Chapter Eight #2
Betas rarely got the opportunity. We didn’t have the biological urge or that special spark that seemed to draw alphas and omegas together. I’d always thought that level of desperation for a partner was something out of my reach. The silky strands of hair between my fingers begged to differ.
I couldn’t speak, the tears clogging my throat, so I just nodded. Nodded and shoved his head back down where I wanted him, knowing his tongue on me would distract the little voice in the back of my head that was begging for a bite.
He started back again, this time, shoving one of his fingers inside me. It was shocking how wet I was, how easily the digit slipped through my slick. So easy, in fact, that he quickly added a second finger.
“Yes, oh, fuck—Atlas. Yes, please don’t stop.
” The orgasm was growing at a ridiculous rate, rising inside me to the point that I was almost panicked with the idea that Atlas would stop, would change his habit, but he continued.
Even to the point that I worried he couldn’t breathe.
Still, he didn’t stop, and when he added his free hand to press down on my clit—I exploded.
I screamed, desperate to let the pressure of the pleasure finally escape my body.
Atlas didn’t stop, continuing just as he had before until my body became oversensitive.
I gasped out his name, trying to draw his attention as I pulled on his hair, but he just growled again, somehow lapping at me even harder like he was trying to take every drop of slick and cum from me.
His scent was perfuming in the air so strongly, it was like he’d gotten off. Not me. My own scent was just barely lingering on my skin, having fought through the descenter to appear.
“Atlas.” I barely got his name out. My brain was finally at peace for the first time in weeks and I wanted to bask in the lack of stress and anxiety in my system.
I’d almost forgotten what calm felt like.
Except, Atlas wasn’t stopping. He was still licking at me, his fingers working inside me like he was trying for a second orgasm. It wasn’t possible.
When I shoved his head away, he barely moved, simply bit my inner thigh like a reprimand and then went back to my core. My clit was sore, the bundle of nerves throbbing from the expense of pleasure I just endured, so when Atlas sucked on it, the pain and pleasure mixed together.
“Mine,” he growled. “You’re fucking mine. This pussy is mine.”
He finally pulled back, letting me have a break from the pleasure. The look in his eyes was anything but calm. His chin was shining with my arousal, and he didn’t even look up to meet my gaze. He was still focused between my thighs like he was riveted with it.
I tried to push my legs together, to block his gaze and pull his attention back up to me, except his hands shot out, grabbing my knees and keeping me apart.
“I told you this pussy was mine, pet. Don’t try to take it away from me.
” He unbuckled his silver belt, tossing it so that I heard the buckle thud against the ground.
“Or else I might get the crazy idea to mark what’s mine.
” He shoved his pants and his boxers down, unable to get them past his knees as he knelt on the bed, not that his jeans seem to be a deterrent.
When he reached for my hips, sliding me closer, he allowed his body to fall forward until he was draping over me.
Our upper halves were still clothed, his jeans were still technically on.
None of that stopped him from pressing the tip of his cock at my entrance.
I felt his blunt head, felt the heat from his length that he wasn’t pressing into me yet.
His body was tense, almost shaking as he held himself over me.
“I want to sink inside you so badly. Want to coat your insides with my cum, mark you up with my teeth. I can’t stand knowing you’ll leave here without my claim.
” His forehead pressed against mine as he squeezed his eyes shut, looking like he was in pain.
I wanted to help him, I just didn’t know how.
“Let me claim you, pet.”
“What?” I was sure I’d misheard him. Claiming could sometimes just be sexual, like coming on a partner’s stomach or taking their ass if they were an anal virgin. I knew all about claimings.
“Let me claim you. Bite my teeth into you. Mark you forever as mine.”
I didn’t have words. Any words. My body, which had been nice and relaxed moments ago, was tense.
I pressed on his shoulders, and slowly, Atlas obliged, creating distance between us.
Or, at least our chests. His cock was still out, still barely pressing against my core like he was ready to thrust inside me at any moment.
Just like the rest of Atlas, his cock was beautiful. His tip was wet, his slick leaking and soaking his length. He produced so much to help ease his way into whichever hole he used.
I crawled back, only getting so far before Atlas pinned my ankles, not letting me escape more. Being half-dressed was no longer erotic. I felt awkward with my legs on display, with the cool air hitting between them.
The blanket under us was puffy and thick. I reached for the edge, doing my best to cover my lower body.
“I’m sorry, pet.” Atlas shook his head. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“You didn’t.”
He lifted an impervious brow. “That so? Then why are you hiding from me?”
“I just—you said—”
“I know. I should have talked to you about it first. Sometimes I forget how little we know each other.”
I’d thought that, too. I’d never met a pack like Wilder before.
And I’d met plenty of packs. None of them had called to me like this one had.
Their scents, their sweetness. It was more than just their looks.
It was the way they cared for me, giving me so much attention, that we didn’t feel like strangers.
The texts and the meals together and the gifts and their flirting and the kisses and the way they were excited to see me every morning and disappointed when I left each night.
“Stay here.” Atlas was up, off the bed before I could even ask where he was going. He didn’t leave the room completely, going to the large walk-in closet that looked like it might have been the size of my entire bedroom in my apartment.
I got up, looking around for my pants and underwear. The former was easy, although the latter took a moment. I was tying the fabric around my hips as Atlas returned, a box in his hand. A jewelry box.
I stared down at it, not recognizing the brand’s name. I didn’t reach for it.
“What’s that?” I couldn’t stop staring at the box. It wasn’t ring size, not that I’d think that two alphas and an omega would do the beta tradition of marriage. It looked like it would be perfect for a necklace—large, but thin.
“You’d have to open it to find out, pet. That’s what a present is.”
I shook my head, disagreeing with him. “Why would you have a present for me?” Was I making a big deal out of this?
After all, I hadn’t opened the box yet. Maybe it wasn’t even a necklace.
I had no idea what else would fit into that small box, though.
Decorative coasters? Decorative potholders? Those were gifts I could accept.
I grabbed the box, careful as I lifted the lid.
I was right, it was a necklace. It was gold, and dainty, not that either fact made it less expensive. I couldn’t look away, as if a single glance up at Atlas and the necklace could fall out of its box and break.
“Do you see it, pet?”
Atlas’s question had me frowning. I was literally looking at it, obviously staring at it.
“Take a closer look.” His finger came to point at the front where the gold twist and turned.
It was difficult to make out, but I swore the gold spelled out ‘Wilder’ along the length.
The word didn’t dangle like a charm. It was a part of the necklace, the same as the rest of the material.
Not quite a choker, it would probably rest just over my collarbones.
Their name on the side of my neck. Like a claim.
My jaw dropped open as I simply stared at it.
This was a claiming. Granted, a less permanent claiming than being bitten by the omega in front of me. Nonetheless, it was very clearly a claim from pack Wilder.
“Atlas?” His name was all I could manage. I finally pulled my gaze away from the jewelry to look up at his face. He was already staring at me, watching me. “I don’t understand.”
“We want to court you.”
“Court me? You can’t court me.”
“Why not?”
I looked around, hoping someone would suddenly appear to help me explain. Where were Everett and Oaks? I gave it a moment in case the alphas wanted to make a dramatic appearance. They didn’t. “I’m a beta. You don’t court betas.”
“You can court anyone. It just so happens that most packs court an omega before they settle down. We’re just going to court you as the last pack member. Designation has nothing to do with it.”
“Courting is specifically designed for omegas. The dates and gifts—”
“All of which an omega might appreciate, sure. But are you telling me you don’t like dates? You don’t like gifts? You don’t like the idea of wearing this necklace, so everyone knows you’re mine?”
My body gave a weak attempt at arousal. I had been thoroughly satiated, but it was willing to try and restrike the match at his words. This was probably the quickest recovery time I’d ever had. “I do.”
“And if our intent with giving you this gift is to court you, then I don’t see what the problem is. What designation has to do with any of it.”
“Because!”
“Because what?”
I groaned. “Even if I do accept this ... courting gift,” damn, that was hard to even admit out loud, “what then? I just become a part of your pack? You don’t need a beta.”
Atlas growled, tossing the necklace onto the bed as he stepped closer to me, fisting my hair in his hand as he pulled, forcing my gaze to meet his. “Enough with the designation shit. We want you, Eve. Not some random beta. Not anyone else.”
“But I don’t understand. Why? I won’t be able to help in your heats—”
“Of course you can.”
“I mean, sure, I can provide sustenance for Everett and Oaks. I know omegas don’t tend to eat, although you really should.
You lose a lot of your hydration, and you burn a lot of calories with the rigorous sex.
But if that’s all you want, then you could really hire a heat-advocate to help you through the session. ”
“Do you honestly think that if my heat came, and you were around, that I’d let you out of my nest for even a second?”
“Um.” I was going to say yes, except the tone he’d used made me think that wouldn’t be right.
“Eve, pet. If I went into heat and you were here? I would sink my cock into you and bite your neck on pure instinct. My omega is obsessed with the idea of locking you down and a bite as well as a babe in that belly of yours is the perfect way to do it in his opinion.”
The mention of pregnancy had me gasping, staring at him with wide eyes. I didn’t hate the idea. And that was just as scary.
“If I’m honest, we have talked about the fact that you’re a beta.
The others are worried that when my heat hits, I’m going to be so obsessed with breeding you that I’ll make your little pussy raw.
That I’ll make your belly swell with how much cum I’m going to pump inside you.
” He was standing so close that his hips pressed forward, grinding into me as he made each point.
“You think I don’t want you? That my omega doesn’t want you?
I thought you were an omega expert. Do you know any omegas who aren’t fully obsessed with their packmates? ”
My throat was swollen shut, refusing to allow any words to pass. I shook my head. I didn’t know how to make him understand. Even if I could accept this offer, it didn’t mean that I should. Not with the investigation looming over me. What if Representative Adam went after Atlas like he had Hannah?
Whenever I looked at Atlas, I saw how brave he was. How strong and capable. Not because he was an omega who worked, because he was so wholly himself. He was more Atlas than omega.
And I knew Adam wouldn’t see it that way.
His calloused hands, his sunburnt skin, the aches he had, the stress, too.
All of it would go to prove that the alphas weren’t taking care of Atlas, as if he was a child, and not a grown omega capable of making decisions.
Just not the decisions that other alphas wanted him to make.
What color to paint the kitchen or the type of bed sheets, those were acceptable.
What he wanted to do with his life? Egregious.
“I think we need to talk.” I should’ve known I wouldn’t be able to hide the investigation for long. I had to admit why I couldn’t be a part of this pack. Why being connected to me would be dangerous for them. “You, me, and the others.” Even if it meant that I’d lose them.