Chapter 67
chapter
sixty-seven
If the bone-searing, jaw-grinding perfection spilling from between our omega’s thighs is any indication, she’s fully in her heat haze now.
So it hits my chest like a flaming arrow when she slides off Dante’s spent dick and clambers straight to me . I catch her with a breathless laugh, ignoring the twinge of discomfort that zips down my arm as we fall backward onto the nest cushions.
Bridget may be gone, but her Omega obviously knows me just as well. Her blown-out gaze only lags for a moment before shifting to the tail of my scar, branded over the curve of my shoulder. She whines and nuzzles it. A bittersweet slurry slicks my soul.
“Hi, baby,” I murmur, kissing her face. “How’s my girl, huh? You need me?”
As I speak, my hands skim down her sides. Over all the glorious, creamy softness. To her scars.
Our mate quivers on top of me, but her scent doesn’t sour with chagrin this time. It dwindles ; sadness blotting out the creamy, sugared lemon.
I can’t sense what she’s thinking, but the guys can. Adrian’s purr rolls into a dangerous growl to match the gleam in Dante’s feral eyes. Jesse swallows hard enough for me to hear it.
Goddamn it . My blood is roaring . I need to claim my omega now .
But I won’t do it while tears stream down her peachy cheeks.
“What is it?” I rasp, a horrible realization dawning. “Is it me?”
Fuck, that would make sense. If she’s changed her mind and doesn’t want to be my omega—with my entire future up in the air—then that’s fair. And I suppose I can wait for her, if that’s the case.
I’d wait forever for this woman.
I grit my teeth to quell their ache. Preparing for her rejection. Resolved to handle it so fucking differently this time. I’ll earn her, and fight for her, and never let my stupid, stubborn pride ? —
Adrian’s sudden, ear-splitting snarl yanks me from my thoughts and puts me on the defensive. I roll automatically, tucking my mate underneath me. Ready to protect her from?—
What?
My packmates look like they’ve seen a ghost, but nothing has changed. Right?
“Tell me what the hell is happening,” I grind out.
“It’s—” Jesse tries to explain, but he shakes his head.
“Her scars,” Adrian rasps, clearing his throat. “They’re from the heat clinic she went to last time.”
Dante growls low. “They put her in one of those stupid omega cages. For knotting.”
“But it wasn’t designed for her body,” Jesse whispers. “And no one noticed… or cared so?—”
It tore her up .
Being rutted from behind while the metal scraped her skin. Hurt her. For days .
Alpha energy snaps through the nest, each of the guys barely reining themselves in. Adrian holds the others back with his hands raised in front of them, though.
He meets my gaze, impressing the importance of his next statement before he even opens his mouth. “In the bond, she’s asking us if she ever has to go back there,” he says, then raises a brow. “You want to answer her?”
The words melt through the clouds shrouding my mind and plunge deep . The last shred of control pulled taut at my middle snaps .
I grasp Bridget’s gorgeous face between my palms, growling a final vow. “ Never , omega. You will never have another heat without us.”
It’s not enough. Her eyes are too unfocused, her skin too hot to the touch.
And I want to make damn sure she understands.
So I slide down her body and find the scars etched into her left hip. Kissing each one before I open my mouth and claim her.
My teeth sink through her supple skin, pressing deep and sure. Indelible. Just like her scars and mine.
We’re part of each other, now. And neither of us ever have to be alone again.
Our omega writhes, wailing for a knot to clamp down on as she comes. I rear up, barely able to slide home before she bolts forward and bites .
Bridget .
Fluttering heat swirling around my cock. Brilliant sunshine beaming into my soul. Outside, all around. Inside, luminous and all-consuming.
Bubbling into my blood. Wrapping my cock in perfect slick-soaked softness. I fly straight over the edge without attempting to slow either of us down, filling her with my release while her own clutches me tighter.
My knot expands the same second our tether glows to life, locking us together. Hi , I whisper, pouring the hoarse words directly into her heart. Hi, baby. God, look how pretty you are, inside and outside. My bubbly girl. I love you .
She feels it—and, more importantly she believes me.