Page 86 of Claimed By My Exiled Alphas
“I can feel you too.” I ran my fingers through her sweat-damp hair, marveling at the texture, at the fact that I could touch her like this now. That she was mine to touch and hold and care for. “Your relief. How scared you were before we arrived. How safe you feel now. How much you trust me not to hurt you.”
Through the bond, I could also feel Jace. Not directly, but through Talia, like an echo. His satisfaction at her being cared for. His contentment at the pack forming. His pleasure in knowing she was bonded and safe.
We lay there while my knot gradually softened, adjusting to this new reality of being bonded. Through the connection I could feel her heat starting to build again, her body already preparing for the next wave. For Cassian. The final piece of our pack.
“You were perfect,” Talia said softly when my knot had released enough that we could shift positions. She traced patterns on my chest, fingers following the lines of muscle and bone. “So gentle and patient and exactly what I needed.”
“You were the perfect one.” I kissed her forehead, her nose, her lips. Tasting her, learning her, memorizing her. “Trusting me with this. With you. Letting me be part of your pack.”
Her heat was building more insistently now, I could feel it through the bond and smell it in her shifting scent. The cycle would continue for days, waves of need that required all of us to satisfy. But we had time. And we had each other.
“Cassian,” she said quietly, voicing what I’d already sensed through the bond. “I’m ready for Cassian now. If he’s ready for me.”
“He’s been ready since the moment he saw you,” I assured her, helping her sit up carefully. My body protested at the separation, alpha instinct wanting to keep her close and protected. But I tamped it down. “He’s just been waiting for his turn. For you to need him.”
I grabbed one of the warm washcloths Cassian had prepared earlier and helped her clean up gently, careful with sensitized skin. She accepted my care with quiet trust, letting me tend to her needs before her heat demanded more.
“Let me call him in,” I said, pulling on my jeans. I didn’t bother with my shirt, couldn’t quite bear to cover skin that still carried her scent. “Let me tell him you’re ready.”
I leaned down for one more kiss, pouring everything I felt through the bond. Gratitude and wonder and deep, abiding love. Then I stood and headed for the door.
“Cassian,” I called out to the living room. “She’s ready for you.”
Chapter 24
Cassian
When Hollis called me in, I took a moment to center myself before standing. This was it. The final bond that would complete our pack. The moment I’d been both longing for and dreading because what if I wasn’t good enough? What if my lack of experience with healthy relationships meant I failed her when she needed me most?
I’d spent my entire life planning, analyzing, strategizing. Every decision calculated for optimal outcome. Every relationship transactional. Every interaction managed with rigid self-control that kept emotions at bay where they couldn’t be used against me.
But Talia gave me the chance to stop being so controlled. To feel with her instead of just thinking. And that terrified me more than anything else we’d faced.
Still, I’d made lists. I’d prepared. I’d coordinated with Jace and Hollis until we functioned as a seamless unit. And more importantly, I’d learned over these past months to trust thatTalia wanted me despite my flaws, not because I’d somehow convinced her to overlook them.
I stood and walked to the bedroom, pausing in the doorway to take in the sight before me.
Talia lay in her nest, skin flushed pink with heat, a fine sheen of sweat making her glow in the dim light. Two fresh bite marks adorned her neck, one on each side, already beginning to heal but unmistakably present. Claimed by Jace and Hollis, but not yet by me. Her scent called to me with physical force, vanilla and honey mixed with arousal and slick and the musk of two other alphas who’d already bonded her.
Mine. She needed to be mine too.
The alpha instinct was overwhelming, demanding I claim her immediately, mark her as mine before anyone else could. But I breathed through it, used every technique I’d learned over thirty-five years of rigid self-control to stay centered.
“Hey,” I said, settling in the chair I’d pulled close to the nest earlier. Not crowding her, not rushing, even though every instinct screamed at me to climb into that nest and take what was mine.
“Hey.” She reached out her hand, and I took it, marveling at how small and delicate her fingers felt wrapped in mine. Through her skin I could feel her pulse racing, could sense her heat building. “Thank you for waiting. For being patient while I was with the others.”
“I’d wait forever if that’s what you needed.” I brought her hand to my lips, kissing her knuckles with deliberate gentleness. Testing my control, proving to myself I could be careful with her. “How are you feeling?”
“Good. Really good.” She smiled, and the expression transformed her face from beautiful to radiant. “Jace and Hollis were amazing. But I need you too, Cassian. I need all three of you to feel complete.”
The words settled something deep in my chest, filling a hollow space I’d carried for so long I’d stopped noticing the ache. She needed me. Not my resources or my help with the bistro or my strategic planning. Me. Just me, exactly as I was.
“Tell me what you want,” I said, thumb stroking over her palm in slow circles. “We can do this however you need. Whatever would make you feel safest, most cared for.”
She pulled at my hand, tugging me toward the nest. “I want you close. I want to feel you.”
I kicked off my shoes and climbed into the nest, settling beside her but not yet touching beyond our joined hands. Hollis had left the room to give us privacy, and it was just the two of us now.
