Page 48 of The Alpha King's Mate

“I suppose,” I sighed.“I should have added it to the prenup—the right to pull your piercing out with pliers if you ever strayed. Missed opportunity now.”

He literally has a wraith tattoo on his body, woman. What more proof do you want?Zira burst out, dry and exasperated.

I’d have thought she’d be more chill after that tremendous orgasm.

She muttered something about divine intervention before drifting off again.

“You can still add it to the contract, if you want,” he said, leaning forward to kiss my lips.

I clenched around him, and he hissed. I didn’t react to the bit about ripping a hole through his cock—only to the fact that he was serious.

“I have something for you,” he said, reaching for a small box beside the bed.

That made me smile. How many of his women had gotten gifts while his dick was still inside them?

He rested the box on his chest and lifted the lid.

The lost pendant—the one my father had tracked down. Instead of selling it to Sorin, he’d kept it, intending to extort money from him later. He confessed as much under duress: he’d planned to pawn off the fake, then come back claiming he’d“found” the real one, angling for a second trade. I didn’t think about him or his family much anymore. Not since they’d tried to kill me. There was nothing left in me for them. Not even contempt.

“Are you sure?” I asked, knowing this had been his mother’s.“What if it falls off? What if I lose it?”

Panic crept in. I didn’t want the responsibility of something so precious. Something one of a kind.

“Nearly losing you put everything into perspective,” he murmured, lifting the gold pendant. It was oval, set with a sparkling crescent-moon diamond, surrounded by a scatter of smaller diamonds—and among them, a single ruby star.

“Thank you. I’ll endeavour to look after it as though it were my own mother’s keepsake.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed before he fastened the chain around my neck. This Alpha King of mine—I needed to give him a break.

Nah, keep him on edge, Zira put in.Find a middle ground between crazy and affable.

“Let’s face it. It’s better than the shock collar you put me in,” I said, glad he couldn’t hear our thoughts.

He chuckled and pulled me close, letting his hands linger on my lower back.

We waited for his knot to go down, but when my stomach rumbled, he carried me to the couch and began a whole new style of feeding me.

???

“I need to attend a meeting,” he whispered.

I didn’t open my eyes—he’d barely let me sleep.

“Good for you. Go get ‘em, champ,” I murmured sleepily, stretching beside him.

“You’re coming with me.”

My eyes flew open.

Ugh. His hair was ruffled, his eyes full of mischief, a crooked smile playing along his lips. Bare-chested, and a reminder of everything he was capable of. With every passing hour, the bond seemed to take firmer hold of our faculties. Our wolves had fallen hard.

“No, I need to sleep and rest,” I said, closing my eyes again so he couldn’t tempt me.

“And I can’t be without that sweet, sweet scent of yours,” he countered, moving in for the kill.

His lips brushed the mark on my neck, and he began his sniffing nonsense. My stomach tightened so fast it felt like a cramp. He smelled so damn good—no shower yet to wash away our unique, mingled scent.

I moaned, turning into him without realising it.