Chapter 20
NATE
I glance down at my phone, checking the time. We said we’d give her a half hour.
“I think she’s starting her heat. She isn’t thinking clearly,” Sterling says, running his hand over his chin. “Everything that happened at the club probably has her second guessing everything. I was trying to comfort her in the car and it was like she wasn’t even hearing me.”
“I’ll be back soon,” Hayes says abruptly, grabbing his keys.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Sterling says in his deep Alpha voice.
“If she’s going into heat, we need to be ready. Isn’t it my job as the pack Beta to be the levelheaded one and make sure everyone is taken care of?”
Sterling eyes him suspiciously, but eventually raises his hands in surrender.
“An hour. You better be home in an hour,” he says, and Hayes nods before he’s strolling out the door.
“I’ll go check on her,” I say, knowing that it’s five minutes early.
“Are you okay?” Sterling asks, like he’s just now realizing this all goes beyond Hailey.
I was almost in a pack with those guys. Those fucking assholes that made Hailey cry, that have her rethinking everything.
I’m no stranger to their judgment, and I’m sure Hailey isn’t either, but it still stings.
“Honestly? Better than I thought I’d be when I saw them again. Seeing Hailey upset is what has me more worked up than anything.”
“You’re sure?” Sterling asks, and it feels like for the first time, I’m the one consoling him.
I wrap him in my arms, hugging him tight. “She’s ours, and I think she was finally accepting that before this all happened. We’ll get her through her heat if that’s what’s happening, and then we’ll just have to prove to her all over again that we’re all in.”
He relaxes against my hold, his big hand cradling the back of my head as I pull back and press my lips against his.
“Just wait out here. I’ll go make sure she’s okay,” I assure him with one more squeeze as I walk to her nest.
Her cherry scent is already wafting from the nest as I tap on the door.
“Hailey?” I call out her name softly, and she doesn’t answer.
The door isn’t locked, and I let myself in. Blankets and pillows are piled into what looks like a mountain on the bed and it’s clear that she’s burrowed deep into her nest.
I take a deep breath, which was a bad fucking idea, because her scent is making my mind hazy, but eventually I find a small opening in the blankets and crawl inside.
It’s not completely dark, her face glowing from the screen of her phone.
“Hailey?” I say her name again and she whimpers as I move closer to her.
I plop my head down on the pillow next to her and she doesn’t look at me. I glance over at her phone and my brows furrow.
“Are you watching black head removal videos?” I ask.
“It soothes me,” she replies, her voice soft and sad.
“I’m so sorry about what happened tonight, sweetheart. I’m sorry we lost control, but for you, we’d do anything to keep you safe.”
“Why bother?” she asks, with a sniffle.
“Because we care about you, because we’re courting you as our Omega. You’re the most important piece of this pack,” I tell her.
“I shouldn’t be. I’m not worth it, Nate. You’ve seen who I was raised by, you’ve seen what a disaster I am. Why would you want anything to do with me?”
I don’t take her phone away, noting that it’s comforting her, even if her choice of videos is unique. Plus, it’s the only way I can see her face under these covers. Instead, I push her soft, dark red hair out of her face.
“You’re worth everything. You’re far from a disaster. And I think I know a thing or two about being a disaster.”
She licks her lips and I try to not track the motion.
“The men who have known me all my life don’t think I’m worth anything. Why would you?”
“Because I see you, Hailey. And what I see is a brave person who hasn’t experienced love before, who doesn’t know her worth. Even if you don’t want to believe you’re worth it, believe me. You’re priceless, and all we want to do is take care of you.”
Her eyes well with tears as she puts the phone down, resting her head against my chest.
“I don’t like feeling like this. Everything hurts.”
“Let me take care of you. Let us take care of you, okay?”
“It’s happening isn’t it?” she asks, tears in her eyes.
“You’re going into heat, sweetheart, and the three of us are going to help you get through it, because you’re ours. This is your nest, we’re yours. You can let go and know that we’ll keep you safe and take care of you, we’ll always take care of you, because you’re precious to us.”
It’s hard to see her under the blankets, but as her lips touch mine, I take it as her consent for her heat, that she realizes what’s about to happen. Her skin is feverish as I cradle her face, kissing her hard. Hoping that she realizes that this is real, that we’re not going anywhere.
I was never a part of Erin’s heat, thank fuck, but I know how debilitating and confusing that time can be. She’s trusting me to take care of her and it means everything to me.
I take a moment to push some blankets off us, worried she’s too hot. She apparently doesn’t like that, as she glares at me and pushes them back over our heads.
“Sorry,” I whisper.
She whines, tugging her clothes off as we’re tangled under the blankets. I help her take my shirt off along with her pink lingerie. My fingers trail delicate patterns over her warmed skin.
Hailey’s impatient as she grabs at my pants, tugging down the elastic and gripping my cock.
“Fuck, Hailey,” I groan and she wastes no time as she straddles me.
Her scent is so thick and wild, I can taste her on my tongue.
“I wanna drown in you,” I tell her honestly and she moans. I can feel the slick dripping from her pussy onto my length. I can’t help but to grab on to her thighs, rubbing her soft skin.
I swallow thickly as she glides down my shaft. The amount of slick is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced as she leans forward, her breasts pressed against my chest.
Her hands tangle in my hair and I kiss anywhere my lips can touch as I bend my legs and shift my hips, fucking her from below.
Our breathing is labored with the blankets on top of us. I want to pull them back so we can breathe and so I can really see her, but I don’t want to piss her off again.
I think back to everything I know about Omegas in heat and decide that flattery is the only way to get what I want.
“Can I pull the blanket back, sweetheart? I want to see what you look like when you take my knot for the first time,” I whisper against her ear before kissing her throat.
This time, she’s the one to whip the blanket back, the cooler air giving a quick reprieve as I take in the way her beautiful body looks on top of mine.
“You’re so good. So beautiful. Such a good Omega,” I tell her.
She eats up the praise, peppering kisses against my skin while her grip in my hair tightens. She whimpers, her stomach tightening against mine, and I grab her ass, spreading her wider as I thrust into her.
“Let me make you feel better.”
She nods, and goes pliant in my arms, letting me fuck her from below. Her soft whimpers and the tinge of pain of her nails digging into my scalp urge me on.
Her scent is everywhere. It’s my new drug. Her slick is dripping all over me, creating a sticky suction where our bodies meet.
Hailey grips my chin, bringing my mouth to her neck, and I groan. I know what she wants, well, what she wants in heat. If it were up to me, I’d just bite her right now.
I mean…I could.
Fuck, she smells so good. She’s perfect, and if I bonded her, she would know that. She’d finally feel it and she wouldn’t question anything.
I should give her what she wants, what we both want. I suck on the tender skin of her throat, my knot pushing into her pussy as she moans.
I’m about to part my lips, sink my teeth into her soft flesh and make her mine as a hand wraps around Hailey’s throat, shifting her head away from my mouth.
She whines, an angry sound, and my brows furrow with frustration. She was right fucking there, ready to bond.
Sterling glances down at me, and it’s a chastising look if I’ve ever seen one. But then his gaze softens as he looks at Hailey.
“Are you going to take his knot, baby girl? Is your Alpha making you feel all better?”
Some of her anger dissipates with his praise.
His words just have me rutting her even harder from below as he captures her mouth with his own, swallowing down her noises of pleasure as she finally takes my knot.
I can’t help it as I moan, my hips bucking with nowhere else to go as I fill her with my knot. She writhes on top of me as Sterling holds her steady until her pussy is milking me so tight with her orgasm. There’s nothing else I can do but follow suit.
I shudder as I fill her with my release, loving the way it feels, having nothing between us. It would have been better if I bonded her. But Sterling, the most levelheaded of all of us is right, now is not the time.
He kisses Hailey again as her body quivers, and eventually she becomes limp, resting against my chest, her nose right under my jaw as we lay there knotted together.
Eventually her breathing is even, and she’s hardly moving as I rub her back.
“Can I trust you not to bond her while I go downstairs?” Sterling says, but it isn’t scolding. He’s genuinely curious if he can leave me alone.
Can he?
As she rubs the ridge of her nose against my chin, it has me shaking my head.
Cause the truth is if she put my lips on her throat again, I’m not sure I could contain myself.
My cock is deep inside her, the scent of her heat is boggling my brain and all I want to do is give her the peace of mind she deserves.
“I—”
“Yeah. Let’s just hope Hayes gets back soon,” Sterling says, resting next to us, his fingers in Hailey’s hair, scratching her scalp.
“How are you so strong about this?” I ask him.
He laughs and shakes his head. “I’m not. We’re going to need to have a system where two of us are awake at all times, because I’m not sure I can trust myself either.”
I lick my lips, holding Hailey close to my chest. I mean, I think it’s inevitable that we end up together, but she hasn’t agreed to bonding while not in her heat. It wouldn’t be right.
Fuck, these heat hormones are strong. I can’t think fucking clearly.
“I’m not sure Hayes could stop one of us,” I tell Sterling, and he scrubs his free hand over his face.
“I know what we need. I’ll message Hayes to stop at the store on his way back.”
The words seem daunting, and I don’t question any further. Not as my knot goes down, fluid gushing all over my thighs, and a whimpering Hailey is begging me for more.