Chapter 7

Pearl

The bandages on my hands prevent me from feeling the softness of the fabric. In a fit of rage, I sweep the entire stack off the shelf, but the soft thuds as they land on the floor fill me with shame. Tears scratch at the back of my eyes, but they're too obnoxious for me to let fall. I have no right to cry over my ridiculous actions.

Pain slices through my abdomen and fresh wetness coats my inner thighs. My chest hurts. I don't like it.

Muscular arms reach down and gather the fallen linen. Fury snaps through me and I snarl and reach for his shoulder. He stands and looms over me without even trying .

"I'm sorry, I—"

"Don't apologize. Is this your first heat?"

My brain stutters to a halt.

I knew my body was changing, but I refused to acknowledge it. If I kept denying it, then it couldn't be true and I could keep pretending I wasn't in this situation.

His question pulls everything into clarity.

"Yes, this is my first heat. I'm glad it's with you."

The lines around his eyes soften and he ghosts a fingertip along my chin before hefting the blankets higher on his chest.

"I'll put these on the sleeping pad," he says, but I hook my wrist in the crook of his elbow and snarl.

He stops moving. I bury my face in the pile and hiss at the smell of sunlight and soap. The pheromones wafting from my alpha's chest smell so much better.

I snatch all but one from him, toss the extras at our feet, and rub the fabric over his chest and abs with manic intent. Blood drips from his shoulder, smears over his stomach, and stains the blanket.

I fling it toward the sleeping pad and grab the next closest item off the floor. As I rise, my shoulder bumps against his hard cock. The fluid leaking from his tip makes my mouth water. I trap his shaft between my hands and stroke the sheet over him. He drops his head back and groans, but he remains a living statue as I have my way with him.

Once I deem the fabric properly marked, I throw it toward the sleeping pad and scoop up the blanket under my feet, but hate the tassels hanging from the corners, so I drop it onto the floor and kick it away with an angry snarl.

When I reach for the stack on the highest shelf, thick fingers wrap around my nape. My alpha's body heat emanates into my back. He leans around me and plucks the stack down with one hand and steps back to balance it at his shoulder height.

I swallow and blink as a moment of clarity blips through me. This is ridiculous. He's indulging me too much. No alpha should take this kind of abuse from a tiny female.

Except, when our eyes meet, I know without a doubt he wouldn't change a single thing. He relishes every second. Loves every moment. Cherishes my craziness.

He longs to nurture and protect me.

A fist clamps around my heart and need constricts my womb. I nearly fall to my knees, but the rush of hormones drives me toward the only male I've ever wanted .

He shifts the stack between us before I reach him.

The distraction works. I push the entire pile against his front and scrub over the hard planes of his body until enough scent wafts from the fabric.

A cramp folds me in half, but my alpha doesn't comfort me. I snarl and knock the blankets out of his arms.

His deep purr erases my angst. I sink down onto the sleeping pad and lose myself in nuzzling and sorting the fabric, but when I try to push the first blanket into place, fury rips through me.

I attack the bandages on my hands. Tide's knuckles block my teeth from tearing at the wrap as he encompasses my hands with his.

"No," he snarls.

I snarl right back at him. His growl reaches deep into my marrow. Slick gushes down my legs, puddles on the sleeping pad, and soaks the fabric trapped under my knees. My nipples throb. The discomfort in my chest jangles through my nerves.

"Let me be your hands, tiny treasure. Tell me what to do. Guide me. Teach me. I'll do anything for you. Anything."

I stare at our joined hands, my mind too overwhelmed to handle peering into his soul when the partial bond between us aches so much.

"Just mark me already. It hurts. "

He captures my wrists in one hand and tilts my chin up with his fingertips.

"I will not give you pain without pleasure."

Nausea rolls through me as I realize the intensity of his agony. My hormones buffer me from the torture of a partial bond. I forced my mark on him without considering his feelings.

Self-hatred swirls through me.

He weaves his fingers into my hair and gives a warning tug.

"No, tiny treasure, don't blame yourself. I'll never regret how I earned your bite. I love your ferocity and will wear your mark with pride. Now use me to build your nest so you have a safe, comfortable place to accept my knot."

My breath hitches on a sob, but he releases my hair and guides my hands to the nearest blanket.

True to his word, he follows my lead and becomes an extension of my hands, stacking and fluffing when my bandages prove too bulky. When I snarl and elbow him out of the way, he shuffles back without complaint. When I hiss and drape a sheet over the top of another for the second time, he crawls forward and clears the creases away. When I purr in satisfaction after placing the last item, he smiles and grabs another stack of materials off the shelf .

Time ceases to exist. Nothing matters beyond my masterpiece and the alpha who stole my heart.

Layer after layer, pillow after pillow, I build and sink deeper into instincts, until comfort surrounds me and my mate. Our pheromones mingle in the small space.

I guide him onto his back and crawl on top of him, but I can't settle. Something is missing. I growl and move to whip the top layers off us, but he rolls us over and growls in my ear.

"Don't move, Pearl. Not a single muscle until I return."

He disappears. Need pulses between my legs. I rub my thighs together and yearn for more friction on my clit.

His broad shoulders fill my vision as he crawls back into our nest.

He holds the colorful cushion I saw over his shoulder earlier. It's perfect. Exactly what I need.

I take it from him with an ecstatic purr. He watches with heavy-lidded eyes as I wedge it between the other pillows and settle onto my side while facing him.

I hook my wrist around his elbow and tug him toward me as another cramp stabs into my abdomen.

His control snaps with an almost audible pop. I writhe in a sea of sensation as he explores me with teeth and tongue, diving into my mouth and dominating my mind before covering my face and throat with possessive kisses and stinging nips. I cling to him, desperate for our joining, until he lowers his mouth to my breasts.

Electricity zaps from my nipples straight to my womb. My clit throbs.

He seals his mouth over my breast before laving his tongue over my sensitive flesh.

I fly apart. He pieces me back together. I shudder and climb toward another orgasm as he sucks my nipple.

When he lifts his head and purrs, my eyes roll to the back of my head.

"I can't wait to see you nourish our younglings with these gorgeous tits. They're perfect now, and they'll be perfect full of milk and heavy in my hands, too."

Slick gushes from my pussy. He grinds his cock against my thighs. My mouth waters as his pre-cum pools in the mushed triangle between my legs.

"You know how this ends, right, tiny treasure?" He flicks his tongue over my wet nipple. "I'll have you locked on my knot for days." Another lick. "Leaking my seed for weeks." A nip and thrust of his hips. "Pregnant with my offspring for years," he murmurs against the underside of my breast before sinking lower and trailing his nose down my belly .

When he wedges his fingers between my knees to part my thighs, I clamp my hands around his ears and yank his head up to meet his eyes. His low rumble promises retribution. I undulate through a mini orgasm, but he stills as I find my breath.

"I want that, Tide. I want all of it. Your mark. Your knot. Your younglings. You. I want you."

He groans and pulls my knees apart before crawling up my body and fitting the broad head of his cock between my legs.

I simultaneously push and pull his chest and shoulder as my body sends mixed signals. I want his claiming and ache for him to fill me, but his cock is terrifyingly big.

An ungodly sound leaks from my chest as he sinks his tip through my folds. I burn as he stretches my entrance.

"Again. Make that sound again," he snarls against my temple.

I do, and he earns yet another when he reaches between us and skims his thumb over my clit as he flattens his palm over my lower belly and pins me down for better access to my depths.

He tilts his hips and buries another inch inside me. My nipples brush against the hard planes of his chest. I suffer a million glorious deaths as he invades my body in one slow, ruthless motion .

Pain and pleasure collide into the most beautiful array of colors and shapes as he circles my clit with his thumb and pulls his cock halfway out.

He strokes his digit directly over my sensitive bundle of nerves and thrusts his shaft brutally deep.

I shatter and settle back into myself as he ruts me in a rhythm as old as time. Again and again, I orgasm underneath him, until sweat, slick, blood, and tears soak our nest.

When his tempo changes and he buries himself impossibly deeper, I open my mouth on a silent scream. His knot balloons behind my pubic bone, rearranging my insides and compressing my G-spot. My entire body clenches in a horrible, wonderful, mindless release. His shaft pulses within me. Liquid fire spurts into my womb.

I writhe in delicious agony as his teeth pierce my shoulder. Pleasure supersedes pain. Euphoria skyrockets me into a peaceful, sunny, blue sky. As I float amidst puffy white clouds, the most beautiful rumble buffers me from reality.

I wrap my arms around my alpha's massive shoulders and hold him close.

He's my everything. My heart. My future. My family.

The woe lingering in his soul won't do. Whatever pain he holds is mine now.

I'll do anything to ease him. Anything.

He's mine. My alpha. My barge.

My Tide.