Page 41 of Knot Your Romeo

I don’t trust myself to speak again, just nod and walk to the living room wall. When there, I press her back against it, and she reaches for my dick with hungry hands.

“Like this,” she breathes, guiding me back inside her. This position is different, more intense. I brace my hands on either side of her head, using the wall for leverage as I move within her.

“Yes,” she moans, her head falling back against the wall. “Just like that. Don’t stop.”

Our passion nears its peak, and my knot swells. Jolie’s hands frame my face. “Knot me,” she purrs. “Please, Eli. I need you to knot me. Take me to your bed and knot me properly.”

The request stops me cold. My knot, half-formed, recedes as the implications hit me. “Jolie, I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” she insists, her eyes bright with need and something deeper. “I want you to. I want to be yours completely.”

“You don’t understand,” I say, pulling back slightly.

“You don’t want to knot me? Oh… You don’t want me in your bed,” she whispers, her voice full of hurt. “Is that it, Eli?”

My heart shatters at the sadness in her voice, at the trust she’s offered me so freely. “I’m sorry, I can’t give you that,” I say quietly, pulling out of her, lowering her feet to the floor and stepping back completely. “I’m not ready for that...”

The change in her expression is immediate and devastating, as her trust in me transforms into betrayal. She crosses her arms over her chest, suddenly aware of her nakedness in a way she wasn’t moments before. “I see,” she says, her voice carefully controlled. “So this was just...what? A casual fuck?”

“No,” I say desperately, reaching for my discarded shirt to cover her. “It’s not like that. You mean everything to me, but—“

“But not enough to take me to your bed and knot me. It’s just a knot. I’m not asking for you to bite me,” she finishes, hurtbleeding through her carefully maintained composure. “I’m not asking you to risk your precious independence.”

I run my hands through my hair, hating myself for the pain I’m causing her. “Jolie, please try to understand. I’ve been hurt before. Badly. I can’t...I’m not ready to risk that kind of vulnerability again.”

She stares at me for a long moment, and I can see her processing my words, understanding dawning in her amber eyes. “You’re not ready for an Omega.”

The simple statement hits like a slap to my face. “That’s not—“

“It is,” she says quietly, bending to gather her scattered clothes. “You’re not ready for an Omega, Eli. Maybe you never will be.”

I watch helplessly as she dresses with shaking hands, each piece of clothing another barrier between us. “Jolie, please don’t leave like this. Let me explain—“

“What is there to explain?” She pulls her hoodie over her head, hiding the beautiful body I was worshipping moments ago. “You made your position clear. This was fun, but it’s not serious. I understand.”

“That’s not what I said.”

“It’s what you meant.” She moves toward the door, and panic claws at my chest. “Thank you for the lovely afternoon, Eli. I hope it was everything you needed.”

The formal politeness in her voice is worse than any screaming would have been. She’s already pulling back, already protecting herself from further hurt.

“Jolie, wait—“ I growl, trying to use my stern voice to get her to stay.

But she doesn’t even flinch. She’s gone, the door closing behind her with a soft click that sounds like the end of everything.

I sink onto the sofa, my head in my hands, replaying every moment of the past hour. The look of hope in her eyes when she asked me to knot her. The trust she offered so freely. The devastating hurt when I refused.

You’re an idiot.I actually feel it’s my Alpha snarling at me from inside.She offered you everything, and you threw it away.

Jolie Masters. A beautiful, brave Omega chose me over biology and I denied her what her body needed because I was too much of a coward to risk being hurt again. Kate had left me for her scent match, but she’d never offered me a true claim. Never looked at me the way Jolie had, like I was her entire world. And I’d thrown it away because I’m too damaged to recognize the gift I was being given.

The cottage feels empty without her presence, hollow and cold despite the lingering traces of her scent.

I’d had paradise in my hands, and I’d let it slip away because I was too afraid to trust again. She won’t forgive this, I realize with growing horror. She’ll find someone else, someone brave enough to give her what she deserves.

The thought of another Alpha’s hands on her skin, another man claiming what I’d been too cowardly to accept, makes my chest burn with regret and possessive fury. But it’s too late now. I’ve shown Jolie exactly who I am—a broken Alpha too scared of his own shadows to claim the woman who had taken a piece of his heart when she walked out of the door.

Trouble is, I never realized that until now.

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