Chapter 51
Leo
Years of waking up early for Ocean Rescue shifts and, more recently, flower market days, meant my body woke me at six despite our late night.
My lips curved into a smile before my eyes opened.
Lucy was sprawled halfway across my chest with King sandwiched on her other side.
Everything was perfect…except my brow furrowed when I spotted Wilder lying at the very edge of the nest.
He’d seemed off last night. Maybe he just needed more time to get comfortable with all of this. I liked to think I’d gotten to know the reserved alpha pretty well the past couple weeks, and I knew he’d never been with an omega before. This was a lot for all of us to figure out.
“Go back to sleep.” King’s voice was muffled against Lucy’s hair.
“We don’t have to be at the grand opening until nine thirty.
” He wrapped his arm around our omega and his hand came to rest on my chest, sending flutters through my stomach.
Watching him with Lucy last night had been the hottest thing I’d ever seen, and it only made me want him more.
I squeezed my eyes shut. It was too early to navigate my tangled feelings.
I dozed for a little while longer before jolting awake.
Shit.
I had PT this morning and needed to leave now to avoid being late.
I was tempted to message Cassie and let her know I’d miss today’s appointment, but I was planning to talk to her about getting a referral to pain management.
Lucy’s acceptance—my entire pack’s acceptance of my cane—had freed me from the last vestiges of embarrassment.
I would always grieve my previous body—its strength, surety, and lack of pain—but I could find a home in my new body.
I smirked. This was the body that had fucked the most gorgeous omega in the world, the one plastered against me as she slept.
I shifted out from underneath her, and King’s eyes popped open with a scowl.
“I have PT,” I whispered.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
His question knocked me off my axis. He would leave a warm bed, where his omega was, to be with me? After years of being told I would add nothing to a pack because of my beta designation, I didn’t know how to process this. It was beyond my wildest dreams.
“Stay,” I mouthed. Maybe I would ask him to come to an appointment in the future, but today I wanted Lucy to have all the attention.
Main Street was waking up by the time I finished my appointment.
I peeked into Beans ’n Bliss and saw Ella was working, so I headed inside to get all of us coffees.
King, Wilder, and I were early risers, but Lucy was definitely not.
Her morning crankiness, so at odds with her otherwise persistently sunny personality, always made me smile.
But I knew she’d want to be especially alert this morning for Summer’s grand opening celebration.
“Hi, Leo,” Ella said, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “I heard speed dating had quite the exciting ending.”
I shook my head and scanned the space for Carmen and Marisol. They were nowhere to be found, but I’d bet my entire store they’d been here earlier this morning, spreading the news of our dramatic exit.
“I’d like four strawberry field lattes, please.”
She squealed and jumped up and down. “Four lattes! Four lattes!” Everyone in the coffee shop was staring at us, and I choked back my laughter.
“Maybe I really need caffeine this morning.”
Ella wagged her finger at me. “Don’t play with me, Leo.”
I grinned and handed her my credit card but she shook her head. “It’s already paid for.”
“By who?”
“King. He has a gift card he refills.”
“That’s probably just for Lucy, though.”
“Nope. He came in here the other day to reload it and said it’s for you and Wilder, too.”
Warmth trickled through my chest at the alpha taking care of me like this, but I couldn’t let it stand. I’d grown up with the Iranian principle of tarof, which was all about hospitality and social etiquette that demanded fighting over the bill.
“Ah, well, I’ll pay for today.” I held out my card again.
Ella shook her head. “King was very insistent.”
I scowled. “King is not here. I am. In fact, I want to pay for a gift card that covers his drinks anytime he comes in.”
Ella giggled and took my card. “It’s a good thing I love drama.”
A few minutes later, I cradled the drink carrier against my chest as I crossed the street.
Carrying it up the stairs while maintaining my balance with my cane and my knee, aching after PT, was a challenge, but I managed it.
I thought about taking the drinks into Lucy’s nest, but I wasn’t sure if that was against omega rules.
Besides, she needed some sort of incentive to actually get up.
I practically floated back to the nest. How was this my life?
I settled back down beside Lucy and kissed her forehead. “Good morning, azizam. It’s time to get up.”
Her nose scrunched and she let out the cutest kitten growl.
“I know, mornings are the worst. But there’s a latte waiting for you in the kitchen.”
Lucy’s eyes flew open, but instead of the smile I expected, her expression transformed to one of fury. “Where have you been?”
“I…what?” I blinked, totally lost. “I didn’t want to wake you before I—”
Lucy sat up and shoved my chest. “Get out! I can’t believe you’d come into my nest smelling like that!”
Her shouts woke King and Wilder, who sat up in bed wearing matching confused expressions.
King wrapped his arm around our omega’s waist. “What’s going on, baby girl?” His voice was low and rough with sleep.
“Leo came in here smelling like another omega.” To my complete horror, she burst into tears.
Wilder scowled. “What omega?”
“I don’t know what—” Oh shit. Oh fucking shit. My brain clicked the pieces together. “Wait, okay, I was at PT this morning and Cassie, my physical therapist, is an omega.”
“You let another omega touch you?” she snarled.
“Just for the PT exercises!” I shot King and Wilder a desperate look. I couldn’t scent Cassie on my clothes, but omegas had extra sensitive noses. They were also very possessive, something I’d known intellectually but had never experienced.
Thankfully, King took over. “Leo, take off your clothes and put them outside the room. Lucy, settle down. Your beta belongs to you.”
I practically ripped off my clothes and threw them down the hallway. I’d put them in the wash in a second…or burn them.
When I returned to the nest, she was still struggling against King’s hold. The alpha looked utterly unfazed as he flipped her face down over his lap and landed several hard smacks to her ass. She relaxed immediately, the tension in her body melting away.
“That’s a good girl,” King murmured. “Sometimes you need a little help to settle, don’t you?”
“Yes, Daddy,” she sniffed.
“I’m going to shower,” Wilder said abruptly. He brushed a quick kiss to the top of Lucy’s head and left.
Hmm. I definitely need to check in with him, but right now, I had an omega to tend to.
I shifted nervously on my feet. “Lucy, can I enter your nest?”
She nodded and King released her.
I lowered myself to the mattress, wearing only my boxers, and tentatively held out my arms to her. She lunged at me, knocking me on my back. Her arms and legs wrapped around me tight, and she rubbed her cheek against my neck, covering me with her scent.
I stroked my hand up and down her back, wishing I could purr for her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I smelled like her.”
She let out another growl, and King swiftly smacked her on the ass. “Behave, baby. Now, I need to run home and get dressed. Are you going to be a good girl while I’m gone?”
Lucy nodded.
He brushed her hair to the side and pressed a kiss to her lips, which were just inches from mine. My cock twitched.
“We’ll leave for the grand opening once I’m back.”
I caught his hand before he could leave. “There’s a latte for you in the kitchen.”
He nodded, but as he turned away, I swore I saw a blush on his cheeks.
I caressed Lucy’s jaw, tilting her face so I could press my lips to the same spot King’s were just moments ago. “Can you forgive me?” I murmured.
Her body relaxed around mine. “Yeah, of course. Sorry for overreacting.”
“I hate seeing you upset, but I don’t hate that you’re possessive of me. I love you so much, pretty girl.”
Her chest vibrated with a purr. “I love you, too.”
We lay there for a few minutes, Lucy’s fingers trailing through my hair as I drew patterns down her back.
Soon, her scent deepened and she started lightly rocking against my cock.
I clenched my jaw. We did not have time for any morning shenanigans, plus she had to be sore. Right? Did omegas get sore?
“How’re you feeling after last night?”
“Good.”
I brushed her hair aside to see her face. Her cheeks were pink, and she was smiling.
“Just good?” I cocked an eyebrow.
She propped herself up on my chest. “Really good.” I inhaled sharply as she arched against me, grinding her bare pussy against my boxers. The scent of her slick filled the room, and I groaned.
“We have to get ready for the grand opening. We don’t want to be late.” My words were strained, but I had to stay strong.
A heartbreaking whine escaped her lips.
Fuck it, I was weak.
I sat up so my back was against the wall with Lucy straddling my lap. “My girl is needy this morning.”
She nodded. Her pupils were wide, face flushed, hair messy, and she’d never looked more perfect. My lips crashed against hers and my fingers dug in to her ass.
“You can have one orgasm with my fingers to tide you over.”
She shook her head, lip jutting out in a petulant pout. “I want your cock.”
Fuck. This was every fantasy I’d ever had come true. How was I supposed to resist her? I wanted to thrust inside her, but if I did that, we’d never leave the nest. We needed to show Lucy that we could fit into her life, and that meant winning the approval of her friends.
Besides, I was slightly scared of what Summer would do if we were late to the grand opening.
I shook my head as I sank two fingers into my omega’s hot, wet heat, savoring her soft whimpers as I curled them toward me. “Naughty girls don’t get to come at all.”
“I’m not naughty,” she breathed. She was rocking her hips against my hand, taking her pleasure.
“No, you’re my perfect girl. So you’ll take what I give you.” I pinched her nipple and she cried out. “That’s it. So fucking beautiful.”
We were a flurry of clutched shoulders, fisted hair, and nipped lips.
I pressed my thumb against her slick clit, building her pleasure until she fractured with a loud cry. Slick gushed down my palm and wrist, my mouth watering with the need to taste her again. I brought my fingers to my mouth and licked them, keeping my eyes locked on Lucy’s the entire time.
“I refuse to go a single day without your taste on my lips. You ruin me.”
Her soft smile was everything. She wiggled proudly over my hard cock. I was seconds from exploding in my underwear.
She licked a line up my throat. “My turn to taste you.”
“We really need to get ready,” I said feebly, but she was already tugging my boxers down. They were plastered to my skin, soaked by her slick.
Any thoughts of protest died when her lips surrounded my cock.
“Fuck.” My jaw ticked, my hands clenched into fists.
Her fingers wrapped around the base of my cock, and in one swift movement, she tightened her hold and took me deeper in her throat.
I swore again, sweat prickling my forehead. “I’m going to come so fast.”
She released my cock with a wet pop. “Good. Then we won’t be late.”
My laugh transformed into a groan when her lips surrounded me again.
She gagged slightly when she took me almost all the way to the base of my cock, and that was all it took.
I fisted her hair as she sucked me down.
I kept my dazed eyes on her as she swallowed my cum and gave my cock a few last long licks.
She sat up with a smile, her rosy nipples matching her cheeks. “Let’s start every day like that.”
I stared at her, slack-jawed. She had just sucked my soul out of my body and was now just bouncing around, ready for the day?
She kissed me and rolled out of the nest. She stood, and her pussy was eye level with me. I swayed forward as though hypnotized by slick, but she moved to the door.
“Did you say there’s a latte for me in the kitchen?”
I nodded.
“Thank you. I’ll be ready to go in like ten minutes.”
My eyes were glued to her ass as she left. Once she was out of sight, I flopped back onto the bed. My little omega definitely had all the power in this relationship, and I was completely fine with that.