Chapter 35
Logan
“Beyond being a dick move, Clover is my bondmate, not yours.”
Parker wilted. I’d cornered him when he tried to sneak home in silence after spending the previous night at his mother’s. “I know.”
“You had no right to try forcing her into a contract. If she wanted every dollar I’d ever made, I’d give it to her with a smile.”
“I know that too.” Parker sighed and gave me the same spiel he’d apparently given her, explaining what had led him to such bullshit ideas.
“She’s agreed to stay, and after what you did, that’s more than we deserve. I need to make some things clear so you don’t fuck this up for all of us.”
He wilted further, sinking deeper in his chair, his fingers clutching his cup. “I’m all ears.”
“I don’t want us to fight, Parker, but I know three things for certain.
The first is that Clover couldn’t have controlled her heat flare”—and that was what made the most sense for me to have gotten so lost in lust that our first time was fuzzy in my memory—“even if she was on regular suppressants. Scent matches do strange things to biology, so I don’t blame her one bit for not being prepared when it came to our pack. ”
“Scent match?” Parker lifted his head, staring wide-eyed. “When was that decided?”
“What else fits when we were all obsessed with her from our first meeting? I know she’s incredible, but this was…”
“More?”
“Yeah.” At least he seemed to understand.
“What’s the second thing?”
“You grew up in privilege and are used to protecting your fortune. You never said as much out loud when we met, but I knew you didn’t understand the connection I had with Avery and Hunter when we were financially worlds apart.
I remember how reluctant you were about allowing me access to pack finances. ”
“I—” He blinked back tears.
“In a lot of ways, I felt bad for you for that.” I reached out, laying my hand on his arm. “You were so used to connections based on money that I don’t think you knew what to do with one based on anything else.”
“I came around, eventually, once I realized you weren’t doing a long con or trying to rob Hunter and Avery blind.”
I let out a sharp laugh. “Took your sweet-ass time. I think the same thing is happening with Clover, but you need to speed it up this time, because the third thing is that I’m not letting Clover go now that she’s mine.”
She could have what time she needed, but fate had lined us up, and I wasn’t about to walk back on that. Whether she decided to stay or not changed absolutely nothing about my intentions to take care of her. Clover would never have to ask for my support. She’d get it whether she wanted it or not.
“Understood.” Parker nodded stiffly. “I…may have done something else.”
I heaved a sigh. “What now?”
“It’s not bad. I don’t think so, anyway. It’s a surprise for the day after tomorrow I hope she’ll like, but I believe it will also help us gain some clarity on her. For your sake, and the others, I want to believe she’s here for noble reasons, but I have to be sure.”
“If you—”
“If I’m wrong about her and fuck up again, I’ll see myself out. For now, though, it’s been a long fucking day, and I need some time to process. I appreciate you speaking with me.”
I let him leave, giving him time to get to his room before I went to mine, where I flopped down and stared at the ceiling, turning everything over in my head. I lay there for hours, unable to get my brain to quiet enough for sleep.
A knock so quiet I almost didn’t hear it had all of my senses tuning toward the door. It was barely the ass crack of dawn, but I was unfortunately awake from the turning of nervous energy in my chest. I leapt out of the bed and swung the door open, just in case it was Clover.
It was.
She stood there in all her sleep-rumpled glory, looking at me with those wide baby blues. “What I’m about to ask doesn’t mean anything, okay?”
“Okay,” I said, my voice rough, afraid to speak another word in case I spooked her.
“Could we cuddle for a bit? The room Avery made is beautiful, but spending last night alone in there felt weird. I don’t like when my scent is the only one in there.”
Satisfaction burned hot and bright as it poured down my spine like lava. She’d come to my door seeking connection, and I was ready to lay myself out on a silver platter for her.
“Did you want me to come with you, or do you want to come in here?”
She chewed her bottom lip, her breathing turning shallow when I reached out to cup her cheek and tugged her lip from between her teeth with my thumb.
Relief slid through me like a cool balm at the cloud of sweetness rising off her.
Maybe she was unguarded because she was tired, but I was going to take this opportunity and hold it with both hands.
“Take what you want from my bed, mama. I’ll make sure your nest smells like me.”
She blinked, breaking whatever spell I’d managed to cast over her, and bustled past me. She stripped my bed until the pile was so big she couldn’t see over it.
“Give me that,” I said with an indulgent smile. She was too fucking cute. “I’ll follow you.”
Clover padded down the hall after passing me the mountain of bedding and dove straight into her pink nest. Avery had done a damn good job on this space for her, even if I had no clue how he’d managed it without the rest of us knowing.
I ruined the color scheme by dumping my blankets onto it, slashes of black disrupting the vibrant pinks. I stood for a moment, just watching her while she arranged everything to her liking, then patted the spot next to her for me to join.
Steeping in her sugar-dipped peony scent was like ascending to heaven.
It scrambled my brain, but not so much as when she flopped to the side so I could curl around her and she wiggled her ass into the wedge of my hips.
For a moment, I thought her wriggling was intentionally meant to rile me up, but then she let out a frustrated growl and sat up.
“What’s wrong?”
“Clothes feel weird.”
“I can behave if you would rather be naked.”
I held my breath, desperately hoping she opted for that. I hadn’t been able to get my hands on her properly in too long.
Her tank top was gone in a flash. My traitorous cock rose in anticipation, hardening painfully when she fell backward to remove her panties and sleep shorts, my gaze trapped helplessly on the sway of her breasts.
The heat of her skin when she wiggled back into place was a furnace against me.
She sighed, her contentment glowing brightly in the bond.
It was still strange experiencing it. I’d been so distracted by the bonding sickness when she’d been gone that I’d simply assumed her stress was mine, in the same way I’d assumed her desire was mine as well on our calls.
Since she’d been home, it was easier to differentiate, and the bond was stronger with proximity.
Her contentment could still be mine, but the little flair of smug satisfaction when she backed her ass up against my stiff cock was definitely her.
Clover plastered every inch of bare skin she could to me, dragging one of my arms beneath her neck and holding it like a teddy bear down her chest. Her purr rumbled, giving me a crystal clear indication of how comfortable she was.
I slid my free hand over the curve of her hip and settled on her barely there bump.
“I can’t change anything that’s happened,” I said softly, “but I’m here. Whatever you want that to mean from now until I die, I’ll make it happen.”
A squeeze of regret shot down the bond. “I don’t know what I want it to mean. I guess that’s a lie—I do know, but I don’t feel like we’re in a place where I can have it.”
“You’re going to have to give me a little bit more context.”
“I want literally everything. Doesn’t mean I’m not scared to try for it. I flat out told Parker I don’t need your pack’s money, and he decided I was a liar. Makes me nervous to attempt a life with anyone connected to that mentality.”
“If it makes you feel any better, he definitely thought the same thing about me.”
“Sounds like Parker needs to be pushed into a cactus patch.”
I laughed, curling even tighter around her.
“Might do him some good. It takes him a while to approach things from a people angle versus a business one. I’m not defending his actions, I’m explaining this is how his brain works with unknown people.
I don’t agree with the contract, but you already knew that.
If he’d talked to us at all beforehand, it wouldn’t exist.”
Clover growled. “He’s such a butthole. I don’t want to be weird about any of this. I want my chance at the life Meadow has, and he’s ruining it.”
“If I knew how to fix it, I would.” If I had the ability to steamroll every fucking obstacle in our way, they’d be damn pancakes already.
“This is helping,” she assured me, melting deeper into my arms. “I’m not mad at you for it.”
“Maybe if you give in to the needs of a scent match, you’ll feel better.”
“Are we that?”
“Sure would make sense if we were.”
Clover nodded slowly. “I can agree there. I’m not going to let Parker off the hook, but I should at least be able to approach the situation with a healthy human level of patience.”
I got my purr rumbling. Nothing was better to settle an omega, and the more comfortable she was, the longer I could hold her.
Nuzzling her had her body tensing, and a gush of slick soaking my underwear where she was pressed against me. Her soft moan followed.
“I know you said you would behave, but I definitely didn’t promise that.” Her nails dug into my arm, and I held my breath, waiting to see what she might ask for. “Would it be dumb if I tried to claim this didn’t mean anything either?”
“Yes,” I grumbled in her ear. “You don’t have to pretend with me. I’ll give you anything you want.”
Clover whimpered. “Why, though?”
“Because you’re mine. What kind of alpha would I be if I didn’t give my pregnant omega everything she craved?
You can tell yourself it doesn’t mean anything if you want to.
I’m taking care of you, anyway. Besides, I did make a very particular promise to you about what would happen the next time you were in my bed. ”
“To be fair, we’re in my bed, not yours.”
“Same difference.” I kissed the curve of her shoulder, and she tipped her head to give me access to her throat. That first hint of surrender shot down my spine like lightning. “You want me to fuck you, mama?”
Another perfect whimper slipped out of her. “Yes.”
One arm was still trapped, so I wasn’t graceful by any stretch of the imagination as I worked off my underwear.
She settled quickly against me, and the adjustment let me hook her knee over my arm to spread her open far enough I could reach her throat too.
Her scent exploded. My fingers descended between her thighs and her grip on my arm tightened, her panting breaths coming sharply as I teased my way through her slick.
“That’s my good girl. Already dripping for me.” I sucked in a deep breath of her sugar-dipped peony, something between a growl and a purr rumbling in my chest as I lifted my fingertips to my lips. “Fucking delicious.”
I rolled my hips, letting my cock glide against her. It was too light to give her any real satisfaction, but I still didn’t want to stop. The inferno of her cunt was exactly what I craved right now.
Clover rocked impatiently, trying to shift herself around for the right angle.
“You want me that bad, omega?”
“Yes,” she growled. “Hurry up.”
“Put those pretty hands to work, then.”
She reached between us with a desperate whine. I groaned at the first brush of her fingers on me and shuddered as she lined me up.
I tested with a few shallow strokes. Taking an alpha cock, omega or not, was always a feat. Clover wasn’t tolerating going slow today, her hands pawing, trying to push my ass toward her. “Impatient little minx.”
“Make me come a few times and maybe I’ll be calmer.”
“A valid theory I’m willing to test.”
The sound she made as I fucked in to the hilt was a mix of moan and sob, her pussy strangling my cock. “Oh my god. I forgot what that feels like.”
“You can have it whenever you want. No need to let the memory fade.”
Clover melted into a mess of slick and panting moans as I really got going. Getting her to detonate felt so easy when I could fuck her, play with her clit, and hold her throat all at the same time. A fog of sugared peony filled my lungs and blunted my brain’s ability to form thoughts.
All that existed right now was her.
I fell into a rhythm of fucking her slippery heat, barely pausing each time she tumbled over the edge with her pitiful omega sounds and my name on her lips.
My own body hovered on the edge. As much as I wanted to bury my knot in her, I wanted her so satisfied by the time I did, she wouldn’t even be able to lift her head.
I was going to fall asleep with her in my arms and my cock inside her.
My name fell apart on her tongue as I plunged hard and deep. The scent of her slick was going to be branded on my skin, and I hoped it would stay there forever.
She reached down to cup my balls, and the unexpected sensation, coupled with the frantic squeeze of her pussy as she came again, finally pushed me over the edge with her.
Clover bit her blankets to muffle her scream as she took my knot.
My eyes rolled back at the pressure of her cunt containing me. “Fucking hell,” I gasped, my throat dry, my skin sweat-slicked, and the rest of my senses so dull I felt like I was underwater.
When my hearing returned, she was purring.
Apparently not totally satisfied, Clover still rocked her hips as best as she was able to, holding my fingers pressed to her clit.
I let her use me exactly as she pleased.
She didn’t come quite as hard now, but she shuddered through every release, her pussy twitching each time she increased the pressure.
“Someone’s insatiable,” I said roughly, stroking my thumb along the column of her neck.
“What can I say? Looks like you bring out that side of me.”
My purr rumbled. “As soon as my knot goes down, I’m going to eat every drop that comes out of you.”
Clover shivered, her pussy tensing. “Quit making promises like that when I’m the opposite of patient.”
I took over, teasing her clit myself until she melted, blissfully taking everything I felt like giving her. She should get some good practice with that, because by the end of all this, I was going to give her everything.