Page 63 of Chain Me Knot

He holds my gaze. Steady hazel reaches deep down inside me and stirs my soul in the best possible way. I lift my hand from the water. Droplets drip off my arm as I place my hand in his much larger one.

His thumb strokes across my knuckles, the touch gentle. Such a simple caress, but it sends shivers down my spine. His hands are strong—there is power in them—but his touch is light.

“I’d like to wash your arm, Butterfly. Would that be all right?” His rasp is sex and sin and everything I never knew possible.

Shouldn’t be possible.

Not for me.

Not when I thought every part of me was dead and I was a living husk of omega.

Turns out it was the wrong alphas.

“Okay.” I can no more tell him no, than stop all of those waves from crashing on the beach I slept on today.

His full lips turn up into something mesmerizing. He guides the washcloth up my arm in long, careful strokes. His other hand supports my elbow, keepingme steady, keeping me safe. The dual sensation, soft cloth and warm skin, steals another shiver from me even though I’m growing as hot as the bathwater.

Soren pays attention to each of my fingers with the type of consideration that could be described as nothing less than intense. The cloth traces between my fingers, across my palm, around my wrist in slow, deliberate circles. His touch is methodical and tender, and he turns a simple task into something that’s sacred.

His brow furrows. My whole focus is on the play of our hands. His hands are beautiful, strong and capable, yet so incredibly gentle. Everything about him speaks of contained power, carefully controlled strength. His military haircut contrasts with the softness in his eyes.

He's a puzzle of contradictions I want to solve.

Sandalwood and steam puff around me. I draw in the dual scented air, filling my lungs so that it infuses into my bloodstream. I can’t stop the throb between my legs because I want those hands on more parts of me than my arms.

They way they were last night. Stroking. Easing.

Need to focus on something else.

“Can I...” His gaze rises to mine and he waits. There’s no judgment there. Just quiet attention. I lick my lips because Ihave to know. “Can I ask about you? All of you?”

The smile he gives me should be illegal. Hells, it probably is in some states. My heart skips a beat the way it used to when I was a teen lusting over the latest pop star, yet this is so much more than that. This isn’t merely lust. Or anything contained to the physical. This is so much more.

Every part of my being sparks to life until I’m filled with a universe of stars.

This isvisceral.

Looks like open, boyish intensity is my kryptonite.

“You can ask anything you want.” He doesn’t stop touching me and…I don’t want him to. There’s something magnetic about the way he moves the cloth over the delicate skin of my inner arm. So softly. So carefully. Or maybe it’s the way he watches me while he does it. As though the world is just here and now, and we’re the only two people in it. “We have no secrets from you, Emma.”

The simple honesty in his voice, the open invitation to know them, makes something warm bloom in my chest because I want to know everything.

Want to understand these alphas who defy everything I thought I knew.

Want to learn what makes them different from all other alphas I've known as they awaken me back to life.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Emma

“How did you all meet?” I ask.

Soap bubbles foam through his long, elegant fingers I know can pack a powerful punch as he starts to clean my other hand.

Soren's smile softens. “I met Asher ten years ago at the academy. The moment we met, something just... clicked. It's hard to explain, but sometimes you just know when another alpha is meant to be pack. There's this recognition, a sense of completing each other's strengths.”

His hands continue swishing the cloth over my other shoulder, but his expression grows distant with memory. “With Asher, it was instant. Like finding a piece of myself I didn't know was missing. We balance each other.”He shakes his head slightly, searching for words. “It's like finding your other half. Not romantic love, but something just as deep. A brotherhood that goes beyond blood.”

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