Chapter Twenty
Tenor
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They put an offer on a cottage sight unseen that is the furthest thing from civilization that they can find on the market upstate. It's in the middle of a forest with only one room that makes up the bedroom, living room, and kitchen, and a small walled up corner with a bathroom in it.
He thinks it's a shithole that doesn't even deserve Eden's consideration, but the minute she sees the photos, her lips tremble and happiness and relief flood the bond.
She deserved better, and they would give her better one day, he told himself, but every instinct they had demanded they hide her as far off the grid as they could get her.
Eden was melting down, barely held together by the three of them keeping her in a mating high.
They didn't know how to help her. Didn't even know who the four of them were individually, let alone know who they were as a mated pack of four.
Not on the outside, at least. On the inside it had been simpler.
Keep her safe. Keep her fed. Keep her comfortable.
She seemed to be settling a bit at least since they told her they were moving in to the cottage.
Whether it was because she was happy about the place or she was just cum drunk from the amount they were filling her with on an hourly basis to the point that it was constantly dribbling out of her into a little river on the sheets, he didn't know.
She'd stopped rejecting her nest, though. That was progress at least.
And then there were the baths. There were endless baths.
Julius went googling one day, and the next morning a box the size of their omega was on the doorstep filled with "bath bombs.
" The three of them knew about how to diffuse bombs, make bombs, how to slip a bomb into a car's engine so it would detonate at the right time.
They didn't know shit about bath bombs, though.
But apparently it was the right thing for their omega. Since then, it had been hard to keep her out of the tub, and wherever she went, they followed. It seemed like the zesty sweet scents of grapefruit oil, bergamot, and rose were permanently embedded in his skin.
But who was he to complain? All his life had been for the past decade was sand and blood and fists and prison walls. And now it was all sudsy water and sweet smells and omega purrs.
Then there was the way she sang under her breath while she tidied the place.
They had been jarheads their whole adult lives, and they certainly knew how to keep a clean bunk.
But Eden seemed to have her own ideas about where everything ought to go or how things ought to be arranged, and watching her neatly fold things and tuck them away settled something inside of him.
Or there was the way she cooked for them. It was simple shit at first, eggs and bacon for breakfast or a cobb salad for lunch. And then she started expanding her skillset, shyly asking them if they could pick up arborio rice or leeks or bok choi.
If a dish didn't go the way she wanted it to, she would blush and explain that she hadn't been able to afford fresh vegetables or meat before, and it was her first time trying the recipe.
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The first time they see the cottage, she's pressed into Julius' side like she's trying to climb into his armpit, the same way she had tried to tuck herself against them in the prison.
It's a half hour drive past the last house they saw and the gravel road was littered with massive potholes everywhere.
Everything around the little gingerbread-trimmed A-frame house was lush green with a blanket of white from the recent snow. There was a big porch out front and he can picture a little swing there and some chairs.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He could think of a lot worse things than sitting out on a summer evening with Eden in his lap, no one around for miles to see him slip his cock into her.
There was a musty smell inside. Clearly the only thing that'd been living in it recently is a raccoon. The stove looks like it's from about 1890 and the bathroom is worse than the facilities in prison, if that can even be said.
But Eden is grinning from ear to ear as she scopes the place out. She'd brought a measuring tape, and he and Luke end up taking measurements of every inch of the place for her.
On the drive back to the hotel, he catches her sketching out plans.
She blushes and covers them quickly when she catches him looking, but before she can fully obscure them, he sees glimpse of the big river stone fireplace with a sectional in front that all four of them could comfortably fit on.
A pack bed tucked against a wall of windows.
A bathroom that looks remarkably similar to the one in the hotel with a central tub.
When they get back to the hotel, he immediately strips her and takes her to the nest. She doesn't fight him this time and he purrs for her. Progress.
"Soo, baby," he begins, kissing his way down her giggling face, his hands holding her in place gently at her waist. "Tell me your vision for that dump."
She leans back, tilting her face up to him, a small sigh escaping her lips as he presses kisses across her jaw. "Hmm?"
"You managed to make a concrete cell beautiful. And your nest in the apartment was cute as fuck, even if it made Julius' asshole clench because of all the broken locks. But I trust your vision," his voice turns smug as he hears Julius' low growl behind him.
She blushes a pretty shade of pink beneath him, like she always did when they complimented her, as if she still can't believe it. Whatever the fuck Eden went through before they found her, he was going to spend the rest of his life making sure she knew how perfect she was.
"I–well, I don't know," she tries to avoid the question, her anxiety tinging the air, as if she hadn't already planned it all out in her head. Her hands creep below his shirt, running up the firm wall of his abdominals. He flexes them for her and is rewarded with a sweet gasp.
"Hmm," he says, his hips flexing again, his voice low and conspiratorial. "I don't believe you, Eden. Close your eyes for me, beautiful."
The way she obeys them without question sends a rush of blood straight to his cock. So submissive, so eager to please, no matter what filthy things they did to her hot body.
"Whatever you want, baby," he says. "The sky's the limit. You want us to bulldoze it and build you something new? It's done."
Her eyes flash open, glaring at him as her voice hisses out a sound he hasn't heard from her before. "Don't you dare! I love it! It has good bones!"
He raises his brows in surprise and Luke and Julius crowd in on either side of them too. Julius' voice is cautious, as if unsure if she's serious. "You really like it?"
"I love it," she repeats, and there's no hiding the truth from them in the bond. "W-we're going to stay there, right? We're not going to move again?"
"Well... I don't know–" Julius begins, and when her face falls, he quickly backtracks. "I mean, if you want to, then of course we will."
"It could be so pretty," she says. "With the original fireplace, and the hardwood floors. But if you guys don't like it–"
Tenor cuts her off with a purr. "We love it too, baby, don't worry." It's not even a lie. They'd love whatever she loved. But there was no way they weren't making her the prettiest, coziest, nicest nest she'd ever had. "Close your eyes again, beautiful." She obeys. "Now, tell me, what do you see?"
She chews her lips nervously, her voice tentative. "I think... we'll have to update the bathroom... and the kitchen."
"Done. We'll take you to the hardware store tomorrow, you can pick out vanities and tiles and shit."
She gasps a delighted sound at that like they just rubbed her clit and Tenor smiles, wanting her to make that sound again. "Tell me more. You want to keep the fireplace?"
"Yes," she says quickly, and he can picture in his head the four of them sitting around the fire, mugs of hot cocoa, passing Eden's pussy between them...
"It'll be a pain in the ass to insure, but that's fine," Julius grumbles, grumpy bastard. He really had become a goddamn daddy.
Huh... being a dad. That idea didn't sound so bad. He'd have to file that away to discuss later.
"I know you hated my apartment but could we maybe... bring my chair and my bookshelf? If that's okay?"
"Of course, baby," Luke says immediately. "Whatever you want. But..."
She freezes, peeking over at him through her lashes, as if expecting the other shoe to drop or something. He wants to soothe her with purrs and tell her nothing bad is ever going to happen to her ever again.
"That nest of yours was too damn small," Luke rumbles. "We're getting a bed big enough that I don't have to wake up with Julius' dick pressing against my ass.
Their mate's face turns a charming shade of tomato red at that, and Tenor takes the opportunity to grind his dick against her soft belly. "Fucking right," he agrees. "The only ass I want to fuck is Eden's."
She squeaks at that, but he can feel in the bond the way her desire spikes too. Perfect girl.
Enough with the games, his cock had been aching with the need to be inside her since she'd left that hovel with sparkles in her eyes.
His mouth meets hers in a deep, passionate kiss. She moans softly in response, her hands tangling in his hair. Her tentative kisses open up for him to thrust his tongue against hers.
He can feel his pack brothers' hands on either side of him reaching between them to roam over their mate's body, stroking and caressing her until she's a writhing, needy mess beneath them.
Tenor breaks the kiss, trailing his lips down her neck, nipping and sucking at the sensitive skin. "Are you still sore, baby? How's your little ass feeling?"
His hands cup her breasts, thumbs circling her nipples through the fabric of her shirt. She gasps, her back arching, and Tenor takes it as invitation to pinch them lightly, making them pebble through the thin bra she wore.