Page 68 of Choosing Her Alpha
There was male laughter in the room. She thought they doubted her ability to hold what she had chosen. Sasha felt like she could call a furious storm into the room to prove it. How dare they think to take what was hers?
Kane's purr surrounded her. He tipped his head over hers and nuzzled at her affectionately in front of the entire assembly.
"Settle down, Beauty. They envy me. All know whose bite I wear."
"And you, Kane," the king began. "Do you accept this breeder's claim?"
"I have," Kane boomed.
"Sasha Dover, will you give my son your full bond and blessing?" Queen Annalise asked.
Sasha thought she had, but the moment the queen mentioned it, she realized the bond she had hoped for all her life wasn't fully formed. Something was in the way.
She reached up to Kane, holding his shaved jaw and searching his face with a sudden panic that she didn't have a strong blessing to give a man who deserved it more than any other.
"Yes," she told the room. As soon as she figured out how.
"Then do so," the queen commanded. Sasha felt a sucking vacuum of air—silent, ghostly, magical—as the queen released her own blessing to make way for Sasha's.
No one had told her this.
And there were no stories of it.
Kane's arms shook at the loss; he felt it. The absence of his mother's blessing made way for all the years and weight of his life. Sasha saw that weight descend like blacksmith anvils. But now she could see what to do.
Drawing his lips to hers, she kissed him, pouring herself into him with an endless resource of love and power. It was heady electricity; there was no end to it.
He drank from their kiss, rejuvenated, renewed, and she felt the change come over his being and body as if his blood was boiling like an eighteen-year-old’s. The kiss grew ravenous, and he started to shift her in his arms.
A hand clapped him on the shoulder—his father’s. Kane snapped and showed his teeth at the interruption.
"Now you're ready to challenge me, but do you really want my job and yours too?" The king said with a jovial laugh, reminding Kane of who he was. "Take her back to your rooms, but don’t take too much time. This is a celebration long overdue, and I want to meet the girl formally."
They left the room to cheers that followed them all the way back to the nest.
Kane took her to the shower, removed his clothes while she soaped her hair, and joined her. He pulled at creaking metal tubing and adjusted nozzles she hadn't known could move. His face and body radiated a surging hunger reminiscent of his rut.
Before Sasha could complain, he had her up and seated on his cock. She yelled with the force of it. The out facing position made it feel as if he’d seated his member behind her ribs.
Hands on her hips, he lifted her up and down in quick, starved repetition. He grabbed that shower nozzle, centering the hard spray of water on the place they were joined.
Throwing her head back into the cradle of his chest, her nails digging into his forearms, Sasha came hard from the unrelenting stimulation. Before she could catch her breath, Kane turned her to face him, pushing her down until her bottom met his balls and grunting in pleasure while he came, his knot locking them together.
Nose against his shoulder, Sasha moaned long and low.
Kane found a cake of soap and finished the job of washing her while they were sealed together.
"We have to return to the celebration of our joining, so don't fall asleep, Sasha. I would give you more time, but it is traditional to present our bond after the heat has broken. I put it off an extra day as it was, but some of the Administrators were squeaking and I wanted this done," he explained. "I want you to eat as much as you can while you are there. My mother will help you."
"Someone is always shoving food in my face," she grumbled.
His hands were on her breasts, squeezing them in response. "You are breeding now. Soon I won't be able to knot you, your scent will change, and your womb close for our child. You need to eat if you are to nourish an alpha and a babe."
"You have turned me into a milk goat."
"You’re a beautiful woman," he countered.
"You think I am pregnant?"
