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His guilt and regret feel so familiar, it would almost be wrong not to sense them. But everything else?
That whisper of hope. Then, gratitude—the same soul-deep kind he showed me in the shadows after I told his packmate I would be their omega.
Uncertainty—he doesn’t know if he’s doing the right thing, being here with me, but he wants to try.
Because, above and below everything else, there’s longing.
So much—so deep, so raw—it instantly pricks my eyes all over again.
He wants me; more than he wants to breathe. His body aches with it. His heart hurts. His lungs can barely expand enough to keep him going.
The night he bit me, he left a piece of his soul embedded in mine. And now there’s a throbbing hole where I should be.
Only I’m not there. Because he refused to ever press any advantage. Refused to take one more speck of freedom from me.
And there’s the guilt again. The shame of not deserving me, or this. The deep, unshakable sense that he never can because he ruined us right from the start and?—
I shove to my feet. Take three steps.
And settle into his lap.
He blinks his surprise, his sculpted lips falling open slightly when I cup my hands around his face and stare into him as fiercely as I can.
“Enough.”
In all my years at Wally’s, I could never summon an omega bark. No matter how scared or desperate I got. But it comes naturally now. “Enough, Tristan.”
And my alpha shudders, absorbing my words. The chagrin in his gut starts to wither as I hold his square jaw between my palms and stare into him. Showing him how strong his pack has made me.
“Do I look broken to you?” I whisper.
A devastating pang of want zings through him, turning his voice into a rasp. “No.”
“That’s because I’m not. You didn’t break me, Tristan Thorne. Nothing has.”
The truth of that soaks into my bones as it slowly sinks into his. Soothing him. And giving me a feeling I’ve never felt before.
I’m… proud. Of myself.
Instead of stuffing it down or picking it apart, I let the sensation swell through me. Wanting him to feel it. Wanting him to see.
“I’m proud of you, too,” he murmurs, leaning his forehead into mine. “You have no idea how much.”
I do a moment later, when joyful, awed feeling sparkles into me, bubbling through my veins like champagne. His hands chase the feeling, trailing down my arms and back up again, sliding into my hair.
His eyes bounce between mine, giving me time to pull away. I start to roll my eyes at him, but he strikes, sealing his mouth over mine.
Unlike our brief kiss in the car, this time, he’s in complete control. Tilting my head just so, smoothing his tongue over mine in a toe-curling glide that leaves my lips tingling.
Dizzy shivers rush down my spine, dampening my panties as his suit jacket teases the hardened points of my nipples through the thin fabric of my dress. He can’t scent me, but he feels my arousal spike through our bond and hums, settling me closer.
Right where I want to stay.
chapter
fifty-six
There’s some funky energy in the locker room tonight.
