Chapter 9 – June
CHAPTER NINE
JUNE
I throw my head back in a loud laugh as semolina flour scatters across the front of my apron.
Never did I think that I’d be in a restaurant kitchen, rolling dough, forming it into neat little yellow lines, just to messily cut it into homemade pasta. Nor did I expect to have Bennett behind me, laughing as he tries to guide my cuts to be a little more precise instead of utterly inconsistent.
“It’s embarrassing how bad I am at this.”
He grins down at me, planting a kiss on the side of my temple. “It doesn’t matter what it looks like as long as it tastes good.”
I smile back at him as Ashley reemerges from a side room, a bundle of basil in her hands and a small ceramic container of tiny red tomatoes. They look so fresh, I could believe she has a garden somewhere in the maze of this old building.
“Looks good!” She throws us both the praise before turning to the stovetop. “June, let him finish that and come over here. Let me show you how to get the most flavor out of these tomatoes.”
I brush my hands off on my apron, turning in Bennett’s arms. He leans down, muttering, “You’re going to listen to another alpha right in front of me, June?”
A shiver crawls up my spine at his teasing look and I bite my tongue. “She’s hard to say no to.”
He grumbles for a moment before relenting and letting me slide out from under his arm. I move over to the stove, in front of a searing hot pan already waiting. Olive oil, basil, and tomatoes sit in a neat grouping nearby. Ashley glances at me, nudging me with her hip, her eyes crinkling at the edges.
“I’ve never seen him this relaxed with anyone other than Seth.”
My heart warms as I look over my shoulder at Bennett standing in front of the prep table, meticulously cutting the pasta dough into neat lines so we’ll have actual noodles in our dinner instead of the misshapen chunks I hacked off.
Ashley grabs the basil, finely chopping it as the pan heats with oil. “His mothers, both alphas, are friends with one of my mothers. She’s also an alpha.” She hovers her hand over the pan, staring at it as she mumbles, “Female alphas aren’t… rare, per se, but less likely, as I’m sure you know. We really stick together, know each other. It’s a weird place to be when you turn eighteen and, instead of emerging as glorified property, you’ve got more power in the world than you or anyone else knows what to do with.”
I tilt my head at her and she glances over at me.
“No offense at the property thing. It’s fucked.”
I shrug, she’s not wrong .
“It was weird,” I say as Ashley scoops the tomatoes into the pan, sizzling immediately. As they begin to cook, she smashes some of them with a wooden spoon. “Being suddenly not in control of my own choices was an adjustment. The center didn’t know what to do with me. They gave me a bunch of information on packs they couldn’t find other placements for. Those were the ones that were rejected for obvious reasons — or the ones with female alphas as the prime. They were the ones that didn’t want kids —” I flinch when one of the tomatoes explodes, splattering our aprons.
“Sorry!” Ashley laughs loudly, giving me a sheepish look. “I should have warned you. Go on?”
I grin back at her. “Don’t mind me, I’m just rambling about how they asked me to remove my IUD before even saying hello.”
“ Ugh .” She makes a face, shivering next to me. “Basil goes in last, so it doesn’t wilt. You like garlic? Of course you do.” Ashley turns sharply, striding away. “Bennett, this is your warning that I’m putting an ungodly amount of garlic into this sauce.”
He looks up as he wipes up the remaining flour from the workstation, glancing over at me. “I don’t think it matters as long as we both smell and taste like it.”
“Good man.” Ashley comes back with a bowl of garlic cloves, the skin already removed. She throws it onto the plate with the basil, finely chopping it before adding it to the pan with the tomatoes.
As she does, her gaze darts to me.
“You know, for as much progress as the world has made, the centers and the government still struggle to see any reason why some omegas might not want kids. But it’s the same as anyone else, sometimes that’s just not what you want for your future, and that’s alright.”
I chew on my tongue, my eyes finding Bennett. “Yeah, but it worked out.”
Ashley nudges me with a little grin. “It did. And at least you smell divine , some people get the short end of the stick, or scents only a mother could love.”
Inhaling deeply, I breathe in the comforting scent of thyme from the alpha next to me, slightly twinged with bitterness. “From an omega perspective, I think you smell lovely — like coming home to a warm dinner, a huge smile, and a good hug.”
Ashley’s gaze softens as she stirs the tomatoes. “Thank you.”
Nudging her back with my own hip, I smile. “No problem.”
She quietly talks me through the steps of the sauce, what to look for, and how to know when to pull it — before the garlic gets too fragrant, and before the strands of fresh basil wilt. Ashley steps back and waves at me with a towel. “Okay, get out of here. Bennett can take you to the table and I’ll be out in a second with your final dishes.”
Bennett’s hand slides into mine, tugging me away from the stove. He takes my apron off of me, then pulls me into the main restaurant. It’s all exposed brick and soft lighting. At the center of the room, a table meant for four only has two chairs, side by side. We walk over to it together, hand in hand, my heart rising to my throat as I see the bouquet of wildflowers at the center of the table, surrounded by candles.
He pulls a chair out for me and I turn to him the moment he sits down, taking his hand again, hoping I sound as earnest as I feel. “I love this. Thank you.”
His brown eyes rove over my face, his thumb stroking my hand. “I’m glad. I wanted to do something different for you.”
Leaning into him, I press my lips against his cheek, whispering against his orange-scented skin. “And you wanted to make sure I could at least make one meal for myself when you’re out of town.”
His rumbling chuckle echoes through me as he reaches up and cups my face, pulling my lips to his. The kiss is deep and makes my toes curl in my low heels, his words getting lost against my lips. “That’s the other half, yes.”
Humming, I nudge his nose with my own. “Just remember, that’s your last kiss from me sans garlic breath.”
Bennett’s loud laugh bounces off the wall before he pulls me closer and bites my lower lip, tugging it between his teeth. My breath catches as heat creeps up my skin. The orange scent rolls off him in waves that threaten to drag me under — I know it’s partially biology, but my heart sings its praises for how much this man has wormed his way into the organ.
The door to the kitchen opens and I pull away just as Ashley comes out, brandishing two plates with a wide smile. “Alright, lovebirds!” She slides the pasta in front of each of us, picking up a block of cheese from a side table, holding it up to a grater. “This evening, I have for you two expertly made plates of pasta, honestly, my chefs did such a good job.”
I flush at the praise, looking down at my plate. I can’t deny that it looks delicious — albeit rustic. When she grates the cheese on it, it helps cover up some of the more freeform noodles I cut.
“ Bon appétit , you two.”
She whisks away and Bennett grabs a bottle of wine from the side table. He uncorks it, pouring the white wine into each of our glasses before lifting his own.
“To us.”
I stare at him, clinking my glass with his. “To us.”
Ashley’s hug is crushing as I say goodbye.
“Thank you again for tonight.”
The female alpha flashes me a huge smile. “Anytime you want a dinner away from that chaotic pack of yours, you come here — no reservation required.”
I grin back at her. “I might have to take you up on that.”
Dusk hangs, darkening the air, and my feet ache, my stomach comfortably full as Bennett pulls me over to his vintage car. I glance up at the sky, leaning into his touch as his eyes flicker over my face.
“Happy?”
“Yes,” I answer honestly.
His body crowds mine against the side of his car. Sparks crawl up my skin as he leans down, pressing a hot kiss against my jaw, moving to my cheek, then grazing my lips.
Closing my eyes, I fist my fingers in his shirt. “If we go home, will we be able to have a night to ourselves?”
He pauses, his hands on my hips. “I hope you know that you will always have a say in who joins you in bed.” He squeezes me once. “There is no open door policy if you don’t want it. They’ll respect that. They’ll respect you . And if you want something with just one of us, or multiple, or want us to leave you entirely alone, that is perfectly acceptable.”
Sucking in a deep breath, I nod, my hands roaming his chest as I drop my forehead slightly, his lips brushing it. “I just know it might be different after my heat —”
“June.” Bennett stops me, making my eyes flutter open as he growls, “One moment of your consent does not mean we have consent in perpetuity.”
“Okay.” My lips part, throat suddenly dry as I tip my chin, breathing out, “Because I want you tonight. Just you, alpha.”
Bennett’s smile is devastating . I can see the spark of desire in his eyes, the way that he probably drew Seth to himself unknowingly. He’s not broad like Theo, or enticing like Arin — he’s entirely different — alluring and earnest. Mine .
As he cups my face, his voice lowers. “I can’t wait to fill you and fuck you so much the others won’t be able to smell you without smelling me inside you.”
I gasp as he drags me into another kiss, nodding, “I like that. More of that.”
His answering growl rolls over my skin as he pushes me back against the car, hands moving all over me, touching my face, my arms, my hips, sliding the dress up almost to the point of exposing me to the night air. “You’ll learn quickly, darling, that I love to share. I love to watch. But making them all wild because I’m the one who gets to fuck you? I love that too. We could tie them all up, force them to sit and watch while I make you come over and over and over again.” His voice sounds raw as he groans against my lips. “And then maybe one day you can do that to me.”
Fuck yes .
I scramble to hold onto his shirt, needing him closer, but knowing we can’t risk anything in this stupid parking lot. “Take me home — take me home before I need you right here, right now.”
He grabs the car door and jerks it open.
I dip down and climb into the seat, turning to watch as he drops into the driver’s side. We’re both breathing a little hard as we buckle and he tears out of the lot. I make it to the outskirts of town before my hands drop to my legs, stretching in the passenger seat as I ruck up my dress slowly, but surely.
Bennett glances over at me, his eyes laser focused as his nostrils flare. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t promise they’ll watch us tonight, but you can watch me as we drive home.” I lift my hips up, enthralled by the way he keeps glancing between the road and me, like he can’t bear to miss it as I slide my fingers up my skirt and slip my underwear off. Bracing one foot on the dash, I spread my thighs as wide as I can, my fingers dipping into the slick already gathering at my entrance.
He curses and the car jerks. Gasping, I glance up at the empty road, toying with my clit. “Eyes ahead, alpha, or I won’t let you see me come.”
Bennett’s strangled moan sends a shiver up my spine as I giggle and angle my hips so he can see what my hands are doing a little easier. I’m not used to this, but I roll against my hand as I draw a whimper from my own mouth, whispering, “I’m so wet, Bennett.” As my fingers circle my slippery clit, my eyelids droop. “I’m so ready for you. I could come just like this, knowing you’re stuck driving while I’m so fucking close.”
His eyes deviate from the road for a breath, his knuckles whiting out on the steering wheel. “You’re going to fuck yourself on your little fingers for me, June. I know they won’t feel as good as my cock, but I’m going to get us home safely and give that to you as soon as I can.”
Biting my tongue, I lower my fingers, teasing my entrance. The sound it makes is swept away in the air of the open top as I thrust two fingers into myself and whine, heat flashing on my skin. With my other hand, I throw my underwear into his lap and mutter, “There’s your consolation prize.”
He grunts, pressing them against the front of his trousers, where his bulge looks painful. “You’re going to fucking kill me.”
I laugh, tilting my head back as I gasp, fucking myself with two fingers, keeping them steady as I spasm around them. Clinging to the armrest with my other hand, I arch off the seat. “Fuck, you’re right, alpha. They’re not thick enough. I need you. I need your knot in and out of me, filling me and then pulling back out. I’m so empty.”
Bennett’s answering laugh is hoarse. “You started this, darling. Finish it before we get back home and I give you exactly what you just asked for.”
Moaning again, I curl my fingers, but it’s a poor imitation of how good Seth is at it. I can’t reach my own g-spot and I push down in the seat, moving my fingers faster as I turn my head to stare open-mouthed at Bennett, my eyes tracking over the tension in his shoulders. Something about the way he looks near-feral makes me whine, my omega going insane as I try to play with my clit at the same time as I fuck myself.
“I keep thinking about them watching us, about me leaning back on your bed and fucking myself while you just have to sit there and take it. You couldn’t even touch yourself — I’d tie you up. Would you like that?”
His eyes dart to mine as he takes a turn a little too quickly. “Would you ? Because it sounds like you would.” Bennett inhales, his eyes tracking my fingers as I try to find the right angle. “Smells like you like it. Do you want to put on shows for me, darling? Do you want to make me near-crazy by the time I can touch you properly? Because this is getting me close.”
I thrust my fingers faster, riding my hand as I spread my thighs wider. After a moment, I abandon finger-fucking myself just to rub my clit as fast and hard as I can, gasping, “What if I fucked Theo in front of you?” I don’t know where it comes from, but I can feel all my muscles tightening at the thought. Heat builds at the base of my spine, coiling in my stomach as I whimper, “What if he took me hard and fast while you had to sit there and know he was getting to fuck me and you weren’t? Would you try to replace his scent with yours?”
“ Fuck , I love it.” Bennett snarls the words and then one of his hands lashes out, grabbing my chin and pushing a thumb into my mouth. “You have five minutes to come for me before we’re in the driveway and I take you how I want you.”
I cry out, my fingers slipping and sliding all over my clit, unable to get the proper pressure as I suck on his thumb, writhing against the seat as I gasp his name. The orgasm comes, but it’s tepid at best, not enough to make me lose my mind.
The car bounces on gravel before skidding to a stop. My body jerks against the seat as Bennett throws his door open and stalks around, opening mine. His arms encircle me, then he picks me up like I weigh nothing, striding into the house and straight to the stairs.
I shriek, turning in his arms and pressing my face against his neck, kissing the skin there as I wiggle in his hold. “I want you to knot me,” I whine as we reach the second landing. “I only want to feel you. Leave your impression on me wherever and however you can.”
“That’s a given, darling.” He kicks a door open and I briefly see his room from the light in the hallway before he drops me onto his bed and crawls overtop of me, kissing me heatedly.
I moan into the kiss, uncaring about the dress as he pushes it up to my waist and drops between my legs, his tongue sliding over my messy thighs.
“Door open tonight, or closed?” He looks up, voice ragged.
I glance at the open door, chewing on my lip. “Closed, please.”
It must take all his self-control to leave me, because he groans as he pulls away, staggering to the door only to slam it shut. Bennett pointedly turns away from it and strides back over to me, unbuttoning his shirt as he does.
“I want to fuck you in front of an audience, June.”
Heat lashes up my spine as he drops on top of me, his chest exposed, his lips suctioning to my throat. His fingers work their way under me, and then he unclasps the dress, jerking the zipper down. The fabric sags, exposing my bare chest as he kisses down my pale skin, sucking and licking as he moans.
“I want everyone to see how fucking good I make you feel, omega.”
My mind spirals as I lift my hips, letting him tug the dress off of me and throw it to the floor. It’s way too expensive to be treating it like this — but the thought flies out of my mind as Bennett kneels between my legs, in just his slacks. His hands capture my thighs, and then he pushes them wide , my muscles burning as he grins up at me.
“I want everyone to see how fucking pretty, shiny, slick, and swollen this little pink pussy gets, and know they can never, ever touch it.”
He thrusts two fingers into me, and it makes a wet noise as he curls them. They’re thicker than my own, and I push off the bed with a cry as he grunts and moves his wrist at a steady pace. Bennett leans up, kissing my stomach and sucking on my skin, his voice raw. “I need to mark you up, need everyone to know you’re mine .” The possessiveness in his tone just makes my breathing come quicker.
“I want to put little clamps on those gorgeous breasts of yours, make your skin all red for me, and then give you more and more until you can’t take it.” A third finger thrusts into me and I see stars, sawing in a ragged breath as he stares up at me.
“You can take my knot, but can you take my fist, darling? Do you want to try?”
I let out an unintelligible noise, clenching around him, somehow still feeling so goddamn empty , and I tell him as much. “God, yes.” Cupping my breasts, I flutter as he starts to press a fourth finger into me, stretching me, breathing through the slight burn as I push my hips into it. It only hurts for a moment, before my body adjusts to it like it’s craving it — delicious and mind-blowing as I writhe on his bed.
There’s going to be a wet spot .
The sounds are obscene as he thrusts his four fingers in and out, slick dripping around his hand, making their movements easier. He fills me so fucking good that I’m not sure he’ll be able to fit the last one.
But then he does.
I must black out for a moment, because suddenly his entire hand is disappearing between my thighs, in me as I stare down, open-mouthed. Being an omega suddenly has its perks . My body was made to take knots, to be stretched and filled and fucked, and it’s proving it. Bennett’s grin is wild as he looks up at me, his fingers all pinched together as he slides his fist into me before he suddenly flexes them, splaying them out inside me.
The movement of his wrist — the way his fingers graze every spot — the pressure explodes. I bend over, coming off the bed with a scream that shakes the house as I come. Slick gushes out around his hand as I shiver, the euphoria crashing as my body flushes and drops back to the mattress in an instant.
Bennett slides his hand out, licking it as he pushes his pants off, fisting himself with the same hand and pumping his erection as he crawls over me. “Good fucking girl. I would have paid to have a recording of that.”
All I can muster is a moan as I tug him to my lips, kissing him roughly as I taste myself on his mouth, on his tongue. Pushing my hips up, I rub against the head of his cock. “God, please fuck me.”
He cups my hip with a hand, pinning me to the bed before lining us up. Bennett’s hips hold mine down as he slams into me, all the way to the hilt. Knot and all fill me as he grunts, not an ounce of resistance as he bites my lips and rocks into me. In the next breath — I’m empty . He pulls all the way out, knot popping as I keen and press my chest against his. It’s a delicious pull, but it doesn’t hurt — more a tease than anything to have the pressure I crave given and taken in a single pump of his hips.
“ More .” I sound drunk as I writhe under him and it’s so fucking good . Better than the heat — because I’ll have memories of this as he fucks me roughly, punching his hips into mine, knotting and unknotting me with each thrust.
Bennett chuckles and the sound is so dark that my skin prickles in warning. His hand on my hip moves between us while his hips thrust steadily. It’s my only warning before he pinches my clit so hard that I clench, locking his knot into place for a thrust. I squeak as he sets a brutalizing pace, pinching and toying with my clit, tugging on it as he fucks me into the bed.
“Like this, darling? Do you like it a little rough? Do you like it when it’s a little too much?”
Pain and pleasure blur together as my mouth drops open, finding purchase on his throat, sucking and licking. My tongue slides against his skin as I shriek, “ So good —” My words cut off as he moves faster, his hips rocking into mine, my head bouncing against the comforter.
I clench again, and then it hits me.
His knot slips in, and his thumb and forefinger pinch my clit while his knot swells, rubbing my g-spot. The orgasm is indescribable as I come apart around him, gushing and blubbering nonsense as every muscle in my body tenses before releasing.
My body gives out as Bennett comes with a roar. He fills me, breathing hard as he holds onto my hip, one elbow near my head, his upper arm tense as he stops himself from dropping on top of me.
After a moment, he moves his face, his eyes searching mine. “Fuck, are you alright?”
I moan as I kiss his jaw, slurring my words. “Keep the fucking door shut and give me another, alpha. I’m all yours tonight.”
He breathes out harshly, half a laugh, half a groan as he pulls out, a mess dripping between my thighs before he thrusts right back in. Bennett cups my face as he kisses me. “You’re so insatiable, and I love it.”