Chapter 21 #2
“Still. Let’s not let them find out who he is.”
I opened the bag Kit had given me and pulled out a muzzle.
We both stared at it.
“So…do we need this?” I asked.
He hesitated. “I don’t know.”
I rounded on him, panic spiking in my chest. “You’re not planning on leaving us again, are you?”
“Jade…”
“You can’t! You already ran off once. You can’t keep doing that, cuz I can’t… I can’t…” My voice wobbled, and I took in a shaky breath.
Dammit, I hated crying. It was just all hitting me at once, the stress of running and almost getting caught and then Jewel going into heat. I gave a wet huff and wiped my face aggressively.
Hugo pulled me into his arms, holding me tight.
“Fuck.” I sniffed. “Look, I need you, Hugo.”
“You have me. I’m not leaving again.”
“You better not. Jewel’s crazy. Casey’s sweet but totally clueless, and somehow I’m in charge. Don’t do that to me, Hugo. I can’t do this. I’m terrified I’m going to mess up, then it’ll all be my fault…”
I was getting smaller and smaller, curling into Hugo’s arms.
“I’m sorry, Jade. I didn’t mean to put that all on you.”
“Well, you did, okay? So, promise you won’t do that again.”
“I promise.”
“Good.” I lifted my head and nodded at him, giving him my sternest look. “Now. Do we need the muzzle? Or are you going to bond him?”
He looked down at me, confused. “Aren’t you the one who tackled me off him earlier?”
“It didn’t exactly seem like a pre-planned decision at the time. But here we are now. Pre-planning. We know what Jewel wants. And honestly, I’m not sure either of you will be able to hold back once this heat starts. So?”
“It’s not that simple.”
He pulled up his sleeve, showing me a set of three messy scars on his forearm.
“Do you know what these are?”
Goose bumps pebbled his skin as I traced my fingers down them.
“Scratches?” I tried.
“They’re cleaving scars,” he told me. “I was part of a pack once. Then we found an omega. When I went into a rut, I didn’t recognize them.
I attacked them just because they were near her.
I’m scared it’s going to happen again. The closer I get to Jewel, the more I claim him…
. I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you. ”
His grip tightened on me, and I rested my hand on his chest. His breathing was hard and fast.
I shook my head. “That’s not going to happen.”
He squeezed his eyes shut.
“Babe, just breathe.” I reached up to cup his face. He was trembling beneath my hands. “You would never hurt us.”
I fully believed that. He’d rutted before around us, and the only danger I’d been in was of being pounded too hard.
“Maybe.” He opened his wet amber eyes, revealing agony within. “I want to believe. I want to claim him, and you and Casey. Maybe there’s a chance that I won’t.”
He took a shaky breath.
“But if I’m wrong…”
He shifted, and then he was pressing something cold and hard into my hand.
I stared down at the gun.
“Don’t let me hurt you. Or Casey. Please.”
“No.”
I pushed the gun back toward him.
“Jade. Take it.”
“We don’t need it.” I tugged down my collar and tilted my head to the side. “Bite me.”
I shivered as he dipped his head to my neck, lips brushing against my skin. “I can’t bond you,” he murmured against my skin.
“So just bite me. Mark me. Make me yours.” I wound my fingers in his hair, pulling him closer.
“Jade.” His voice was a low growl. “If I do this, I can’t take it back. I will never let you go.”
“Then I’m yours.”
I gasped as his teeth broke through my skin. Something brushed against my mind, a sensation similar to Jewel’s bond. It was gone as quickly as it came.
Even so, something shifted in Hugo’s scent as he licked his mark.
We jumped as the van door opened.
Casey stumbled out, looking dazed. “Thought we should get inside,” he said when he saw us.
Hugo’s aura split the air as he backed Casey against the van door.
“Oh—” Casey managed as Hugo pulled him down. He cut off as Hugo’s teeth found their mark.
“Jade?” Jewel’s whine cut through the air. “Where’s Jade?”
I slipped past Casey and Hugo and stuck my head into the van.
Jewel smiled when he saw me, crawling along the mat toward me.
He was a bit too far gone to keep up his claim that he wasn’t in heat. He felt hot as a furnace as he wrapped his arms around me. I backed out, aiming for the door to the room Kit had given us.
“Jade!” Jewel whined and snatched my arm, pulling me close. “Don’t leave me, I need you.”
“Come on. You need a wash.”
I grabbed Jewel’s hand, and he followed me into the bathroom. He was very enthusiastic about getting all our clothes off and slightly less so about getting into the shower. Casey came and removed the laundry, and I tried again to coax Jewel into the water.
“Come on,” I said, brandishing the soap.
He pouted. “Come back here, Jade. Why did you leave me? I need you,” he told me, stepping closer.
“I’m right here,” I cooed. “Not going anywhere, Jewel. Now, come in here so I can reach your dick, okay?”
He gave a happy chirp and practically pounced on me.
I struggled to keep us both upright as he caged me back against the shower wall, his erection rubbing against my abdomen.
His eyes were shining with fervour as he captured my mouth with his.
The kiss was hard and desperate, and I wrapped my hands around his neck to pull him closer.
More. I needed more. The soap slipped out of my hand, forgotten.
My hand slid down his front, and he groaned as I encircled his cock. It was hot and so hard it seemed painful. He trembled beneath my touch, his eyelids fluttering.
“Fuck, Jade, don’t stop,” he said.
I gasped as he started kissing my neck. His hands and lips were everywhere—my neck, my breasts, coming around to cup my ass. I swore as he hoisted me up and ground his dick right between my legs. God, that felt so good. He was holding me up, and I arched my back, grinding against him more.
He pushed me back against the wall and tried to line himself up. My hand slipped down between us to help guide him.
?
HUGO
I closed my eyes, taking in everything. I could breathe in the scent of this room forever.
It was traces of Jade’s lavender, of Casey’s peach tea, mixed with Jewel’s heady summer-evening scent. All of it was coated with the scent of me.
Mine.
That’s what the room smelled like.
My betas.
My omega.
My pack.
Despite the heavy pheromones, I felt settled and calm inside. I wasn’t afraid anymore.
Maybe I was the greediest alpha ever, claiming these three with no intention of sharing, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.
I opened my eyes to the door opening and Casey stepped inside. I rose to my feet and crossed over to him. He’d been gone? How the fuck did I not notice?
“Where did you go?” I demanded.
He bit his lip, eyes wide. “Oh! I just took our clothes to the laundry room. For after.”
I grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the bed. “Don’t leave again,” I told him, making him sit down.
He gazed up at me. He smelled amazing with mine and Jewel’s scent coating him. At least anyone who might have seen him would have known he was claimed.
“Oh, well, I might have to step out at some point—”
“No. They have a phone in here. We use that. You don’t go anywhere without my permission.”
“Yes, alpha,” he whispered. His scent was thickening with the telltale muskiness of arousal.
“Good boy,” I told him. I enjoyed the way his throat bobbed as he swallowed. “Now. Lie back on the bed.”
His eyes didn’t leave mine as he edged back and obeyed my command. We’d both changed into a light bathrobe, and my mouth curled in amusement as he tried to tug the bottom of his down.
“You bottomed for Jewel in the van?” I asked.
His cheeks went pink, and he nodded as he looked up at the ceiling.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Um. Fine,” he said.
I unscrewed the lid from a tub by the bed. “Sore?”
“I’m all right.”
“Open your legs, Casey.”
His wide, dark eyes darted to mine before returning to the ceiling. He was a real treat. It was immensely satisfying to watch him tentatively obey. He tried to keep his robe done up, but I pushed his hand away. I tugged the fabric to the side, uncovering his undeniably hard cock.
His hands were trembling, and I saw him swallow again as he looked at me.
“Is this all right, Casey?”
“Yes, Master Hugo.” Casey’s quiet voice sent a shiver of arousal down my spine.
I slowly pulled off the rest of the robe, exposing his soft body to the room and admiring how the cool air made his nipples harden. I trailed my hands down his legs, drawing out a soft whimper.
“You’re such a good boy, always taking care of us. So obedient. But not always honest.”
He winced as I touched the puffy, swollen ring that Jewel had taken earlier. I caught his eye, and he blushed a bit more.
“Are you sore, Casey?”
“A bit. Sorry.”
“I want to take care of you, too, you know.”
I took some of the cool cream and started to massage it into his reddened skin.
His breath caught, and he fisted the sheets as I worked.
I took my time, enjoying the little noises he was trying to keep quiet.
I’d started this intending to just take care of him, but I’d underestimated how erotic this would be.
The fact he couldn’t seem to help it just made it stronger.
His cock was twitching with my strokes, smearing precum along where it rested on his thigh.
“Oh god,” he whimpered as I slipped my finger inside him.
I let out a growl. “Do you know how much I want to fuck you right now?”
His eyes were wide and wet as he looked down at me. “You do?”
“My obedient beta, spread before me. Offering your body so sweetly.”
“Please,” Casey said.
I withdrew my finger and wiped off my hand. “You need to heal before anyone takes you like that again.”
His tongue darted out to wet his lips. “We could try something else?” Casey’s gaze flicked down to my muscular chest, and he swallowed again, his blush creeping higher on his cheeks.