Lia’s Reviews > The Hive > Status Update

At some point in the night, I found Valyx pressed up against her back, his nose buried in her hair and purring ever so quietly as well. He was done for.

The combination of the quivering queen and the man I loved was like the best drug ever made.

“You don’t need to apologize. Anything you need—everything I have—is yours.”

She might choose another, but we had been friends, even as children. I hoped that she would want me for her mate. I already knew that I chose her. She had the final say, but she had always been my choice.

“You, Saphyra, are the uncrowned Queen of Verden and betrothed to Alexi, son of Titus, the Regent. You are not for us, you are for him.”

The nest shuddered, and Ghost was ripped away from me. Like a dark storm cloud, Shadow loomed over me after having shoved Ghost back. “She is not for you. Have a little self-control. And more than that, you know what will happen if you push her into heat and we haven’t found a way to free Lex yet.” His searing growl was barely a whisper to avoid the cameras picking it up, but it had the intended effect.

My fingers explored his skin, tips dragging over his ribs down to his hips, where the band of his shorts started. I squirmed, pressing my breasts against his chest, and returned his kiss more deeply. I could feel his erection lengthening against the apex of my thighs, and a gasp left my lips as I rubbed against it.

“You should always be happy enough to smile like this,” he said as he pressed close enough to share breath. I didn’t know if it was my omega nature pushing because he was an alpha or if I was desperate for comfort, but everything about his presence felt right.

My father’s granite countenance cracking into a joyful grin when he looked at us both warmed my heart.

His scent hit me like an explosion. He smelled like home, like the faint memories of my childhood. The curl of fog-laced wind on cliffs overlooking a stormy sea engulfed me. I pictured the place in my mind, a fleeting dream slipping away too quickly. I gasped, sucking in more of his scent, and the clean ocean air crashed over me like an incoming tide.