Chapter Nine
I sat on the couch in the living room, my legs draped over Atlas’s as he ran his hands up and down my shins.
He wasn’t letting me get up since apparently he hadn’t appreciated my stress pacing.
Really, the walking just helped me get my thoughts in order, and I needed that if I was going to explain everything.
Oaks came home first, like usual. Considering how quiet his truck was, it was only Atlas’s words that actually indicated he’d arrived. “Prepare yourself, pet.”
“For what?”
The front door slammed open.
I gaped at Atlas, already trying to get up and check on Oaks. His hands on my legs kept me pinned, refusing to let me pull out of his grip. “What—”
“Best if you let him come to you.”
Oaks rushed into the living room, muttering under his breath something that sounded like ‘I’m wearing the imprint of my zipper on my fucking cock’ before he fell to his knees in front of both me and Atlas.
I reached for him, worried he was injured and about to die before my eyes based on the brutal way he dropped.
Why wasn’t Atlas worried? I pressed my hands to his stomach and thighs and chest, not finding any sort of blood or jutting bone.
I was still checking over his body when Oaks reached out, his hand at my nape, and dragged my mouth to his.
This kiss was brutal. Full of so much hunger and arousal that I couldn’t even match him stroke for stroke.
His teeth nipped at my bottom lip, nearly breaking the skin, and my body shivered like it didn’t know if that had been a threat or not.
When I pulled my mouth away, trying to catch my breath, he followed, chasing after my lips like I was the air he needed.
I tried a second time, pulling away, and Oaks finally obliged, trailing his lips down my jaw and neck like he didn’t need to breathe. He groaned at whatever he smelled on my skin, most likely my own scent and Atlas’s mixed together, and then his tongue was sliding up my neck.
My heart was racing, something he no doubt felt as his lips continued along my pulse.
With both Oaks and Atlas touching me, my mind was quickly coming up with ideas of how two bodies could make me feel.
I might have been with other betas before, but never had I been with more than one partner at a time.
I had no idea how to handle so much sensation.
I never would’ve considered my legs as erogenous, but Atlas’s simple touch was a tease. My thighs squeezed together, anticipating something that wasn’t coming. With how my scent had already broken past the descenter before, it was slowly growing stronger with my arousal.
Finally, Oaks pulled back, resting his forehead along my collarbone. “Hello, darlin.”
I chuckled. “Hello. I hope you had a good day. I have some chocolate covered oranges for a snack if you want some. They’re in the fridge. I’ll get them.” I tried to get off the couch, except neither Oaks nor Atlas let me move.
“I can do it, darlin.” Oaks kissed my neck before he pulled back. He shared a look with Atlas and then left for the kitchen.
I tried to pull my legs close, simply wanting to change my position on the couch, only Atlas’s hands clamped down again. The moment I let my legs relax, his grip relaxed, too. “Atlas, are you okay?”
“I’m good, pet. I just want you to stay right here.”
I grabbed his hand, interlocking my fingers with his as I gave him an anchoring touch before I tried to pull my legs off him again.
Then I scooted even closer until I was basically falling against his side.
That seemed to settle him even as his hand tightened around mine, ensuring I wouldn’t pull away.
Oaks came back to the living room with my bottle of water, a soda for Atlas, and the chocolate oranges. He fell onto the couch on my free side, setting one hand on my knee while he held out the other holding the container of food. “Does this mean you’re staying for dinner?”
I hadn’t stayed since I got that letter. I’d needed the extra time at night to do research. And if I was honest, I felt guilty keeping the secret. It was easier to simply leave than actually deal with the rotten emotions. Both from lying, and from the investigation.
“For a bit. I wanted to talk to you all first.” I didn’t add that I thought they’d kick me out before dinner.
Maybe not aggressively, but in that way that people said they had a lot to think about and maybe let’s reschedule dinner and the rescheduling never occurs because they stopped being friends with you the moment you walked out the door. Like that.
To my complete amazement, both Oaks and Atlas started to purr.
Their pitches were different, with Atlas’s purr a soft vibration almost like humming and Oaks more like a truck engine.
My body melted more into the couch and my head rested fully on Atlas’s shoulder.
It should have been awkward, the two different purrs, but instead, it was like .
.. I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t think. My mind was totally calm, my body finally relaxed.
The sound of the door slamming shut had me sitting up with a gasp, forgetting where I was.
I had fallen asleep? Both Atlas and Oaks were still sitting on either side of me, reaching out to calm me down since I almost threw myself off the couch in a panic.
I’d forgotten that I’d finished for the day, and for a moment, I’d thought I’d fallen asleep on the job.
Pressing on my chest did nothing to calm my heart that felt like it was beating hard enough to jump out of my body. Oaks ran his hand up and down my back, trying to help calm me down.
“All right, everyone is finally home. Now we can talk.” Atlas stood from the couch, taking a few steps before he turned around and faced the rest of us.
I looked around for Everett and found him standing behind the couch.
The way he looked down at me, with a small smirk hiding in his beard, it was like he knew exactly what Atlas and I had done earlier.
Which was impossible. Even if he felt Atlas’s arousal through their bond, he couldn’t know exactly what happened.
That I’d laid on their pack bed, with no pants or underwear, my legs spread as Atlas gorged himself on my taste.
It was in moments like these that I was thankful my scent wasn’t strong enough to convey my embarrassment. There was a sense of privacy to being a beta. Even if it came at the cost of loneliness.
Speaking of which, I didn’t like the separation between Everett and the rest of us.
I wanted him to come sit by me, although that would have been needy and inappropriate.
Instead, leaning back against the couch cushions, I turned so I was sideways, still able to see Oaks and Atlas, but also Everett.
He rested his forearms against the back, reaching out to grab one of my hands and holding it between his.
Atlas started without any further preamble. “I told Eve I want her to be pack.”
Everett’s hand tightened on mine.
Oaks tensed. “You did what? That was supposed to be a pack conversation, Atlas.”
“I’m sorry, okay. Eve let me get a taste of her pussy and I literally almost bit—”
Both Everett and Oaks exploded at that. Everett reached over the couch, easily pulling me up and forcing me to stand on the unstable cushions as he demanded to see all my skin. Oaks was standing, asking Atlas if he was serious. It was all so much—too much.
I hated that I understood why they were so upset.
If Atlas had truly bit me, there would be no undoing it.
Claims were permanent. They bound souls together in an irrevocable way.
Still, that knowledge didn’t help against the battering of emotions.
I hadn’t expected the alphas to be this upset by the news.
As if being stuck with me would have been the worst outcome imaginable.
“Hey.” I swatted Everett’s hands away and yelled louder, “Hey! Everyone just needs to relax and take a moment to breathe and calm down. Atlas didn’t do anything wrong. I understand your worry, honestly, I do, but I’m not claimed. Everything is fine.”
Oaks pointed a finger at Atlas. “No more unsupervised time.”
Atlas scoffed. “I’d like to see you refuse your instincts when you’re licking her cream from the source.”
I closed my eyes, ignoring that comment so I didn’t blush.
“Honestly, you’re all freaking out way too early in the story. That’s not even why I called a pack meeting.”
Everett offered me a hand, helping me lower myself back onto the couch. His grip didn’t release mine even when I was sitting properly.
“As I was saying.” Atlas glared at Oaks. “I almost bit her, and so I told her I wanted her to become pack. I showed her the necklace.”
Oaks stood again, this time, his anger radiating so wildly from him that I could actually scent it. Every instinct I had told me that I needed to leave. That I should not be in a room with an alpha this angry. I pressed myself further back into the cushions.
“Franklyn. Tone it down,” Everett barked. “You’re scaring Eve.”
Oaks’s gaze swung to mine, his chest seeming to deflate at the little ball I’d curled into.
When he dropped back down onto the couch, he grabbed for me, pulling me onto his lap and forcing my legs to straddle his waist. I was stiff, my one free hand hovering over his shoulder while the other was still being held by Everett.
Oaks didn’t seem to care. His hands came to wrap around my back and then he was shoving his face against my neck, inhaling deeply, his body finally relaxing.
“Sorry, darlin,” he mumbled against my skin.
“It’s okay. I get why you’re upset.”
“Do you?” Everett asked. He didn’t sound like he believed me.
“Of course. Who you invite into your pack should be a pack decision.”