Chapter 13
STERLING
When Nate and Hailey get back to the cabin, it’s like the tension between them has completely vanished.
Nate seems lighter and Hailey…well, she’s torturing the fuck out of us with her scent right about now.
The whole place smells like a cherry bomb went off, and it’s taking more effort than I would like to keep myself in check.
I want my own time to pull her away and get to know her, but I don’t want to be too aggressive.
Her history with Alphas seems complicated and I don’t want to do anything that would upset her.
She seemed to enjoy my flirting, my easy touch on the back of her chair, but I don’t want to scare her away by being too domineering too fast.
We eat dinner, play a few games, which I’m pretty sure Hayes lets Hailey win the last round of Jenga. And for a man who hates to lose, him doing that says something.
The sun has gone down, and there’s a chill in the air now. As much as I’d like to invite Hailey to the hot tub, just the two of us, I do the right thing as pack lead, and suggest we all get in.
Hailey goes to her room to get changed while we go into the other room.
“I would like some time alone with Hailey to get to know her better,” I say.
Nate gives me an easy smile.
“Yes, Alpha,” Hayes says, and I give him a look. “Hey. I’m being a really good sharer, okay? Nate and I will act like we’re getting too hot or something and give you some alone time.”
“How gracious of you.”
“I know, right?” Hayes says and Nate snorts.
“Things seem to be going well though, right? It’s just kind of easy? It was never this way with Erin,” Nate says.
“It should be this easy,” I remind him. While I haven’t ever officially courted an Omega, I’ve seen firsthand what a real pack looks like, how an Omega should be treated.
My parents are the best people I know and they gave me the tools to be the man I am today.
I don’t know if that’s the reason I was drawn to Hayes and Nate, because they both needed guidance, but it’s led us to this point.
Maybe I’m drawn to Hailey because I know I could give her what she’s looking for in an Alpha—protection, care, and devotion.
I just need the opportunity to show her what kind of man I am, and that’s proving difficult when all of us are vying for her attention.
Our relationships are already solid. Hayes and I have been together for a year and Nate joined three months ago.
It’s been easy, effortless. Adding Hailey into the mix feels like it could be the same thing.
Once we’re all in our swimsuits, we walk out to the foyer where Hailey’s standing with a white, fluffy robe around her.
“Ready?” I ask and she nods.
I grab a few drinks as we walk down the steps. Nate flips the hot tub lid and pushes it off as he and Hayes get in.
Hailey takes off her robe and sets it on the hook and my mouth goes dry as I take in the raspberry colored bikini that clings to her body.
I clear my throat and hold out my hand for her, which she uses to get into the hot tub.
She makes a hissing sound as she stands in the water, letting her body get used to the temperature, before fully sitting down.
Hayes presses the button to start the bubbles, and the jets start pumping from the sides.
“Have you played two truths and a lie before Hailey?” Hayes asks. The Omega grins at him.
“Why yes, Hayes, I have played said game. You go first.”
“I won the third grade spelling bee. I’ve never broken a bone. I sang karaoke with Rod Stewart.”
Nate and I obviously know the answer, but Hailey squints her eyes and taps her chin.
“You’ve broken a bone,” she guesses, and Hayes’ jaw drops.
“No one ever guesses right.”
Hailey shrugs. “Rod Stewart was so specific, and I saw the scar on your knee that night at the hotel,” she says.
We all blink at her, and she points at Nate. “Your turn.”
Nate clears his throat. “I’ve never been to the East Coast. I don’t have much feeling left in these two fingers.” He holds up his pinky and ring finger in the air, and then there’s a long pause. “And I’m allergic to peanut butter.”
“You’re not allergic to peanut butter,” Hailey says without a doubt.
“I’m that easy to read?” Nate asks.
“You’re just not a good liar. That’s a good thing. Okay, you next,” she says, pointing at me.
“I became a firefighter because my grandpa was one. I hold two rockfish champion fishing titles and I’ve never been with an Omega.”
Hailey searches my face. “Your grandpa wasn’t a firefighter?” she asks.
“Grandpa Moses was an incredible firefighter,” I reply and she swallows thickly.
“You don’t hold a fishing title?”
“I don’t,” I reply, as she realizes the last thing I said was my last truth.
“You’ve never been with an Omega?” I shake my head, confirming I’ve never been with an Omega and she licks her lips.
“Oh hey, Nate. Remember that thing. That thing we needed to do before bed tonight?” Hayes says, clearly not being discreet at all.
“Huh?” Nate replies to Hayes, and he stares at him. Hayes moves, shifts his head toward the cabin.
“The thing,” Hayes says and Nate finally catches on.
“That’s right. You two enjoy the hot tub while we get the…um…thing together.”
They slosh around the water of the hot tub as they get out.
“That wasn’t very fucking subtle,” Hayes grumbles, and I know Hailey can hear it as she tries to hide a smile.
“Did you ask them to come up with an excuse so you could have some alone time with me?” she asks.
“I did.”
She scoots over closer, my arms are spread out over the lip of the tub, and now my fingertips can lightly touch the warm skin of her shoulder.
“You’ve really never been with an Omega?”
I shake my head. “I grew up in pack life. A good pack life. My dads taught me how to be a good man, a strong Alpha, but my mom also taught me how to treat a partner right and how an Omega deserves to be treated. I knew the foundation of the pack had to be strong before I was ready for an Omega in my life, where I could give her everything.”
Hailey’s eyes glisten, and she blinks away tears.
“Hey. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“It’s just…does it bother you that I’ve been with other Alphas?”
“No, not at all.”
“But you waited,” she whispers, and I shake my head.
“Come here,” I tell her, grabbing her arm, easily gliding her through the water as she straddles my lap.
I place her head in the crook of my neck and I wrap my arms around her, giving her just the right amount of pressure. It only takes a second for her body to soften, her scent getting sweeter.
“This is something I knew I wanted for myself. I don’t judge anyone else for their choices, and I mean, it’s not like I’m a virgin saint. I just knew I wanted to wait until I was ready for an Omega.”
“That makes sense. What was it like having parents that loved each other?” she whispers into my neck.
I stroke her back, staring out into the dark, starry night as I think back on my childhood.
“It was everything I could have ever asked for. I have my mom, who’s an Omega, two Alpha dads, and a Beta father.”
She snorts. “So you had a blueprint.”
I smile and rest my chin on her head. “A pretty damn good blueprint. I know I’m lucky. There are a lot of people who don’t have what I had, but that’s why finding the right pack was so important to me.”
“How did you meet Hayes and Nate?” she asks, her head rubbing against the underside of my chin; she’s scent marking me without even knowing it. I want to hold her tighter, but I might squeeze her to death. Is this what cuteness aggression is?
“Nate, I knew from the fire station. We had been friends for a while and I saw him disappearing before my eyes when he was with Erin. I helped him get out of that relationship and during the process kinda fell for him. He’s kind of impossible not to love.”
“And Hayes?”
“Hayes bought me a drink across the bar, told me I was hot and that he had a firefighter fantasy. I took him home that night and he never left after that. Like I said, I’m no blushing virgin.”
She pulls her head back from my chest as she sits in my lap and looks at me.
“If this is going too fast for you, we can slow this all down,” I tell her.
Her throat bobs, and she shakes her head. “For some reason this doesn’t feel fast. I’m not going to lie, I’ve been through a heat before, I’ve been on a lot of dates.” She grimaces and shakes her head. “None of this is coming out right.”
I can’t help it as I shift, feeling uncomfortable with the idea of her being with other Alphas. I’m not sure how I’m going to handle her profession, but I know there’s nothing I can ask of her in that regard until things are official. Until then, I’ll just have to keep my jealousy to myself.
“To clarify, while I’ve been on a lot of dates, none of them went past the first date.
There was always something that bothered me about the Alphas I went out with.
Either they were too pretentious or they weren’t generous.
There was always something about them that reminded me of my mom’s Alphas and I never asked for a second date.
As for my heat, well, it wasn’t memorable.
But tonight? This date? It’s something I’ll never forget; I’ve never been drawn to Alphas the way I am to you and Nate. I’ve never felt this way before.”
I bring my wet, warm hands up to her arms, soothing the goosebumps on her skin.
“And how do you feel?”
“I feel special. I feel seen,” she says, her gray eyes filling with tears as I tenderly grab her jaw.
“I’m going to kiss you now, okay?”
She nods enthusiastically as I move her face toward mine, bringing our lips together.
I keep it chaste, but Hailey is the one who makes the kiss deeper.
She starts by kissing my bottom lip, her tongue swiping out to part my lips.
I meet her fervor with my own, tangling my fingers into the messy bun resting on the back of her head while still holding her jaw.
My cock is hard, and I’m fully ignoring it, but it’s nearly impossible to when Hailey grinds her weight down on me.
“Sorry,” she whispers against my mouth.
“You don’t need to be sorry. Far from it,” I say back and she kisses me again.
Her hips grind against my crotch as my hand slides away from her face, gliding down her body, and finding a place on her lower back. Hailey starts kissing my jaw and my neck.
“I just don’t want to move faster than you want to.”
“We can take things slow,” I say with a groan as her hips pause.
“But this is okay?” she says, rocking back and forth on my cock.
I can’t help but to let my hand slide further down south, gripping one of her soft, full ass cheeks.
“Okay? More than okay for me. What about for you?”
She doesn’t answer with words, instead some soft little mewling noise before she grabs my jaw and brings our lips back together. It’s a combination of me pressing her down against me and her grinding her hips.
Her scent is choking me in the hot tub, along with her bikini-covered pussy sliding against my length. I can’t help it as my knot starts growing. Hailey notices and starts picking up the pace.
“Are you going to use me, Hailey? Are you going to grind that sweet little pussy on my knot till you come, baby girl?”
“Fuck,” she hisses, grabbing the back of my neck, her nails lightly digging into my skin. “I want you to…to come too,” she pants out.
“You want to be the first Omega who makes me come?” I ask her.
It sends her over the edge, her hips going wild, her scent digs deep into every synapse of my brain. I hold her close, rubbing my knot against her as she holds me close, meeting her release.
I grind against her, not giving her a break as I rub my dick all over her sweet cunt and wonder how good it will feel to have my knot deep inside of her.
The thought alone is what has me following her release as I come all over myself, filling my swim trunks.
Hailey is limp and soft in my arms, and we both just sit there for a moment, catching our breath. The jets turn off and the water stills as Hailey pulls back. She glides her fingertips over my jaw and looks at me for a long moment.
“That was okay?”
I give her a smile and nod as I place a small kiss against the corner of her mouth.
“More than okay. I haven’t finished in my pants in like a decade.”
She grins. “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.”
“You can tell whoever you want. I had a beautiful Omega on my lap who rubbed herself all over me until she came. I’d say that would make just about anyone jealous.”
She licks her lips. “This doesn’t feel real. It feels too good to be true.”
I push a wet lock of hair off her face. “I know you designated late, and I can’t imagine what that was like, but if there’s anything my mother ever taught me, it’s listening to your instincts. Pheromone driven, or the ones in your gut.”
“And what do your pheromones tell you?”
“My Alpha instincts and my gut tell me the same thing.”
“And what’s that?” she asks inquisitively.
“That we’re going to be a pack and that it doesn’t matter how long it takes to prove to you, because I’m willing to put in the work.”
She looks away from me, not answering to that raw and real answer, instead staring at where her fingertips glide against my skin.
“Can you hold me a little longer before we go inside?” she asks.
“For as long as you want,” I say, resting her head against my chest.
I knew an Omega was the missing piece and as I hold her against me I know without a doubt, she’s going to be ours.