Chapter 21
Twenty-One
Vivian
We can't handle Vivian on our own this time.
That was the final blow to my heart. For a moment I really believed Kade fractured my mind, unleashing all the demons.
TOLD YOU SO! the mean voices shouted over and over again. All I could do was run. Run to the only other person I trusted in the whole world. Riot was my safe space when my other three broke my heart.
They could have said anything else and it wouldn't have hurt so viscerally. I should have left when I heard them diagnosing me, but I had to know what they were thinking.
It's better this way. Now I have confirmation they really do believe I'm a burden. Of course I should have known that everything would only get worse after being beaten and held captive for almost a week.
I just thought they'd still accept me. Hoping they would understand my new differences was too much pressure to put on them to begin with. Now I've pushed them over the edge into doing the one thing they swore they'd never do. Label me. Judge me.
The door to Riot's bedroom opens after a long five minutes, but I'm too tired to lift my head. It's a battleground in there.
"I see your mind twisting you inside out, Firefly. Let's say we go have a shower and I'll braid your hair, huh?"
What's that smell? My back spasms with the force of my head whipping up to stare at his crotch. Smelling the scent of his cum for the first time makes my brain stop.
"Alpha..." I breathe, ready to drop to my knees and clean him up.
"Don't," he growls and angles away from me with a hand outstretched to stop me.
His face is lined in sexy shadows, courteous of the low, intimate lighting of his room.
"Between you and Jarek looking like you're going to suck the cum from my pants, I'm in serious danger of making the mess twice as large. "
"Pretty please?" I tease, batting my lashes at his crotch.
Groaning, he adjusts himself and backs away. "Fuck. No dirty talk right now, Vivian. I promised your alpha I'd get us cleaned up and brush your hair. Don't make me a liar."
Grumbling, I shift off the bed. Cursing under his breath as he shuffles to the bathroom, I snicker. Riot glares at me over his shoulder.
"You could have warned me about Kade's sexual magnetism."
An unlady-like burst of laughter escapes me. "Sexual magnetism," I wheeze under my breath. Shit, that's a good one.
"Don't you dare tell him I said that," he warns, flipping on the light in the bathroom.
My laughter dries up at the reminder that I'll need to talk to my pack at some point. It was a nice reprieve from the mean thoughts beating me down, but reality hits hard sometimes.
As much as my omega wants to whimper and present for Riot when the bathroom boxes in his pheromones, I also need to see how well he can control himself. Can he put aside his own desires to take care of me when I feel like I'm about to shatter at something so small as a side eye?
Yes. The answer is fuck yes.
"Right there," I moan, head tilted back to give him better access.
After he showered and I washed my face, we migrated back to his bedroom. He offered to brush my hair, but the moment his fingers dug into my scalp to braid my hair over the side of the bed, I absolutely melted.
We shared a new form of intimacy in the bathroom.
He undressed and redressed behind the shower curtain, but listening to the sounds of water hitting the tub and picturing his naked body just a few feet away from me, I swooned.
The steam of his shower and scrubbing the salty tears on my cheeks away soothed my frayed edges.
"Goodness, Firefly. Are you always this tense?" Riot murmurs, trailing his amazingly skilled fingers to the spot behind my ear.
I was skeptical of how long he could sit on the ground like he is, but I bet it's been about fifteen minutes since he folded himself into a pretzel to pamper me.
All I do is moan. It's soooo good. The only thing that would make it better is three other sets of hands doing a full body massage at the same time.
Nothing sexual, just pure glorious rubs on my muscles.
Riot's pheromones expand, and his tether vibrates with concealed restraint. Honestly, this innocence of our time together makes my love for him grow. Love?
"Shit. Baby, relax. You just tensed up even more."
I force myself to let that thought go and just enjoy the quiet moment with Riot. He's showing me all the different sides to him, and I honestly enjoy every single one. Even the ones when he's kind of an ass and pushes my buttons.
"Tell me something about yourself, Vivian. Something I don't know," he murmurs, and presses a kiss to my forehead.
I blink up at him and wonder what he might want to know. Is there anything he doesn't know? My men have been giving him all the important information he needs to know to live here with us, but what else is there?
"Um," I croak and squeeze my eyes shut against the wave of anxiety waiting to choke me.
Riot presses another kiss to my forehead and lingers for an extra beat. "I want to hear you, little Omega."
My heart swells at his statement. Sometimes this man knows exactly what to say to get me to talk to him. I find I actually like the way he pushes me out of my quiet comfort zone. With him I feel like my will can be stronger than my anxious mutism.
"I—" I swallow. "I don't have a job, but sometimes the pack omegas we're remodeling homes for need a softer touch."
Riot chuckles and continues his glorious massage. "You're telling me those three hunky men upstairs aren't gentle enough?"
I smile. "Hunky?"
He taps my forehead. "You saw the aftermath of Kade making me come in my pants like a fucking teenager. I'm embarrassed enough. Yes, hunky and too sexy for their own good."
His pout on the subject is endearing. "Sexual magnets some might say."
Before I even comprehend what's happening, Riot has me rolled over onto my stomach. The bed dips and my breath catches when his weight settles gently on my thighs. Everyone is so careful of my wound.
"I warned you a long time ago that I would spank you, Vivian," he growls, digging those skilled thumbs into the muscles in my ass.
Oh sweet hell...
I wish I could say my perfume releases slowly and enticingly, but no.
A thundering snarl erupts from Riot as my scent explodes around us. "Fuck, Omega."
To my dismay, his hands slide up my lower back. The weight of him against my shoulder blades and his nose in my neck might be even better.
"You're mine, you know that? That sweet smile, sassy eye roll, heady scent, dirty nails, and scary strength are all fucking mine." He punctuates his statement by grinding his cock between my ass cheeks.
"Careful," I breathe, eyes already rolled into the back of my head. "Don't want to come in your pants twice in one night."
Like a whip, Riot sits up and swats a stinging slap on my right ass cheek. He laughs darkly as I yip and whirl around to gape at him. "Let's get you up to your nest before I peel these leggings down and finish my claim."
Warmth blooms in my heart for his patience and control, but at the same time, my lip drops into a pout when my pussy convulses around nothing. Instead of pushing, I simply nod and smile.
"Good girl," he murmurs. His movements feel deliberately enticing as he climbs off me. Paired with the way he trails his fingers between my butt cheeks and up my spine as he walks around me, I'm a panting fucking mess.
"Come on, little Omega."
I may stomp just a little on our trek up to my pack nest. His hand holding mine the entire way soothes some of the need I feel for him. My omega is practically whimpering for him to touch her more, but I remind myself this is better.
This is Riot's first time entering my nest. His first time upstairs in our intimate domain.
I feel him tense as he hits the top of the stairs on the top level. Tugging him further, I gather the courage to boss him around. It's not easy with such dominant men, but not knowing Riot as well as I do my other mates makes it a bit more nerve-racking.
"Vivian, I don't know," he whispers right as we cross the threshold into the pack bedroom.
I shake my head at him and pull. My nerves and the weight of this moment send the words back into their locked box. All I have to convince my new alpha to join our pack in my nest are my eyes and body language.
Riot barely fights me, but that doesn't mean he's not overthinking it. His hindbrain is probably chomping at the bit to follow me. I'd bet my left arm that the man is trying to convince himself it's a bad idea.
Hell, he almost had me in the perfect position to present for him in the basement.
We could have easily taken the next step, but his control saved us from our libidos for the time being.
This is the perfect alternative to sex. Him being in our pack nest is more meaningful than anything I could ever offer.
He claimed me, now I'm claiming him.
Changing tactics, I lift my arms and wind them around his neck. I so badly want to take his eyepatch off so I can see all of him, but we can't yet.
"Firefly," he murmurs. In the dark of my bedroom with my mates on the other side of the wall waiting for me, I reach onto my tiptoes and press my lips to Riot's.
A shudder ripples through his shoulders, and his hands tug me closer with a firm grip on my hips. Darting my tongue out, I trace the plump flesh and preen when he opens immediately.
My clit tingles and my eyes pop wide open when he sucks on my tongue. An unsolicited moan slips free making him chuckle and pull back.
"Alright, come on," he whispers, voice thick with desire. He doesn't release me though. Riot demands my trust by walking me backward until my feet are forced to rise the six inches onto my nest mattress.
A whimper from my omega startles me a little, but Riot's there shushing me as he helps me kneel between Silas and Kade. A little nudge and I'm lying back, hoping like hell he will stay.
Breath caught in my lungs, Riot and I hold eye contact as he begins to pull my leggings down. He leaves my underwear but with the soft twinkly lights around us, I note the clench of his jaw and the restraint he's forcing himself to hold.
Another needy sound escapes, and chills race across my entire body. Riot kisses the inside of my left ankle never once breaking our connection.
"Good night."
A crack feels like it expands through my heart and soul when he leans back as if to leave. Tears burn my eyes, but faster than I can blink them away, a hand shoots out and drags Riot down onto his side.
"You're staying," Jarek rumbles, sleep evident in the slight slur of his words. "Mmm, mate."
I watch completely surprised and enraptured as Jarek tucks himself around Riot, making my new alpha the little spoon.
Riot's familiar look of exasperation settles over his features, making me giggle.
Even though Riot glares at me, one of his hands wraps around my calf and he settles into Jarek's embrace.
I wait to close my eyes until he does. Please be here in the morning.