"I know." I turn my face to press a kiss to his palm. "I'm sorry it took me so long to catch up. But I'm here now. Fully here."
Our connection hums with shared emotion, carrying feelings too complex for words. But beneath the biochemical awareness, there's what was there long before my teeth broke his skin and bound us together.
"I want to claim you," I say, the words emerging with quiet certainty. "Not in the heat of the moment, not driven by instinct or biology. I want to claim you because I choose to. Because I love you. Because I want to be yours as much as I want you to be mine."
Micah's breath catches, his pupils dilating slightly. "Nick..."
"We did this backwards," I continue, my hands finding his waist, drawing him closer. "Bond first, then understanding. I want to do it right this time. I want to claim you with full awareness of what I'm doing. What we're doing."
I feel his desire rising to meet mine, but there's hesitation too. "Are you sure? This isn't just alpha instinct talking? The pregnancy, the bond..."
"Look at me," I say, tilting his chin up gently. "Really look at me, Micah. What do you see?"
His eyes search mine, and I let him look—let him see past the alpha, past the friend, to the man beneath who's finally, finally being honest with himself and with him.
"I see you," he whispers. "Just you. Nick."
"And I see you," I reply, my voice rough with emotion. "Not just my omega. Not just the father of my child. I see Micah Bennett, the man who's been the center of my world for nine years without me even realizing it."
I lean down, pressing my forehead to his in that intimate gesture that's become ours. "Let me claim you properly. Let me make you mine by choice, not just by instinct."
His answer is to rise on his toes, closing the distance with a kiss that's both tender and certain. Unlike the desperate, heat-driven kisses we shared during his cycle, this is slow, deliberate—a conversation without words, a promise.
I lift him easily, his legs wrapping around my waist as I carry him to the bed. He weighs almost nothing in my arms, my alpha strength making the gesture effortless. When I lay him down, I take a moment just to look at him—my best friend, my omega, the person I want to build my life around.
"I've imagined this," he admits, his cheeks flushing. "So many times. You looking at me like this."
"How am I looking at you?" I ask, though I can feel what he feels through our connection.
"Like I'm everything." His voice breaks slightly on the words. "Like I'm yours."
"You are." I lower myself over him, bracing on my forearms to keep my weight off him. "You always have been. I was just too blind to see it."
"Let me see you," I murmur against his lips, my hands already tugging at his sweater. "Really see you this time."
He lifts his arms, helping me pull the fabric over his head, then his t-shirt. The sight of him—lean muscle and pale skin in thesoft bedroom light—makes my mouth go dry. During his heat, everything was desperate, overwhelming. Now I can take my time.
"Fuck," I breathe, my fingers tracing the sharp line of his collarbone. "Look at you."
"Nick," he says, my name coming out rougher than usual. His hands fist in my shirt, pulling me down. "I've wanted this for so long."
"Have you?" I kiss along his throat, feeling his pulse jump under my lips. "Thought about me touching you?"
I take my time with the rest of his clothes, then strip out of my own, Micah's eyes following every movement. When I settle between his thighs, he's already flushed and breathing hard.
"Christ, you're gorgeous," I say, running my hands up his legs, watching how he shivers at the contact. "And you're mine."
"Prove it," he challenges, his eyes dark with want.
I grin, lowering my head to trace my tongue along his hip bone. He arches off the bed with a gasp that goes straight to my cock. "Like that?"
"More," he demands, his hands tangling in my hair. "Nick, please—"
I explore him with mouth and hands, mapping every sensitive spot, every place that makes him curse and writhe beneath me. The soft sounds he makes—breathy moans, my name on his lips—drive me crazy in the best possible way.
"Tell me," I murmur against the inside of his thigh. "Tell me what you want."
"You," he gasps, his back arching as I bite gently at the sensitive skin. "Inside me. I want to feel you claim me properly this time."