Outcast Island (Exiled Sector)

14. Guðrún

CHAPTER 14

GUDRúN

Obeying my Alpha by indulging in his warm shower is my choice. I’m aware that his commands don’t actually work on me. I’m able to resist him, which gives me a sense of security that he’s not able to force me to do anything I don’t want to do.

But he sure knows how to seduce me to get his way.

I was fully prepared to go into my home nest wearing only my Alpha’s shirt while the evidence of our mating dripped from my body. It would have sent a message that no one could deny.

I’m not alone anymore.

I had always tried to shoulder the weight of the world and just bear it, because I thought that made me strong.

But accepting the strength of my Alpha doesn’t make me weak. I’m built in a way that I’m physically small, but I have a big heart.

And with an Alpha like Magnus on my side, I have access to his strength that makes up for my weaknesses.

Likewise, I realize how much I complete him. He’s able to navigate life without his bloodrage ruling his every moment. He can be the one in control, instead.

All because of me.

So I close my eyes and lift my face as the warm water massages my cheeks. It washes away the lingering sensation of my father’s influence, of the memory of Outcast Island, and replenishes me in a way I didn’t know I needed.

But Magnus knew. He knows what my body needs before I do, and I love that about him.

My nostril flares when his woodsmoke and liquor scent makes the misty air fragrant.

“Does your family know we’re here?” I ask, because it’s obvious now where he’s taken us.

We’re in the Ygg Nest mansion, which should terrify me as a known rival to my family’s bloodline.

But I’m a Ygg Vampire now, am I not? Mating Magnus changes everything.

“Not yet, but they will soon know that I’ve raided the guest quarters,” Magnus says as he steps into my view. “My scent is a little recognizable.”

That it is, I agree.

He hungrily eyes me from the other side of the glass. His shower is large, and I’d expect no less, and runs in a full rectangle of glass with nothing to impede the view.

There’s a stowed curtain at the edge of one of the corners and a track all the way around the shower’s edge along the ceiling, but I know Magnus isn’t going to give me privacy.

I wouldn’t want it, anyway. I enjoy his gaze on me.

“I want to put a baby in you,” he tells me unexpectedly.

Freezing, I stop lathering my hair with the shampoo I had found and blink at him. “What?”

My stomach drops.

We’ve been over this.

“A baby,” he insists as his gaze drops to admire my body again. “You deserve more than I can give you as a Ygg Vampire. You deserve to be a queen.”

My breath comes in short pants. Twirling, I turn away from him as I lift my head and let the water wash away the shampoo.

But I need a moment to collect myself.

“Assuming I am capable of estrus, the child could still be a Ygg Vampire,” I tell him.

Starting a new nest is a big undertaking, one that requires resources, allies, and land.

All of which I have none of, at the moment.

“Unless that’s the only reason you want a baby,” I begin as my chest tightens.

Of course he only wants a baby so he can start a new nest. He doesn’t actually just want me ? —

My spiral of thoughts is put to an immediate stop when a muscular arm wraps around my middle and hauls me against his hard chest.

He’s still wearing the jeans he had put on before he had ventured out to the guest quarters. He doesn’t seem to mind the water that instantly soaks him as he presses one hand between my legs and cups my sex. The other he holds around my middle. “I want a child because I want to give you the world, Guerún. I don’t need more time to get to know you. I already know I want you. I want a nest with you.” He moves his hand over my stomach where my womb waits for him. “I want to see you swell with my child, knowing that I was the one who bred you.”

His fingers move over my sex, making me pant as my heat comes back in full force.

Knowing how Magnus really feels changes something inside of me. I’m an empath. I know everything he’s saying is true.

He wants to breed me.

Because he wants me to bear his child.

“I want that too,” I admit.

Magnus’s emotions suggest he’s going to reward me for my approval, but his body does the opposite.

A whimper escapes me when Magnus removes his fingers and exits the shower. “I can feel your estrus is close,” he says. He nods to his necklace I’m still wearing. “That’s a suppressant. I suggest you use it if you’re going to be coming with me.”

“W-where?” I ask, because I have lost all ability to string more than two words together. I’m not only feeling the impact of my own heat—but Magnus’s rut, as well. His body pulses with a vibrant, dominant need to fuck and claim and bite. But his expression is stoic.

He’s letting me handle his rut, I realize.

I grip the necklace for strength and shiver at the icy tendril of control it sweeps through me. My empathic powers might be strong, but I need help when it comes to not only my own heat, but my Alpha’s rut, too.

The suppressant’s effects are uncomfortable, but he’s right. It masks the emotions and urges enough for me to be able to think straight.

“We’re going to your childhood home—where we end this. The only thing standing in my way of putting a baby in you is your father. You’ll never feel safe as long as he draws breath.”

I chew my lip as I take a few deep breaths. Shakily finding the shower’s control knob, I dip it so that cold water comes out. “You’re right,” I quietly admit.

Magnus nods. “So finish up and then let me dry you off.” He motions to the comfortable athletic wear laid out on the bench. It looks like it’ll fit me and be easy enough to move around in, especially if I need to run. “Then get dressed. Because we have a vampire to kill.”

I find myself obeying my Alpha again.

I make a mental note not to make a habit of it—but I know with Magnus, that’ll prove difficult.

Because he’s a Vampire Alpha in the true sense of the word.

And he’s going to show my father what that really means.