Page 49 of X-Clan The Origin
Not facing him.
But away from him.
With my back to his chest and his arms around me, hugging me from behind. “Relax,” he whispered into my ear. “I’ll take care of you.”
“By knotting me?” I asked hopefully.
He ran his hands up my sides. “By showing you what real Alphas want.” His words were the same from before, but even more intimate now.
I shivered, liking the feel of his body against mine, his palms stroking along my skin, his breath against my ear.
“Omegas are rare,” he continued. “They’re meant to be cherished. Worshipped.Loved.Some say it’s because of their ability to procreate and the sensations of exquisite sex. But it’s about so much more than that, Riley.”
His lips brushed my pulse, his teeth skimming the tender skin.
“It’s about the soul bond. The connection. The rare link between an Alpha and his mate.” He drew his mouth back up to nibble my ear. “I’ve never searched for this relationship because I never felt deserving of it.”
I frowned. “Deserving?” I couldn’t imagine an Alpha moredeservingof a mate than Jonas. “Why don’t you feel deserving of an Omega?”
“Because of my genetics.” He shrugged, the movement causing his body to shift against mine. “My biological father raped my mother while in heat. He didn’t try to control his rutting instinct. And I strive to be his opposite. Control matters, Riley. Control is the mark of a powerful Alpha.”
“Your father wasn’t powerful,” I inferred.
“On the contrary, my sperm donor was very powerful. He just chose not to be a good Alpha.”
“And you choose to be a good Alpha… by not taking a mate?”
“No. I choose to be a good Alpha by protecting those who need me. And I choose to be alone because I prefer it.”
I understood that desire because I preferred to be alone, too. Just for very different reasons.
“The feeling that I don’t deserve a mate plays a part, or it did when I was younger,” he continued. “But it evolved into a sense of solitude that I enjoy.” He kissed my pulse again, his hands moving to my stomach and downward to my thighs. “However, you make me want more. I’ve craved you for months.”
“That’s why I’ve always been rude to you. However, it wasn’t because I could sense your desire.” I’d known he was interested, but that wasn’t what had driven my actions. “It was because you made me want something that has always scared me.”
My insides quaked as though to agree, my heat cycle making itself known once more.
I winced, my limbs locking from the onslaught of the shaking need destroying my core.
Jonas purred in response, his chest vibrating my back as he ran his hands up and down my sides again.
Never touching me sexually, just intimately.
Petting me.
Worshipping me, just as he’d said.
“Is it the thought of being claimed that scares you? Or the thought that being claimed will redefine who you are and take away your identity?” he asked softly.
“My identity,” I breathed, my stomach churning from another painful spasm. “I like my freedom.”
“I like freedom, too,” he told me. “I like being able to travel. Live where I want to live and how I want to live. It’s why I’ve not joined a pack. I think that makes us a bit similar.”
“Yes.” In a way, it did. “But you’ll always have choices as an Alpha. Omegas lose their sense of choice when they take a mate.”
“Only when they take one who doesn’t value the Omega’s free will.” He kissed my temple, his palm going to my belly again. “I like you for who you are, Riley. Even your bratty side appeals to me. I wouldn’t change anything about you.”
“My bratty side appeals to you?” I almost looked back at him, but another cramp had me shifting forward instead.
