Page 52 of Captive Mate
He was getting at something, but I didn’t quite follow. “And I’m blushing, but what’s your point?”
Matthew shifted his hips, getting a little more comfortable on the ground, and the pull of his knot made me bite my lip and dig my fingers into his shoulders. Gods, but that was huge. I’d never had a knot in me that I really, really wanted, and other feelings had always dwarfed that sensation at the time. Now that I was focusing on it — well, I’d like to focus on it again. Maybe tomorrow, but also that night. Or in the afternoon, I wasn’t picky.
“My point is that I don’t need to have my arms free, or hold you down and mount you.” The hand on my neck tightened, his fingers pressing lightly against my jugular. “You want me. You spread your legs for me,” he said softly. “I’m inside you.You.” He rolled his hips, making me moan, and gave me a gentle shake. “I think that makes me the alpha-est alpha ever.”
I stared over his arm and shoulder at the greenery, not really seeing it, as that processed through my brain.
Once it did, that little snapping in my chest from before turned into a full-on crack. I’d had alphas use me to prove how powerful they were before — by conquering me, or trying to. Taming me. Owning me.
Matthew felt powerful because I’d found him worthy of having me as a gift that I gave, not as something that he took. Or rather, he’d taken me, and I’d loved it, but he’d taken what I freely offered.
And that was everything.
I snuggled down into his chest and squeezed his knot again, smiling when he gasped in surprise and gripped me closer. “Once your knot goes down, I want that bacon and eggs.”
“Yeah,” he breathed against my hair. “Anything you want.”
We stayed like that for a long time, long enough that my legs started to fall asleep. The trees watched over us, and the soft breeze caressed us. I was safe.
Chapter 18
Well, This Is Awkward
Of course, getting bacon and eggs wasn’t as easy as it sounded in theory. Matthew’s knot went down at last, and I wriggled around a little until his cock slipped out of me.
And then we were left with the quiet, sticky aftermath, separating our melded bodies and going back to being two entities who needed to find our clothes and had aches in odd places and couldn’t quite meet each other’s eyes. My shirt was still intact, albeit dusted with dirt and tree detritus, and my jeans were fine. Nate’s magical socks didn’t have a speck of dirt on them, and even as distracted as I was I took a moment to be impressed. I needed another shower so badly, but at least my socks were pristine.
But Matthew’s shirt was in little scraps all over the ground, only the seams still mostly holding together with a few sad threads in between. It looked like it’d gone ten rounds with whatever alien Captain Kirk had been fighting that week.
So when we stepped out onto the path again, my hair a hopeless rat’s nest and my lips swollen, the marks of Matthew’s mouth still throbbing and visible on my neck, and Matthew shirtless — there were Ian and Nate, just coming around a bend in the path a few feet away.
Of course.
Nate was carrying a mug clutched in a death-grip in one hand, and the cup tilted, spilling coffee all over his knuckles as his mouth dropped open into an exaggerated O. Ian looked like someone had smacked him across the face.
Apparently whoever had been outside Matthew’s door the night of my escape had kept his mouth shut about me and Matthew’s little goodbye.
“We’re going to the pack house to get some breakfast,” Matthew said, not smoothly at all. “Um. What about you?”
He wasn’t distancing himself from me, but he wasn’t exactly putting an arm around me and pulling me close, either. It shouldn’t have hurt, but it really, really did.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” Ian said, sounding like he was pleading with the gods to make it so. “This isn’t what it looks like. Right?” His gaze shifted to me, and his eyes were alight with anger. “He’s under a love spell, you — you — Itrustedyou!”
“I already fucking told you, there’s no spell anymore!” I said, fury and frustration welling up, right as Matthew said, “The spell’s gone, Ian. I’m not under any kind of compulsion.”
“You took it off this morning?” Nate put in. “Really? You didn’t need any special preparation or anything?”
And okay, so his professional interest was moderately less infuriating than Ian’s assumptions, but seriously? I’d told him there wasn’t a spell. I’d toldallof them there wasn’t a spell. And after I’d saved Nate’s life, I’d have thought I’d earned a little bit of trust.
“The spell was already gone,” I said through gritted teeth. “Gone. Kaput. Over. Days ago. Like Ialready told you.”
Nate’s mouth dropped open again, and he glanced back and forth between me and Matthew, his eyes widening. “Oh — ohshit. Really?” He let out a burst of laughter that shook him enough for coffee to spill down his arm again. “Fuck, ow. But really, you were telling the truth?”
What the fuck was so funny? “Yes, I was telling the truth. Gods. I’m not actually a liar unless I have a good reason for it.”
Nate was chuckling again, shaking his head, his eyes bright. “Okay. I believe you. That just explains so m— I mean, I believe you. Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “So, breakfast?” he said hopefully. “And more coffee? Since I spilled half my cup.”
“It’s your third cup,” Ian grumbled. “You’re going to be buzzing like a hummingbird.”
