“Ani, shhhh,” Jake murmured, stroking my trembling back and shoulders. “Try and relax, baby…just try and relax. Hopefully when the moon rises, they’ll let me breed you right.”
“Jake…” I whispered and nuzzled against his broad chest as he pulled me closer to him. My inner thighs were sticky with his seed and I knew I should ask for a bathroom break to go clean myself up, but I didn’t want to just yet. I felt safe in Jake’s arms—complete in a way I never had before. He might be my stepbrother, but he also felt like my lover now, my protector.
My Alpha.
The word rose unbidden to my mind and I wondered what was wrong with me. Only recently, I hadn’t believed in any of this “Werewolf crap” but now it felt like a part of me—like I really was a Royal Omega who needed her Alpha desperately.
“Just try to take it easy,” I heard Ophelia say. “I’m sure everything will be all right.”
I ignored her and pressed closer to Jake. He was the only one I wanted to be with—the scent of his skin and the feeling of his big, hard body surrounding mine was all I cared about. I wanted to sink into him and be one with him forever. I wanted…
Wait a minute.
I stopped myself, cutting off that crazy train of thought. What was wrong with me, thinking like this? Jake was my stepbrother and as soon as we got out of this, (if we got out) we were going right back to our previous relationship. I needed to be careful and not catch feelings for the one person in the whole world who was completely off limits to me.
Still, I couldn’t make myself pull away from him and Jake didn’t seem to want to put any distance between us either. He held me close to him, rubbing my back and dropping gentle kisses on the top of my head. His display of tenderness deserved an Oscar, I thought, wishing it was real.
But it could never be real between us, I reminded myself. This was all just a show—just an act. I needed to keep that in mind or I was going to be in deep trouble sometime in the future…
TWENTY-SIX
At last, Ophelia left and Jake and I were alone. He pulled the blanket over both of us and looked down at me anxiously.
“How do you feel, Ani? I mean really?” he asked, his deep voice filled with concern. “Did I hurt you?”
“Only at first,” I assured him. “And the pain only lasted a minute. After that, um…” I bit my lip. Should I tell him how good it had been for me? How intense? Would that freak him out? I might, I thought. Because we were only supposed to be pretending.
“After that, what?’ Jake asked, raising his eyebrows at me.
“Um, after that it didn’t hurt anymore,” I said, not meeting his eyes. “It felt, um, pretty good, actually.”
“For me too,” he said, surprising me. “But it shouldn’t have,” he added, frowning. “I never would have gone that far with you if it wasn’t necessary to convince these idiots we’re really sold on their prophecy.”
“Oh, of course not!” I hastened to agree. “Let’s hope Sorenson will swallow all that stuff about the, uh, Royal Mating Syndrome.”
“That’s Royal Heat Syndrome,” Jake corrected me. “And it’s not actually a thing—I made it up.”
“Really?” I looked at him in surprise. “You just came up with it on the spot?”
“Uh-huh.” He nodded. “It’s complete fiction but I’m hoping Sorenson won’t realize that.”
“What is it though?” I asked. “I mean, what are you going to tell him it does?”
“I’m going to tell him it’s when a Royal Omega goes so deep into her Heat Cycle that she has to be bred or die,” Jake explained.
“Makes sense.” I nodded “But…what’s the cure for it, though? Or is it fatal—according to you?”
“It can be fatal.” Jake frowned as he continued to make up details. “The only cure is a good, deep knotting and there can’t be silver anywhere near either the male or the female Were when it happens.”
He stirred against me and that almost pained expression came over his face again. I wondered once more if he was suffering in some way because he hadn’t knotted me. Was it unusual for an Alpha to make love to an Omega without knotting her? Did it cause some kind of problem for them?
I wanted to ask but I wasn’t sure if I should. I tried to think how I could phrase the question.
“Jake,” I began hesitantly. “Um, is what we did normal in the Were world?”
He frowned at me, his brows drawing low on his forehead.
“What we did? Absolutely not.”
“No, not that again!” I said impatiently. “Yes, I know by Were law we’re technically brother and sister and we shouldn’t have done what we just did. I’m not talking about that.”