Kain
"Not you."
I said it again, softer this time, my fingers still lingering against her wrist. Even this smallest contact felt like a drug—one taste, and I already knew I couldn't stop.
I didn't want to stop.
But after what felt like a lifetime, she pulled away. A sharp, unwelcome emptiness settled in its place
She stared up at me, her chest rising and falling too fast, disbelief and confusion flickering across her face.
Then slowly her hands lifted, fingers apart, uncertain. I mirrored her without thinking, my fingertips brushing against hers—just a whisper of a touch at first, but it was enough to set something off inside me. A slow-burning need that ignited like wildfire. The tentative touch became something more. Something inevitable.
We laced our fingers together.
She stepped closer. I stepped closer.
Until we were breathing the same air.
The heat rolling off her body was unbearable, a mirror to the fire coursing through my own. Every nerve, every muscle in me tensed with restraint, the raw instinct to grab her, to take her was fighting with the last thread of control I had left.
Up close, I could finally take her in. She was stunning— dark makeup framing those impossibly purple, hypnotic eyes, her lips soft and parted, her breath uneven. Her red lingerie barely did a thing to hide the smooth curves of her body, and it drove me insane.
When did omegas start having eyes like that?
They burned into mine, drawing me in, daring me to take her, to claim her, to touch every inch of her bare skin that her flimsy red lingerie failed so miserably to hide.
Then she finally spoke, her voice breathless, raw, filled with need."You feel that too, right?"
That was all it took—her voice, her scent, drowning out every other thought.
I crashed my lips against hers, swallowing the small, needy moan she let out as she sank into me.
Fuck, her lips were so soft. So Perfect.
My hands trembled as they found her waist, gripping, learning her body as she grabbed at my shirt, pulling, twisting, desperate for me to be closer. She let out another moan when I kissed my way down her neck, licking, teasing, breathing in her scent until I was dizzy with it.
I finally felt the euphoria.
She was a drug and I was already addicted.
I palmed her breast through the lace, feeling her nipple harden instantly under my touch. Her breath hitched, and when I rolled it between my fingers, she gasped, back arching into me.
Her reaction nearly broke me.
I needed to feel her.
I shoved my hands beneath the delicate fabric, cupping her bare breasts, rubbing slow, torturous circles over her sensitive skin. She trembled, shaking, her hips grinding forward, desperate for friction.
"Fuck," I groaned, my head buried in her neck, drunk on her scent.
This was it. The feeling they all spoke of.
Pure. Ecstasy.
Her whimpers turned into small, pleading cries as I teased her, touching but not giving. She was trying to grind against nothing, and the frustration in her movements nearly made me lose control.
I led her back, both of us still tangled in each other, until her legs hit the couch. She straddled me, pressing down, rubbing her thinly-clad core against my painfully hard cock.
Fuck.
A guttural sound tore from my throat as I gripped her hips, forcing her to feel just how much I needed her.
"Already soaked for me," I muttered, pressing against the wet lace between her thighs.
Her sharp gasp sent shivers down my spine.
She moaned, rolling her hips, chasing relief, but I wasn't done teasing. I rubbed slow, firm circles over her clit, making her pant, making her body beg for more.
"Please" she whimpered, fingers sinking into my hair, pulling me down to her chest as she grinded on my fingers, the scent of her arousal was making me fucking insane.
"Nova," she gasped.
I froze.
She lifted her head, lips swollen, eyes glazed over. "I—I'm Nova."
Nova.
My Nova.
I groaned, nipping at her earlobe, my hand slipping past her panties, finally touching her where she needed me most.
"You're ethereal Nova" I murmured, my fingers stroking her wet pussy, loving the way she shuddered at my touch. "You're so fucking beautiful."
She threw her head back, a sharp, breathless moan escaping her lips as I pushed two fingers inside her, her walls gripping my fingers so fucking tight I nearly lost my mind.
"I love your eyes," I whispered, pumping slow, watching her fall apart on my fingers.
She moaned, grinding down harder, and I groaned at the friction, at how fucking desperate she was for me.
"I love your hair," I continued, voice thick with hunger. "I love—"
Then suddenly—
She stopped.
Everything.
The moans. The grinding. The desperate, hungry movements.
Gone.
Like a switch had flipped.
"Nova?" My voice was hoarse, confused.
She blinked at me, something shattered in her expression. Then, before I could stop her, she was moving away.
I watched in stunned silence as she grabbed her top from the floor, hastily covering herself.
What the fuck just happened?
Panic clawed at my chest.
"Did I say something?" My voice was pleading, desperate. "Nova, if I—if I offended you, I—"
"It's fine." She forced a smile, but it was tight, wrong. "It's nothing, really."
Then why did she look like she was about to break?
I stared at her, horror sinking into my bones as she turned her back to me, subtly pulling her lingerie higher, as if trying to cover more of herself.
I needed to say something. Anything.
"I'm Kain," I blurted out, grasping for something, anything that would ground us again.
She let out a quiet, hollow laugh. "I know," she murmured.
Then, after a pause—"You're the Alpha."
I stepped toward her. Careful. Controlled. "I'm your mate."
"I'm an omega," she said, still not looking at me, as if that was supposed to change something. As if I hadn't already known the moment I laid eyes on her.
"I know, Nova," I said firmly. "And I don't care."
I wanted to hold her. Fuck, I needed to hold her. But I didn't know if she would want that right now.
She let out a sharp, hollow laugh, the sound cutting through me like a blade.
"You know I was going to go upstairs with that guy, right?"
She finally met my gaze, and my stomach twisted at the sight of her tears.
For the first time since I found her, I didn't feel
just possessive. I didn't feel just territorial.
I felt something worse.
Helpless.
I had the urge to fix this, to fix her, but I didn't
even know where to start.
"Well," I pushed the jealousy rising in my throat, forcing myself to stay calm. "I'm not a saint either, Nova."
She shook her head, eyes glistening. "I don't do this often though…I've never…" Her voice cracked, and she pressed her lips together, as if trying to hold it all in. But the silent tears still slipped down her cheeks.
My wolf whined, restless, aching.
"I just…needed the money. Really bad." she whispered.
My heart shattered.
My mate—my love—had been struggling. Had been out here alone, needing help, needing more than this world had given her.
Not anymore.
Never again.
I exhaled, stepping closer. Slowly. Carefully. "We all do things we're not proud of, Nova," I murmured. "I've done things, too."
Her shoulders tensed, like she was waiting for me to flinch, waiting for disgust, waiting for me to walk away.
And then she said the one thing I wasn't prepared for.
"I don't have a wolf."
I stilled.
She hesitated, then pushed forward like she had to get it out all at once before she lost the nerve. "I'm almost twenty, Kain. I've never shifted. I—I could barely even recognize you as my mate."
I didn't know what to say.
Being twenty and still without a wolf meant one thing. She might never get one.
I just stared at her, my mind scrambling for words, for anything that would make this better.
She took my silence as an answer. "If you—if you don't want me, I get it. I won't tell anyone about this. You don't have to worry."
Then she turned to leave.
I moved before I even realized it, grabbing her arm, pulling her back to me.
"Nova," I growled, my voice rough with undeniable certainty. "I want you. I need you. You're my mate."
She stiffened.
"I'm the luckiest bastard alive because I found you," I said, stepping in closer, caging her in, making sure she couldn't run from me—from this. "Most people never get that, Nova. They never get to find their fated mates, the one they were meant for. But I did."
I lifted my hands to cradle her face, wiping away the tears before pressing my forehead to hers.
"I found you," I murmured, voice quieter now. "And I'm never letting you go."
Her lips parted, a shaky exhale escaping as she searched my eyes, looking for something—maybe for doubt, maybe for a reason to push me away again.
She didn't find it.
Because it wasn't there.
Then she kissed me.
It wasn't wild this time. It wasn't desperate, frantic, starving like before.
It was slow. Deep. Real.
A kiss that felt like a promise.
When she pulled back, she whispered against my lips, her voice fragile but real.
"I love you, Kain."
I exhaled, a smile tugging at my lips. "Good."
Then I stepped back, eyes darkening.
"I know this is abrupt," I said, voice heavier now, "but you need to come with me."
She frowned. "Come where?"
I clenched my jaw.
"To the pack house." I inhaled deeply. "I need to stop a wedding."