The desperate groan in response… Caspian didn’t realize at first that it had come from him. Nor could he comprehend why his eyes had rolled back at the feel of her nose tracing his skin. Catching her close to him, the naked filthy thing fitting just where she should, he let her sniff and settle.
Where her little hands began a tentative exploration of chest and shoulders, his gripped all the harder. Somehow the pocket-sized thing coaxed him onto his back, and from the crook of his arm, she leaned up, somber her eyes tracing his features.
He wasn’t a handsome male—never had been—even before hard years of fighting his way to the top. But she didn’t look at him as if she found him ugly, either.
She just saw a man—one she had set to purring capitulation with a few soft touches and a sniff.
Cupping his stubbled cheek in her palm, she met his eyes.
Didn’t she know Omegas weren’t supposed to do such things? Had she never learned her place?
Why had he not shaved before coming to her so his week-old beard wasn’t between her soft skin and his scars?
The mouse mouthed the word Mikael, and then gave him a very discernible nod. She then took her weight from his side to sit back on her feet and sign. It didn’t take a genius to grasp that the sweep of her hands meant gratitude.
The pretty mouse wasn’t as high as he thought.
Caspian should not have relished this as much as he did, he should not have let his voice grow gritty with raw desire. “Be a good girl and show me.”
Her hands settled gently on his chest, the mouse draping her torso over his bulk. Again their eyes met, hers timid and unsure.
She purred, the light trill of music only for him.
Next, her fingers went into his hair, combing through and tugging until he shuddered. They traveled lower to knead the bones of his neck, to discover the swell of his shoulders, until she could reach no further under his coat.
“Kiss me.”
Her purr stuttered, but she lowered her head anyway.
Insulted, Caspian’s hand flew to her hair. Taking a grip near the root, he held her lips inches away and growled, “You don’t want to kiss me.”
It was not a question. She didn’t want to kiss him, and he was beginning to suspect she didn’t want to be anywhere near him.
Grasping his other hand and dragging it to her throat, the mouse collared herself in his grip.
“You think I’m going to hurt you.” Gone was his contented stupor, in its place was budding anger. “I’m tempted.”
She nodded, swallowing under his palm, as if that was not the issue. Eyes wide and pleading, she blinked, waiting as if that one look might reveal her very thoughts.
It always came down to this with bitches. But he would get his, he’d get her purrs and lying smiles, even if he had to pay. Later he’d punish her until she bled for daring to bargain in the first place.
Snarling, he demanded, “Tell me what you want. I’ll give it, and then you fuck me the way I want you too.”
She reared back, caught around the throat and openly shaken by his words.
“Food, clean water, the blankets straight from my bed were clearly not enough!” Sitting up to tower over his caught mouse, right up in her face, Caspian roared. “Name your price, rat!”
She frantically gestured for pen and paper, pointing to a corner where a broken box stood. When he shoved her back, she raced to it, digging through her goods to unearth a cracked piece of slate and a tiny nubbin of chalk. The scrape of white on black hissed, her hands openly shaking.
She turned the board around, holding it up before her breasts for him to read, “If you kill me, Mikael won’t get the treatment he needs to survive. I was only asking you to be gentle.”
The Alpha stopped short. Narrowing his eyes, nostrils flaring on a deep inhale, he took in what her scent might offer… calculating. “You think I tried to kill you yesterday?”
She nodded, but using the heel of her hand wiped the chalk and wrote over the smear. Pointing to her tattooed cheek, she showed him her words: I did something wrong.
She thought it was her fault…
It hadn’t occurred to Caspian the Omega failed to understand what had almost taken place. Hell, he’d expected she’d be a conceited handful now that he’d almost bonded them forever. But she didn’t know, and he had no intention of giving the exotic Omega any power in knowing.
“Come here, pretty mouse.”
She set the slate aside and did as he ordered.
Nervous and no longer meeting his eyes, Caspian ran the backs of his fingers over her cheek and jaw. Fragile. He could break her in half with no effort, shatter her bones with ease. Not good traits for a mate. “You want me to fuck you sweet and slow? How Kieran took you yesterday?”