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I glared at him, fighting the hormones driving me to give him whatever he wanted. “I told you to let me go.” The words were barely a whisper.

“You’re infertile.”

The stark reminder of the words that had been thrown at me as insults by too many alphas to count was enough to clear my head of heat-haze for a moment, and I tried to pull away.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Alexei asked.

“Wouldn’t want you to catch it from me.” That wasn’t a possibility, but it hadn’t stopped past partners from treating me like I had a disease.

“Whoever said that to you is a fucking idiot. Let me take care of you.”

“Oh, now you want to take care of me? How fucking selfless of you.” The heat was rising in me again. Every muscle in my body ached, and I was leaking almost as much pre-cum from my dick as I was slick from my hole.

“I never said it was selfless. The perfect omega just went into heat on my lap. Any chance you had to leave is long gone.”

I scoffed. “I’m not the perfect omega for anyone except the porn stars I worked with. Alphas in the real world want to carry on their bloodline. They want the perfect house-husband to spit out their heirs. Especially alphas like you.”

“I have heirs already—my sister’s kids. Her place at the head of our companies was ripped from her by our asshole grandparents when she presented as a beta, and I swore to her I’d make it right with the next generation. I won’t go back on my word. What I want, what I have always wanted, is an omega who will beg to be bred, but will never expect to bear children. Someone who will never grow to resent me for something I refuse to give. But more than that, someone who understands my businesses and can operate with confidence in them. Someone I can rely on to smooth things over when the darker side of my operations interferes. So, yes. You’re perfect.”

I blinked. And then blinked again. What alternate reality had I just fallen into? “You barely know me.”

“I already had your doctor’s number programmed into my phone. I know your grocery orders always include fresh blueberries and coffee ice cream. I know you bite your lip when you’re concentrating, and your index finger taps your thumb when you’re trying to hide that you’re anxious. I know the way your eyelashes flutter when you’re about to come.”

A thread of fear thrummed through my arousal. “You’ve been stalking me.”

“Did you expect me to ignore the raging chemistry between us?”

“The gap between ignoring chemistry and violating every aspect of my privacy is a chasm.”

Alexei’s grip on my hair finally loosened as he stroked his fingers down my face, petting my cheek before rubbing his thumb over my swollen scent gland. A gasp slipped between my lips, and I jerked away, snapping at the offending digit. A wicked smile stretched his lips as he let my teeth close on his skin.

“Good boy. Now, suck it into your mouth.” Alexei’s voice had dropped an octave, and predatory dominance stretched around his words in the same way my lips were stretching around the two fingers he’d just pressed between them.

Another moan slipped free as I worked my tongue around his fingers. Alexei swept me up sideways into his arms, his eyes trained on my mouth as the door opened beside us. I hadn’t even noticed the car was stopped.

Harsh light made me wince and hide my face in Alexei’s shirt as I clung to his neck while he manoeuvred us out of the car.

“What? Where are we?” I was slurring already. This heat was going to come on fast and intense.

Elevator doors closed behind us after I was carried a few striding steps.

“My penthouse.”

Alexei’s fingers returned to my mouth as I tried to respond, and I sucked them in despite myself.

“Hush, baby. I’m going to take care of you. Going to fuck you so good and so long that you never leave.”

My chest tightened, and a tear tried to slip free. No one had ever wanted me to stay before. No one had ever wanted me so deeply that they were obsessed. It was probably just heat talk, but even that fleeting mention was enough to slice through the last of my resistance. I’d always taken pleasure wherever it was to be found. Why should I deny myself when he was everything I’d never admitted I always needed? Gregory had been right. He was just my type. For once in my life, I was going to indulge in my heat instead of endure.

CHAPTER 7

ALEXEI

The last time an omega went into heat in my car, I’d dropped them at the nearest servicing clinic and not even looked back as my driver pulled away from the curb. I sure as fuck hadn’t brought them back to my penthouse. Even not in heat, I hadn’t brought any omega there. It was my sanctuary. I had a separate fuck pad two floors down for when the back room of a club wasn’t cutting it.

Ryder was losing control faster than I’d expected. Already, his heat-thick scent was blooming across my vast living area to lap up against the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. A whine escaped him as I let him slide down my body to stand on his own feet, and he blinked up at me with dilated pupils. So petite. So eminently able to be thrown around and held down however I chose. A shiver of need ran down my spine.

“Strip,” I ordered, my eyes dragging down his shirt to the telltale bulge of his cock straining to break free from his slacks.