Chapter 33
Diego
Em doesn’t look too good.
He looks like death warmed over, actually, and I didn’t miss his grimace when Auryn jumped into his lap. I didn’t miss the way he paled when Gage asked what happened at the Orion house.
Something terrible happened, something he won’t even admit to Gage.
And it happened because of me.
I wish I could get closer to him, but Auryn won’t let anyone near him. She’s in full “mine”
mode. Strange for an omega to be so possessive and protective, but then again, she almost lost him.
We almost lost him.
At least he ate. I was starting to worry. A whole day without food after the ordeal he endured–not to mention the fact that I doubt Sneed let him eat–is too long. Even for being captive for such a short time, he’s lost weight.
After Auryn took him to her nest, Gage wandered off, grumbling about needing time to think, and Olly went back to his lab.
I’m alone.
As alone as I was when I entered the Orions’ pack house.
It was only ten minutes. Not long at all … but the way the Orion alphas jumped me … the savagery with which they beat me before shooting me …
I should be dead. I shouldn’t be walking around while Em suffers. He shouldn’t be suffering, period. He should have gone to get Gage.
Why didn’t he go get Gage?
As I pace the halls of the dorms, Olly rushes past me towards Auryn’s room.
“Olly, wait! It’s just Em and la princesa right now. If you interrupt them–”
“I need to talk to Auryn,”
he says, his face flushed. He grabs my arm and drags me along with him. “Actually, I could use you.”
Use me? I have no idea what he’s talking about.
Before I can ask, Olly pounds on Auryn’s door with his other hand. “Auryn? Auryn!”
The door flings open, and Auryn’s scowling face appears. “Quiet! Em’s sleeping.”
Olly shoves me between Auryn and himself. “He can keep guard. I need you to come with me to the lab.”
Auryn growls, and I put my hands up in self defense. “Hey, mi amor, I was just walking down the hall. But if Olly says it’s important, then I trust him.”
She relaxes a bit, and I bow to her. “If it pleases mi princesa, I will stand guard over Emmett while she is away. No harm shall come to him under my watch.”
That seems to reassure her. She reaches up on her toes and kisses my cheek before following Olly down the hall.
I owe Olly a favor for this. Finally I can have a moment with Em. Express my gratitude.
I can also tell him he’s an idiot for risking his life for me.
When I enter Auryn’s room, the air is thick with burnt cherries and … Dios! He does smell a bit like vanilla.
I creep to the bed, where Em lies sleeping. Careful not to jostle the mattress too much, I crawl in next to him. To my surprise, he’s still fully dressed. I would have expected him and Auryn to–Well, I expected nudity.
For the first few minutes, I just hold him gently, stroking his hair and breathing in his scent. The new sweet omega odor blends nicely with his normal fruity smell. I understand Auryn’s sudden need to guard and protect him. He smells like omega, and it brings out my protective side, too. I curl my body around his, becoming the big spoon while he sleeps.
After a while, Em stirs. At first, he snuggles into my embrace, but it doesn’t take him long to realize that I am not, in fact, Auryn.
“D-diego?”
“Sí, hermano.”
“Why are you hugging me, dude?”
A low chuckle rumbles in my chest. “Because I missed you. This place is far too quiet without you.”
Em barks out a bitter laugh. “Come on. You guys would have been fine without me. Probably should’ve let me die down there.”
I grip him tighter. Just the thought of losing him like that …
“Look, you squeeze me any harder, and we’re going to have a mess on our hands. I have to pee.”
“Okay, then. We’ll go pee.”
He rolls over to glare at me. “What do you mean ‘we’?”
I give him a shrug. “I told our sweet mate that I’d guard you. So, where you go, I go.”
“Diego–”
“No exceptions,”
I quip, helping him off the bed. “Let’s go.”
With my help, Em makes it to the bathroom, though he grumbles the whole way. When I refuse to turn my back on him, he rolls his eyes at me.
“Do you want to hold it for me, too?” he snaps.
“Do you need me to hold it?”
I ask, undeterred. “Because I will. I owe you my life, hermano, and I’ll do whatever you need from now on.”
He angles his back to me, hiding himself as he empties. That’s odd for Em. He’s never been bashful before. A grimace crosses his face as he positions himself, and I wonder if maybe he does need me to hold it.
“Emmett?”
I reach for his hand to offer assistance, and he slaps my hand away. “Fucking leave me alone, man! I can fucking take a piss by myself.”
The motion makes him lose his grip on his pants, and they slide down. I bend to help him, and that’s when I see it …
That’s when I see what they did to him.
“Em …”
His name is barely a whisper on my lips, and any words of comfort I may have had get caught in my throat.
He yanks his pants out of my hands and pulls them up. “I told you, I don’t need any help.”
“This is because of me …”
I cover my mouth as the horror of what he went through hits home. “If you hadn’t come to rescue me … If you had just gone to get Gage …”
Tears stream from my eyes, and I sob. “Why didn’t you get Gage?”
“Because they would have done this to you instead!”
he shouts.
I fall to my knees, unable to hold myself up anymore. “Your knot …”
Emmett sighs, his anger evaporating as quickly as it appeared. “It’s not–Look, Olly says they just took the skin. It’s … it fucking hurts, but he says it’s not gone. I–I’ll have a scar, he says, but with time …”
“I’m so sorry, Em. I’m so, so sorry.”
I’m not sure what happened, but suddenly Em is the one comforting me, not the other way around. He drops to the ground with me, wrapping his scarred arms around me and holding me.
“It’s okay, Diego. I’m–I’ll be okay.”
“This is all my fault …”
His hands cup my chin, and he tilts my head until I’m looking into his clear green eyes. “Listen, Diego: I wasn’t about to leave you there. Going back for you was something I did without hesitation, and it’s something I’d do over again in a heartbeat.”
Then he does something I never expected.
He kisses me.
It’s not just a peck on the forehead. Not just a little bit of reassurance. It’s a real kiss, the kind Gage and Auryn give me.
“I’d do it all again. Do you understand?”
he murmurs against my lips.
His words are soft, calming. Perhaps some of the omega mojo he got shot up with is still working its way out. That, or Em’s experiences in the Orions’ basement sparked a change in him. Either way, I lean into him, kissing back. Our arms become tangled as the kiss deepens, and before I know what’s happening, he moans into me.
“Fuck, Diego, let’s go back to the nest. This is fucking uncomfortable as shit on the bathroom floor.”
We share a laugh as we help each other up. I keep my arm around Em’s waist on the way down the hall, my fingers stroking his hip. I’m almost afraid to let go, afraid he’ll disappear on me.
Back in Auryn’s room, Em kisses me again. We help each other strip out of our clothes, our actions almost frenzied. Together, we fall onto the bed. Em winds up on top of me, and even in the darkened room, I can feel that he’s just as eager for this as I am.
Then he hisses in a sharp breath and pulls back. “Fuck.”
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I–I know how Gage usually does this with you, but … I don’t think I can yet. It still hurts too much.”
Is that what’s bothering him? “Amigo, if you think Gage and I have strict roles, you are mistaken. If you can’t right now, I certainly can.”
I pull him close and start purring. He whines and nuzzles my neck.
“That’s playing dirty,”
he mumbles. “You fucking know I’m half omega right now.”
“You may be half omega, but you’re all Emmett, and that’s what matters.”
He whines again. Reaches between my legs. Grabs my cock. “You’ll go easy on me? Gage wasn’t quite, er, gentle when he–”
“You and Gage?”
I tease, knowing full well what happened between them.
“Shut up and fuck me.”
We roll over, changing positions, and Em kneels in front of me on the bed. I don’t know if anyone has thought to stock lube in here–when our Auryn is ready, she’s always more than ready–so I spit on my cock before easing it in. Em sighs and rocks his hips back into me, which I take as a good sign. I stroke his hips as I start to thrust slowly, doing my best not to overdo it with him.
I shouldn’t have worried. Within minutes, Em’s giving as good as he gets, clenching around me and bucking back against me. We build a good rhythm, a nice, easy pace, our grunts the only sound in the room besides the slapping of skin on skin.
Until, that is, there’s a soft, feminine gasp, followed by the scent of lemongrass and … cinnamon?
Em and I freeze.
“Don’t stop on my account,”
Auryn says, her voice low and husky. I’m familiar with her tone, and I realize she must be enjoying what she walked in on. The soft whisper of fabric falling to the floor sounds behind me, the mattress sinks beneath Auryn’s weight, and her bare breasts press against my back. She puts her hands atop mine on Em’s hips and starts guiding him forwards and back.
“Auryn, please … Not you …”
Em’s words are strained. “Don’t look …”
He snatches two pillows and stuffs them under his hips, hiding his mangled cock.
“Let me see,”
she murmurs, and her delicate hands disappear underneath Emmett. I’m trapped between the two of them, feeling like I’m intruding on an intimate moment. I doubt Em wants an audience for this revelation.
I can almost feel the moment Auryn’s fingers find his injury. He tenses all over, and he starts to tremble.
“Oh, my poor Em,”
she says softly. “What did they do to you?”
“Auryn, maybe I should leave–”
“Don’t you dare go anywhere,”
she growls at me. “Em needs us.”
My sweet sunshine-scented mate’s hand begins to move beneath him, and Em moans. “It’s okay, Em. We’re here. Let us help you.”
I don’t know what help I can provide. Spearing him on my cock and fucking him silly isn’t really therapeutic. Sure, it can give him a momentary distraction, but with Auryn stroking him there’s no way he can forget.
Then something amazing happens: Em starts to respond again. He’s hesitant at first, yes, but he picks up speed the more Auryn works him.
“Good boy,”
she mutters, scooting closer to his head. She lifts his chin with her other hand and guides his head to her chest. Em opens his mouth and latches onto her breast, and Auryn purrs as she threads her fingers into his hair. “There you go. That’s my Emmett.”
It shouldn’t be this sexy to watch another man suckle on my mate’s breast, but it is. My hips slam into Em as he licks and sucks her stiff nipples, and Auryn never stops stroking him. His back arches beautifully, and cum spurts out in a wide, high arc. Auryn catches his mouth with hers. The sight of the two of them together sets off my own climax. I still inside Em with a shout, filling him to overflowing.
When I finally disengage, Auryn treats me with a kiss. “Thank you,”
she says, though for what, I don’t know. I didn’t do anything special that I’m aware of; I just did what felt right.
Taking care of my pack will always feel right.