Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Romeo Hall, Sanctum
F evered, I writhe in the crackling paper nest in the library.
Hot, hot, hot.
My eyes are glassy. I’m panting.
I’m naked, apart from Ambrose’s football jersey that I won’t be parted from. It’s tied around my shoulders, and I turn my head to take another deep breath of its spicy scent.
My eyes flutter closed. Slick runs down my thighs.
“Alpha,” I murmur, barely coherent. “Need you.”
“You have me,” Ambrose’s deep voice rumbles.
Why isn’t he knotting me?
I ache.
There’s a howling hollowness inside me that I’ve never felt before, which needs to be filled.
My eyes snap open.
I’m on my back, staring up at the glass dome. I feel like I’m a furnace, but there’s cool, pale arms wound around me. Brunet curls drape over my shoulder.
I glance at the male Omega, who is purring soothingly next to me.
Benedict is calm, honey, and fucking everything .
I can breathe because he’s here.
Snow falls as softly as feathers onto the dome. The storm has passed, although it’s raging between my thighs. The bronze fingers of dawn are stroking the snow clouds.
The lanterns have been turned off. It feels magical in the low glow of the burning sky.
“Morning, soul mate.” Benedict kisses me, tenderly. “It’s Boxing Day now, and you’re fully in heat.”
I nod, unable to stop my frantic writhing.
Swan and Vito lie in each other’s arms at the bottom of the bed, watching me intently.
I sniff the air, searching for my Alpha.
Benedict pushes me onto my side to face the armchair beside the nest.
Ambrose is sprawled in it like an emperor on a throne with his harem at his feet. He’s loosened his tie and undone the buttons on his shirt to reveal his tanned, muscled chest, which is glistening with sweat.
He’s deep into rut as well.
The outline of his hard, giant cock is obvious in his trousers.
How much willpower does he have to simply sit there, watching me with dark eyes?
I shiver.
Ambrose is wearing his dom face. The strength of his pheromones is overwhelming.
He may have agreed to us all bonding but it’s obvious that he’s in charge here.
He’s making that clear.
And it makes me even hotter that he wants to watch me like this.
Still, is it also that he intends to oversee that I’m okay? Out of a sense of responsibility? Duty? Love?
Our gazes meet. It’s electric.
“Prepare our new Omega for me, Benedict,” Ambrose commands without looking away from me.
“Yes, my Alpha.” Benedict slips his hand to my thighs, urging them apart.
I widen them further, eagerly.
Then Ambrose’s icy gaze shifts to Vito. “Be good and obedient. I’m going to use your cock to pleasure our Omega.”
Vito’s pupils dilate.
He licks his dry lips. “Yes, sir.”
“Our Beta…?” Ambrose snaps his fingers at Swan.
Shit, he didn’t just do that, right?
I expect Swan to launch himself out of the bed and tackle Ambrose to the floor, tussling in another wrestling match.
Instead, Swan gives a lazy smile. “Yeah, what’s up?”
Despite myself, I smile.
There’s my rebel.
“Strip my Second Alpha,” Ambrose snarls.
Except, I suddenly realize that Ambrose is trying not to smile as well.
Ambrose appears to protect himself (or believe that he’s protecting himself), by hiding how much he cares for us. But I can see it now beneath the coldness in his eyes.
It’s there in the way that his gaze flashes between us and he’s concentrating on our pleasure first.
Is this what he does?
Puts everyone’s needs before his own?
Has he been trying to do this for Vito all along?
Perhaps, I have to show Ambrose that being pack means that we want to protect him as well, bringing him just as much pleasure as he brings us.
He doesn’t need to shoulder the pressure or dangers alone.
I allow the worry to bleed from me, however, as Benedict kisses the thoughts out of my head.
Benedict kisses and licks between my breasts, then further, along my sides and down my stomach.
He looks up at me through his long lashes. Even though it’s a struggle for him, he meets my eye.
I shudder in pleasure.
“Fuck, yeah.” Another wave of heat hits me. “Lower.”
“This low?” Benedict dips his head to my bellybutton, swirling his tongue experimentally around it. “Your skin feels like silk. I could lick it for hours.”
My hips hump up.
When I glance at the bottom of the bed, I whine again.
Swan has pushed Vito onto his back and is tearing off his clothes, ferally.
But then, having ripped off Vito’s t-shirt, he stops.
“Shit,” Swan whispers, stroking Vito’s defined abs. “Does this go down further?”
“Why don’t you take off my trousers and find out?” Vito replies.
His face is tight with tension.
A gorgeous scarlet snake tattoo coils down from Vito’s stomach, disappearing below the waistband of his leather trousers.
Slowly now, reverentially, Swan rolls down Vito’s trousers and underwear in one go, before dragging them off.
Swan’s eyes widen at the same time as mine do.
The snake is inked coiling around Vito’s cock. It’s beautiful.
A work of art.
But hell, that tattoo must have hurt.
How important must it be to Vito to have suffered through its inking?
“Do you hate it?” Vito moves, as if to drop his hands to cover his cock in shame. “I had no choice about the snake on my hand. Everyone in our gang were forced to have that done. So, I wanted something that was just for me, a fuck you to the Snakes because Dad would go crazy if he knew about it. I wanted to be Viper in a way that brought me pleasure and not pain.”
Firmly, Swan grips Vito’s wrists and pins them to the side, keeping him exposed.
“You’re gorgeous. And so is your cock.” Swan drops his head and kisses the head of the snake, which rests on the head of Vito’s cock. “ My Little Snake .”
Vito’s eyelashes flutter. “Not little.”
Swan smirks. “Definitely not little.”
“Stop talking.” Ambrose’s nails bite into the arms of the chair like he’s battling his primal side not to launch into the nest to join us. “That’s it, my Beta, look at me when I’m talking to you. Your pretty mouth has better uses. Right now, you’re going to suck Vito’s cock. Get him hard and ready to prepare our Omega for my knot.”
“F-f-uck.” Vito’s eyes are blown wide.
Despite Ambrose’s order not to speak, Swan leans closer to Vito and checks in, “Are you okay with that, Little Snake?”
Vito’s surprised and genuine smile makes my heart leap.
He obviously didn’t expect anyone to check in with him.
“I can’t fucking wait to feel how sweet your mouth is, beautiful,” Vito replies.
Then Vito turns his head to meet my heated gaze.
His long, black hair falls around him. He looks like a beautiful demon in my bed.
He reaches out to me. The tips of our fingers touch.
My skin tingles at every point that I’m touching one of my two scent matches.
“Benedict, tongue our Omega between her thighs at the same time that your Second Alpha has his snake sucked.” Ambrose straightens in the chair, leaning forward. “It’s a contest. Let’s see who can bring their good Omega or Alpha to the edge of coming first. But you lose, if they orgasm.”
Shit.
Vito and I whimper at the same time.
I’m going to lose. I feel close already.
Swan grins, competitive to win.
He’s never done this before, but I know how much effort he puts into a challenge.
Swan licks down the length of Vito’s cock experimentally, holding him down hard by the thighs to stop his hips from moving.
He grips his hand around the base of Vito’s cock, stroking him a couple of times. Then he hollows his cheeks, sucking up and down with a fervor that makes Vito shake.
Benedict, however, won’t be outdone.
He teases down my wet folds, sliding his elegant fingers into my pussy.
Then he nudges my clit with his nose.
When I look down, I’m startled when I catch a glimpse of Benedict’s mischievous green eyes.
He taps my clit with his tongue, before twirling around it, delicately.
“You taste sweet, soul mate.” Benedict cocks his head, before licking me again. I shiver. “Like cherries.”
Then he sucks enthusiastically, and I wail.
Precise and rhythmic, Benedict plays out a tune between my thighs.
I lose control, grabbing Benedict by the hair.
He purrs, as I hold him roughly against my pussy, dragging his eager tongue to where it drives my pleasure higher.
His purr sends vibrations through me in an intense way that makes me grip his hair even tighter.
“A-a-almost, Foxy,” I gasp. “M-m-more…”
I slam my head back.
It’s too much.
Not enough.
I’m going to…
“I win,” Swan calls, smugly.
“No, no, no,” Vito howls. “D-d-don’t s-s-stop…”
I force my eyes open.
Swan is now sitting up with his hand clasped around the base of Vito’s painfully hard and purple cock.
Tears of frustration gleam in Vito’s eyes. He’s fruitlessly humping his hips.
“Well done, my Beta.” Ambrose gives a wicked smile. “Stop, Benedict.”
I howl as loudly as Vito, when Benedict stops sucking my clit.
I clench my hands in Benedict’s hair, but he continues to obey Ambrose.
How can he call himself a bad Omega? He obeys rules. And right now, I wish that he didn’t.
“Let go of his hair,” Ambrose orders.
I reluctantly release Benedict with a final stroke. He sneakily kisses my inner thigh, before he sits up.
“Did I do well?” Benedict looks at me out of the corner of his eye. “I’m sorry that I didn’t win for you.”
“Look at the puddle of slick in the nest,” I manage to rasp, even though my mind is melted by desire, and my body feels focused on the fire at my core. “You didn’t lose, Foxy. You were fucking incredible.”
“A good Omega.” Ambrose’s expression gentles. “Now, bond with our other good Omega.”
Both Benedict and I shiver at the good Omega .
Then Benedict’s eyes become darker forest green, as he slides up me, and his silky curls cascade over my face. “May I bond with you, my soul mate?”
“Please…” I beg.
Benedict lowers his lips to where my throat meets my shoulder, laving it with his tongue.
“Thank you,” he whispers.
Then he bites, gently.
It’s just enough to break the skin and leave the mark of his teeth.
It’s calculated and careful like Benedict is himself.
Yet it’s everything.
It’s a bond between us as Omegas, which shoots through me at an instinctive level. It’s biological.
In the past, Omegas often chose to have this.
It feels right in a way that’s beyond words.
I never thought that I’d have this: An Omega bond.
Who the hell is Ambrose that he’d not only allow but order this?
Benedict licks over the mark with a satisfied purr. “My soul mate. Mine .”
“And you’re mine.” I can feel how true that is, deep inside.
I finally have a home and pack now.
Even with this one bond, the fire inside me isn’t boiling like it’s killing me.
Perhaps, these bonds truly can save me?
I blink the tears from my eyes, as hope begins to soar through me that this may not be my first and only heat.
That this may not be the last, earth shattering twenty-four hours of my life.
Yet if it is, I couldn’t imagine a better way to spend it than with these men or in the throes of the wildest passion of my life.
Finally, I feel wanted and desired.
“Here.” Ambrose clicks his fingers.
Benedict gives his bite a final, possessive kiss, before he pushes himself up and crawls toward Ambrose. His ass, along with the elegant arch of his back, which is covered with his brunet hair, makes him look like a wild fox.
I watch with wide eyes, as Ambrose pats his lap.
Benedict looks up at the Alpha adoringly, before climbing into his lap.
Ambrose pets Benedict’s hair, clutching him close by one strong arm.
“You did so well, my good boy,” Ambrose murmurs against Benedict’s neck, grazing his canines over his own bond mark there. Benedict’s hard dick leaks pre-cum at the pleasure of his Alpha’s touch on his bond bite. “I’m proud of you for accepting our Omega and taking part in her heat. I know that this is difficult for you. Tell me if you need quiet time. I’ve set up blankets and cushions on the other side of the library to give you a space to yourself, when you need a break. Our Beta will settle you there, if I’m too lost in the rut over the next day. Do you understand?”
Benedict nods.
His long fingers compulsively stroke up and down Ambrose’s tie.
Ambrose’s expression is transformed when he looks at Benedict: it’s softer.
He’s unable to hide his love.
It speaks of the familiarity of the years that they’ve spent together, along with a deep protectiveness.
To outsiders, I bet that this is how Swan and I look.
It makes joy surge through me that Swan and I are joining a pack, which are united by the same hard won love that we have.
We’re survivors and stronger because of it. Our love binds us together because we fought for this.
I turn on my side to be able to reach Vito’s hand, entwining his fingers with mine.
Vito’s eyes are glazed, but he smiles.
He tightens his hold on my hand. “Okay, Jules?”
“Want you.”
“Not more than I want you.”
“Take our Second Alpha and use his cock to prepare her for me,” Ambrose growls.
I stretch out, and the paper nest rustles. When I turn my head and smell the jersey, it’s like Ambrose is already lying here with me.
Now, Vito is about to fuck me as well.
Yes, yes, yes…
I’m going to have both of them at the same time.
I don’t let go of Vito’s hand…I don’t think that I could, even if I had a knife to my throat…as Swan manhandles him up and then around, until the Alpha is lying over me.
Vito holds himself up by his free arm. His hard cock is already nudging at my pussy.
I feel feral at the thought that his snake , which has already fucked Swan’s mouth, will soon be inside me as well.
“You’re beautiful.” Vito’s ocean eyes meet mine. His voice becomes lower and seductive. “I love how wet you are. Want to feel how hard our Beta has made me for you?”
My breath hitches.
Swan lies over Vito’s back. He may be smaller, but right now, he’s in charge, holding his arm around Vito’s throat from behind and wrenching back his head.
Vito hisses out a breath, but his cheeks are flushed with desire.
Swan thrusts his own hard dick roughly against Vito’s ass, dry humping him.
In contrast, he gently pushes Vito’s hair to the side and kisses the back of his neck. “You wanted to dance with us. Now, you’re caught between us, which is where you belong — forever. Fucking dance, Viper.”
Swan’s silver eyes gleam in the dark, as he bares his teeth.
He leans over Vito’s shoulder to kiss me.
I didn’t know that three people could be connected this intimately.
That five people could be.
I can smell Ambrose’s Cognac scent in the softness of his jersey that’s bound around my shoulders. Benedict’s bite still tingles on the base of my neck.
And both Vito and Swan lie above me.
I kiss Swan desperately, while Vito buries his cock into me in one slow thrust.
I gasp into the kiss in pleasure.
Then Swan draws out of the kiss to gather Vito’s hair up like reins and drive him in and out of me savagely.
“Fuck our fated,” Swan snarls into Vito’s ear. “Dance.”
Vito’s trembling as much as I am.
Our gazes are locked.
We’re sweating, kissing, shaking apart .
It’s too much. I don’t ever want this to end.
“D-d-deeper,” I moan.
Swan slaps Vito’s hip, and Vito fucks me more wildly, pistoning into me faster and deeper.
Swan alternates kisses down Vito’s neck and kissing me.
I can’t tell where each of us begins and ends.
I feel like I’m flying into the shadows up and up and swirling into the snow.
But I’m not scared.
I’m finally free.
“I’m g-g-going to…” Vito’s jaw clenches. “This is the s-s-second time that I’ve been edged, baby. And her pussy is heaven. My knot—”
“If you knot her before I do,” Ambrose’s eyes flash, as he leans forward, “then you won’t get to knot her again throughout the rest of your rut.”
Vito whines, high and desperate. “Alphahole.”
Ambrose arches his brow. “What gave you the impression that I wasn’t?”
“I’ve got you, Little Snake.” Swan stokes Vito’s shoulder. “You can do this. Concentrate on making our Omega feel good, while I bond with her.”
Vito’s loving gaze meets mine, as he kisses me, deep and hard.
When we break apart, but only because we need to breathe, I purr.
I’m shaking with pleasure.
“I’m here too,” I murmur against Vito’s lips. “I always will be. And after we’re bonded, I want you to knot me over and over and over …”
Vito rests his forehead against mine, which feels just as fevered. “F-f-fuck, not helping.”
Sorry not sorry.
Ambrose finally undoes his trousers.
At Ambrose’s nod of permission, Benedict’s elegant fingers work their way into Ambrose’s underwear to pull out his cock.
The rest of us in the nest still.
Wow.
It truly is a giant cock.
When I’d seen its outline in Ambrose’s tight football pants, I’d guessed that it would be.
But not this big.
Now I understand why he had Vito prepare me for his knot.
I’m grateful.
I’ve never taken an Alpha’s knot before.
Ambrose gazes back at us with a smug quirk of his lips, as Benedict jerks him to full hardness with the smooth movements of someone who has done it many times before.
Swan turns back to me, winking. “So, Amby doesn’t disappoint. I knew that he wouldn’t. How many years have we fantasized about being with our mates like this? Being fucked, knotted, and claimed? Bonded ? We’re saving your life, my Queen, and then we’re going to treasure you like you deserve.”
He winds Vito’s hair more firmly around his hand, before yanking his head to the side, giving himself access to my throat.
He leans over Vito, whose hard cock is still buried in my pussy.
It feels forbidden in the most delicious way to be fucked by an Alpha but about to be bonded first by a Beta.
And these two incredible Alphas are granting Swan and me this.
Swan glances at the spot on the opposite side of my neck that Benedict bit.
Then without warning, Swan bites, savagely.
I arch up in pleasurepain .
Instantly, I feel the bond slam between us.
Swan and I have been close from the moment that we met.
It’s beyond claims of fated mates or bonds.
It’s thousands of hours of brutal rehearsals, of trusting that Swan won’t drop me, when I leap into his arms, of watching him beaten for me, piggy-back rides, roach rescues, and laughter.
It’s a hundred acts of sacrifice and rebellion.
It’s love shown through actions more than words.
Now, we’re bonded through a bite as well.
We play acted this because it was a step that we knew would always be out of reach.
Nothing but a dream.
My cheeks are wet with tears. The strength of emotion is so strong.
Swan licks my tears away. “I love you, my Queen.”
“I l-l-love you too.” I tip up my head, needing his kiss.
“Stop,” Ambrose orders, but his voice is gravelly like his control is slipping. “It’s my turn to knot my pretty Omega now.”
Swan sits up, dragging Vito with him by his hair.
Vito hisses as he’s dragged off me to lie next to me.
Swan sprawls on the other side of him.
“I’m fucking close.” Vito clutches his hands into the woven clothes. “Do you want me to beg?”
“Go for it.” Swan slips his hand to Vito’s cock, lightly stroking it.
Vito growls; he sprawls in the nest like a debauched rock god at Swan’s mercy. “Please, beautiful. Please .”
Swan tightens his hold and jerks Vito faster. “I can’t wait to watch you come for me.”
I sigh, turning my head. I hold out my hand to Benedict.
I need my Omega with me.
Immediately, Benedict stands and prowls toward me. He smiles like he’s delighted that I invited him back.
He sprawls elegantly on the other side of me, nuzzling my neck.
I stare challengingly at my only mate who’s sitting apart from us.
Ambrose.
Ambrose’s cock is hard and throbbing. His hands claw at the arms of the chair.
His cold mask is slipping.
He’s growling now. It raises the hairs on the back of my neck.
Ambrose looks dangerous and so dominant that I submissively bare my neck, pumping my pheromones more strongly into the room on instinct.
At the same time, Vito finally comes hard. Pearly liquid spurts over his stomach.
“ Swan… ” Vito is dazed but exhilarated at the same time.
He grips Swan’s hand, before turning his head and smiling at me.
Then Vito touches my hip like he needs to feel close to me…like he never wants to stop touching me.
And that’s what tumbles our Chief Alpha into full, savage rut: the scent of his Second Alpha’s cum, mixed with my pheromones and bared neck.
Ambrose lurches up from the chair, ripping off his tie and hurling it across the library.
His growl is loud enough to echo through the dark room.
The shadows play across his rugged features.
Slick gushes in response between my thighs. I purr, spreading my thighs wider in welcome.
“Alpha!” I gasp.
My nipples peak. My skin tingles.
Ambrose yanks off his shirt, revealing his broad, powerful shoulders.
My breath catches.
He’s fucking gorgeous.
Primal, snarling, and dangerous.
Mine.
My Alpha.
Ambrose stalks toward me like I’m prey, then he drops on top of me. His growl vibrates against my skin, as he sniffs along my bared throat.
Then he grips me by the chin and pulls me to face him. He slides his hand to my throat, resting it there lightly. My pulse flutters against his palm.
“I’m going to press my lips against yours,” Ambrose murmurs, “then my tongue will thrust into your mouth — dominate it — and I’ll kiss you, until you’ll never be able to taste anything but me again.”
Then he kisses me just like he promised.
I lose myself in the passion of his kiss.
There’s no time.
No thought.
No worries.
Nothing but the taste of my Alpha.
When finally Ambrose pulls back, his amber eyes meet mine with a dangerous glint. “Are you ready, little Omega?”
I nod.
Ambrose’s lips curl at the side, revealing his canines. “Good because I own you now.”
Then he thrusts into me, and my eyes widen.
The breath is knocked from me.
He stretches me like no one has before. I’m filled, completely owned by the curve of his knot.
And I love it .
“Amby.” I grasp onto his shoulders. When my nails claw into him, he only thrusts harder. “Ambrose, Ambrose, Ambrose…”
At last, I say his name like a litany, a poem, a fucking summoning…but he’s already here, and his eyes darken at every gasp of his name.
I hook my legs around his waist. “More, Alpha.”
I need more of these delicious sensations.
Ambrose’s expression is as fearsome as an ancient god’s. “Don’t worry, you’ll get more of this knot. I’m going to bond and bite you, my perfect Juliet.”
Ambrose lowers his teeth to graze my neck, over Benedict’s bite. His dark gaze meets mine through his tumble of hair.
And that combination of sensations is enough, as his hard body presses against mine, to finally tumble me over the edge.
I scream as I come. Ambrose growls with pleasure at the same time.
But this orgasm isn’t the same as any other that I’ve had.
It’s not stopping.
It’s a continuous wave of blinding ecstasy.
Benedict’s hand tightens around mine.
Ambrose’s knot is growing even larger, locking us together.
It’s pushing me over the edge of pleasure.
Again…and again… and again…
I lose my words.
Thoughts.
Fucking mind.
I’m reduced to sensation and emotions, which make tears stream down my cheeks.
But I’m smiling.
I turn my head to meet Vito’s gaze because I need in this moment to see both my Alphas.
My two scent matches.
It feels like they’re both knotting me.
Swan and I have a pack.
We’re not abandoned any more.
This is the most intense pleasure and connection in my life.
I never knew that knotting would feel like this.
How can anyone live without this?
Ambrose holds himself still above me, but his chest is rapidly rising and falling.
“You won’t die. I forbid it.” Ambrose’s arms are quivering with tension. “I love you. Fated, claimed, or simply mine. I know that I’ve waited all my life to ask you this question and nothing, even death, will snatch you from me now. Juliet, will you accept the bond of the Romeo pack?”
There’s a shadow behind Ambrose’s eyes. I don’t understand it.
What’s he hiding? What’s his secret?
Yet I love him. I’ve loved him for years. And I’ve been falling for every other man in this nest.
This is it.
The moment that I officially get my pack.
Yet the Romeos are meant to be my enemies.
They’re the rival ballet company who I’ve been taught to hate but never have.
Am I saving my life but making the feud more deadly?
I nod.
Ambrose snarls in triumph. His gaze meets Vito’s.
Vito twists, until his breath gusts against my skin.
Then both Alphas lower their mouths, one on each side of my neck.
And bite.
I scream in agonized ecstasy, as they make the irreversible bite bond.
I’m marked as a member of the Romeos, linking the fortunes of the Romeos and Cinders forever.