Page 74 of Alpha's Embrace
When we pulled back, Misha was glowing, his smile huge. He lifted his fork and began again to eat, but his eyes never left mine.
We finished eating and took our plates to the sink. I rinsed them while he marveled at the dishwasher, a thing he’d never seen before, along with most appliances in the kitchen.
After the kitchen was clean, we looked at each other and said in unison, “Back to bed.”
He hopped forward and practically ran to the bedroom. I entered just in time to see him throw himself onto the mattress with its wrinkled covers, and bounce once on his side.
I wasted no time following him, throwing off my robe and straddling him with my hands and knees. Soon I was undoing the clasp of his pants and tugging them away to reveal his body to me once again.
I couldn’t get enough.
*
I stood by the plate glass windows leading to the small, fenced yard and pressed my forehead against the glass.
Morning had come and true to my very rigid cycle, the Burn was coming upon me. It didn’t care that I’d had enough sex yesterday to wear myself out. A fever crashed into my brain and mind, coursing through my body like waves of a hot sea.
Misha walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder.
Even though I knew he was there, it startled me, and I turned abruptly.
“I can feel you,” he said. “In here.” He tapped the side of his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why? It’s just the Burn. I feel it all the time. It’s wonderful.”
“I know, it’s just I feel—guilty.”
For a moment, Misha looked stricken. “Are you upset? I hope not. My burden should never have been yours and now it is.”
Both my hands rose and I framed his face with them, stroking his cheeks. “You have never been a burden. I’m the bad guy here.”
“What?” He let out a short laugh.
“I took you. I’ve bound you to me now. I broke protocols, rules and laws all set into place for a reason. I’m an Alpha and I’m supposed to protect those around me. Those protocols and laws are to protect you. I failed.”
He let out a huff of air. “You havenot.”
“I’ve brought you from one captivity to another. Taken you to a place of further dependency and few rights even with your new identity as an Omega. What kind of a life have I led you to? How could I have been so selfish?”
My mind went manic sometimes in the Burn. But I’d been that way all week, so I couldn’t tell if the Burn made it worse or if I was simply having a fit of conscience.
“Why do you think these things?” Misha asked. “I’m away from the castle that kept me trapped under its curse for twenty years. You risked your life for me. You lost your career for me. You gave me your entire being. I’ve never imagined a greater gift could be given to me. For the first time in my life I’m not alone. For the first time I feel whole.” He gripped my forearms hard. “If I could have that for only one day, it would be worth everything. Except your own safety and happiness. For that,I’msorry.I’mthe bad guy.”
“No,” I started to argue.
“I’m the one who has wrongedyou,” he continued. “I seduced you to me and you’ve lost everything. For what? For me? I’m nothing. I know I’m not a real prince. I only told myself these things to comfort away my fears and despair. What you have done for me, risked everything, is too much. I’m not a victim here. I’ve destroyed my king.”
Tears rolled down his face and I wiped them away with my thumbs. “No, no,” I began.
“And I can never give you children,” he added in a small, forlorn voice.
“Hey,” I said. The Burn flared, but gently, as if to encompass us both. “Listen to me. If we ever want them, we can use a surrogate.”
Misha inhaled sharply. “I never thought about having children. Not ever, until now. But—but I wouldn’t ever want to see you with someone else. I can’t stand the thought.”
“Neither can I,” I replied. “It can be done in a lab. We don’t even have to meet the birth-father. We never have to see or know him. It can be done.”
