“Your knot,” she hums, yawning. “Only trophy you need, V.”
He grins. “Is that my sweetling talking or my sex monster?”
“Both,” she says, her long lashes fluttering to reveal her beautiful brown eyes. “I don’t want balls or heads. But I wouldn’t mind coming with you for that chat. My wolf has unfinished business with that one guard’s throat.”
Volt groans. “And now I’m hard.”
Clove squirms back into me as though to escape Volt’s words. “I think she may be sore,” I say softly.
“Very,” she replies on a groan. “I feel like I’ve taken your knots every way possible for a month straight.”
Her ass clenches against my groin and I press my lips to her ear. “You have, but only for nine days. Would you like to continue for another twenty or so to make it a month?”
She moans, but it’s not a sound of pleasure so much as exhaustion mingling with pain.
I kiss her pulse. “How about a bath instead, darling?”
That makes her relax. “Yes. That sounds better than knots.”
I grin. Her heat has definitely broken. But that doesn’t mean we can’t worship her a little with our tongues in the bath.
Caius slips out of the nest first, going to prepare the bath.
Volt leaves next, his bulky form careful as he navigates the exit.
Clove frowns after him. “Why are we in a pillow fort?”
“It’s the nest you built during estrus,” I tell her.
She blinks. Then her cheeks redden prettily. “Oh. I vaguely remember that. My wolf felt very particular about the organization of the sheets.” It’s a statement that makes her frown as her gaze catches on something in the corner.
She crawls over to it and fluffs the fabric, then tucks it back in a particular way.
After a moment, she nods.
Then she starts toward the exit, only to freeze. “Wait…”
I grin, amused by the startled look on her face.
“No, I made the nest. We made it. My wolf and I.” Her lips part as she faces me again, her palm settling on her flat belly. “I’m pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant,” I return, confirming her statement.
Her eyes widen and for a second, I worry that she’s about to freak out.
Except a giant smile blooms in the next instant and she tackles me in the nest. “I’m pregnant!” She’s elated now, her eyes sparkling with a delight that echoes in her mind.
She grew up wanting to have children, maybe because her pack ingrained the need into her mind—a fact I hear her ponder for a brief second. But her heart is so warm and happy that she knows this is what she wants.
It’s what we all want—something she realizes as she taps into all our minds.
“We’re connected,” she whispers, freezing on top of me.
I grab her hips and roll her to her back. “We’re connected,” I echo back at her. “We’re a complete clan now, Clove. And you’re our heart.”
I kiss her, letting her feel all my emotions and gratitude at having found her.
She returns the favor in kind, letting me experience her joy and wonder at our union.
It’s a tender moment made even more special by the life blossoming inside her.
“Let us take care of you now, Clove,” I whisper. “A bath. Some orgasms. And maybe some fruit.”
She grins. “You’re spoiling me.”
“We’re loving you,” I correct her. “Because you’re ours.”
“Forever,” Caius says from outside the nest.
“And always,” Volt finishes.
39
CLOVE
Energy hums through the air, causing the hairs along my arms to stand on end.
But it’s for an entirely different reason today than two months ago.
I’m in the same field.
Standing in the same place I once kneeled.
Only now I’m standing. I’m clothed. And I’m staring directly at the male who once rejected me.
Seeing Canton now, I can’t remember why I ever found him attractive. He has nothing on my three mates.
He’s a fucking pansy ass, Volt says to us all. Look at him. He’s ready to wet himself just like last time.
That pansy ass managed to keep a hold on Clove’s wolf for almost a week, Tieran reminds him. Looks can be deceiving.
He’s right.
I remember feeling Canton’s power.
He’s certainly not weak.
He took advantage of an untrained shifter, Volt argues. Hardly makes him strong.