With every second, the pleasure inside her grew, rocketing past the point of no return, becoming something that couldn't be denied.
Faith tangled her fingers in Troy’s hair as the sensations grew unbearable, a sharp ache spreading from her center. Her legs trembled, the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs scraping against his coarse stubble. Her body begged for something she didn't know or understand.
"Please, Troy," she heard herself say. "Please."
And then it happened.
The entire world shattered. Her body exploded around his fingers. Slick gushed from her harder than ever before. Every cell of her body was transformed into pure ecstasy, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, and she lost control of everything but the moment.
When she thought she'd come apart, that she'd burst into a thousand pieces, the feelings shifted and changed. It was like coming out of the dizzying loop of a roller coaster, into the straight rails, the world still a blur outside of her. The raw need gave way to a lightness that made her feel like she was floating, while at the same time, she felt anchored to the earth by something even more elemental than fire or air.
Eventually, Faith struggled to open her eyes. Remarkably, she wasn't exhausted. Already her body was coming back to life, as though it wasn't ready for this to end. The reality of what she'd done would wait until later, stubbornly rejected for now by forces she couldn't control.
Before she could catch her breath, Faith found herself being lifted up into the air. Her legs were still wrapped around Troy's waist as he got to his feet, his strong arms holding her against him.
Faith flung her arms around his neck, even though she was somehow sure he wouldn't let her fall. She looked up into his face as he carried her back across the clearing, shivering when she saw that his jaw glistened wetly in the moonlight.
It was her wetness that did that. Her slick.
She bit her lip and resisted the urge to apologize again. The last time had only spurred him to go further, to do the unthinkable. And Faith wasn't ready to think about that, either.
Instead, she asked a question.
"Where are we going?"
He spared her only a brief, steely blue glance. There was a hardness in his eyes Faith hadn't seen before. A tension that grew stronger with every step he took.
But it wasn't anger that drove him. He was hungry.
Hungry for the same kind of pleasure that she'd just experienced. Ready to take it for himself.
That knowledge ought to send Faith into a panic. It ought to spur her to fight, to flee. It should take over her will with its urgency.
But it didn't. Something even stronger pushed back. The condemning, shaming, judging voice wasn't gone…not all the way, at least. Just subdued.
The magic of her devil alpha's touch was powerful.
"We are going to my bed," Troy growled. "A quick roll in the snow is fine, but after a few hours, you'd get frostbite. I'm not about to let that happen to my omega."
Hours?
"Wait," Faith said. "You mean we're not…done?"
The look Troy shot her this time was downright ravenous.
"Oh, little girl," he muttered, "these winter nights are long, and we're just getting started."
Chapter Seven
When Troy threw open the door, he was pleased to find that a bit of warmth remained in the house, the embers of the afternoon's fire still glowing in the hearth. It would help him warm up his omega, bringing color back to her cheeks and working the stiffness from her fingers and toes.
He wanted her ready for the heat she would soon experience in his bed.
Troy held Faith a little tighter as he closed the door behind them and carried her through the front room. He'd had only a taste of her passion, and already he was feeling protective of her.
He would have to be made of stone not to want to shelter her and keep her for himself when she tasted as sweet as she did. His hunger for her was raging out of control.
And deep down, he knew she felt it too.
Faith wouldn't admit it—not yet. She was still giving off a deep tangle of emotions, and it only grew more complex with each passing second. It angered Troy that she had been forced to feel shame and guilt and embarrassment—all the expected bullshit that came with a lifetime of living under strict rules and supervision. The people she'd known before, her beta family and community, weren't worthy of her.
But beneath those negative emotions, there was more to Faith. So much more.
The need and desire she'd been forced to hold back for so long were finally starting to bubble up to the surface. He could sense her craving for pleasure, for fulfillment, for release.
Troy knew how to sate that kind of hunger.
At first, he hadn't been thrilled with the prospect of a virgin omega. He'd never bought into the line of crap about women saving themselves for marriage. He saw the beta obsession with purity for what it was—just another way for beta men to control their women.
There was nothing impure about sex. Nothing dirty about pleasure. Passion didn't defile people—if anything, it made them stronger. More confident. More sure of who they were and what they wanted out of life.
No wonder the betas fought so hard against it.
And there was no doubt that Faith’s church had gotten deep into her head and wreaked havoc, robbing her of her natural feelings and replacing them with punishing self-hatred. Right now, his poor omega was so conflicted between what she believed and what she was feeling that her body was shaking with tension.
But Troy was about to make everything crystal clear.
Faith raised her head as he stepped inside his bedroom, tightening her grip around his neck when she caught sight of his carved redwood bed.
"I can't do this," she whispered, but there was no fight in her voice.
Her
