Lost and Pound (Love Sync Mates: Season Two)

Chapter Eight

Nico

I woke the next morning curled into the searing heat of a raw, masculine form. Fallen leaves and soap inundated my senses, and I shuddered, stretching myself to full awareness. Shilo.

No fear. No unease. I’d been with betas before, an alpha once, but it hadn’t felt like this, so raw and safe. It felt like scratching an itch every other time. With Shilo, it felt like more. The itch was scratched, and I still wanted, and I wanted to be there even without that scratch .

“Good morning, handsome.” Shilo’s husky morning voice made every hair on my body stand on end and a tingle of lust shoot along my spine. Morning wood became morning steel in a heartbeat. His eyes dipped as if he could see through the blankets, but his thigh pressed in between my legs, letting me grind against him with a pleading motion.

“Morning.” I stifled a yawn as I turned my head away, not wanting to force morning breath on him. He didn’t seem to mind, though, stealing my personal space to slip in for a kiss that lingered. Breathless and groggy, I let him guide me through lazy pleasure.

He fisted my cock in a familiar way, rolling his wrist with each pleasant pump. Instead of preparing me for fucking, he slipped under the covers, kissing his way down until wet heat wrapped around my cock with a soft, “Mmmm.”

“Oh fuck.” If I wasn’t fully awake before, I was then. I gasped and rolled my hips, stilling when he pressed me down. He sucked, rolling his tongue around the head of my cock, over the wet slit. Until then, I wasn’t sure if I had a drop of cum left inside me after the night we’d had, but the sudden urge to get off told me differently. “Gonna make me cum…”

“That’s the point,” he muffled over my cock from beneath the blankets.

I fisted the sheets and writhed, his mouth doing unspeakable things that made heat rise in my cheeks as that familiar tingle took hold of the base of my spine. I gasped and swore, body jerking and twitching. “Gonna…”

He choked as I announced myself, swallowing each pulse of my pleasure away. Idle fingers traced their way between my cheeks and gently rubbed through the slick there. Though, it didn’t make me want to go again. The touch seemed almost apologetic, as if he were soothing my ring. I needed nothing more in that moment than to let the ache of arousal and humming bliss take me away, and Shilo had no problem letting me have it.

“Coffee or tea?” He pushed his way up, head lifting the blankets as they fell around him, drawing up the scent of him and fabric softener. Clean bed. Respect.

I judged a partner for their bedsheets.

“How about I return the favor?” I offered Shilo a grin as the final shivers of lust slipped away.

“You’re absolutely insatiable. I’d love it, but maybe let me save it for tonight? Tomorrow? If you feel like it, of course. I’m starving and I need a shower. I wouldn’t make anyone put their mouth on me right now.” He pushed himself off and dipped back in for another kiss.

“Coffee, then.”

“How do you take it?” He fished around in a drawer and pulled on a pair of pajama pants before tossing me a pair as well.

“Black with extra sugar.” I rose and followed him into the kitchen while tightening the pajama pants enough to stay up.

“A man after my own heart.” Shilo fiddled with one of those standard cheap coffeepots, loading it with a store brand of coffee. “It takes a minute. Share a shower? Hot water doesn’t last that long, but we both could use a rinse.”

I couldn’t argue and followed him into his ensuite for what turned out to be a rather platonic shower and some very pleasant exchange of back scrubbing. An omega could get used to treatment like that.

I idly wondered if my father had ever been as sweet with any of his partners. None had been his mate, so I assumed his ministrations were for his own relief and the eventual peopling of his genes.

As we exited the shower, we dressed. The clothes he’d gotten me the day before were enough of a fit to last me, so I casually wandered back into his kitchen. In my wake stood a younger, pale woman, her posture stooped as she stared me down with wide eyes. “Oh. I’m sorry!”

“Megan! Hey, it’s okay. This is my—friend.” Shilo rushed out of the bedroom behind me and ran comforting hands over my shoulders. “Nico, meet Megan. She’s a pack member who cleans for me.”

Ahhh, and there the alpha part comes in. He had pack members tending his home. It made sense, especially with how neat everything was. I had almost wondered if he’d had a female or an omega with how things were.

The scent of fear rose sharply, and she stepped back, her gaze trained not on Shilo but me.

“Nico, go back in my room a second. Please? We’ll talk in a few.” Shilo gently guided me into his bedroom, and I resisted protesting. The attitude didn’t appear like he was hiding a secret, shame, or anything else. He gave me a soft kiss before closing the door and walking away, his soft words muffled on the other side.

The higher-pitched tones of the woman answered, placated by whatever Shilo had to say. Then the back door opened and closed and Shilo returned, his expression grim. “Sorry. Megan is afraid of people and it’s hard for her to leave the house. Several of us pay her to come clean our homes at quiet times so she can get by. It makes her feel useful.”

Every time I think I have him pegged, he surprises me.

“We’ll do a slow introduction when she’s having a good day. She’s a rescue, kept in her wolf form for far too long as a child.” His sweet smile told me all I needed to know. She wasn’t a burden to him, nor was she a duty.

As alpha, he found a place for her, and she served a purpose to him. His only real duty was to ensure she was free to do her work. He was a good alpha, nothing like I’d ever known before.

“I have pack duties to see to today. Feel free to settle in and relax. There’s a phone and I’ll unlock my computer for you so you can do what you need, and feel free to log into my shopping list and buy yourself what you need to last you. A week’s worth of outfits should do. Keep it under a grand, yeah?” He stroked a hand down my arm and warmth nestled in my belly.

“You don’t have to do all this. I’m sure I can—maybe my father will want me back or—” His grip tightened just a bit on my arm, silencing me. When his expression went from hard to hurt in an instant, my heart ached.

“See to it you have your ID, any documents you need, order copies. Do you have any bank accounts or anything we need to get the address changed on? A phone?” His change of subject threw me off. He wanted me to stay at his own expense.

“Okay. I don’t have a bank or anything. No phone. I have a birth certificate and ID but I think it may have been in that van—my father handed it over.” I stumbled over my words as he loosened his fingers, stroking over my skin there apologetically.

“Hmm. Your father really did set you up without a safety net.”

I nodded. He was cautious about his omega sons. When shifters outlawed servitude and nonconsensual matching of omegas to alphas, my omega father left that day, leaving me behind. I was so little.

“I’ll take care of you. You’re mine now, Nico. I protect what’s mine.” Shilo leaned in, scenting me lightly with a groan of delight. I couldn’t have been more attracted to him if I’d tried. I’d submit and join his pack.

“Yes, alpha,” I whispered so softly.

“I’ll let that slide.” A soft growl petered out in his throat as he nuzzled into my neck, teeth grazing my pulse point. Every muscle in me tightened as he threatened my most vulnerable place. A single nip would have me claimed, would have him united to me as well.

A scary thought crossed my mind.

I wished he would.

I’d let him.