Page 52 of Firedrake Betrayal
I didn’t hear him move.
He’s big, and I should have heard him, but I didn’t hear a thing.
I only know it when he wraps big, strong arms around me from behind. His breath is warm on my bare shoulder, and his squeeze is gentle as he draws my body back to his.
My eyes slide shut as the heat of his body warms my cooler one.
“I didn’t always know how to lead. I thought I did, but I had no clue,” he speaks directly into my ear, and strokes his right hand down over my flat belly. “Lucky for me, my dad was a patient teacher. There’s a way to convincing someone to follow you—to trust you—that is more than just orders and growling. Some things will come with instinct, others in time.”
“You said being an alpha was in your DNA. That you were born to do it,” I whisper, trying not to react to the warmth of his skin on mine or the way his potent masculine scent wraps around me.
“Before my first shift, I was just a boy running around and getting into fights.” He’s smiling as he presses a hot kiss on my throat. “You have nine months to prepare to be a mother. It won’t always be so terrifying. And you have me. When Patten and Isaiah aren’t busy arguing, you have them, too.”
“It doesn’t bother you that I’m pregnant.” I crush his words into my chest, holding them there for the next time my fear overwhelms me. I don’t know what I’m doing or how to live outside of an apartment that Dad warned me it was too dangerous to leave, and I’m terrified that I never will.
His lips brush the shell of my ear. “Dominik hurting you—anyonehurting you—bothers me. You being pregnant does not.”
The tips of his fingers go on a slow meander up and down my lower belly.
Before, his touch comforted. Now, it makes me burn.
“Shep?” My head tips back of its own volition as I grip the edge of the counter, needing something solid to keep myself upright.
He nuzzles my throat, dragging in a deep rumbling breath as he cups my hip and he holds me tucked flush against him. “Hmm?”
“You keep sniffing me.”
He inhales again and groans. “You smell good.”
“You said I smelled different.”
He nips my throat. “Different does not always mean bad.” He smiles against my neck. “Patten was right. I need to be more careful with my words.”
“What did he say?” I breathe.
“Anything less than perfect smells causes problems. He was right.” His fingers pluck my nipple, and I gasp as I tighten my hold on the counter. Only his arms are keeping me upright at this point.
“I like how you smelled earlier.” His lips trail fire up my throat to just below my ear, and I angle my head to the right so he can reach even more.
“When?” A slow burn starts between my thighs, making me restless. I rise to my tiptoes and rub myself on him.
“When you were watching Isaiah feed on Patten, I could smell you.” His hand clamps on my hip. “Don’t move like that. I’m barely holding myself together as it is.”
“And how did I smell?” As if I don’t know.
“Soft and warm and biteable. Aroused.” He grips my chin and angles my face up to him as his lips find mine. Despite the heat of his touch, his kiss is soft, and I sink into it.
Something thumps on the floor above.
I break the kiss, pulling away as I smooth down the front of my shirt with shaking hands. “I should go back up to bed.”
Someone is awake, maybe preparing to come down here. If I don’t end things right now, they are liable to find Shep doing things to me in the kitchen better suited to a bed.
But I don’t go anywhere.
“Jade?”
“Hmm?” I reach for my glass to fill it with more water I don’t want.
