Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
Lyra
The pain—it’s unbearable. I can hardly think straight, barely breathe as my body twists of its own accord, fingers reaching out to grip clusters of twigs and leaves.
Anything to cool my body down.
Anything to be rid of the incessant need and heat.
No wonder the guards force-fed us suppressants back at the Arena because this… this is just awful.
My mind is spiraling, yet through my delirium, I observe coolly as Gage and Malakai each take on a member of the king’s guard each. Guards who were sent out to hunt me down and return me to hell.
The Pack hates me, yet... they fight for me.
Gage and Malakai fight their fellow Alphas, their fellow countrymen. They are practically committing treason, going up against the king just for an Omega piece of scum like me.
I know I’m scum; I see it in Malakai’s cold, gray eyes.
I should be dead.
However, when the king recaptures me, he won’t spare me that kind of mercy. No, he’ll ensure that I’ll never escape his prisons ever again.
I am the villain in this story, yet Pack Storm has come to my aid like a couple of heroes. A couple of Alpha heroes.
It appears there were some good Alphas in this world, after all. Who knew.
Another sharp pain shoots through my body, turning me inside out. It runs all the way to the tips of my fingers and toes, blinding me momentarily as I squirm on the blood-soaked ground beside my fallen victim, crying out in agony.
Wren shushes me somewhere to my right, and then his warm scent of sage drowns out everything else. “It’s okay, Lyra. We’ve got you. We’ve got you.”
I focus on Wren’s soft voice, his kindness, as I shut my eyes. His voice has a calming effect on me, and I press my head against his hard chest, pretending that we are the only two people left in the world in that rare, peaceful moment.
The very sky above us could be falling, yet I wouldn’t care.
So long as I had Wren.
My saving grace.
He lowers his head, and then I feel his lips brush softly against my ear as he whispers, “We won’t let them have you. Mark my word, Lyra. You are ours. You are mine…”
His voice is like a lullaby, seeping through my delirious mind. His words are for my ears only as I shudder in his arms, just wanting to be swallowed whole by him.
I may even cry a little, and it looks as if I broke one of my most cardinal rules.
Never cry.
Never show fear.
Best of all, never show weakness in front of an Alpha.
They thrive off misery, after all.
Wren places my head by his chest, where his pounding heart echoes. It beats fast, almost in rhythm with my own, and I finally stir long enough to look at him.
His expression. It baffles me.
The Alpha is just as terrified as I am.
His purr vibrates through my bones, and a warmth washes through my veins next, enveloping me like a soft blanket.
Safe. A word that has eluded me for most of my life, but for the first time in my miserable existence, I am safe. Truly and utterly.
“It’s okay, little sparrow. Not long now. We’ve almost got them.”
More of those traitorous tears gush from my eyes, pushing forth from pinched eyelids, and I whimper now, pressing my cheek to his chest again.
Wren only purrs louder.
Knives clash, and then Alphas growl and snarl close by, but it’s still just me and Wren.
Just me and Wren…
So, when Gage barks an order through the calm, I’m completely startled, crashing back to reality once again.
I twist my head around, regretting it immediately. Gage has his arms wrapped around an Alpha as he is about to snap his neck.
I’ve snapped plenty of necks myself, yet the sight still rattles me as I stare, frozen.
Gage’s face is a furious mask as his sharp gaze finds Wren. “Get her back to the cabin. Now! Before others arrive.”
Wren doesn’t need to be told twice as he nods above me. “On it.”
I’m lifted in the air, and soon I’m floating in a pair of strong arms. When I look back at the horror behind me, I find Malakai twisting the neck of the last guard with his powerful hands.
The body of the guard drops unceremoniously to the ground with a dull thud, sending leaves scattering in his wake. Before we vanish into the shadows of the forest completely, Malakai’s gray eyes find mine.
I’m not sure what I read behind his gaze, his stony face a mask of calm. But it’s not regret, remorse or anger at having to fight his own countrymen to appease his brothers.
No. It’s relief that I’m getting away to safety.
Wait... Does the Alpha not hate me?
Does he perhaps fight for me and not just for his brothers, after all? It’s clear Gage and Wren have grown to care for me.
However, the thought soon leaves my mind the moment I spy all three dead guards. All dead, because of me.
Suddenly, another gut-wrenching cramp seizes hold of my body, and I whimper, gripping Wren’s shirt in a tight fist.
Wren is as fast as an imperial horse, racing us back to the pack house on nothing but pure adrenaline. His brothers are never too far behind. The whole time, I fall in and out of consciousness as my eyes shut of their own volition.
It’s happening; I’m losing myself to my heat.
To my Omega.
An Omega can die if she doesn’t get a knot on time. And despite how much I hate myself, I still don’t want to die.
In that moment, I want to live. Want to feel all the sensations. All the joys the world has to offer.
The joy an Alpha has to offer.
Somewhere, Wren shouts above me, “Stay with us, Lyra!”
And somehow, I do. Their scents ground me as my mind comes back into focus, and before long, the cabin looms into view.
Fidget fidgets in his pen, squealing in alarm when he senses the pain I’m in. Yet the Alphas bypass the little fox, taking me straight upstairs to my room.
Poor Fidget. I’m just about to call out as I reach my fingers toward him, but another cramp rips through me, numbing all my senses.
Wren bolts up the stairs two at a time, and when he reaches my bedroom, he kicks the door wide open, almost tearing it off its hinges. Then he moves for the bed, placing me down onto the plush mattress.
My whole body sags in relief once I feel the soft blankets beneath me, and then my eyes open to take in the glorious sight of Wren.
He’s all blurry in my heat haze, but I still find myself reaching up to touch him. The moment my finger grazes his stubbled cheek, my senses bloom to life, returning in full color.
His massive palms wrap around my head, his fingers spreading from my scalp to my chin. Hands big enough to crush, yet they hold me reverently.
“It’s okay, Lyra. You’re home now. You’re safe…”
Home. I think I can almost believe it.
I am home.
My back arches off the bed as a cramp runs through me, but Wren shushes me, reaching down to nuzzle my neck with his nose.
And the pain goes away immediately. He brushes his scent on me, scraping my sensitive skin with his stubble as I shudder.
“It’s all right. I’m here. I’m going to take all the pain away.”
I shut my eyes, fighting back tears. Wren leans forward and kisses away each teardrop from my cheeks. And then he grips my shirt—his shirt, the one still covered in purple paint and now blood as he pulls it up, exposing my mound.
Now, only a thin piece of fabric keeps us apart as the Alpha stares down at my underwear. His pupils grow twice their size as his Adam’s apple bobs along his throat.
Then the underwear comes off.
Now, I’m fully exposed.
The Alpha meets my gaze, looking for affirmation. As soon as I nod, his gaze warms, and then he kisses me on the lips. Then, his kisses travel down to my jawline and then to my neck and breasts. He kisses a fiery path down my body until he reaches the apex of my thighs.
He makes my whole body sing as he places his mouth at my slick entrance. Lights flash, and then I come into his mouth.
Damn. All he had to do was put his warm lips on me, and I'm completely undone.
The Alpha continues to kiss me there, his wet, hot tongue teasing my clitoris ever so slightly. His fists grip my ankles next as he drags me down the bed until we meet at eye level.
His large palm finds the back of my head again. “Are you ready, little sparrow? I’m about to take the pain away.”
Am I ready?
Is that a trick question?
All I have to do is nod, and the Alpha gets to work. He unbuttons his pants, and the moment his heat kisses my lower lips, I sigh.
My hips buck off the bed, and then they thrust, inviting him inside. The Alpha wastes no time.
He slips inside effortlessly, and my body shivers around his sheer size and length. So big, but my body soon adjusts, and then I release another satisfied breath.
I’m an Omega, so I’m built for his girth.
The Alpha thrusts, going slow and hard in the beginning as he brings me to my peak. I wrap my legs around his waist once he picks up the pace, matching his movements. Lights blink at the edges of my vision, and I open my mouth on a silent moan.
And then I throw my head back and groan when he hits the right spot. My walls close around his cock as I keep him locked inside me, and it’s happening...
Wren’s knot grows, stretching my muscles wider as my belly swells between us. I can feel him all the way to the roots of my soul, my very being, as I loll my head to one side, catching my breath.
My perfume clouds, filling the room with potent cherry, and that’s when Wren comes undone.
His hips judder as he releases, growling and snarling above me, and then just like that, the pain goes.
It comes in ebbs and flows for a while until eventually… it vanishes completely.
And in its wake: pure, utter bliss.
For the first time in my life, I have an Alpha’s knot inside me. And nothing has felt more right.
We’re locked together.
Wren purrs, kissing all over my face, and it’s as if he is kissing each freckle. Whenever he moves, his knot moves inside me, and I focus on the sensation, wishing it never had to end.
And then he yanks the sheets up from the bed, wrapping them around us as if to hide me from the world.
Now, it really is just the two of us as I fall asleep with him still notched inside me, his heart pounding above. His knot thumps along with the organ, and I close my eyes, drifting away into peaceful slumber.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.