Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
Issa
Three months ago
C yrus hadn’t been kidding when he’d said they would order anything I needed. My closet and dresser drawers were nearly bursting at the seams and my bathroom held several scents of bodywash and bubble bath, along with any and every type of makeup and hair product I could ever want or need.
The pack was…the alphas were crazy. In a good way.
No. That wasn’t true. Of course, everything was good, and the alphas were as sweet as they’d been when they’d checked on me over and over after the day I’d rushed to Cora’s to warn her.
Ax…he was the crazy one.
And Cyrus hadn’t been bullshitting me when he’d said they weren’t expecting me to lay on my back so they could rut me when they felt like it. In fact, the only time anyone touched me was when I would wake up screaming from a nightmare and one of them would be wrapped around me, holding me and talking in low, comforting tones.
Then there was Ax. He teased me relentlessly, flirted in the cutest way, even ruffled my hair like I was his little sister rather than a single, unclaimed beta sleeping in a room right by his.
They had made me sit on the bed while they’d fussed about where all my new belongings should go and argued over who bought the best stuff. It was all beautiful, but there was no way I would or could ever wear that much.
Especially since I was still nervous about actually going into public.
Since Antonio had vanished after my sister’s pack had executed my fathers and mother, it felt as though there was a threat around every corner, like every shadow in the yard was a hiding place for my former alpha to lie in wait so he could drag me back to the hell I’d been living through since I’d graduated high school.
At the moment, I was wandering my bedroom in the dark, stopping near the window to look down onto the moonlit yard. For three bachelors, they’d kept their yard tidy and well-manicured. Their house was pretty, too, but definitely decorated for a pack of men with the darker colors and leather couches.
This wasn’t the first night since I’d officially moved in here that I either couldn’t fall asleep or woke up in the middle of the night and was too scared to sleep.
I knew it was stupid. Antonio wasn’t here. My fathers were dead. No one could get through any of the windows or doors without setting off the alarm and there were cameras everywhere. I’d even noted the red blinking light of one in my room, though I tried to ignore it. I hated to think one of the alphas might watch it when I slept and would hear me snore or mumble something embarrassing.
With a frustrated sigh, I pushed from the windowsill and made my way from my room. A snack sounded tempting, even something as simple as a glass of wine or maybe some hot chocolate. Anything that would give me that warm, fuzzy feeling enough to make me drowsy again.
The moment I stepped into the hallway, soft, masculine moans met my ears.
Turning my head, I stared down the darkened row of doors. Two of them were open and the sounds weren’t coming from that direction. They were coming from downstairs.
Had Ax or one of the other two brought someone home? And being as I’d been upfront and blunt about not wanting any of them to expect me to hop into their bed on demand, I was shocked by the level of jealousy coursing through my system at the prospect of one of them having sex with another beta. Or even an omega.
Especially an omega.
My siblings and I had been raised to believe we were nothing special because of our designations. Alphas were the rulers and leaders while omegas were fucking royalty. The only reason my fathers had deemed me and my brothers worthy of an arranged bonding was because they’d chosen packs that would further their criminal empire and agenda.
Keeping my steps and breathing as quiet as possible, I padded down the hall and toward the stairwell, peering over the railing and into the living room.
Cyrus was on his back, Ax between his knees. The muscles in Ax’s back and ass bunched and rolled beneath his skin as he rolled his hips forward, making love to his alpha packmate while kissing him deeply.
I’d assumed the three of them had been or were currently romantically involved, but this was the first time I’d had a front row seat to it. And everything south of my belly button was warm, my core throbbing, and my panties growing damp with arousal.
This was…they weren’t fucking. Ax wasn’t rutting into Cyrus the way Antonio used to with me. He was making love to someone he cared about, someone he loved.
My chest rose and fell with deep breaths as I stood there like a voyeur. I kept in the shadows so as not to be detected, but it still felt wrong to encroach on this special moment between them .
Or it could simply be a way for them to sate a primal need since the broken beta they’d brought to their house wasn’t interested in sex.
Though that wasn’t true. I’d just been scared. Still kind of was.
Memories of the times Antonio had caused tears and pain down there when he’d forced his knot into me caused nothing short of terror to squeeze my heart anytime I contemplated having sex with another alpha.
They wouldn’t do that to you .
That little voice had grown louder and louder lately, reminding me these alphas were not the men of my past. They had never and would never hurt me, not intentionally.
When Ax’s pace picked up and he threw his head back on a low moan, I began to back away.
Not only did I not want to get caught watching them, but I felt like I was about to catch on fire. It wasn’t quite like how I’d heard omegas describe their heats, but damn if my body wasn’t warm and my skin too tight.
And an undeniable urge to rush down those stairs and join the two alphas, maybe to wedge myself between them, straddle Cyrus’s hips and ride him while Ax took him was almost overwhelming.
It wasn’t that I was never turned on or horny. It had just been a long damn time since I’d actually wanted an alpha to take me the way Ax was taking Cyrus. I wanted to know how he would feel pumping into me, how Cyrus’s hands would feel on my body, how Enzo’s mouth would feel on my breasts or pussy.
Taking a step back, then another, I turned quickly and jogged as quietly as possible back to my room, closing my door with a quiet snick . Then I stood staring at the door as my heart raced behind my ribs and my breathing sawed in and out of my lungs.
I could no longer hear the moans or the heavy panting from Ax and Cyrus, but that image was burned into my corneas.
Replaying the scene on loop in my head, I let my hand trail down my body, cupping my breasts before trailing to my sleep shorts to touch myself over the fabric. So much pressure had built in those short moments that I was sure I would combust if I didn’t find a release … immediately.
On shaky legs, I headed for my bed and climbed under the blankets, closing my eyes as my hand moved under the blanket, under my shorts, and directly between my legs. I pretended it was Ax’s hand or Cyrus’s. I pretended I was the one lying on that couch, I was the one Ax was pumping his cock into.
Dipping a finger into my core, I circled my arousal around my clit as the tight bundle of nerves throbbed to my heartbeat. A whisper of a moan left my lips before I could stop it, but I refused to stop teasing myself, pushing myself closer and closer as those first tingles of release built in my abdomen.
My mouth parted and I swallowed back the cry as I came harder than…ever. I wasn’t sure I had ever come while with a man, but that had been, by far, the strongest, most earth-shattering orgasm I’d ever experienced, and it had everything to do with the erotic display I’d seen downstairs.
We’d fallen into a fairly comfortable pattern. As in, I was comfortable around them, and they were comfortable being themselves without worrying about scaring me.
Honestly, after spending the past few weeks with them, I wasn’t sure how anyone could fear any of these alphas. Enzo could be a tad intense, but only because he truly cared about his pack. And me. They’d alluded to me officially joining as their beta, but no one had come out and actually asked if I wanted to join.
It wasn’t that I was expecting to be courted; I was a beta, not an omega. They weren’t required to perform any grand gestures, there would be no bonding ceremony, no soft, sparkly gifts.
But I didn’t need any of that. I’d had a bonding ceremony. I’d had an alpha buy me shit when he was trying to impress my fathers. And look how that turned out .
No. I just wanted a pack to care about me simply because of who I was and not what my family name could bring them.
I laughed inwardly as I poured my first cup of coffee. My family was dead. Or at least my parents were dead. And with them went the power. My sister was the only omega and she’d bonded with an equally powerful pack of alphas.
A wave of shame rolled over me at the memory of gunmen converging on the car carrying Cora to her bonding ceremony. Antonio, my brothers’ packs, and my fathers all ran while Cora was left alone. We hadn’t known for weeks whether she was dead or alive, whether she’d been assassinated or sold into omega trafficking.
The shame really shouldn’t be in my heart. I hadn’t been driving. I’d had zero control over Antonio’s actions. In fact, I barely remember that day, the events more like a hazy memory from the sedatives my alpha had injected into my bloodstream.
Smiling at Cyrus as he breezed past me, stopping to press a morning kiss to the top of my head, I filled my mug and carried it to the living room to wake up while watching some reruns of The Andy Griffith Show . None of the guys grumbled about my love of old TV shows or movies, though they often teased me about it.
“Morning,” Enzo grumbled as he dropped onto the other end of the couch, his laptop under one arm, a steaming mug in his free hand.
“Good morning,” I said, giving him a soft smile before returning my attention to the ever so perfect town of Mayberry.
As I sighed at the easiness of the fictional town and its people, the soft thud of music bumped through the floor.
Turning a frown on Enzo, I asked, “Is that Ax already?”
It wasn’t exactly early at ten in the morning, but the guys tended to work late. Which meant I tended to either wait up for them to get home – I was still too scared to sleep in this house alone – or was woken up when they came through the door since I stayed on the couch until I was no longer here alone.
“Sounds like it. Unless Cyrus is working out.”
“Not me,” Cyrus said, his hand wrapped around what I assumed was a protein drink by the packaging .
The alphas owned a few clubs but primarily focused on a higher end one that happened to showcase a male dance review. Not a strip show, as Ax argued over and over again. Probably because he was one of those dancers.
I’d been informed he’d been formally trained from the time he could walk, but being as I was too scared to leave the house let alone set foot into the club, I’d yet to see it.
“Is he working out or…?” I let the question trail and hoped I didn’t sound like a horndog when I so desperately wanted to sneak down there and catch him shaking his hips while sweat glistened on his – hopefully – bare chest.
Yep. I’d developed a hardy crush on Ax. And Cyrus…and Enzo.
Ax was such a flirt, but it was obvious he saw me as simply a packmate. He wasn’t shy about changing when I was in the room and had even openly talked about other women when I was in the room.
Cyrus was so freaking sweet, always trying to anticipate my needs before I was even aware of them. It tended to be him who woke me from my nightmares, holding me against his strong body, gently restraining me to keep me from hurting him or myself while muttering sweet and comforting words until I’d calmed down enough to go back to sleep.
It had taken a few times to convince him to stay in the bed with me. I trusted he wouldn’t try to take advantage of me or make me uncomfortable.
Enzo. I mentally sighed. He was so…dominant. But not in the jackass way. He could easily command respect and rarely used his alpha bark on his other two packmates. Never on me. In fact, his expression and tone tended to soften when he addressed me.
Yeah, I was crushing hard on these three men, but I didn’t have the courage to tell them I was ready to entertain the idea of not only joining their pack but actually asking for more than the chaste kisses to my forehead, temple, or top of my head, or the gentle hugs.
Cyrus smirked in my direction, then faked a serious expression. “You’d better go check on him. Wouldn’t want him working out without a spotter. ”
“Yeah. Because her ninety-pound self can do shit if he drops a weight.”
I scoffed. “Trust me when I say I do not weigh ninety pounds.” Although it wasn’t much more. Unlike omegas, I wasn’t blessed with the wide hips or the big butt and boobs. Not that I was rail thin or shapeless, but I was…average.
My hair was twisted up in a messy bun and I was wearing one of the pajama sets they’d ordered for me, but we’d all just woken up. None of them even hinted at me so much as applying mascara since all I did was sit around the house and the only people I saw beside these three were my sister and her alphas.
With my hand wrapped around my mug, I grinned. “Should I change the music when he’s not looking? Put on some nineties pop?”
“He likes nineties pop,” Enzo said with an eye roll.
Because of course Ax would like nineties pop. He also liked what Enzo referred to as chick flicks, which was any movie that had a romantic storyline and no explosions.
Cyrus winked at me as I passed him, trying to keep my steps light to avoid my approach being heard over the music.
The stairs didn’t so much as squeak under my feet as I snuck downstairs, lowering my head to look the moment I was low enough.
He wasn’t working out.
And, as I’d hoped, he was shirtless.
The basement spanned the length of the house with the home gym in the corner closest to the stairs and the rest open with mats and mirrors hung around the room so Ax could create different routines for the guys who danced at the club.
Lowering onto a step, my eyes began to water from the lack of blinking while my heart began to race, and I was instantly warm from the neck down.
I’d known he could dance. He’d even pulled me to my feet a few times in an attempt to get me to dance with him. But this? This was unlike anything I’d seen him do before.
He would roll his hips, his eyes on the mirror, then spin with so much grace it was like he was part cat. He leapt through the air, his legs spread in the splits before landing and rolling on the ground to pump his hips while holding himself up on one arm, simulating having sex with someone.
My mind started playing tricks on me as I pictured myself beneath him, my legs spread as that wickedly beautiful body of his writhed and gyrated and ground against the floor.
By the time he finished, I was breathing nearly as hard as he was.
His eyes met mine in the mirror and a salacious grin spread across his face. “Whatcha doin’ there, creeper?”
“I’d planned to change your song and throw you off but…you can really dance, Ax.” After the words left my mouth, I felt stupid for voicing them.
Of course, he could dance. Not only had he trained his whole life, but he danced in front of hundreds of people on a regular basis.
“Thanks.” He grabbed a towel from a pile stacked on a table and rubbed it over his face and head before moving it down his pecs and stomach, my eyes following his every move.
It was a feat to keep from licking my lips…or crossing the room and licking the spiced rum scented sweat covering that perfectly chiseled body. He looked like he belonged on the latest cover of Alpha XL.
“That for me?” he asked, nodding his head at my mug.
It took a few moments for my brain to catch up to his words and for me to stop ogling his half naked body.
“What? No. It’s mine. Get your own.”
He stuck his tongue out at me, so I returned the gesture, then giggled the whole way up the stairs.