Page 128 of Rejected and Pregnant By the Alpha King

I will respect Raine’s choices, just not with her leaving my packlands. The last thing I want to roll the dice on is her getting taken again. As long as she’s within my borders, she’s safe.

That I can guarantee.

“You should get to bed,” I say, turning to head back down the hill. “We have a long day tomorrow.”

Delilah doesn’t follow me when I descend. Well, if she doesn’t want to listen to me, then that’s on her. We’ll be heading for the Southern border tomorrow whether she’s ready or not.

58

Nyx

I can’t get enough.

The more I have of her, the deeper my need for her grows.

What in the world has she done to me? How has a single kiss, let alone actually being able to touch and caress every inch of her body, ignited something within me that I’ve long since believed to be dead?

Her body is hot against mine when I grab her again and pin her to the side of my home. She moans when I crush my lips against hers, her fingers tangling in my hair in order to pull me closer to her.

We haven’t been able to stop touching each other since wandering out of the conservatory. Even a subtle brush of our hands as we walked back had caused us to entangle ourselvesin the rosebushes while we came together like we were newly mated.

I hadn’t wanted to put any pressure on her from last night, believing that us giving into our desires had been some kind of cathartic release. Pretending otherwise would’ve only set myself up for inevitable failure, or rather, something else deeper that I don’t quite want to name yet.

Letting myself be vulnerable, exposing my heart in that manner, to anyone, is too much. There have been very few times where true terror has stolen my senses from me, and letting Raine become the keeper of my heart is a job I’m not ready to give her.

Whatever is left of it, that is.

When Raine breaks from our kiss, she grazes her thumbs over my cheekbones. “Are we…going to keep doing this?”

“That depends. Do you want to?”

She frowns. “I hate that you’re not answering me. That’s making me nervous.”

“Sorry.” Truthfully, I’m worried about being honest about my wants for her in general. She’s already going to be giving me an heir; asking for more on top of that is rather cruel.

Her hands drop to my shoulders. “Nyx, please tell me what you want.”

And if I do, am I only setting us up for this to all come crashing down in a blaze of glory? Giving into my own desires is a rare thing, if not almost inconceivable. The control I have over myselfis something I would ever brag about, given that it was born out of sheer necessity.

Being a young and naïve child when I was named alpha king had changed and shaped me in ways that no one but myself would be able to recognize. Keeping myself in check had been the only way to ensure my place on this throne.

All Raine had to do was look at me in a certain way and I’d immediately crumpled at her feet. The power she holds over me is both unfathomable and terrifying. What could one do while holding the leash of a predator?

How much damage could she inflict?

The answer is too much. Enough that I should be reeling myself back and taking a break from her like I did just last week. But doing so had only made my need to see her worse. I’d watched her from afar like a forlorn stalker, hoping that she’d both see me and completely disregard me.

It’s a convoluted and confusing swirl of emotions that I have yet to sort out inside my own head, let alone try to vocalize.

“Raine…” I sigh. “I…”

The problem is that Iwantto be honest. Iwanther to know me, even if every instinct in me is screaming to shut up.

This is the kind of predicament that I never thought I’d find myself in. I’ve never had an interest in a female outside of the occasional tussling in the woods after a particularly good run, when I needed to blow offanotherkind of steam.

What can I do?

“What?” she asks, her eyes curious.

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