Naomi’s pov :
I woke to sunlight filtering through the heavy curtains of Elias's bedroom, my body a map of aches that made me wince with every shift. My thighs burned, and my core throbbed like I'd been split open and stitched back wrong, and the faint bruises on my hips from his grip pulsed in time with my heartbeat.
Regret hit me like a freight train—regret for letting the mate bond pull me under last night, for the way I'd arched into him despite the cruelty in his words, for the desperate sounds I'd made as he claimed me over and over.
What was wrong with me? He was a cage disguised as a lover, and yet my traitorous omega instincts had slicked for him, begging for more.
Elias stirred beside me, his massive arm draped possessively over my waist, his scent enveloping me lik
