Eclipse Sector (V-Clan #3)

21. Cillian

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CILLIAN

I didn’t come here for this. I’d simply wanted to check in on her before heading home.

Hell, I’d expected her to be asleep.

But no.

She’d been loudly thinking about me. Captivating me with her thoughts. And any notion of doing the chivalrous thing—such as letting her go once and for all—dissolved into dust.

She was beautiful. Naked. Wet. Aroused. And craving my knot.

It took physical strength to stand here above her, fully clothed, and not touch her. But I wanted her to finish what she’d started. I wanted to watch her lose control. Hear her breathing change. Smell her need. Her slick .

“Touch yourself,” I repeated. “Now, Ivana.”

Because I needed to see her fall apart. To witness every excruciating second of it. To know what I’d been missing all these years. To determine how far off my fantasies had been from reality.

It would be a punishment and a gift. Sweet torture. Savage passion.

I’d been a fool to deny us both this connection. Or perhaps I was a fool to give in to it now.

The nuances no longer mattered. Reality could fuck off right along with my past vows.

Because all I cared about in this moment was Ivana’s hand and the tentative shift of her touch toward the slickness between her thighs.

“Be bold, macushla,” I told her. “Show me what I’ve been missing these last six years.”

Her nostrils flared, a challenge igniting in her gaze.

There’s my vixen. My Omega. The one who has never feared me.

I let her hear my thoughts, my mental voice open to her mind. It seemed only fair given everything I’d overheard from her.

Her furious need.

Her threat to chase me.

Her begging for my knot.

Her claim .

It was madness. Intense. A fucked-up fate.

But this Omega wanted me, even after everything I’d told her. She was determined to show me what we could be together. To embrace what little I had to give.

I didn’t deserve her.

So do better , Lorcan and Cael had said.

Gods, I would need to accomplish more than just better . And I had no idea where to start. If I even wanted that future. If I could even attain it.

However, that uncertainty—what little there was left of it—fled as Ivana’s finger brushed her clit. She jolted in response, her back bowing and bringing the tips of her beautiful tits into view above the water.

Fuck, I wanted to bend down and lick her. Nibble her. Bite her. Mark every godsdamn inch of her body. Scent her. Ensure everyone else knew she was mine .

This all-encompassing desire was going to slay me. Shred my control. Demolish whatever resolve I had left to do what was right. Hell, I couldn’t even define what was right or wrong anymore.

And that hand between her thighs wasn’t helping matters.

Gods, she looked amazing.

All flushed and panting.

Her mind begging for more. For my knot. For me to fuck her the way an Alpha should.

“Keep going,” I told her, my voice holding a touch of a growl to it. Because I was both loving and hating this demonstration. I wanted to help her. Touch her. Kiss her. Claim her.

But I needed this punishment. I deserved it.

Six long fucking years, I’d denied us both. I’d denied this . Her parted lips. Lust-blown pupils. Dripping sex. I could see her so clearly through the water, her finger sliding inside herself with ease. Every time she brushed her little clit, she tensed, then moaned inside her mind.

“Talk to me,” I demanded. “Don’t keep it to yourself, macushla. Torture me with your words.”

“Cillian,” she breathed, arching once more. “You’re the one who’s…” She trailed off on a sharp inhale, then exhaled the rest of her sentence with, “Torturing me.”

My eyebrow lifted. “How am I torturing you, Vana?”

“By not touching me,” she whispered, her eyelashes fanning along her cheekbone. “By denying me for years. By rejecting me.”

A growl caught in my chest as my knees bent toward the floor. “I never rejected you,” I told her again as I settled beside the tub, my hands grabbing the porcelain edge as I leaned over her..

“You did. You have.” Her eyes started to close as a shudder visibly trembled through her.

“Look at me, Vana.” I ensured my tone held the right edge of dominance. Sensual, not threatening. Because while her words infuriated me, that wasn’t why I desired her gaze. I wanted to watch her, see the moment she approached the precipice of no return, witness her in the throes of climax.

Her blonde lashes fluttered as she reopened her eyes, her alluring blue irises darkening to show her inner wolf.

“You’re so beautiful, love,” I whispered, my irritation disappearing in a blink. Her cheeks were pretty and pink, her eyes were filled with yearning, and her plump lips were parted in expectation. “Fuck, Vana. I could never reject you. You’re the only one I’ve wanted for six very long years.”

She started to shake her head, an argument already forming in her mind.

But I was done debating semantics. I wanted to watch my beautiful Omega come.

I pushed the long sleeves of my long shirt up to my elbows.

“But you?—”

I grabbed the tub again and slipped my other hand into the water, effectively silencing her. Her eyes widened as I touched her wrist, then she gasped when I stopped her from pulling away from me. “If you’re not going to finish the job, darling, then I’ll help you,” I said, sliding my fingers alongside hers.

She moaned long and loud as I pressed her palm onto her clit, our hands realigning together to allow me to push one of her fingers—along with one of mine—into her slick channel. “ Cillian ,” she breathed, her lower half bowing up out of the tub and into the pressure created by our joint touch.

I gently pushed her back down, then curled our fingers together inside her. “You’re very tight, macushla,” I said softly. “We’ll need to work on that if you want my knot.”

Her sheath tightened around me in response, her mind seeming to fracture from my words alone. Mostly because she couldn’t believe I was here, touching her, and talking about fucking her.

Rejected me for so long , she was thinking to herself.

I nearly sighed at her use of that word again. I just didn’t care for it in relation to Ivana. Had I told her to look elsewhere? Yes. But I’d never used the word reject with her.

However, in this case, my actions and words…

I bowed my head. “You’re right,” I admitted, hating myself a little more. “I have rejected you in a way, but not because I didn’t want you, Ivana. I hope that much is at least clear. And if it’s not, I’m about to make it very clear to you just how much I want you.”

I slid a second finger inside her, trapping her single digit there as her thighs clenched in response. “Cillian,” she moaned, her lower half attempting to leave the tub again. But this time I was ready for her, my palm already pressing her hand down right into her clit.

“You’re going to come for me, Ivana,” I informed her. “Then I’m going to pull you out of this tub, take you to your nest, and lick every fucking inch of you while you come again and again.” Because I owed her six years of orgasms. Six years of pleasure. Six years of companionship .

“Oh, stars…” The hiss of words escaped her on an exhale as her free hand jolted downward to wrap around my wrist. Then she pressed up into our joined touch below and released the most exquisite sound I’d ever heard from her, one I memorized in an instant and trapped in my memories for life.

Part scream, part moan, and one hundred percent Ivana.

Her body shook with the force of her climax, her inner walls clamping down so hard around my fingers that my knot physically pulsed in response. Because fuck, I couldn’t wait to be inside her while she did that. She’d be so tight, so perfect, so mine .

I released her as soon as her spasms subsided and lifted her from the tub, causing water to splash out everywhere. But I didn’t care. I needed to taste her. To claim her with my tongue. To force that sound out of her as soon as fucking possible.

She yelped as I tossed her wet body into her nest, my name leaving her with a chastising tone—one I was far too familiar with from her.

But I ignored her.

Spread her legs.

And pressed my mouth to her swollen clit.

Ivana screamed in response, her hands finding my head as she tried to push me away. “Too much,” she said. “Too soon.”

I huffed a laugh against her soaked pussy. “You can take it, Vana. Trust me.”

Whatever argument she was about to toss my way died in a jumble of words as I sucked her pulsing little bud into my mouth while sliding two fingers back inside her.

My Omega reacted just as I’d expected—by releasing a fresh wave of slick all over my hand. Gods, Ivana, it’s like you’re in heat, I told her, loving her reaction to my touch. Your body is just begging for me to knot you.

Yesss, she hissed back into my mind, her body squirming beneath me.

I pressed my unoccupied palm to her belly to hold her in place while I devoured her. Licking every inch, just like I’d vowed to do. Nibbling gently. Kissing her intimately. Memorizing the taste of her sweet cunt. Finger-fucking her tight channel.

She chanted my name, her fingers yanking on my hair while she also pushed me even more into her hot flesh. Those chants turned into shrieks that could probably be heard all over the damn sector as she fell apart again, her body shaking almost violently from the onslaught of her ecstasy.

When I didn’t stop licking her, she began to cry, her hoarse voice resembling a soft little whimper of protest.

But that protest died within minutes of me pushing her further, her Omega form more than capable of withstanding my sensual assault.

You were made for this, Omega, I reminded her, my tongue gently lapping at her weeping slit as I indulged in her citrus-like flavor. And as your Alpha, I was made to pleasure you. I’m sorry I’ve waited so long to introduce you to oblivion, love. So fucking sorry.

I’d spend the next several hours— days —making it up to her.

And I allowed her to see that in my mind, my licentious promises loud and detailed, as I pushed all my fantasies into her head.

She vibrated in response, her pussy strangling my fingers as I resumed my pace against her clit.

Stars, stars, stars , she was thinking.

The word slowly shifted into something else entirely. Something incomprehensible. Because all she could do was feel. Embrace. Take.

As she fell apart a third time, I smiled, loving how utterly incoherent she’d become.

I pressed my lips to her sensitive flesh and whispered sweet words of praise, telling her how good she was, how much I loved making her come, and thanking her for letting me taste her. “You’re positively decadent,” I murmured, kissing her again and chuckling as she tensed. “Worried I’ll force another orgasm out of you, love?” I trailed my lips over her neatly trimmed mound to her hip bone.

“Y-yes,” she stammered, quivering.

“Hmm, that was a fairly coherent answer,” I mused. “You definitely need more orgasms. Plural, Vana. Many more.”

She attempted to close her legs, but I was between them, preventing it from happening.

“No, love. If I’m your Alpha, then you’re my Omega. And I fully intend to brand myself on your very fucking soul, macushla.” I sank my teeth into her skin, leaving a mark on her hip. She hadn’t bitten me before, which didn’t make this a claiming bite. But it certainly displayed intent.

And it was an intention that she understood, because she instantly froze beneath me, her eyes going wide. “Cillian…”

I laved the mark I’d left on her hip, drawing the blood onto my tongue, then crawled up her body so she could watch me swallow it.

“If we’re doing this, then we’re really doing this, Ivana. Because once I knot you, you’re mine.” I’d promised her that in the shower—that if I knotted her, there would be no other Alpha for her. “I don’t share.”

It’d been hard enough to watch her date those other Alphas. There was no fucking way I’d be able to let that continue after I’d claimed her with my knot.

“So you’d better be sure this is what you want,” I went on. “You said in your mind that I’m yours, that you wanted my knot. Now I’m saying out loud what it’ll mean. If I fuck you, I will make you mine. Even if you don’t bite me first.”

Because doing this meant breaking every vow I’d ever made to myself.

I’d sworn to live alone.

To never take a mate.

To ensure my father’s legacy died with me.

To protect the descendants of Eclipse Sector until my dying breath.

But having Ivana— knotting her —would give my wolf full control of my instincts. He didn’t care about my personal vows; he cared about her . And I couldn’t fight my animal. Not on this. Not when I wanted and craved Ivana just as badly as he did.

I’d been so close to letting her go, so close to losing her. I’d seen it in her eyes when she’d called me a coward. Felt it in the way she’d slipped away from me mentally a short time before that. And I’d realized that I didn’t want to live without her. I didn’t want to watch her fall in love with another Alpha. I wanted her to be mine.

Such a selfish fucking desire.

But she wanted me, too.

She’d fought for me endlessly these last six years. Never giving up on me until recently. And that had hurt more than I ever wanted to admit.

“I don’t deserve to love you, Ivana,” I admitted on a breath, needing to speak my truth. “And loving you makes me selfish. It makes me want things I shouldn’t, things I’ve never been worthy of in my entire life. It fucking terrifies me.”

I cupped her cheeks, my upper body balancing on my elbows on either side of her head.

Her eyes had misted with my words, some of the drunken pleasure having melted from her features.

“I don’t say any of this to hurt you,” I went on. “I just want you to understand how complex this is for me. I know I’m not good enough for you, Vana. Hell, the last six years are evidence enough of that. What kind of Alpha rejects his perfect Omega?”

I purposely used her choice in terminology since it was technically accurate, at least on the surface.

“One who thinks he’s doing the right thing for his people,” she whispered, surprising me while also proving yet again how perfect she was for me.

Because she understood me.

Not only that, but she forgave me. I could hear it in her mind that despite all the pain, she didn’t hate me the way she should. Instead, she acknowledged my reasons and considered those reasons to be valid.

“I really don’t deserve you,” I repeated, more than aware that I’d uttered that phrase, as well as thought it, a million times.

But rather than push away from her like I should, I opted for a new route.

A new way forward.

A tentative step.

Because I wanted to be good enough for her. To her. With her.

However, to do that, she needed to understand what I could and couldn’t offer her.

“I’ve spent all these years saying you needed a better Alpha, one who would put you first and love you the way you should be loved. And I may never be able to do that.” In all likelihood, I could never do that.

I could handle breaking my vow not to take a mate.

But I refused to break my vow of protection for the former inhabitants of Eclipse Sector and their heirs. Thus, Ivana would always come second to my Elite responsibilities.

I admitted all that out loud before continuing with, “It’s utterly selfish of me to want to keep you. Acknowledging and accepting that fact is how I’ve been able to fight the inclination to claim you. I can still fight that inclination, Vana.”

She swallowed, yet a hint of challenge entered her gaze, telling me she was planning a retort.

However, I wasn’t done.

I needed her to understand what would happen between us if we continued down this path. How things would change. What I would be forced to do. Because I wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of Alpha. Not with her. Not ever with her.

“If you tell me to knot you, Vana, I won’t be able to ignore the need to bite you. I will claim you, even if in just name alone, and I will challenge any Alpha who tries to take you from me.”

That much I knew for certain.

If I fucked her, she would be mine. End of discussion.

“So you’d better be sure, love,” I said, my lips brushing hers. “But you don’t need to decide right now. Take your time, think about it, and I?—”

Her teeth sank into my lower lip, drawing blood in an instant.

I started to pull back, mostly in response to the unexpected bite, only for her to suck my wound into her mouth.

And swallow .