The Gamma’s Second Chance (Crescent Lake #3)

40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

CASSANDRA

My hands shake as I sit in the tattooist’s chair, butterflies swarming in my stomach as I wait for her to begin. Nolan takes one of them between his hands and rubs them, sending warmth and love into me with his touch and through our bond. I shut my eyes, still unaccustomed to the feel of the bond between us. It’s a surprise to me every time we touch or any time I feel his emotions flooding towards me from his end.

He offered to block them, to keep a thin wall up between us until I acclimated to it, but I declined. I want to sense him always. I want to taste the decadence of his love and feel it wrapping around me like an embrace. His love for me runs deeper than the deepest trench in the ocean, and its music feeds my soul.

“Are you all right?” he asks me, his eyes filled with concern.

“I’m a little nervous,” I say, chuckling anxiously. “I’ve never gotten a tattoo.”

“It only hurts a little,” he reassures me, smiling.

I glance down at the tattoo on his left forearm—my name, freshly inked into his skin, with a petite daisy attached to the “a” at the end. He went first so I could watch, to ease my nerves, but I’m not sure it helped much.

“I need you to distract me,” I say, lifting my eyes back to his as the tattoo artist fires up the gun and puts her hand on my leg to ready herself.

Nolan arches a brow. “Distract you how?”

I shrug and shake my head. “I don’t care how.”

“Well, I can’t do what I’d normally do to distract you,” he murmurs in a low voice, tucking my hair behind my ear and running his fingers through to the ends, and the tattoo artist snickers. “So I need a little guidance here, Daisy.”

I nod and bite my lip as the first sting of the needles hits my skin. “Your tattoos,” I blurt, my voice almost a gasp.

He arches a brow. “My tattoos?”

I nod. “Tell me about them.”

He squeezes my hand and I squeeze back, harder, as he leans in closer and whispers to me in his deep voice. “The one on my chest is of the lakeshore.”

“It matches the drawing in our kitchen.”

He nods. “It’s a picture Maddie drew in art class when she was eight. She had a print made for everyone for Christmas that year. We all—Wes, Reid, Seb, and myself—got a tattoo of it after Wesley and Reid turned eighteen. Well, Sebastian got his a few years later.”

“I’ve seen Wesley’s,” I tell him. “It’s on his biceps.”

“Sebastian’s is on his calf, and Reid’s is…” He smirks, a laugh twitching his lips.

“It’s where?” I ask, laughing with him even though he hasn’t told me yet.

“Okay, so, Reid and Sebastian used to make ridiculous bets on anything and everything,” he says, still laughing. “Sebastian never lost, but Reid never learned. I don’t even remember what they bet on that time, but if Reid lost, he had to let Sebastian choose where his tattoo would be.”

“And?”

“And Sebastian chose Reid’s ass.”

My jaw drops open, and I cover my mouth with the hand he’s not holding. “He did not!”

“He did,” he confirms with a nod. “But don’t tell Reid I told you. We’re not supposed to tell anyone. Although”—he winks at me—“I don’t think that rule applies to mates.”

I laugh harder, working to keep the laughter from shaking my body too much so it doesn’t interfere with the tattooist’s work. “That is hilarious.”

“Hence why Reid always says nothing good ever comes from betting with Sebastian.”

“Except his mate and kids,” I remind him. “He was extremely quick to point that out.”

“Except them,” Nolan agrees, chuckling still.

He lifts my hand to his lips and kisses the back of it, then lowers it and stares down at it as his thumb strokes the skin idly.

“If or when I’m ever ready to consider other options—”

“I don’t need babies to be happy with you, Cassandra. You know that,” he says, cutting me off.

“I do. And I love you for that. But—”

His grip on my hand tightens. “I have everything I need right here. You and me, Daisy.” My eyes water as I smile and nod at him. “Raising a child with you would be a wonderful adventure. But only if it’s something you truly desire. I chose you knowing what our future would be, and I’ll never regret it.”

Shining love and pure honesty hit me from his end of the bond, but I don’t need a connection to him to know he speaks the truth. The truth is in his words and his eyes. It’s in the way he smiles at me and the way he gives all his love to me. He chose me, and I chose him, and he’s right—that’s all we need.

I wince as the needles hit a sensitive spot. Other than the dull buzzing, I’d almost forgotten I was getting a tattoo. Nolan brushes through my hair again and I give him a weak smile, trying to assure him that I’m okay. “What about your other tattoos?” I ask through gritted teeth.

He shrugs one shoulder. “Most of them are random. No special meaning, just designs I thought looked cool.”

“The sword? On your back?”

He inhales through his nose. “That one I got after we took over the pack and I officially became Haven’s gamma.”

“It’s beautiful,” I say with a smile.

“I wanted something that represented me and my job, and what I strive to be—vigilant, powerful, and valiant.”

“A protector.”

He nods. “A protector.”

“You are all those things,” I say.

His throat tightens as he swallows and another pulse of love shoots down the bond towards me. I shoot it right back to him, sending him every ounce of love in my heart.

I hate what those other females did to him. That they made him feel unworthy and undeserving of love. They couldn’t appreciate the protective, kind, artist’s soul beneath the stoic exterior.

But he’s mine now. Mine for all my days.

The tattoo gun turns off, and the dull itching on my leg fades. The tattoo artist cleans up her station and smiles at me. “You’re all set.”

“That’s it?” I ask, glancing down at my inner thigh, where Nolan’s name is now inked there permanently, an outward representation of the permanent claim he’s made on my heart.

“It was a small one,” she replies, shrugging.

“I told you it would only hurt a little,” Nolan says, leaning over me and kissing my forehead. “Now let’s go home.” He helps me to my feet and tugs me flush against his body, his hands settling at my hips as my skirt floats down and covers my legs again. “I want to get a closer look at it,” he growls in my ear, his lips brushing the shell and sending a shiver down my spine.

My hands fly to his chest, and I melt against him, his powerful body calling to mine and creating a safe space for me, his cardamom and juniper scent swirling around me like incense smoke. I gaze up into his eyes as he pulls away from my ear, momentarily forgetting we’re in the tattoo shop. His eyes darken and his grip on me tightens as he tugs my hips closer to his.

“Home. Now,” he orders, his eyes narrowing on me and his chin jerking towards the front door of the shop. “I’ll be there after I pay. And I expect you to be…ready.”

I bolt for the front door, and I sense his eyes on me the entire time. That knowledge has my pussy pulsing and a wave of desire rushing through my body as I leave. He speaks to the tattoo artist as I exit, but I hear none of what they say. The blood rushing in my ears and echoing in my head blocks all sounds.

My feet carry me home, treading the path by memory. It’s only been my home for a short while, but it seems as if I’ve lived here forever.

I guess a part of me has.

I speed up my steps, eager to get to the house. Nolan’s throaty growl plays in my mind, amping up the anticipation racing in my veins. Every step bringing me closer to home has my heart pounding faster and my body heating. I race up the stairs as soon as I enter the house, stripping my clothes off as I go, leaving a trail for Nolan to track when he arrives. I crawl onto the bed as I hear the door open and slam shut, and Nolan’s thundering footsteps climbing the stairs echo through the house.

His growl sounds from the doorway and I melt, my eyes closing and my back arching as I roll onto my back and spread my thighs for him, my hand wandering between my legs and playing with my pussy.

“Is that what you want, Cassandra? You want me to touch you?” he asks, his voice hovering over my body and his hands spreading me wider. I nod and moan as his fingers trace over his tattooed name on my thigh, the way he’s done so many times before it became permanent. “You’re stunning like this,” he groans, lowering himself between my thighs. “With my mark on your neck and my name so close to your pussy. Fucking perfect and all fucking mine.”

“Yours,” I agree as he kisses my clit, nudging my fingers aside with his nose so he can take control of my pleasure. “Yours always and yours forever.”

He smiles and then lets loose, kissing my pussy like his life depends on it. I relax into his dominance, hands curling into the blankets and satisfaction settling into my soul.

Insurmountable obstacles marred the road we traveled to get here, but I wouldn’t change any of it.

It was all worth it to be Nolan’s second chance.

THE END