground. Then, stepping down into the pool, he slowly lowered her down into his lap as he sat.
Paige didn’t realize how sore she’d been until the warm water enveloped her limbs. The soft heat seeped beneath her skin, easing her muscles. With every second more and more of the discomfort washed away, her tension going with it.
“I should have let you rest longer,” he said. “You’re still overwhelmed from the exertion of the past few days.”
Paige shook her head. “I’m fine.”
“If you were fine you wouldn’t be giving me this bullshit about being a burden and wanting to leave.”
“I just meant—”
“And I said I don’t care.” The words were harsh, his gaze stony, but there was an undeniable passion in his voice. Low and deep, it sounded like it came from the depths of his soul. “You are mine now, Paige. I am yours. There are no burdens. There is no leaving. There’s only you and I locked together.”
Wrapping one hand around the back of her head, he pulled her in for a kiss. His lips claimed hers completely. Her skin grew hotter than the water around her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back.
“That’s right,” he whispered against her lips. “You feel it now.”
Paige didn’t know what to say. She felt something—something indescribably deep—but it was almost as if there wasn’t language to describe it.
“I must still be in heat,” she rushed to say before going back to kissing his mouth, the column of his neck, the hollow at the base of his throat.
He pulled her away, forcing her back just far enough to meet his eyes. “You know that’s not true.”
He was right. She did know. Her gaze flickered away, grazing over his body, the tight muscles of his arms and chest, the wet denim clinging to his thighs.
Oh, she was going to have to peel those off right away.
Her desire for him was strong, but it was different than before. It wasn’t something uncontrollable. Something separate.
She wanted him.
She.
Paige Byrne wanted Kian Wilcox.
Wanted, not needed.
He wasn’t just there to fill some biological role. She wasn’t losing herself to animal instinct. Her mind was calm and clear…and wanted to feel the heat of Kian’s kiss as he pressed inside her.
“I don’t understand,” she mumbled as she slid her hands to the zipper of his pants.
“You don’t have to,” he said, helping her guide them down his hips. “All you have to do is feel.”
So, she did.
Paige lifted herself up on her knees until she felt the crown of his cock press against her opening. Then she slowly, inch by inch, lowered herself down.
It didn’t matter that she was still sore from the days of bruising sex before. She still wanted this. Still wanted to know the sensation of Kian filling her, completing her. She wanted it more than anything.
Kian’s head fell back against the fern-lined ridge of earth around the pool as she took him in. His growl of pleasure echoed off the rocks and trees. Her body responded instantly, drenching him with slick and easing his passage.
There was no buffering haze this time. Just pure sensation. She felt every part of Kian—his skin, his breath, his heartbeat hammering in his chest as she leaned against him.
His grip on the nape of her neck tightened as she sped her movements, taking him faster and deeper. He raised his head, piercing her with his blue-green gaze.
“Mine.”
Suddenly, Paige understood. She was his. Totally. Completely. Now and forever.
“Say it,” he demanded.
Paige opened her mouth, but all that came out were great puffs of breath as her body tried to keep up with the rhythm of her desire.
Kian wasn’t about to let her off the hook that easy, though. His fingers tightened in her hair, pulling her head back so that her attention was fully on his face.
“Say it.” It was a command she couldn’t ignore.
“I am your omega.” Her words were broken, spoken between pivots of hips and shocks of pure pleasure.
“And what am I?”
“My alpha.” No words had ever tasted sweeter on her lips.
Kian must have liked them too, because suddenly he was no longer c
ontent to sit there and simply be ridden. He brought his hands to her hips and took control. Holding her tight, he moved her body up and down over him, grinding her against his cock.
“That’s right,” he said. “Take me. Feel me inside you. It doesn’t matter what we wanted before. All that matters is this. Right here, right now.”
And just like that, Paige understood. Whatever plans they’d made in their lives before were meaningless. Naive plans that God was laughing at now. This was who they were meant to be. This was the life that had always been waiting for them. This was their destiny.
She became more and more certain as the pleasure stoked by Kian’s cock grew inside her. Stronger and deeper. Until a strange primal urge came over her.
It wasn’t enough to just know that she was Kian’s and he was hers. She wanted to prove it to the world. To mark the massive man in front of her with a sign that he was taken.
“Yes,” Kian growled, as if he knew what she was thinking. He tilted his head to the side, giving her full access.
Yes.
Instinct took over, leading her along.
Paige pressed herself against his chest even as Kian increased the tempo of his thrusts. She steadied her hands against the wall of rocky earth behind him, and brought her lips to the taut muscles that lined his shoulder.
“Yes,” he prompted her again, pistoning even harder.
It was hard to think through the haze of pleasure that was filling her whole body. But she didn’t need to think. She simply needed to feel. To act. To do what her soul told her to do.
And right now, that was to claim Kian as her own.
She bit down hard on his shoulder, her teeth breaking the skin, but Kian didn’t push her back, or fight her off. Instead, he howled out in release. His hips bucked, his cock surged, taking Paige over the edge with him. She trembled in ecstasy as his come filled her cunt. The exquisite pressure of his knot growing deep inside her prolonged the climax, stretching it out longer than Paige ever believed possible.
Maybe that was why she didn’t fully notice Kian’s head dipping down to her own shoulder, or the heat of his mouth closing around her flesh. The shock of his claiming bite took her by surprise, but it didn’t hurt. Not really. It was sharp and sudden, sure, but the sensation that filled her was something entirely new. She couldn’t put a name to it. All she knew was that it felt right.
Kian’s knot was still locked tight inside her when the both pulled away. When she looked into her alpha’s eyes, none of the intensity had left them, but somehow the way she viewed them had changed. She no longer saw the depth of his emotion as a threat or something to shy away from. All his strength, all his power, they were there for her to lean on. To lose herself in.
He was here to protect her. To care for her. To see to every last one of her needs.
Just like she was here to do the same for him.
Kian ran his palm over her hair, smoothing it down. “No more talk about burdens or leaving,” he said.
Even though it wasn’t a question, Paige nodded.
After all, there was nowhere else to go.
This was her home.
Chapter Nine
They stayed in the water for a little over an hour after his knot had faded. Kian spent the time tracing his fingers over her body—her arms and legs, the delicate line of her spine and the dips of curves—easing the aches from her exhausted muscles. He carefully washed the fresh wound on her shoulder.
His claiming mark.
His eyes kept going back to it again and again as they sat nestled against each other in comfortable silence. She was his now. There was no question. No doubt.
And he was hers.
He was a little surprised by how good the bite on his own shoulder felt. The pain was nothing in comparison to the pride he felt. Let the betas keep their gold rings; this was the true sign of two souls merging into one.
Kian brushed back her thick brown hair one last time, making sure it was clean and straight before taking his fingers down her cheek. Paige’s eyes fluttered open. Her light brown gaze met his, and she smiled sleepily.
“Did I fall asleep again?” she asked.
“Just for a moment,” he answered. “I’m going to take you home so you can rest somewhere more comfortable.”
She shook her head, nuzzling the side of her face against the muscles in his chest. “What are you talking about? There’s no place more comfortable than right here.”
A rush of satisfaction surged through Kian’s blood. He’d never heard words like that. Never dreamed that he would. For someone had spent most of his life being thought of as a monster, the idea of having someone so little, so frail, entrusting him with her safety was beyond anything he could’ve imagined.
Hooking his arms under her knees, he lifted her up and out of the warm water. Her weight was nothing in his arms. He’d carried woodpiles that were far heavier. But he’d never carried anything as precious.
She was his omega. His mate. His other half. She would warm his body through the long and bitter winter nights. She was the one who would go into a frenzy for his knot during her heat cycles. She would bear his children. Raise them and send them out into the world. She would stay be his side no matter what. Until the day they both died and were laid in the ground.
She was his.
Kian kicked at the stained sheet that she’d wrapped herself in earlier. It wasn’t worthy of her. There was nothing shameful about her skin that needed covering. She was perfect.
Paige was already dozing away again on his shoulder as he carried her through the door of the house. He laid her down on the couch just long enough to make the bed up with fresh, clean linens, and then came back for her.
He had to fight against the urge to lie back down by her side as he finally set her down. He’d like nothing more than to slide next to her and waste the day away exploring more of her body.
Some other day.
It seemed that today he had other plans.
It had been about five minutes since Kian had first heard faint hum of a truck engine turning off the Central Road and onto three-mile dirt track that led to his cabin. A distinctive tick in the timing belt told him who it was right away.
Ty.
Kian threw on a fresh pair of pants. He poured two mugs of coffee before heading toward the door. Half a minute later, Ty pulled to stop in front of the porch.
“You should really get that belt replaced,” Kian called out to his friend. “I heard you coming all the way from Evander’s Bar.”
“Like hell you did.” Ty shot him a smile as he walked around the bed his truck. It lasted until his eyes fixed on the bite mark on Kian’s shoulder. “I came out to ask how you were doing, but it looks like I already have my answer.”
Kian cocked his hip against the rail of the porch as Ty climbed the stairs. “Were you honestly expecting something different?”
Ty shook his head. “If I was, I wouldn’t have waited four days before coming out.”
“That’s what I thought.” Kian handed him a mug.
Ty took it with a nod and sat down on one of the wooden chairs that looked out over the ridge of trees before them. “So how is it, you lucky bastard?”
“Strange,” Kian answered honestly. “Wonderful. Terrible,” he added.
Ty narrowed his eyes. It was clear he wanted a better answer. Too bad Kian didn’t have one to give.
“Trust me, you’re better off alone,” Kian said.
Ty gave a loud laugh. “Now that’s some bullshit.”
“The sex is good,” Kian said with a shrug. “Better than good. Amazing. Just like all the stories we ever heard. Screw that. It’s better than you can imagine.”
“Yeah.” Ty shook his head and raised his mug. “Sounds like a goddamned nightmare.”
“You don’t get it.” Kian gestured to the red and ragged teeth marks on his shoulder. “There was a moment this morning that I feared she wasn’t going to give this to me. I was afraid.”
> Ty’s expression turned sober. The smirk fell from his face. He drew in a long breath and slowly let it out. “Shit.”
Shit was right.
Kian knew that if anyone was going to understand, it was Ty. Sure, he considered all alphas his brothers, but Ty was like real blood. They’d come to the Boundarylands around the same time, and about the same age, and at no point had either one of them felt even a sliver of fear.
It wasn’t in the alpha nature. Fear was for prey animals and betas. It was for creatures who had something to lose. Who knew they were outmatched.
But that’s exactly how he’d felt when Paige had covered herself up in front of him. When she’d hinted at someday leaving. The thought that, even after forging a primal bond that was undeniable, she still would still refuse to claim him as her own had scared him.
“But she did,” Ty said.
“That’s not the point,” Kian growled in frustration. “It’s that I don’t know what I would have done if she didn’t. I’m wasn’t sure how I would I go on. If I could go on.”
Ty shot him a look. “Really?”
“I know. It doesn’t make sense,” Kian admitted. “I’ve never felt anything like it. All I know is that I would tear the whole world apart for the omega in my bed right now. I wouldn’t care if it killed me. I wouldn’t care if it ripped me apart piece by piece. I would do anything to keep her near me.”
Ty shook his head slowly. “You’re right. I’m glad I don’t have to deal with any of that. I’ll just stick to whores. Easier that way.”
“Damn straight.”
Ty stared out at the trees for a long moment. Silent minutes like these weren’t anything new. They’d spent hours together without saying a word.
Eventually, though Ty lifted his mug and drained the last drops dry. “Sounds like it’s a good thing I came out here when I did,” he said, placing the empty cup on the boards beneath his chair. “Word got around that you dragged an omega out of the bar the other night.”
Kian rolled his eyes to the sky. “Figured it would.”
“Well, Randall came around last night asking about you.”
Kian tilted his chin up. That was interesting. Randall was one of the few alphas in the Boundarylands who had found and claimed his omega. They’d been mated for over two decades now.
Kian: The Boundarylands Omegaverse: M/F Alpha Omega Romance Page 8
