Page 100 of The Flame King's Captive

“There’s something you’re not telling me. Why am I doing this? I was suddenly overcome with the urge to hide in a hayloft, and now I’m obsessing over blankets. This isn’t normal.”

Zabriel steps forward and cups my chin in his large hand. For once, my skin is hotter than his. He always burns so hot, but now it’s like there’s a fire inside me. “Your cheeks are pink, Omega. Your eyes are dilated. There’s sweat on your brow. You look so beautiful.”

“Zabriel, please answer my question,” I whimper. I want to tear myself away from his touch, but I’m so deliriously happy he called me Omega that I’m chanting nonsense inside my head.

Zabriel’s hand drifts down my throat until he gently squeezes either side, and I moan in pleasure.

“Mm. Good girl.” The man looming over me looks as flushed as I feel. “This is your false heat, Omega. Your scent is drenching the castle. It’s fucking wonderful. My heart soared when I smelled how sweet your scent’s become.”

His thumb passes over my sensitized lips, and I take a shuddering gasp. “Why am I under all these blankets?”

Zabriel leans down and his lips ghost over mine. “Because you’re nesting. You crave to build a cozy, safe place for Alpha to fuck you in. Knot you in. Breed you in. For days and days, until we’re both covered in your slick and my cum. This nest keeps you safe from the outside world, and so will I.” He kisses me hungrily, with teeth and tongue.

I suck in a breath at his crude, heavenly words.

“But that’s months and months away,” he continues. “This is just a prelude. Would you like me to come into your nest? You can have my kisses. You can have my tongue. Wherever you’re aching, let me lick it better. Seeing you like this is driving me insane, and your slick smellsdelicious.” There’s a hungry growl on that last word and it emanates deep within his chest.

I see the dragon in his eyes, blazing red.

“Is this…sexy to you?” I ask, gazing around at all the blankets.

“It’s so fucking sexy I could make a mess in my breeches just looking at you, Omega,” he breathes.

Oh, my stars. So this nesting thing is the Omega equivalent of wearing a low-cut bodice or parading around in just my shift, and I’m doing it right in front of Zabriel? A vision of the High Priest rises in my mind.

Whores who invite the eyes of men are a taint upon this land.

Rip her dress open. I want to see the cuts all over her back.

More. She should remember this forever. How else will she learn?

I make a strangled noise in the back of my throat and start to push the blankets off the bed.

“Isavelle, what are you doing?”

“I’m not nesting. I was confused. Thank you for taking care of me, but you can go.”

“Wait, please, it’s not just a sex thing, you really do just need to be coz—”

I pull one blanket over myself, wrench the bed curtains closed so that Zabriel can’t see me, and shove my head under a pillow. This isn’t my false heat. I’m not ready.

I’m not ready.

I’m notready.

Immediately I start to shiver, and I clench my teeth together so they don’t chatter.

“Isavelle,” Zabriel says pleadingly. “False heats are exhausting for an Omega. Your body knows what you need, and fighting those instincts will only make you feel worse.”

My instincts tell me I want Alpha in my nest to do all those dangerous, delicious things he promised. I want his big, strong hands to rub everywhere that aches. If I’m so, so good maybe he’ll use his tongue to…maybe he’ll…

My Omega wails in frustration because she wants this so much.

“Isavelle, please let me help you,” Zabriel says. His voice is muffled like he has his face pressed against the curtains. “It hurts so much hearing you in distress.”

He must have heard me wail. I didn’t know I did that out loud.

“It’s not a false heat. I’m not mad at you. You’re so sweet to me, and I don’t deserve it.” I know I’m babbling and he doesn’t believe me, but I don’t know what else to do.

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