I don’t have much experience with unbuttoning men’s undergarments, and I fumble a little, feeling him pulsate in my hand. He’s hard and hot. Too big, but I already knew that.

“Now let me turn you around. Yes, like that.”

He flips me until I’m giving him my back, and I’m almost surprised to find that Lennart is still there. Still staring at us with a mix of hatred and misery and pain. It’s just hard to keep track of him when Gabriel is pressing me into him, forcing me to sit in his lap until his cock is nestled between my ass cheeks.

I should be trembling in terror, but all I can feel is anticipation.

“It’s okay, love,” he whispers into my ear. His thumb swipes back and forth against the gland between my shoulder blades, and I nearly convulse. “It’ll be okay. From now on, I’ll take care of you. You just have to keep your legs spread open.”

I tell myself that it’s disgraceful how easily and quickly I comply. My head falls back into his chest. I let my thighs slide wider as he touches up and down my slit, letting out shameless moans, ignoring Lennart’s pitiful muted sobs. I don’t even have to make an effort to shut him out because my brain and my body can focus on only one thing.

Gabriel.

“You think you’re ready to be fucked?” he asks.

“Yes,” I beg.

“Yes, what?”

“Yes…sir?”

“Good guess. Not that one, though.”

“Yes… Yes, Alpha.”

“Oh, no. I mean, that’s nice, don’t get me wrong. Very hot, and it makes me want to fuck you even more. But I don’t want you to call me Alpha. There are plenty of Alphas in this stronghold, and I’d like you to be more specific about who is going to fuck you in thirty seconds or so.”

My throat constricts. “Yes, Gabriel.”

It kills him a little, hearing his name. A groan vibrates through his chest, and then I feel him shiver underneath me. “Lennart,” he barks. “Stop crying, you fool; there’s nothing to be sad about. We’re all having a great time here. This is going to be the fuck of a lifetime.” And just like that, he shoves his cock deep inside.

There is no other word for it. It’s just a couple of hard, powerful thrusts, and then he’s almost in to the hilt. My body contracts around his length, as if to clutch him tighter, draw him in farther. “Look him in the eye, Sofia. Look Lennart in the eye while I get as deep inside you as is humanly— Fuck, yes. Fuck, this is good.”

It is. My nails leave scratches deep in his forearms. No one’s first time should be like this, in these circumstances, but the pleasure building inside me is so violent, I don’t know how to make peace with it.

“So fucking wet and tight. Ready for my knot already.”

He is so big, the root of him stretches me open obscenely, almost to the point of pain. Lennart thrashes weakly in the chair in front of us, as if to lunge at us and stop what we’re doing. “Stop,” he sobs, but I have no attention to spare for him.

“Lennart, be fucking serious.” There’s a tremor in Gabriel’s voice, an edge. His control may be about to snap. “Why would I stop fucking your mate when she feels so good? Her cunt is warm and hot and so fucking tight.”

Wails follow, but I cannot be bothered with them. They sound desperate but distant.

“She has this pretty indentation running down her spine. You can’t see it from there, so let me tell you about it. It’s made to touch. And made to fill with liquids. And you know what I’m referring to, don’t you?”

Lennart’s cries are quieting.

“But I’d have to knot outside her beautiful cunt for that, and I’m not sure that’s what I want. You get that, don’t you?” Gabriel’s palm travels up my spine, fists my hair, and pulls at it so hard that my scalp tingles and my clit throbs. “Legs stay open, sweetheart. You’re doing so well, but we’re giving him a show, aren’t we?”

I nod. Try to chase the movements of his hips with mine, the slick sweat of my body sliding against his.

“Tell your mate how much you’re enjoying being fucked by me, Sofia.”

I cannot breathe. “I— Yes. Yes, I⁠—”

“Say the words.”

“I enjoy being f-fucked.”

“By?”

“I enjoy being f-fucked by Gabriel, Lennart.”

Gabriel’s laughter is mean and affectionate. Triumphant.

“She’s close, Lennart. Your mate is so close. Aren’t you happy for her?” He licks the base of my throat. Presses his palm against my lower belly, shrinking the space he’s carved for himself inside me, making me feel even fuller. “And I have even better news. I’m definitely going to let you live. Want to know why?”

It’s a rhetorical question, but Lennart is broken enough to stutter, “Y-yes?”

“Because Sofia is not your mate. She never was and never will be. She was always meant to be mine. And nothing makes me happier than knowing that for the rest of your miserable life, you’ll remember me ten inches deep inside her. This Omega whom you profess to love but have hurt unspeakably. And when she’s round with our children and swollen with my bite, I will parade her in front of you, and you will regret every single vile thing you⁠—”

My release is a violent, full-bodied thing. My thighs tremble, and I seize around Gabriel’s cock, overwhelmed by the pleasure that makes my spine dissolve and my muscles jerk. I must lose consciousness because I don’t hear the rest of what he says. In my next moment of awareness, I’m limp in his arms, empty, happy. He cradles me lovingly, more so than I thought him capable of. His knot pushes against the walls of my cunt, spreading me open, stuffing me full.

His come and mine trickle down our thighs, mixed together. Pools onto the floor. Gabriel’s release is not finished yet, but I can feel his grin unfurl against my throat. It’s more pleasure than I ever imagined.

“Mine,” he says. Then he pulls us down onto the bed and half flattens me underneath him, turning us away from Lennart and his near-silent, inconsequential weeping.

Aftershocks of my orgasm still twitch through me. “You’re serious about this,” I say.

It’s not a question, but he presses a kiss against my cheek. “Yes,” he says. Simple. To the point. I have no doubt that he means every word.

And suddenly, laughter bursts out of me.

“What?” he asks.

“Just…the children you mentioned.” I shake my head, but I can’t stop laughing.

Gabriel pulls me more closely into him. “Hmm?”

“When they ask about how their parents met, how are you going to explain any of this to them?”

He presses a small, amused kiss behind my ear. “We’ll think of something.” He sighs into my skin, and I let myself smile, too.

Chapter 23

THE END Sofia

Things that change a lot sometimes don’t change at all.

Lara is still my best friend, even if she lives in the military wing now and is being trained by Martia to become an engineer. House Larsen is still powerful, but its head is now an Alpha from another branch of the family, and she’s much more willing to collaborate with the army. Lennart and Lady Larsen are still alive, even if they no longer enjoy the privilege they always had.

I’m still a healer, and Gabriel is still the general, except these days I’m the one who treats all his injuries. The Lows are still becoming rarer and shorter, but when they come, he takes me outside and spends hours staring at me under the pure, unfiltered sunlight. My father is still gone, but I know he would be happy and proud of me. I’m still walking down a stone corridor, barefoot, toward my mating ceremony. The dress I’m wearing this time around, though, is much more beautiful than the last.

“I can only imagine how stunning you’ll look by your third mating ceremony,” Bastian says from my side.

“Leave my future sister alone,” Ivar admonishes, rolling his eyes at him.

“All I mean is, the theater of this seems redundant,” Bastian says. “Protocol for protocol’s sake.”