Chapter 25
chapter
twenty-five
My Omega and I are so not friends anymore.
If we ever were. It’s difficult to say; and I can barely remember where I am or how I got here, at the moment.
The cold-fish alpha dragged me to one of the flat black doors in the flat black hallway. He practically kicked the thing down, pounding at it with the toe of his shiny, fancy shoe since he couldn’t use his hands. Those were busy keeping me from slumping into a puddle of my own slick.
Eventually, the tattooed one threw his door open, glaring until he saw me there. They sniped at each other for a minute. Most of that went over my head, except for the mention of a knot.
Which had my silent Omega shoving desperately at me. If I weren’t so dizzy and overheated, I might try screaming at her.
Because seriously ?! A heat-spike? In front of the one alpha in the whole house who’s literally vowed not to touch me?!
The inked alpha whisks me away from him easily, slamming his door behind us. Some foggy, stilted part of my brain recognizes that his room is different from all the others.
The walls are covered in drawings, here. I wish I had the ability to parse exactly why, but I can barely keep my feet under me.
There’s a hollow, aching pain carved up into my core. It pulses and pounds, dribbling warm, slippery tingles down my thighs. I press my palm into my lower belly, clenching my fingers against the rubber fabric of the cursed red bodysuit.
Now is the time to talk. I know that. I need to say words to tell the alpha that I need him to help me. That it’s okay for him to do whatever he wants as long as he gives me his knot.
Maybe I’m just delirious, but at this point, it would be a relief. I haven’t been a virgin in years, but the handful of beta busboys and bartenders at the club didn’t have the ability to knot me. I remember being relieved by that. I can’t quite remember why, now.
I can’t tell if any of my thoughts make sense. They float through the haze in my head, not quite sticking long enough for me to really consider them. Every time I try, needy squeezes pull my pussy tight.
Deep breathing only fills my lungs with the smoky mix of amber and frankincense. A teasing note of jasmine tickles my nose and pricks my nipples. I whine again, close to tears.
Why isn’t he touching me? Does he not want me, just like the blond one? Do they all know that there’s something wrong with me ? —
“Hey, kitten.” The inked alpha stands in front of me, stripping off my hoodie and running his bruised, tattooed hands along my arms. “You’re shaking. Shh. It’s okay.”
No, it’s not .
I’m not okay. This hurts —outside, inside. On the surface and somewhere down deeper.
I can’t believe how much I care what these alphas think of me, how much they want me. After just one day?! If they don’t want me now, what’s going to happen once they find out where I came from?
And this alpha thinks I’m okay ?!
None. Of. This. Is. Okay.
My hands don’t feel attached to my body as they fly up, clawing at his broad chest muscles, shoving him hard.
The edges of the room blur, colorful papers swirling with dark walls. A strange sob clogs my throat. But my body doesn’t stop. I do it again. And again.
Just as quickly as the insanity set in, it drains out of me. My fingers slip against his bare skin, losing any strength they had. My heaving lungs stutter on his scent, sending another burst of slick down my legs.
I’m afraid to look up at him. Afraid to see how angry he is, how much I’ve fucked up any chance I had at him… liking me. Wanting me. If he still does, it will be all twisted with rage, probably. He’ll want to make it hurt, now.
The hand settled on my hip flexes while the other floats up, cupping my jaw in that demanding, no-bullshit way he has. Lifting my face so I’m forced to see the aftermath of my outburst.
But he doesn’t look mad at all.
He looks proud .
A bright, burning light flares in those ghostly opal eyes as they trace my face. When our gazes lock, the instant connection I felt with him yesterday comes flooding back. My gasps turn to whimpers.
His fingers soften against my face. “You are so fucking beautiful,” he murmurs. A drop of humor soaks into the set of his mouth. “Terrible fighting form. But I can fix that.”
Whatever face I make has his eyes smoldering. He leans down, brushing the top of my ear with his lips. Dazed, all I can think is that they’re so much softer than I expected any part of him to be.
“I can teach you how to really leave a mark,” he rumbles, “Because I want your marks all over me.”
A shiver tingles down my spine. The alpha follows it, fingertips skating over the bare skin covering my vertebrae, down to where the red rubber onesie sticks to the small of my back.
He plucks at it. “Can I burn this fucking thing?”
The far-away, sane piece of my brain registers that he isn’t joking. In fact, when I manage to loll my eyes up to his face, I find him staring back intently, his black brows arched eagerly.
He really wants to burn it.
My Omega and I finally agree on something—because just as I’m wondering why arson suddenly sounds so hot , a rush of my real perfume rises off me.
The inked alpha’s pupils blow wide, yawning to consume his pale irises. Amber warmth and petal-soft spice swell between us, mixing with my cream-soaked sweetness. The combination sinks into my body, obliterating all sense of reality.
There’s a shrill, manic noise. A whine.
Is that me?
It must be because the alpha immediately snaps me off my feet, bending my legs around his bare waist. His hot, patterned skin rubs between my slick thighs. My pussy cinches, a deep, steady throb beating under the wetness.
My back hits something soft. I don’t care if it’s a bed, a couch, or a chair. I can’t care about anything except the sudden flash of a blade catching the weak light. Three snapping sounds—and the pressure against my pulsing pussy and my tight, aching nipples suddenly ceases to exist.
Like magic, the pinch of the red rubber thong disappears. Crimson goes flying off to the side. The blade clatters to a nearby table.
“ What. The. Fuck .”
Now the alpha sounds angry. I frantically search for his face, my Omega desperate to see if I should be afraid.
For a long beat, he balances on his hands; his head bent over my chest while he looks down the length of my naked body. When his chin finally snaps up, his eyes are blue fire—the very hottest part of a flame.
“ Who did this to you?”
Everything is too fuzzy. I don’t know what he means until his fingers graze under my breasts. A dizzy memory floats through my brain—bitter and sickening. Pain and failure and fear from a long time ago.
I always forget about the damn scars. There are a fair few, most of them placed there strategically. Any alpha who eventually took me off Wally’s hands would have to undress me to know I was damaged.
“Who,” the tattooed alpha demands again. “Did. This?”
Some of them were my own doing, actually. The result of being locked up alone during my heats. I usually came to with some scratches on me. And broken bones, a time or two.
My Omega panics at the memory… and the thought that maybe, if these alphas find out that no one wanted to be with us for our heats before, they won’t want to be with us either…
The alpha on top of me watches my face fall and reaches over to thumb at my lower lip.
“Stop that,” he grits. “You’re the most gorgeous goddamn thing I’ve ever seen. A fucking warrior . These scars won’t stop me from sinking my knot so deep inside you that you’ll never get it out. But when I get my hands on whoever did this to you, death will be the least of his worries.”
Dear Lord . Am I turned on by murderous destruction?
Guess so.
A sharp sound vibrates up my throat while more perfume soaks the air. He groans, dropping his forehead to mine. “Jesus, kitten,” he gasps. “I think maybe you’re trying to kill me .”
Maybe I should be. But all I can think about is getting something hard and thick into me. I hook my ankles around the backs of his thighs and try to drag him down, drawing the hard length between his legs to the apex of mine.
Settling our hips together, he growls low, skimming his lips down my cheek and finding the pulse beating on the un-bitten side of my neck. He sucks it right between those overly-soft lips, tugging on the thin skin until my vision blurs and swirls.
“Alpha!” I cry.
His cock kicks against my core, hot slick seeping into his tight, black underwear. I can feel his knot, full of scorching blood, beating like a separate heartbeat.
The rhythm in his chest is even faster when he grazes his pecs over my nipples. My own heart leaps into overdrive, thrashing like it’s trying to fight its way out of my chest and to him.
He brings his face back to mine. Our eyes lock, his filling with that smoldering softness he only seems to possess when I look right into him.
The entire universe stops as those plush lips finally find mine, brushing in teasing tastes before dropping into a slow, delving kiss. His tongue strokes deep, smooth, and hot against mine. I taste his smoky flavor and swallow it down, moaning in desperation when he pulls back slightly.
“I’m going to take care of you,” he promises, voice dropping low. “And then I’m going to fuck you as hard as you’ll let me.”
Yeeeeeeeees .
I whine and buck, grinding myself against his cock. He roughs out another snarl, slipping his hand over my hip, the blunt nail of his thumb scratching a line along the crease of my thigh.
I’m aching. Melting . Whimpering and moaning and squirming so hard under him, I’m surprised it doesn’t hurt.
Or maybe it does. Maybe that’s why his eyes have glazed over with pleasure and pride .
“Such a perfect little kitten,” he grits. “You gonna give me those claws?”
When I sink my nails into his shoulders and drag them down his chest, he rewards me by settling his huge hand over my pussy and grinding the thick ridge of his cock into my thigh.
The wet boxer briefs clinging to him give me quite the preview. Surprising texture rubs through the damp fly, but I can’t focus on it for long because two strong fingers push between my lower lips.
The second his thumb skims over my clit and his other fingertips breach my opening, I scream. The orgasm is quick and brutal, a flash of white that’s too quick for me to do anything more than bite down on the hard flesh of his shoulder.
He grunts, hips stuttering. Instead of stopping, though, he keeps skirting my pussy, teasing me with one fingertip at a time. “You needed that one,” he rasps. “Let me give you more.”
Some of my heat-spike haze has burned off. Enough for me to look up at him and feel the tears that gather in my eyes at the fervent, focused look in his.
A name rings through my mind like a bell and comes out of my mouth without permission.
“Avery .”
Feeling explodes through my chest—so confusing but completely all-consuming. The strength of it terrifies me, but it flows into all the cracks streaked through my soul, soothing and electrifying at the same time.
It’s scary . I’ve never felt anything like this. To have come on so fast, so completely… How can it possibly be real?
One of my tears escapes, and he catches it, licking at my cheek gently. I didn’t think it was possible for him to be any sweeter to me, but then he nuzzles my nose.
“I know,” he husks. “I know, baby. Me, too.”
Could he possibly mean that he feels all of this ?
It seems that way. Especially when he rolls us onto our sides a moment later. Hitching my bent leg over his hip, he starts to push his boxers off, giving enough of a glimpse for me to wonder just how far down these tattoos go.
A thick swallow sticks in my throat. I’ve seen a lot of alpha cock. Way too much. And none of it from anyone I knew or liked.
For a second, I’m afraid of myself. What if this amazing guy takes his underwear off and I freak out? Will I hate it? Feel as ambivalent about it as I did all the assholes at the club?
Avery definitely isn’t shy.
Two seconds later, he lifts his other hip to whip the black boxers off. Settling onto his back without hesitation, staying close but giving me a bit of space to process everything I’m seeing.
And I do mean everything .
Because holy. Shit.
That is a lot .
First, there’s the sheer size of him. Long and brutally thick, he stands perfectly straight and high, sprouting from an impressive knot and balls large enough to match.
Like I said, I’ve seen a lot of dick. But this one is… beautiful .
Or it would be. If it wasn’t also savage .
Because, of course, Avery doesn’t just have a normal, pretty penis.
No.
It’s covered in black ink patterns, all the way from the edge of his knot to the underside of his cockhead. And there, at that ridge? There’s a piercing.
One of eight piercings, actually.
Two silver balls, right under the domed head, followed by a ladder of smooth silver bars. Seven of them studded along the underside of his tattooed erection.
It really is a sculpture. Modern art .
And all I want to do is touch him.
Avery beats me to it, wrapping his hand around himself and giving his beautiful cock a long, hard tug. I watch in fascination as he twists his palm around the head, squeezing a bead of pearly pre-cum out of the tip .
My tongue skims my lower lip. He works his fist over those piercings, pausing to roll the silver balls on his frenulum until he hisses. My hand twitches, half-raising before I catch myself.
Avery smiles, a crooked flash of amusement. “Did you want to do this part?”
I have to fight the wedge in my throat, but he deserves an answer. “I don’t—” I start to admit, hiding my eyes. “I—I’ve never?—”
The arm under my torso flexes, leveraging his big body back on top of mine. With the hand he was using to stroke himself, he tilts my face back in his direction.
Intense emotion swirls in his eyes, asking the one question that keeps streaking through my thoughts. “How the fuck did I find you?”
If that were some sort of line, it would still be enough to make me blink back more tears. But it isn’t. He means it.
He’s looking at me with a suspicious sort of awe. Like I can’t possibly be real. Or here. Or his.
Maybe I’m not. Maybe this is all dust and it’s going to blow away the second the wind shifts.
Right now, that just seems like the best reason to give in to it.
Before more tears escape, I wrap myself around him. He doesn’t miss a beat, catching me against his chest, sinking his mouth against mine instantly. His tongue slides in, thick and hot against my tingling lips. When I moan, he groans back, eating at me as he tangles his fingers in the hair at my nape.
“Fucking perfect,” he grunts into my mouth. “You smell like sex-soaked heaven. I want it all over me.”
When I gasp at his filthy encouragements, my teeth nip his lower lip accidentally. I start to recoil, but he just bites me right back, the sudden sting sending a throb to my clit.
The wild light in his eyes tells me he’s figured out exactly how much I like his dirty mouth. His smoky, floral scent rises off his inked chest while he skims his lips along my jaw, murmuring, “You gonna grind that sweet little cunt all over my cock? ”
I cry out and he pulls back slightly, piercing me with his intense eyes. “I want to pump you so full of me, you’ll feel it all day,” he roughs out. “But only if that’s what you want.”
It is.
It’s the only thing I’ve wanted since this haze broke over me—his thick hardness, filling all the places that ache.
If I’m honest, I’ve been desperate for that feeling for years . With every heat I went through alone, the gnawing emptiness got worse and worse. Physically… and deeper. Higher. In the pit that dug itself into my middle with every lonely whine.
“I—I—” My hand reaches between us, skimming the swell that’s already expanding at the base of his studded cock.
His eyes glow, snapping with blue fire. “My knot?” he grits out.
When I nod, he doesn’t balk or laugh. He groans, leaning his forehead into mine. “Baby, you have no idea how much I want that. But then I’d have to fight Spencer and you’d be down one nerdy alpha.”
He’s funny, even though I can tell he isn’t entirely kidding. At the moment, though, I can’t even smirk.
I’m too embarrassed to ask for his knot again or explain why I need him so badly. A pitiful whimper is all I manage, nodding in defeat.
But Avery scent-marks my forehead with a sweet nuzzle. “Let me fill you up another way,” he murmurs. “Yeah?”
He doesn’t say please, but his ghostly gaze does, filling with a burning sort of entreaty. A dizzy rush of feeling floods me as I nod, the motion shaky.
“That’s my girl,” he praises, lowering his hips between my thighs. “You want my dick?”
I whine, hooking my ankles around his thighs to drag him down to my center.
Wild need flashes in his light eyes. The hand cradling my nape slips down to my hip, adjusting the angle of my body while the other palms his pierced cock, positioning it .
The first touch of his warm, flared head has me squirming for more. He flashes a wicked grin and drops his hips, flattening himself over my slit.
Ah!
Every one of those smooth silver bars glides through my slick, teasing the spread lips of my pussy. I moan and buck, desperate for more friction.
Avery bites the corner of his plush, pink mouth and looks between our bodies, watching me gush against every rung of his ladder.
“Fuck me, that’s pretty,” he mutters. “That’s it. Get your slick all over me, and I’ll get my cum all over you. You and me are going to be a mess , baby. I fucking love it.”
Before I can think of a reply, he tucks his hips back, grinding the head of his dick right against my pulsing clit. The two silver balls pierced underneath fit around me, rolling over both sides of the throbbing bud while the rest of his metal glides more firmly between my swollen folds.
It’s insane. Burning hot and metallic cool. Smooth and slick and textured and hard.
My body works, pumping myself along everything he has, pressing my pulsing entrance into the lower edge of his knot. When he feels me clenching against him, he growls and impales me in one deft move.
Like a cobra striking. One second, he’s just there, and the next, he’s there . So deep his knot presses right against my slit. His shaft buried inside my desperately cinching muscles, stroking those thick silver bars against my inner walls.
And I’m full —for the first time I can remember, I don’t feel alone or empty or cold. The aching chasm that’s been pounding for so long clamps around him, trying to hold his thickness where I need it.
But he doesn’t stay still. His broad, inked body works against mine in rolling thrusts, building speed until I can’t tell if he’s in me or about to be—I just feel him , hitting that ache head-on with every pound.
All the air sloughs out of my lungs as he reaches between us and thumbs at my clit. His hips keep thumping, but his lips find mine in the sweetest kiss. A combination of wild need and tenderness that has my pussy pulling taut, along with the bundle of burning pleasure in my core.
“Right there, yeah?” he pants, smoothing his touch over the top of my clit while he sinks himself deep and rubs his ladder along the place inside of me that begs for more. “Fuck, you feel perfect when you’re about to come. So goddamn beautiful, baby. Give it to me.”
On the next plunge of this body into mine, I fly over the edge. Relief bursts through my middle as I come, my body finally able to clamp down on the exact thick hardness it craves. Sparks of euphoria fizzle out from my core, rolling all the way to the top of my head, the tips of my fingers, the pads of my toes.
Before I’ve caught my breath, Avery roars, rearing back. While his wide, inked chest heaves on snarled breaths, he grips the base of his cock and starts coming. Thick, slippery release jets into my pussy before he pulls out, shooting ropes of hot cum all over my bare belly.
The feel of him marking me, his scent melding with my own, pinches the new tender place in my chest. I scrabble for him, and he comes right to me, falling into my arms without any care for the mess spreading between our bodies.
Avery turns us onto our sides and pulls me into an embrace. His rough, rasping purr vibrates against my breasts, a perfect match for the ragged voice murmuring into my hair. “If you wake me up again,” he says, “You better have bacon.”