Page 19

The clothes did make me wary, though, and I paused at his walk-in wardrobe before leaving the bedroom. Sure enough, there was a whole section of clothes there that were definitely too small for the hulking brute currently making me pancakes. When had he managed to outfit an entire wardrobe for me without me noticing?

Thanks to the shower, I was only walking a little gingerly as I stalked into the living area to confront him about it, which is just as well because I was brought up short by two adorable little faces looking up at me and a burst of feminine laughter from the kitchen. For a second, raging jealousy rocked through me as I took in the familiar ice-blue eyes in the children’s faces before I realised these must be Alexei’s sister’s children.

Terror replaced anger as I eyed the route to the exit. Children were not my thing. Where the fuck were my shoes? Could I get a rideshare home in my socks?

“Are you our new uncle?” the boy asked.

“Mummy said you’re Uncle Lexi’s first ever sleepover. I’ve had a sleepover,” the girl added, looking thoughtful.

Mummy was clearly an interfering bitch, which was confirmed a second later when a slender woman just as tall as Alexei stepped into the living area and flashed me a too-familiar smirk.

“You must be Ryder.”

“I must be leaving.”

Side-stepping the curious children, I made a beeline for the elevator, but Alexei caught me before I’d made it more than halfway across the room, wrapping his arms around my waist from behind and nuzzling behind my ear.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Home.”

“You swore you wouldn’t run.”

I… what? Flashes of my heat played in my mind, and I vaguely remembered what he was talking about, but he didn’t seriously expect to hold me to that, did he?

“Omegas cannot legally enter binding arrangements while in heat.”

“I don’t give a shit, and you’re not the type to go back on your word.”

I groaned, letting my head fall back onto his shoulder. “I’m not holding you to anything you said last night, and you shouldn’t be holding me to it either.”

Alexei growled against my shoulder, biting down hard over my scent gland through the cotton of the shirt he’d dressed me in. “I meant every fucking word I said last night. You’re mine.”

“This will go easier for you if you just accept it,” his sister chimed in. “Lexi doesn’t make idle promises. You’ll feel better with some food in your stomach. Come eat.”

“Did you put chocolate chips in, Uncle Lexi?” the boy asked.

Alexei chuckled against my neck, arms like steel bands wrapped around me. “Of course! What kind of mate would I be if I didn’t put chocolate chips in for my omega?”

What. The. Fuck?

“You can’t just say that to children,” I hissed. “They don’t understand you’re not serious.”

Alexei growled against my neck again. “Sascha, can you take the children to the kitchen, please?”

His sister smirked again, gathering the cheerful kids and shepherding them out of the room and out of hearing. Alexei waited until a door snicked shut behind them before slamming me up against the nearest wall and hoisting me up into his arms as he sucked a huge bruise into my neck. A whine left me as his hand slipped down the back of my pants and three thick, demanding digits pressed inside my still-aching hole.

“If you don’t stop denying my claim on you, I’m going to have to do something about it, and you’re not ready for that. So, choose now. You can keep making out like this is temporary and you’re going to leave, and I’ll bite you right fucking now with a claiming mark to prove you wrong, or you can behave.”

“Fuck. Don’t make me come when your family is right next door,” I moaned, rocking down onto his fingers.

“Then tell me what I want to hear.”

“Fine. I’ll behave.”

He raised an eyebrow at me, his fingers twisting to press cruelly against my prostate in a move that had me muffling a cry against his chest.

“Alexei!”