My heart stutters at his words, and for a moment, I freeze beneath him.
“Em?” Concerned, his movements slow. “Did I say something wrong?”
I shake my head, swallowing hard. “No, it’s not that.”
His hips still, his weight braced on his forearms as he studies me. “Tell me.”
The words stick in my throat, shame burning across my skin. This shouldn’t be difficult to admit, but it is. “I’ve never... locked anyone before.”
Confusion creases his brow. “But you and Auren...”
“He never wanted that from me.” The raw, painful truth spills out. “Said female Alpha locks were too much hassle. Too tight. Too long.”
Hurt flashes in Jared’s eyes, not for himself but for me, and he cups my cheek. “He was a fool.”
The tenderness in his voice breaks loose a fear I’ve carried for years. I turn my face into his palm, kissing the center. “I might not be good at it.”
Jared’s laugh rumbles through both our bodies. “There’s no good or bad, Em. There’s only us.”
He begins to move again, slower now, more deliberate. Each thrust reaches deeper, angling to find spots inside me that blur my vision with pleasure. His gaze holds mine, refusing to let me hide.
“I’m going to prepare you,” he murmurs, thick with desire. “Make room for my knot.”
Before I can ask what he means, his hand slips between us. His finger circles where we’re joined, gathering the wetness there before easing in alongside his cock.
The added width burns, my body resisting the intrusion. I hiss, tensing beneath him.
“Easy,” he soothes, stilling his hips while his finger remains. “Breathe through it.”
His lips find mine in a gentle kiss, his free hand stroking my hair back from my forehead. “That’s it. You’re doing so well.”
The praise sends a different kind of warmth through me, and I force myself to relax, focusing on the pleasure rather than the discomfort.
“Good girl,” he murmurs, the words thrilling coming from him. “Now another.”
A second finger joins the first, stretching me wider. The burn intensifies, but beneath it, a new sensation builds. The fullness borders on too much, my body unsure whether to reject the intrusion or welcome it.
Jared watches me, reading each flicker of motion. “Do you want me to stop?”
The question surprises me. “What?”
“I don’t have to knot you,” he says, his fingersstill motionless inside me alongside his cock. “I can pull out enough for you to still lock me.”
No one has ever put my pleasure before their own. No one has ever paused to check whether I was comfortable, whether I wanted something, or whether I felt good. The care wrapped up in that simple offer nearly unravels me from the inside out.
“Keep going,” I manage, my body wound tight and trembling. “I want it.”
He begins moving again, his shallow thrusts somehow hitting deeper with his fingers stretching me open. His thumb circles my clit, and electricity streaks up my spine.
“One more,” he tells me, sliding a third finger in with the others.
The stretch burns almost to the point of pain, but his attention to my clit muddles the sensations, blurring the lines between discomfort and pleasure. My body clenches around the invasion, walls fluttering with the strain.
“There you go,” Jared praises. “Making room for me.”
His fingers work in time with his cock, stretching me wider with each careful thrust. Sweat beads on his forehead, his restraint evident in the trembling of his arms and the tension in his jaw.
“Why are you doing this?” I gasp, needing to understand.