Chapter 23
Zephyr
When Laurant enters the nest, his ocean breeze scent is calming, that bluebell floral calls to my own scent, and they mingle in the air pleasantly, but unfamiliar.
When Erich enters, cinnamon and clove are almost overwhelming. The less I sense Nyx’s presence, the more I panic until I hum a near whine and reach for her. She rushes over, takes my hand and gently kisses my knuckles before sitting beside me, but not between me and these Alphas.
They make me uncomfortable. My brain isn’t telling me why. All instinct.
But they’re mine as much as they are Nyx’s. Right?
“He’s been like this for a couple of days,” Nyx says, voice soft as she combs her fingers through my hair. I snuggle into her neck, suck her scent into my lungs, and relax. I barely register the conversation happening around me.
“I think…” Laurant’s voice is pleasant, soothing and smooth. I don’t even mind his British accent. It’s pretty nice, truthfully. “...and could be the beginning of this ‘feral’ stage.”
I yawn, ending in a hum, and wrap Nyx’s torso in my arms.
“We’d like to help,” Erich says. His voice doesn’t have that usual rough edge that makes my jaw clench. He actually sounds kind of nice.
Nyx says something, and I hear her voice inside her chest where my ear rests, but everything is muffled and incoherent. Her tone sounds urgent, and my brow furrows. I make out the word “consent.”
I’m really… tired.
When Nyx didn’t come back to our nest the other night, staying with Laurant instead, I was lonely and stressed. I hated that I felt so weak and powerless without her here, and forced myself to try and sleep without her.
It didn’t work out too well.
I don’t remember her returning the next morning. The fog in my brain only lifted once we were naked in each other’s arms.
Laurant’s scent reminds me of this as it grows in the air around us.
“Zephyr.” His voice is soft and coaxes me to look at him from Nyx’s neck where his bite gleams on her skin.
I concentrate on Laurant’s dark green eyes as best I can, squinting to focus.
“The way you feel right now. Your Alphas are to blame.”
I blink.
“Because we haven’t been there for you. We haven’t treated you right and neglected to bring our pack together properly.”
The words flow through my brain, but their meaning is lost.
Laurant nears us, sits on the edge of the bed with me between him and Nyx. “You love Nyxeris, don’t you?”
My body jolts at this question, my voice coming out as a harsh hiss. “Of course I do. She’s mine.” I squeeze her tighter.
Laurant’s expression changes a moment before returning to calm. “She’s ours,” he says. And I don’t want to believe it, but I know he’s right. “I would do anything to protect her. Wouldn’t you?”
I’m nodding vehemently, brow drawn tight.
“Common ground.” He holds his hand out to me, palm up.
I stare at that strong hand for a while, his scent growing stronger. My gaze flashes up at his face, then back to his hand before I slowly lean forward, sliding my palm over his, feeling the ridges on the bitemark there.
Nyx’s bite.
Calm washes away the brain fog like a bucket of cold water has been dumped over my head. My muscles stiffen as realization begins to take over.
Nyx has my hand gripped tight in both of hers, and I peer at her deep chocolate eyes filled with concern.
“I don’t…” I blink, shake my head. “What’s happening?”
“Andrew thinks that you’re going feral because our pack hasn’t been completed,” Nyx tells me, voice calm but words blunt. “He and Erich want to help.”
“Help?”
Nyx’s eyes dart from Laurant to Erich, then back to me, and Erich takes a step closer to us from the door. “If you’ll let us, we’d like to complete our pack. Bond with you.”
“Because I’m going feral because of you, and you want to ‘help.’” Bitter words tumble from my lips.
“Because we belong together,” Laurant says.
“Because we…” Erich makes a choking sound, and I look up at his icy eyes, find them swimming with tears. His pain somehow blooms in my chest. “We love you.”
My lips part and I gape at him. Love?
Visions of our kiss, angry but filled with passion, float through my mind. I can feel his lips on mine, his tongue forcing its way inside my mouth. And I want more.
So much more.
My whine rises before I register my perfume is blooming all around me. Laurant’s breath hitches and I turn to him. When I do, Nyx’s lips slide across the skin of my neck and I whine louder, my gaze on Laurant turns pleading.
He slides closer on the bed, his strong fingers moving from my hand to my face, holding it steady. “Words, Zephyr.”
My mouth opens and closes silently before I utter, “Kiss me.”
He lets out something close to a growl before swooping in and claiming my lips, his tongue strong as it parts them and curls into my mouth, coaxing my tongue into a wet, sensual dance.
Nyx sighs beside me, and it’s a happy sound that ends in her own whine.
When the mattress moves, I realize that Erich has joined us, capturing Nyx’s lips behind me.
Both my hands are at the back of Laurant’s head, fingers tangled in his brown hair, mouth opened wide and joined with his. I want him deeper inside of me. Deeper than is possible.
Then Laurant pulls away from me, yanking my hair to pull my head back where Erich’s mouth finds mine in a fervor of wet heat. Those thick lips glide across mine, suckling them and then my tongue, drawing a louder whine from me.
My cock is stiff as stone, and there’s a hand rubbing it over my pants, making my hips flex and grind. Then I’m surrounded by purrs, in front of me, behind me, enveloped in the soothing vibrations. And heat.
A lot of heat. In my mouth.
Too much.
I pull back with a gasp and stare at Erich, his brow wet with sweat, a pained pinch in the center. His breathing is ragged, those icy eyes unfocused.
Then, he collapses backward onto Nyx, unconscious.