54. Nora
54
Nora
Rebecca leaves without much fanfare, her face flushed and her eyes watery. I heard what she said and understood the meaning, and while I'm unsure how she managed to hide her true designation, I do not hold that against her. I'm not sure how society or her employer will take the revelation, but I hope they go easy on her. She made the decision that made the most sense for her situation at the time.
No one should fault her for that.
I change into flannel pants that, as I roll the waistband a few times, I realize must belong to Chase. I think he slipped into my room at some point because he has a thing about me wearing his clothes. I find a clean, flowy black tank and take my makeup off, throwing my hair up in a fuzzy scrunchy. After I'm comfortable, I head to the living room and pile up on the couch with the guys as we wait for our pizza delivery.
"While we wait," I say, looking at my guys. "I wanted to bring something up." Chase mutes the television, which is playing a rerun of some office workplace comedy that none of us are really paying attention to, and the guys give me their full attention.
My pack is nothing short of amazing. All of them are so different, but it's a beautiful symphony of personalities coming together in perfect harmony. I pull my legs up on the couch and snuggle into Joey's side. His big arm wraps around my shoulders, and I melt into the comfort only my biker Beta can provide.
"First, I know you'll say I don't need to say this, but thank you. Thank you for your understanding, your support, and your care. I am grateful you are in my life, and I cannot believe how lucky I am."
"We're the lucky ones, doll," Levi says as he pulls my feet onto his lap. He gently kneads the soles.
I plow past his interruption. "Unfortunately, I will need to ask more of you all. You've given so much, and I know we're all exhausted from the trial…"
"What's going on?" Nolan asks, leaning forward in his chair and resting his elbows on his knees. "What do you need from us?"
"It has come to my notice that my heat is imminent."
Levi's hands stop moving on my feet.
Nolan sits up straight in his chair.
Joey squeezes me tightly against his body.
Blaine just stares at me from where he sits on the hearth, blinking with his mouth kind of slack.
And Chase laughs. Loudly. Excitedly. It's not a cruel laugh, absolutely not. It is one of joy and a smidgeon of irony that infects all of us. He runs his fingers through his hair aggressively. "Of course. Of course, we'd be caught up in the legal system for the entire break between heats. That makes sense."
I sigh, shrugging and burrowing myself deeper into Joey's embrace. "I'm sorry, guys. I know it's inconvenient."
"One, you can't control it, and two, even if the timing is an issue, nothing about you is ever an inconvenience, and also, three, the timing could be way worse," Blaine says flippantly when he finally regains his composure. "No one is expecting us to work tomorrow anyway. It's not a bad way to celebrate our freedom, knot deep inside the best Omega in the world."
"Why do you seem so calm about this?" Joey asks me, pushing me away from his side to look closely at my face. "And how do you know?"
I squirm a bit under his gaze, but before I can respond, the doorbell rings. Nolan comes back with two massive pizzas in his arms and sets them up on the coffee table with a roll of paper towels. The first time we had pizza night like this, I almost had a nervous breakdown. No plates. No real napkins. Just slices of pizza in our hands and a paper towel to wipe the grease off our faces. But this is a Pack Sloane pizza night.
"I still can't believe you guys like that," Blaine says with a wrinkled nose as he snags a slice of pizza. "It's disgusting."
Chase rolls his eyes as he rips off a massive chunk of his slice. "Hey, I'm the fucking chef here, alright? And Nora is, too. If we say pineapple, bacon, and jalape?o is the superior pizza topping, you can be damn well certain that it is." Chase and Blaine get into this argument every pizza night, and he has still not convinced Blaine to just try some. Typically, I don't eat spicy foods, but something about the salty, sweet, and spicy combination is hard to resist.
"Man, did they use fresh peppers this time?" Levi asks in between bites of his meat lover's pizza. "You're sweating like crazy, Nora." I look at my cozy Alpha, humor curling the corners of my mouth. It takes him a few seconds to register what he said. "Oh shit. You meant like now now?"
"What?" Nolan calls from the kitchen, where he's gathering beers in his arms. "What are you saying?"
"He's saying eat up, Alpha, you're going to need your strength," Joey sings at him.
The tension in the room ratchets up, and we are all aware of my scent growing a bit more noticeable as my rise in temperature has me sweating. I finish my slice of pizza and wipe off my hands and mouth before curling up in a ball to preemptively stave off my cramps.
"Before I lose all rational thought to my heat, I was consulting with my doctor. She informed me that this one may be a bit worse, pain-wise, than the first. Apparently, the first heat off of suppressants is light because the medicine is still somewhat in your system. She said to expect more pain, more neediness, and less lucidity."
"So that means more begging for knots and fighting me when I try to feed you?" Chase asks with a note of humor in his voice.
I shrug, a little embarrassed at the vague memories of how I acted. But I'm trying to listen to that little voice in my head that I know is the Omega I was born to be, and that voice is luxuriating in the attention a heat will bring. "Probably. Alpha, I was wondering something."
He crosses the room and sits on the edge of the coffee table. "What's up, princess?"
"You told me you had a penchant for pain. That you liked to make sex hurt. I'm just wondering if you would like to give that a try this heat."
Chase pulls my hands between his, his eyes earnest as he stares me down. Chase is intense. He may be lanky, but his presence is giant. When I have his undivided attention, it's like I'm staring at the sun. Right now, in his white tank and low-slung black linen lounge pants, I want to bask in his presence. The art across his body decorates this home better than any of the copious abstract paintings that line the walls.
"Nora, I appreciate you asking me that. And I have thought about it. But if I'm honest, princess, I can't do that to you yet. Maybe at a later time, when all of what's happened is in the distant past, we can explore that dynamic. Right now, I just want to love you and take care of you."
His words, so kind and sweet, and his selfless relinquishing of a part of his sexual desires for my comfort, break open something inside me and leave me panting, my panties growing damp and my face flaming. Unbidden, a whine escapes from my throat, and I squirm on the couch.
Joey chuckles, scooping me up in his arms as he stands. "Did your Alpha's sweet words get you all needy, wife?" he whispers in my ear. I nod, whimpering as I bury my face in his chest. "Then let's go get you ready for your Alphas while they clean up down here, yeah?"
He carries me gently up the stairs, taking me into my room and setting me outside the door to my nest. "Do you want to put on something pretty while I go get my bag, little bird?"
I can barely speak with the desire that is rolling through me, so I just nod and start stripping out of my lounge clothes. I pull out a black lace babydoll gown, forgoing the matching panties, and then I braid my hair back with shakey hands to keep it protected as best as I can. I'm just crawling into the nest and arranging the pillows and blankets how I like them when Joey returns.
"Oh, little bird, you look delicious. Your Alphas are going to be so pleased."
"Are you, husband?"
He grins and rips his shirt off, then drops his plaid pants and crawls into my nest. He moves so close to me that I fall back flat on my back, where he cages me with his arms and hovers over me. My Beta drops his hips and grinds into me, the hard length that rubs against me telling me just how pleased he is. The delicious friction has me thrusting my hips up to meet his, and he chuckles, rolling off of me.
"Patience, my love. Chase is the one that triggered it, so it's only fair he gets to be the first to make that pretty pussy come."
I groan, writhing in a puddle of slick and need. "It hurts," I moan.
"You won't have to wait long, I'm sure of it." Joey kisses along the curve of my neck, his beard dragging along the heated flesh and making me whimper.
He was right, though. I don't have to wait long at all. The Alphas all come in at once. Nolan carries a cooler, Chase has a basket of protein bars and snacks, Levi holds a blanket from each guy's bed, and Blaine struggles to see around an armful of extra linens and towels. All of my Alphas, taking the time to collect things that will make my heat easier increases the need within me.
What my doctor said about this heat being more intense is true, but I didn't tell the men the whole truth. She theorized that because my first heat was right after a traumatic event, my Omega didn't let me fully let go, which is why I remained so lucid and not as frantic. Because my body truly knows I am safe, she told me to prepare for this to be an intense handful of days.
"Alphas," I whine from the nest, pouting at them. "My husband won't take care of me, and I hurt."
"I told her she had to wait for you, Chase. Don't let her act like I'm neglectful. It's been less than five minutes." Joey sits up and pats the nest beside him. "C'mon, pup, strip down and come watch your Omega get taken care of."
Levi gently and slowly removes his shirt and pants before crawling into the nest and kneeling beside Joey. Joey wraps his arm around the Alpha's waist and pulls him into his lap, angling their bodies to face me.
Blaine and Nolan lounge along the edge of the nest, both comfortably relaxing with their eyes on me. Chase looks nearly feral as he stalks towards me, his clothes nowhere in sight.
The sight of his naked body, where barely a patch of flesh is not covered in ink, increases the cramps in my abdomen and the moisture between my thighs. He crowds me, pushing my back against the ledge of the nest. Those strong fingers, callused and scarred from so much knife work, gently wrap around my throat, the pads of his fingers resting over my pulse.
"Do me a favor, princess, and get on your knees."