Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
Ax
T onight had been slow, even for a weeknight, so I’d decided to try out some new choreography on the stage, more or less putting on a one man show for the patrons who’d come in for the night.
Now, I was tired as hell. I wanted nothing more than to take a quick, hot shower and drop face first into Issa’s bed.
We’d all taken to sleeping together. It was normal now. Natural. And she no longer stiffened when one of us draped an arm over her waist to tug her closer, melding her back to our front, her knees over ours.
It had been three days since Amir had spent quite a bit of time entertaining our beta in her room and again in the nest. I didn’t blame him – Issa was hot.
I also didn’t blame her. For a male omega, he was far from dainty. His body was firm and tight with rippling, toned muscles, he stood around five feet ten inches, and had a deep, warm voice. Then he offset all that pure masculinity with his beautiful wavy hair, full, kissable lips – that I’d yet to taste – and beautiful green eyes framed with thick black lashes.
And yep, I’d noticed all that shit from the moment I’d spotted him dancing with Issa that night in the club when he had come in for the initial meet and greet.
Kind of like how I’d noticed the green flecks in Issa’s honey brown eyes, or the way there were hints of auburn when the sun shone on her hair. Or how she couldn’t lie for shit and would look to her left when she was trying to come up with an excuse for something. I’d also noted that she chewed the inside of her cheek when she was uncomfortable, causing her plump lips to purse in the cutest fucking way.
What could I say? I was a man lost to my beta.
We’d given her time to grow to trust us, to begin to heal from years of trauma. And sure, I knew it took far longer than mere months to overcome shit like that, but I was fucking dying to have Issa Alvarez…scratch that – Issa Rivera in my arms. Her sister was bonded to Pack Rivera. It just so happened our pack lead was the brother to the head of that pack. Not confusing at all.
Or it was and had earned us a front row seat or a spot at the head of the line on several occasions.
Didn’t care either way, honestly. Enzo’s brother ran…businesses. We ran a club. It had been the eldest Rivera brother who’d been able to finance the club we now ran and had built into an extremely successful place that catered to those with alternative tastes and lifestyles. The Vault also gave me an outlet for my obsession with dance. Not that shaking my hips or making men and women scream was what I’d been trained for since I could walk.
It struck me as ironic that just a few months ago we were perfectly content with the life we’d built. We could fuck each other or bring home a one-night stand. We could earn a shitload of money and…well, spend it however we saw fit.
There had been zero desire to add anyone else to the pack.
Until Issa. Until the day she’d crashed into our lives .
Even with the beautiful beta now in our pack, there hadn’t been this deep-seated need to add an omega. We hadn’t really had the conversation, but the three of us had never really expressed the desire for children. At least not anytime in the near future. We were only in our twenties. We had plenty of time for all that shit.
But our girl was intimidated by alphas. She’d grown to trust us, but she was still leery. An omega was no threat to her. And since Issa hadn’t shown any interest in women, we’d intentionally sought a male omega. Not an easy feat being as they were the rarest of their designation.
It had felt like fate when we’d come across his profile. His profile had said he was open to a pack with a beta, that he was interested in bisexual relationships outside of his heat when his body would demand the relief only a knot could bring.
Oh, and he was hot as fuck.
And then I’d watched the way the two of them had interacted on the dance floor as they’d watched me onstage. Before I’d even met him face to face, the way Issa had been instantly drawn to him cemented my plan to meld him into our pack through any means necessary.
Okay…maybe not any means. Unlike Enzo’s brother, we had no intention of kidnapping an omega for any reason.
But fuck…I’d pay Amir to stick around for Issa, as long as she was happy. Although yeah. I wished I was the one who made her happy, who elicited those adorably shy smiles, who she wanted to ride the way she had the omega three days ago.
Cyrus pulled the SUV into the garage and killed the engine as Enzo and I pushed from our doors. Slow nights ended up being the most tiring. Not only was I physically exhausted from all the dancing, but I was mentally exhausted because of the lack of stimulation. Not to mention I hated that my servers didn’t make nearly enough on slower weeknights.
We all trudged through the mudroom, kicking our shoes off as we went, then made our way to our individual bedrooms for a shower before bed. Since meeting Amir, she’d grown more comfortable with going to her bed when we worked late instead of waiting on the couch as she’d done the first few months.
We’d all been sleeping with Issa and, regardless of what the other two had planned, I had every intention of climbing under the blankets with her and tugging her to my body.
Amir’s sweet chocolate and strawberries scent still clung to every surface, mixing with Issa’s warm, sun-dried linen as well as our scents. It felt…fuck, it felt perfect. I wanted that combination here permanently, but we were still currently courting Amir.
Well, Issa was courting him since they talked or texted nonstop like a couple of teenagers while Enzo, Cyrus, and I worked the club.
Her scent rose above the others, but that was more than likely due to my absolute obsession over the introverted beta.
Would she still be an introvert once she finally got over the bullshit she’d been fed her whole life, when she fully accepted us as her alphas and Amir as her omega?
I couldn’t wait to see her shine like the diamond she truly was.
Stripping my clothes on my way to the bathroom, I dropped them wherever they fell, then let the hot water sluice down my body, washing away the sweat and stress of the day. My muscles loosened with every minute I stood there soaping up until I was more than ready to drop onto Issa’s bed and let sleep drag me under.
The three of us had invited Amir to the club again tomorrow. Friday nights were when we introduced new choreography from the male dance review… not strippers as my packmates liked to call us. We didn’t dance in thongs; we didn’t swing around a pole. And to me, that was what separated us, regardless of whether we brought someone onto stage or removed our shirts.
After drying off, I tugged on a pair of boxers and padded barefoot to Issa’s room…
And froze in the doorway.
Her phone sat on the nightstand, Amir’s face and body filling the screen as he jerked off. Issa laid on the bed in nothing but a t-shirt she’d snagged from one of us, her fingers thrusting into her cunt while her other hand rubbed her clit in quick circles until they both got off simultaneously.
As if the sight wasn’t enough, the sound of their moans filling the room sent every drop of blood in my body straight to my cock until I was dizzy.
I sucked in a gulp of air as my lungs constricted and my alpha pushed to the forefront, demanding I charge across the room, rut into my beta, and clamp my teeth into her flesh.
Instead, I gripped the frame of the door until my knuckles cracked under the pressure.
Issa’s eyes went wide when she spotted me, and she scrambled to end the call and pull the blanket over her lower half.
A growl ripped from my chest the moment she was covered.
Fuck. Don’t move. Do not fucking move.
Because if I took a single step toward her, my hindbrain would take over and I could never hurt my beautiful girl.
“I’m sorry?” she said, the statement sounding like a question.
“For what?” Damn it. My voice was deep, the vibrations of the growl rumbling through each word.
Her mouth opened but nothing came out. Her sweet and warm scent was strong on the air and was as fucking boner inducing as any omega’s.
“You have nothing to apologize for, baby girl.”
Once I felt like I wouldn’t lunge at her the moment I put one foot in front of the other, I moved further into the room, my eyes going from her to the phone then back. “You two were having phone sex?” It was meant as a tease, but even I could hear how deep my voice sounded.
Her head nodded quickly up and down, and her throat moved on a hard swallow.
“I don’t blame you…or him.”
Her full lips fell open and her chest rose and fell in heavy breaths. When her eyes travelled from my face down to the tent in my pants, her warm, sun-dried linen scent turned sweeter and floated on the air and landed on my tongue, sending even more blood to my cock until my knot throbbed with the need to be buried inside of her.
But she was a beta. Her body wasn’t built for a knot. And I would never hurt my sweet girl.
When she blinked a few times and started to chew the inside of her cheek, I knew her nerves were strung tight. I should leave. I should back out of the room and let her…
What? She’d already gotten off. Maybe she’d want to call Amir back and explain the abrupt end to their call.
I’d caught the smirk on his face when he’d spotted me standing near the door just before she’d ended the call, so he knew I’d seen enough.
Just as I’d made up my mind to force my body to turn and give her some privacy, she pulled the blanket away from her lap and pushed to her knees. Her hands shook as she grabbed the bottom hem of her tee and slowly peeled it over her body, revealing those tits I was obsessed with but had yet to feel or taste.
“Issa…” But any other words dried up on my tongue when she rested back against the pillows and spread her knees in invitation.
“You don’t have to…I don’t want you to think…” Fuck. I couldn’t think straight let alone form a coherent sentence.
“I want you, Ax. You guys thought I had no libido…” I rolled my eyes and shook my head as she threw my words back into my face. “But I’ve wanted you for a long time. And Amir said he thinks you three are waiting for me to make the first move. I trust you. I’m not afraid of you. Of any of you. I know you would never do anything I didn’t want.”
“We would never hurt you,” I forced out through my tight throat.
“I want to be pack. Officially. I want you to mark me. I want you to cover this,” she said, gesturing toward the ruined flesh left behind by that piece of shit Antonio.
As slowly as I could, I approached the bed when all I wanted to do was rush to her, cover her with my body, and thrust into her core hard and fast while chomping down on her shoulder.
Fuck yes, I would cover that fucking mark. I’d never said a word about it, but every time I’d caught a glimpse of that scar, red hot rage burned through my veins. It was obvious he hadn’t tended to her to help with the healing. The skin was ragged and raised instead of the beautiful silvery crescents that should have been left after she was bonded.
“What about a bonding ceremony?” I asked. My voice sounded guttural and forced as I struggled against the trembling of my body.
“I’ve had one. I hated it. Hated all those people staring at me. Hated everything my mother picked out. Hated…well…it might not have been so bad had it not been with Antonio and Carlos. But still.”
Carlos. The beta who’d been packed with her and her alpha before he’d disappeared shortly after their ceremony. From the little she’d told us about him, they were more roommates than anything, hardly talked, and only slept together once after they were officially bonded to Antonio.
He might not have been a threat to her, but I still wouldn’t let the cocksucker anywhere near her if he someday reappeared.
The longer I stood there staring at her, the more tense she appeared to grow until her knees began to close.
Nope. Hell no.
Moving close, I put one knee on the bed and began to crawl toward her. “If you only want my mark, I’m more than happy to give it to you.” You can have every part of me .
I kept that last part unspoken. No reason to freak her out when she was finally letting herself feel something for me, for us. When she was finally allowing herself to feel free, to accept she was an integral part of our pack.
No. We didn’t need an omega. We didn’t need Amir. Sure, all three of us alphas wanted him. How could we not? He was sexy as fuck.
But it was more than that. He made Issa happy. He’d helped her smash through whatever walls she’d built around her heart. Had helped her realize how beautiful, how sexy, how fucking perfect she was.
“I want you. I’m…” Whatever else she’d planned to say never left he r mouth. I pretended she wanted to tell me she was in love with me, that she loved me.
Because fuck…I loved this woman so much it hurt. I would have continued to live exactly as we had the past few months if that was all she wanted from me. I would continue to flirt with her, to buy her pretty shit, to protect her. But I would never have pushed her for more than she was willing to give.
Though if she wanted more…I would literally give her my heart and soul on a diamond encrusted silver platter. I would crawl on hands and knees through hot coals to officially have her as mine, to have her feel even an iota of what I felt for her.
Yeah, I loved Enzo and Cyrus, but it was nothing compared to the way the mere thought of Issa made my dick instantly stand at attention and my heart race.
Instead of saying anything else, she pushed up onto her elbows and smiled at me. “Are you…we don’t have to do anything else if you just wanted to mark me–”
Her words were cut off by a squeal as I lunged for her, my mouth slamming against hers hard enough I’d worried I might have hurt her or bruised her plump as fuck lips.
When her arms snaked around my neck to hold me closer and her tongue teased the seam of my lips, any fear I’d had of hurting her disappeared.
Her legs wrapped around my thighs, pulling me closer to the heat between her legs. The only thing keeping me from plunging my cock into her tight, wet heat was the fucking cotton of my boxers.
Slow. I had to take this slowly. I wanted to savor my first time with her after fantasizing about this very moment for so fucking long.
Except she apparently didn’t want any foreplay. One of her hands left the back of my neck and trailed down my chest, tickling my abs, before sliding below my boxers. Her thin fingers wrapped around my cock and my hips bucked forward of their own volition.
Her mouth pulled from my mine and nipped and kissed along my jaw and throat before rubbing her cheek across my scent gland. A satisfied growl rumbled from my chest, mixing with a moan as her fingers tightened and she began to slowly stroke me from base to head.
“I need to tell you something else,” she whispered against my skin.
When I tried to pull back to look into her eyes, she held me in place with the hand still cupping the back of my neck.
“A couple things.” Her voice was barely above a breath as she pulled my cock free from my boxers and guided the flared head toward her opening.
She didn’t wait for me to push forward, instead raising her hips and taking me in slowly, one agonizing inch at a time.
“I’m in love with you. I have been for a while, but I was scared… I didn’t think you wanted me like that. But I’m in love with you. And I want Amir to be our omega. I want you guys to win him over, mark him, and bond him to us.”
I could barely think past the way her wet cunt squeezed my cock as she took me fully inside of her until my knot pressed against her opening. It took every single fucking ounce of control I possessed to keep from shoving forward and locking us together.
For now, I would let her control this moment. I would keep my face buried against her neck if that was what she needed to speak her mind, to tell me what she’d been holding back for as long as I had been hiding my own feelings.
My arms wrapped around her and held her closer, her tits pressed against my hard chest. Yeah, I was the flirty alpha. But every second I’d flirted with Issa had been genuine, it had been the only way I could release some of my feelings for her without overwhelming her.
“I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you, Issa.”
Pulling my hips back, I pushed them forward again, clenching my teeth against how tight she was, how wet and warm and perfect she felt wrapped around my cock and in my arms.
I’d known being with her would be life changing. And I didn’t give two fucks how sappy that sounded. I’d never met anyone so beautifully broken and yet as strong as Issa. Through everything she’d been through in her life, she was still determined to build a life of her own. She was fighting tooth and nail to work through the trauma, to accept the fact an alpha could love her, could want her for more than prestige or her last name or even what she possessed between her legs.
Her feet locked around my thighs and urged me to pump into her faster. Fuck. I was trying to hold back. Trying to make this last. But between the overwhelming scents, the fact the woman I was obsessed with actually loved me back, and the way her cunt was practically strangling my cock…there was a good chance I would blow my load before she got off.
And that sure as fuck couldn’t happen. I didn’t care if I had to edge myself, pull away from her anytime I felt the first tingles of an orgasm and lower my mouth to her core to devour her pussy until she came on my tongue.
Fuck. I needed to see her face. I needed to look into her beautiful brown eyes, to see those pretty flecks of green and gold in the dim light from the lamp she’d left on for her little show with Amir.
And the fleeting image of the two of them masturbating together, of having phone sex while the three of us were out caused my balls to tighten.
Nope. Hell no. Fuck no.
Pulling from her, I smiled at her frustrated groan that quickly morphed into a moan when I licked one of her nipples and sucked it between my teeth, grazing it lightly before moving further south.
I could smell her arousal, the warmth of her scent stronger near her soaked pussy. She was so wet. It wasn’t like being with an omega, no slick coating her upper thighs or dampening the sheets below her. This was a mixture of the release she’d given herself and her body’s reaction to me.
And yeah, that definitely gave my ego a boost that simply the sight of my hard cock and bare chest had been enough to prime my girl’s body to be fucked.
Flattening my tongue, I ran it from her tight little back hole up to her clit, my hands clamping around her thighs to keep them open when they began to close around my head. I wasn’t sure whether she was trying to keep me in place, but there was absolutely nothing short of death that could make me stop licking her cunt until I tasted her cum on my tongue.
Her fingers tangled in my shoulder length hair, holding my face to her core as her hips began to writhe, fucking herself on my tongue. My hips began to rock against the mattress, almost fucking myself against the bed.
“Ax,” she moaned out as her breathing grew faster, heavier.
I looked up her body, at the way her back was arched off the bed, her tits pushed together by her arms as she kept a death grip in my hair, her lips parted, her eyes closed.
Perfection. Absolute and utter perfection. She was everything I’d never known I needed. Until we’d met her, until that day at Bain’s estate, I hadn’t realized I’d been missing a part of my heart and soul, that our pack was missing such an integral part.
Pushing a finger into her, I curled it and rubbed that spongey spot that would make her see stars as I continued to feast on her like a dying man, and she was my final fucking meal. I could live off her flavor on my tongue alone, breathe in her scent instead of oxygen.
All I needed was Issa.