Chapter 17
“I t’s so beautiful.” The familiarity of lying in the snow, the camera set up in front of me and a gorgeous animal in my sight, had all of my instincts settling. The fox sat in a sunbeam, its red fur lit up like a living flame.
“You give it a run for its money,” Ryder replied, sending a ripple of oddly delighted self-consciousness through me. I wasn’t used to being perceived so much. Doubly so by people I didn’t actually mind looking at me.
On the rare occasions I craved the companionship of other people, I always dressed plainly so I could fade into the background of my friend group. It wasn’t easy to do with my hair, but I tried. Now I was surrounded by alphas who couldn’t seem to get enough of looking at me, and instead of provoking a bone-deep unease, the attention gave me little flutters in my stomach.
“Hardly,” I scoffed, deflecting the compliment.
Ryder shrugged. “I know which one of you I’d look at if I had to choose.”
My cheeks warmed as I pushed the shutter button to capture the image. The fox eyed us curiously, fully aware of our presence but apparently deeming us a minimal threat.
I glanced over to the screen on Ryder’s camera as he held the shutter down to capture a burst, the fox giving its head a shake that slowly rolled down its whole body. “You have the timing of a wizard.”
“He always does something cute when someone stops looking.” Ryder’s eyes locked on me, a warm chestnut brown that had my breath catching. “Hit your button.”
I held it down, turning to look at the fox and finding it rolled onto its back, staring at us upside down. “Oh my god. It’s so fucking cute.”
Ryder grinned at my side. “Told you. He’s been coming by for years. At least with two of us, the little asshole can’t save all his antics for when a camera isn’t ready.”
“Does he have a name?”
“Not really. Did you wanna give him one?”
“If you didn’t already have a dog named Pumpkin, I would suggest that purely for the color.”
“Pumpkin would get indignant as fuck if we gave her name to a fox.”
“It’s so much easier to think of girl names for orange and red things,” I lamented.
Ryder laughed. “I don’t think the fox is going to be too concerned about human gender binaries. Name him whatever you want. He won’t know the difference.”
“I guess that’s true. How do we feel about Ginger?”
“Suits him fine.”
Staring at the beautiful fox rolling around made me think of Maverick’s suggestion. “Mav thinks you should do a photo shoot with me in the snow.”
Ryder’s whole body tightened next to me. “Does he now? Are you bringing it up because you want to or because you think his idea is dumb?”
“I’m not a model,” I said slowly, “but I’m not opposed to the idea.”
The heat in his eyes had my stomach and pussy clenching, my scent erupting around us. Being around these alphas was like being transplanted into a whole new body. The more I let them touch me, the more I wanted them to, and the greater my curiosity became about what else they could show me. Ryder was the current mystery to me in this pack and I was getting impatient to solve him.
“You’ve gotta stop looking at me like that while smelling so sweet.”
“Or what?” I asked, throat dry.
His nostrils flared, hands curling tighter around his camera. “I’m not going to touch you without permission, but you’re triggering a lot of instincts.”
I swallowed hard, choosing my next words carefully, the syllables bouncing around in my head both enticing and terrifying. “What if you had permission?”
“I don’t think we should work in hypotheticals. My brain already runs wild without you giving it a helping hand.”
“It’s…not a hypothetical.” I tilted my head, examining him, curiosity stronger than sense—a common occurrence these days. “I’m giving you permission.”
In the next moment I was on my back in the snow, his mouth against mine, and every cell in my body was lighting up with desire. Maybe even without his scent, my omega instincts recognized him. It wasn’t quite the same as the helpless draw I felt toward Kit and Bear, but he and Maverick did create an insatiable curiosity I craved satisfying.
I moaned against his lips, need pulsing like one big bang of a kettle drum. I drank down his eagerness, already frustrated with the necessary layers between us.
I was primed from Maverick railing me in the sauna earlier and Bear cuddling all over me in the nest, my slick dampening my thighs since my lone pair of panties was air drying back at the lodge.
Ryder lifted up, his breath like dragon smoke as he panted. “You are a dangerous little thing.”
“How so?”
“Because all those sounds of yours are getting me to imagine making you come up against one of these trees.”
Another boom of need rolled through me, a whine sneaking out before I could even think about silencing it.
With a groan, Ryder pulled down the zipper on my snowsuit and peeled it open so he could get his mouth on my skin. I shivered, both from the cold and from his touch. My brain had gone full puddle mode as I arched eagerly until he tugged down the neckline of my borrowed tank top to close his lips over my peaked nipple. My core throbbed, desperate for more.
“You shouldn’t be allowed to say filthy things if you’re not going to follow through.” I gasped, digging my fingers into his beanie to keep him close.
Ryder laughed against my skin, nipping softly before pushing against my grip. “You’re going to get very cold if we do that.”
“A valid but irrelevant point.”
“I don’t want you to freeze. You’ve done enough of that lately.”
“Work quickly, then.”
With a sound of exasperation, he got to his feet and pulled me up along with him. “I don’t think I expected you to come with quite this much sass.”
“I never felt safe enough to sass before meeting your pack, so that is aaall on you guys.”
Ryder backed me up against one of the trees, reclaiming my mouth until I was breathless. “I’m not going to be able to worship nearly as much as I would like if you’re insisting on being fucked in the cold.”
“That’s what the nest is for later.”
He stilled. “You want me in your nest?”
“Did you think I was going to gatekeep it?”
“Protecting nest access is kind of an omega basic, isn’t it?”
I stood on my toes and pulled him back down, brushing my lips against his before answering. “I want your scent all over it and I’m not going to get it if I don’t burn off these fucking blockers.”
“Are you doing all this just to get to my scent?”
I raised an eyebrow in question, irritation picking at me. “I didn’t go through a heat for years so I could avoid alphas, and you think I’m asking you to fuck me just so I can scent you?”
Ryder swallowed hard. “Fair point. I want to make sure you’re only doing things because you want to. I don’t want you to leave here with any regrets.”
“Then you should give me the experience of you railing me against a tree because I will definitely regret it if I leave here without that.”
My body lit up again when he caged me in, claiming my mouth with eager sweeps. He broke away briefly to undo his jacket, dropping it to the snow, and removed his sweater beneath it before peeling me fully out of the top of my snowsuit, tying the sleeves loosely around my thighs so it didn’t fall all the way to my feet. Ryder pulled his sweater over me so I had it and the flannel to protect me. The warmth of him still on the fabric sank right to my skin. He spun me around, and I braced against the gorgeous fir tree while he replaced his jacket and tossed his mittens aside. I waited with bated breath, shivering as the chilly air ghosted over my ass.
His fingers stroked reverently along my slit, the slick coating my skin rapidly cooling. “So wet for me already, firecracker.”
I panted, resting my forehead on my arm and shifting my hips to encourage him. After arranging the flannel to cover more of my skin, he plunged his first finger into me, my pussy clamping down.
“Goddamn,” he breathed.
I rocked against his touch, every mewl coming out of me in a cloud of vapor. “More.”
He carefully slipped in a second finger and I bit down on my sleeve. I wasn’t quite ready to examine the fact that I was certain I would be able to tell the pack apart by how their fingers felt inside me.
I watched him kick away snow behind me until he was able to stand a solid foot deeper.
“What’s happening back there?”
“Getting to a good height to fuck you. One of the many benefits of snow.”
I groaned and let out another hasty demand for more. Ryder dropped down and pressed his thumb against my clit, shifting his hand and adding a third finger.
“Mother fucker .” I thrust back hard against him, his steady grind on my clit sending me tumbling over the edge.
Once he found the rhythm to unravel me, he stayed right there, pushing me up one peak after another until I was pouring slick and shuddering with every descent of his fingers into me. When my brain was fully scrambled and not a single sound coming out of me was remotely coherent, Ryder pulled his hand free and leaned over me, tucking his hips against mine so he could whisper in my ear. “Still want to be fucked out here, or would you rather we head home?”
“ More ,” I growled out. I was definitely starting to get cold, but the heat he generated, stoking the embers of my desire, kept the worst of it at bay.
“As you wish.”
I listened to the rustle of clothing and then the tip of his cock tucked into the opening of my pussy. I held still, shaking, fighting the instinct to shove back and impale myself on it. Much as I didn’t want to go slow, I also didn’t want to risk hurting myself and having to hit the brakes entirely.
“Can I take off your hat?”
I blinked back at him. “What for?”
“Looking to fulfill a particular fantasy.”
I whipped my beanie onto the snow and held my breath as Ryder weaved his fingers through the strands, wrapping my hair around his hand and tugging just enough that it craned my head back.
Fuck , yes.
He fucked in slowly, agonizingly so. I would gain an inch of ground and then he would retreat. It didn’t matter that he gave more with each movement, I was growing closer to feral by the second, ready to be obliterated.
“Ryder, if you don’t get going right now, I swear to?—”
His next shift cut off my words as he began to fuck me in earnest. The glide and pressure were already unreal. My omega instincts were in overdrive combining his touch with the primal energy of being surrounded by nothing but snow and forest.
Ginger the fox had already disappeared, leaving us distinctly alone. Every pitiful sound Ryder forced out of me became the new music of the woods, drowning out every little creature that lived there.
I clutched the tree helplessly, letting it keep me upright as my legs buckled. Ryder braced a hand over me, one of his arms hooking around my waist to hold me right where he needed me.
“Don’t stop.” I moaned, melting in his grip.
“Come for me, firecracker.” The snap of his hips drove me past the edge I had been precariously staring over.
Pressure in my cunt skyrocketed as he lost control and buried his knot.
“Fuck, fuckfuckfuck .” I keened desperately, grappling with the sensation. I was never going to get used to a knot.
After recovering his breathing, Ryder carefully maneuvered us, turning and sinking down along the tree until I was perched in his lap, fully seated on his cock. He arranged everything to minimize exposed skin, unzipping his coat so I had better access to the heat of his body, and sat with his arms around me, nuzzling my cheek.
“You know, now that I’ve had you, I’m never going to get this moment out of my head.”
I leaned heavily against him, muscles practically jelly at this point. “Pretty sure this is branded into my brain.”
“How was your first time being fucked in the woods?”
“Cold,” I said, laughing, “and wild. That might be the hardest I’ve come so far. Being out here where there’s theoretical danger while getting railed does tricksy things to my head.”
He chuckled, squeezing me tighter. “Something tells me you would enjoy being chased when it’s a little warmer.”
My pussy gripped him so tightly he grunted with a soft curse.
“I’ve never thought about that before, but the idea is definitely…intriguing.”
He purred so hard I felt the vibration all the way down his body, the delicate buzz of his cock from it making me squirmy. “I might need you to roll around on my sheets to refresh them.”
“Bring them down to the nest. You’re not going to need them in your room anymore.”