Chapter 24
Twenty-Four
Polly
I ’d been nervous to tell the guys that Max and I had… had sex? Made love? That he’d deflowered me?
But Max had just told them matter-of-factly over dinner, and they’d all been really supportive. Honestly, it was kind of bizarre, but it was like they were used to operating as a single entity. Rio had inferred as much; as long as I felt cherished, he didn’t care who was doing the cherishing.
Some things were odd about my new life. The internet. Popcorn that you cooked in the microwave, but not for too long or your house would explode. Infomercials.
But the weirdest thing was that Omegas were beloved. Coveted. They wanted to hear my opinions. Wanted to look me in the eye as I spoke. Wanted to involve me in every aspect of their lives.
So when they sat me down on the couch for a Pack meeting, I wasn’t even nervous. I didn’t expect them to punish me, which was the only reason I’d ever been sent to a meeting back in my old life.
Llew reached for me, so I could take my normal place on his lap, but Rio grabbed me first. “Dibs.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “You can’t call dibs on a human being, Rio.”
He snuggled his nose into my hair. “Just did.”
I laughed and leaned back into him. I could feel the semi-hard bulge beneath my thighs, and I wiggled a little. Now that I’d lost my virginity, perhaps I felt a little more brazen? I’d had a taste, and I wanted more.
So, so, so much more.
Rio growled in the back of his throat. “If you don’t stop wiggling, my sweet little Omega, I won’t be held accountable for my actions.”
I looked over my shoulder at him. “What are you going to do?” I teased.
He put his lips next to my ear. “I’d bend you over the back of this couch and eat your pretty little pussy until you’re all I can taste. Then, when you’re screaming my name so loudly that the neighbors will hear, I’ll slide my cock inside you until you’re wrapped like a tight little fist around my cock.”
My lips parted, lust roaring through my body on the heels of my Omega’s enthusiastic Yes, please! Someone groaned as I perfumed, and Llew threw his head back to stare at the ceiling like he was physically in pain.
Max tutted, but his pupils had blown wide. “Rio. Come on, man. We can’t have this conversation when all the blood has left my head and landed in my cock.”
Rio chuckled evilly behind me and wrapped a tighter arm around my middle, snuggling me close to his body. “Not sorry,” he rumbled, but waved a hand for Llew to start.
Llew leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, making his biceps bulge out. His forearms were thick and veiny, and I didn’t know why that drove me so wild, but it did. I whined softly beneath my breath, but they all heard.
“Fuck this. Postpone the Pack meeting—I’m going to eat our girl out.” Max was already on his feet, and I laughed, shushing him. The power I had over these three men was heady; I’d never had any control over another person, and it was both intense and pleasurable at the same time.
“Sit back down, Max. We can get to that part later.” I would have been impressed with my sassiness if I hadn’t turned bright red as I spoke.
Max slumped back with a disgruntled sigh. “Fine. I think you’re an addiction, Beautiful. I can’t get enough.”
There was a joy in being this desired. They were vocal about how badly they wanted me, and molten desire mixed with the bigger feelings flowed down my bond with Llew almost all the time. Those bigger feelings felt a lot like… love.
Was that what this feeling was? Like I couldn’t breathe unless they were with me? Like I was being warmed from the inside out? Like the heart in my chest felt too big to be contained by my ribs?
Llew cleared his throat, his eyes filled with emotion. “We went and saw August today.”
I stilled, thoughts of sex disappearing. No, that was a lie. My libido was still in a frenzy around all of them. But my Omega and I were of the same frame of mind when it came to the other Omega. We were intensely interested in August.
“Oh? Why?”
“I wanted to explain a little of our history to him. I’ll explain it to you also, if you’d like. Now, or one day, whenever you’re ready. It’s not a nice story, and it’s in the past.” Licking his lips nervously, Llew continued. “You’re the most important person in the world to me, but Max and Rio are too. They are my life and my heart, and they kept me going through some of the worst days of my existence.” He hesitated again, and I could see him struggling. I wanted to appease him, but I thought perhaps he needed to get this out in his own time. “Do you like August?”
I nodded. “Of course. He’s sweet and kind, and so smart.”
“And handsome?” Rio prompted. “Your Omega likes him?”
I chewed my lip. Was this a trap? Would they tell me to leave if I admitted to desiring someone out of our Pack?
Rio stroked a hand up and down the outside of my thigh. “Be honest, Sweetheart. Nothing you could say now would change how we feel about you. You’re a part of this Pack forever.”
“Uh, yes. I find him attractive. I asked if he’d consider being at my heat,” I reminded them.
“Would you like him to be a part of every heat forever? Would you like for him to become part of our Pack?”
The happy little whine that burst from my lips wasn’t entirely from the human part of my brain. I cleared my throat. “Yes.”
“Your Omega too?” Max asked. “Really embrace her and see how she feels about another Omega in her Pack. Kissing her Alphas. Sharing her nest. Taking her knots?”
My cheeks heated at his words. I wanted to see a knot. Taste it. I imagined August beside me, licking at Llew’s knot, and my whole body flashed with heat. Someone groaned, and I realized my blush had travelled from my face down to my chest.
“I think I’d quite like that.”
Llew laughed. “So I can scent, Sweet Thing. God, how are you so perfect?” He adjusted his cock in his sweats. “Rio and Max have had a crush on August for a long time. I was the problem with their pursuing him—well, my illness more specifically. Though I think perhaps it was fate that made us wait. Fate was bringing us you, and we just had to be patient. We would like to discuss the possibility of courting August to join our Pack.”
I screwed up my nose. “Courting?” I’d read the term in Omegas for Dummies, but the book hadn’t been very specific about what courting actually entailed.
Llew frowned, and I kissed Rio’s cheek before wiggling from his lap and crawling across the couch toward my big Alpha. Rio groaned, and I felt his fingertips stroke across my butt as he mumbled something about how perfect my ass was, making me grin.
Straddling Llew’s thighs, I looked up into his rough-hewn face. “Why do you smell distressed, Alpha?”
“You deserved so much more than you were given, Polly. You deserved to be loved and coddled. You deserved to be courted by Alphas. You deserved to experience everything life had to offer, and I feel guilty because selfishly, I’m glad you bonded with me. I couldn’t imagine my life without you now.”
I tried to imagine the life he was describing. Tried to imagine a world where I’d been rescued and instead of coming home with Rio and Max, I stayed with OJ and her Pack. Where I had to meet strangers, go out into the world without the security of Llew’s bond deep inside my chest giving me strength. Without Rio solid at my side, without Max talking me through things.
I imagined meeting Alphas like the ones who took me from The Homestead again. Ones who didn’t have the moral compass of the Barrie Pack.
“I deserve the best Pack.” It was a simple statement, and Llew nodded. Smiling, I leaned forward and kissed his full lips. “Then I’m lucky, because that’s what I got. I’ve seen the worst the world has to offer, and I know what you are. So, back to courting August. What does that involve?”
It was Max who answered. “Gifts. Dinners. Dates. Showing him we can provide.”
“Showing you both what we can provide,” Rio added.
I didn’t need material things, and I doubted that August was overly worried about the things that money could buy either. “And what happens at the end of the courting period?” I had a few guesses, but I wanted to hear it out loud.
Max steepled his fingers under his chin. “We’d formally ask him to join the Pack, we’d have an official bonding ceremony, and then we’d share mating bonds.”
The idea of having a mating bond with more than just Llew set my heart racing. “Could I share mating bonds with you guys too?”
Rio launched toward me, landing on his knees at my feet. There was something oddly thrilling about this big man, who was eye height with me even on his knees, looking at me with such hopeful desperation. “Anytime, Polly. You say the word, and I’ll make you mine.” He seemed to get control of himself, and I could almost see him struggling with his Alpha. “But you deserve the grand gestures and the declarations just as much as August. I can wait, and we can do this the right way. Bond or no bond, I’m yours, Omega.”
His eyes were burning with something so hot, so possessive, that it stole my breath, and I was moments away from telling him I wanted it now. I didn’t need grand gestures or ceremonies. I needed him.
Unfortunately, Max’s phone broke the moment. Pulling from his pocket, he looked down at it. “I need to take this.”
I reached out, and Rio leaned into my arms. For a moment, I was pressed between two Alphas and hooboy, my Omega liked that. A lot. She sent me a rapid barrage of images where we were in this exact position but naked. More and more, my thoughts devolved into pure filth, which seemed to track with how close to my heat I was.
“Omega, you smell so divine right now,” Llew murmured into my ear. “I’m dying to know what you’re thinking—” He paused, cocking his head and looking toward the door that Max had gone through.
Max reappeared, his face more solemn than I’d expected. “My informant has a lead. He thinks the Homestead is in Arkansas, although he hasn’t narrowed down where exactly.” He came and sat next to me. “He found other survivors.”
“Survivors?”
“He found the Alphas. The ones who designated.”
I shook my head. “There weren’t any Alphas born, only Betas and very rarely, Omegas. Alphas stopped being born after the…” I trailed off. There was no apocalypse. No world-changing phenomenon. There were only old men on a power trip. “They got rid of them.”
Max grabbed my hands and held them in his own. “Yes.”
“And they’re alive?”
He chewed his lip. “Some are.” He hesitated. “Some didn’t make it. Toledo—uh, my tech guy—thinks they were murdered to tie up loose ends.”
I sucked in a breath that felt like acid. Just when I thought the Leaders couldn’t get any more reprehensible, they did.
“Toledo reached out to a couple who’d managed to find each other. They want to meet you, and see if you have any knowledge that can help them bring down the Homestead.”
“No.” Rio’s tone was firm. “She can’t go and meet random Alphas from her old life.”
Max gave him a heavy look. “That’s not your decision. It’s no one’s decision except Polly’s.”
I didn’t know what I wanted. Crawling back beneath the strong arms of my Alpha, I breathed in his scent until my heart stopped thundering out of my chest. His hand worked up and down my back in soothing lines.
“You don’t have to make a decision now, Sweet Girl. In fact, it would be… safer to wait until your heat is over completely.”
I nodded, thankful for the reprieve. This was too much. I was happy, but could I continue to be so, knowing that out there, the Homestead was killing off kids who were Alphas?
The answer was no. I couldn’t be happy with that. I’d do what I could to stop them, including meeting with the ghosts of my past.