Page 54 of Trust No Alpha
He’d brought his legs up onto the mattress, one stretched out, the other bent. My head bowed, my chin almost touching his shoulder as he reached out to pull me to him. His hand pushed under the pillow behind me.
I was shaking so hard and trying to keep my body slightly bowed so my erection wouldn’t bump his hip. But my cock knew what it wanted and it strained for touch. For him.
The Burn turned my vision to rose and obsidian. My mind became red glass and shattered.
I could hardly take a breath. Thorne’s clean Alpha scent flooded my senses, along with his calm exterior, and his relaxed energy. I wanted to cling to him. Thorne. The man of the house. The Alpha who could keep me safe, dangerous or not.
He would help me dream the world back to life. He would bring me up and out of myself to the exquisite beauty of time-honored life.
I was on the verge of bursting.
His fingers trailed down my arm, over my chest and stomach, then down down down…
…and set me free.
Chapter Nineteen
Thorne
Thorne saw Kris’s body arch and the muscles tense. Dim light played over the curves and lines and crevices of his body, moving as he moved, painting him in earth tones of tan, blond and highlights of pale pink. Such a perfect Alpha, but not. The air had a burnt-honey scent. The heat of Kris reached him all the way to the threshold of the door.
Kris’s eyes widened: fear, fight, and confusion lit them, but the will he had was unbroken. Thorne also saw pain in how he held himself, covered himself, pain that would be mostly internal. He had Varian Vandergale to thank for that, and all the Alphas of this fucked up world who thought they could treat Omegas like chattel.
Kris was ashamed of the situation, but mostly of himself. Thorne felt shame himself, but not because of his biology, but because of his lack of control. His blackouts during his own Burns were something he could not help, but shame still ruled him.
He understood Kris more than Kris might imagine.
His desire to help overtook him. He spoke to Kris in soft tones. He showed him the toys he himself used to drain the Burn from his body. Kris shoved the toys to the floor. The clatter startled them both.
Anger sang in Kris’s eyes along with the Burn. But the soft browns had also darkened with hollow need. The pupils dilated wide.
All of Kris’s body language, along with his confusion and the fact that this was his first time cemented Thorne’s decision to offer himself in assistance. His presence, his body, his comfort.
From the moment he’d found Kris in his shed and caught his unique and beautiful scent, he’d wanted him. But that could be denied, delayed and controlled. But it was now he realized he cared for him as well. The boy in the window. The half-Alpha half-Omega who had come into his life and begged to be hidden, to be safe.
His body surged at that need to protect. To care for. To love. He wanted to bond him. It had been coming on for days, more than attraction and desire, more than lust. Thorne wanted Kris by his side, in his arms, melded to every cell of his body. All the time.
It had only been one week but he knew. His body knew. His dreams knew.
But he would not push himself onto Kris. He would help Kris. It would fill him with joy he’d not known in a long time. But he would keep that joy to himself. Kris had enough to deal with at this time.
His first touch to Kris’s shoulder got the response he had hoped for but not expected. Kris moved up into his touch, and the silken heat of his skin flared up into Thorne’s fingertips and palm, coursing through him.
Beneath his robe, Thorne’s cock came fully erect. The air sizzled. Beyond the curtains, fog from the heat of the room would no doubt be gathering on the windows.
Thorne leaned his hip against the side of the mattress and slid himself onto the bed, bending his knees and rolling up alongside Kris’s fevered body.
Kris gave a short gasp and turned his glimmering body on the sheets, pressing his shoulder into Thorne’s chest. His knee grazed Thorne’s thigh and the hardness of his cock poked his hip through the soft cloth of the robe.
Thorne snaked his hand underneath the pillow beyond his head and embraced Kris, keeping his touch loose and light. But Kris responded by pressing harder.
Thorne knew the Burn responded to another’s touch even if the person in the Burn was not fully mated to the one he touched. He’d felt it himself. It was why Alphas were able to so easily use Omegas and discard them afterward. In the Burn they couldn’t resist them. Afterward, it was easy to turn away from a stranger if you had developed no feelings for them. Relationships had little to do with the Burn. Compatibility was key.
But Thorne was now no stranger to Kris and Kris moaned at the intimate contact.
Thorne took dominance. It was his nature, but also Kris was incapable at the moment. Moving into the sweet energy of Kris so near to him, so trusting, he ran his palm down his arm, over his chest and stomach, then further into primal heat.
Kris’s head was bowed, his ear near Thorne’s lips as Thorne whispered, “Your need is immediate. Let me help.”
