Chapter 45
I wasn’t sure how I scraped together the brainpower with all her heat pheromones doing their best to deplete it, but I somehow managed. While she was temporarily sated, Bear and I worked on getting her cleaned up. Tree sap would be a nightmare to get out if all the fucking turned it into a sticky mat. Instead she would have some oily patches after I had ground olive oil into the sap and combed it all out along with all the bits of detritus from the forest floor.
She wasn’t in any condition to tell us where all of it had come from or how she had gotten so banged up, but hopefully soon.
“Okay, you can take a turn,” Maverick told me. “Knot her up.”
Tiny alarm bells sounded in the back of my brain and I stared at the two of them for a long moment before it smacked me upside the head. “We forgot her birth control.”
“Shit.” Kit sat up. “Where is it?”
“I’ll find it. Keep her on a cock until I get back so she doesn’t get squirmy.”
It didn’t take long to locate Morgan’s emergency birth control. Getting them into her mouth was another matter.
“Open up, firecracker. You don’t want babies and this is how we prevent that. Please don’t make me do this like we have to with Pumpkin when she needs medicine.”
Morgan curled her head down, refusing to give us easy access.
“Come on, omega. Be good for your alphas.”
If she wasn’t going to be cooperative, I was going to have to get creative instead. She might not be open to a pill, but she was to a kiss. Much as I didn’t enjoy having an ulterior motive to get my mouth on her, I knew she would appreciate it when she was in a mindset to do so. Once she started reaching for me, I pinched two of the doses between my fingers and pulled away, pressing them into her mouth and then snatching my hand back before she could bite me.
Maverick closed his hand over her mouth. “Chew and swallow, sweetheart.”
Her little sounds of protest faded away when Bear leaned into her, stroking her hair, our omega melting at his touch. Eventually she complied, all of us watching for her to swallow. It was a little late for our doses, but I handed them out anyway.
“Morgan,” I said softly, tracing my knuckles down the midline of her body. “You ready to be mine?”
Her eyes gleamed with desire. Maverick pulled free and Morgan crawled into a presentation, her fingers gripping the blankets, red curls spread out like a flaming halo.
Good god, that was a sight.
Morgan’s thighs were wet with slick, cum dripping out of her, ready and waiting for me to fill her. Her impatient grumble and wiggling hips pulled me away from my admiring.
“I’m coming.” I laughed. “Just appreciating the view.”
Morgan played me a little symphony as I fucked into her perfect cunt. She smelled like heaven and felt even better. I could get high on the thought of having her in our bed for the rest of our lives, and that wasn’t far off what was happening.
Everyone stayed close, not a single one of us willing to go too far. Bear raised her up to claim her mouth with his, her hand working furiously on his cock. Kit wedged his head under her so he could tease her nipple while stroking his own cock, and Maverick tucked in on the other side to reach her clit.
Morgan’s whole body vibrated. Shaking and overwhelmed, she took every thrust, stopping me every so often with how hard her pussy gripped.
“You should all move. I’m going to flip her and make our omega mine.”
The others backed up and I slid free, rolling Morgan over to show off the glistening expanse of freckles. I didn’t love seeing the bruises, but we would deal with those when she was satisfied.
“You want a knot, firecracker?”
She nodded frantically, already pawing at me. I leaned down, wedging my arms beneath her shoulders so I could cradle her while getting back to business. She pulled me right down to her mouth, drinking up my groan as her heels on my ass pushed me deeper.
Morgan was sweet and feral beneath me, demanding in a way that made me want to lay the world at her feet. The others around us looked like they were a half second away from coming themselves. I was so curious what the bond would feel like when I was finally part of it. If their reactions were anything to go by, it was going to be quite the experience.
She embodied impatience, whining, fingers kneading my skin.
“Where do you wanna bite me?”
Morgan pawed harder at me, digging her nails into my shoulders to bring me closer, my omega arching up to snap onto the curve where my throat met shoulder.
“Motherfuck—” I bucked hard into her, knot swelling as I spilled, pleasure galloping through every cell. Clutching her tight, I found a bare spot on her throat and laid my claim.
She exploded into the bond, bright and beautiful, like a whole factory of firecrackers set alight to illuminate everything that made me who I was. Her pussy squeezed me so tight I saw stars. Morgan panted, unwilling to release her bite, waves of desire crashing over me from her and flowing back again. The others groaned, cursing quietly. We glowed around her like the points of a starburst, our omega a flame at our center.
With some careful maneuvering, I worked us into a sitting position, Morgan wrapping every limb around me. I wanted to be as tangled up in her body as I was in her soul.
Bear settled at my back, letting my weight rest against him, Kit and Maverick slowly moving to my side, hands and lips ghosting over our girl. The heat of her boomed through me like the bass at a concert. Her whole existence invited me to be lured and consumed, and I wasn’t even afraid of burning up in her heat, knowing we would re-form together on the other side of this into something bigger than each of us was individually.
My pack.
Friends, a lover, partners. We already had a life together, but the axis had shifted and I couldn’t fucking wait to experience this new world with them when we emerged from her heat.
Her heat was short, more a flare than anything else, but it was enough to bring us all together and knock everyone on their asses. My brain had been running a mantra of she’s safe, she’s safe, she’s safe .
I had to keep reminding myself.
I would never be able to forget the terror that took over me when her panic had swept down the bond and hadn’t stopped. If it hadn’t been for that fucking poacher’s trap I’d have killed Brandon. At the very least I’d have broken a leg or two so he couldn’t follow us back.
Morgan trailed her fingers over my chest. “What’s wrong?”
I cringed. I still forgot on too many occasions that she—and now all of them—could feel what I felt. “Sorry,” I signed, not making eye contact.
“Talk to me,” she said softly.
Her waking had the others stirring, their heads lifting one by one.
“What time is it?” Kit asked, rubbing his eyes. “I don’t even know what day it is now.”
Ryder crawled off the bed, locating his phone among the scattered clothing on the floor. “A little after midnight, so I guess technically the next day. Is the heat over?”
“Was it a flare?” Maverick asked.
I nodded. I had been up for a couple of hours already while the others slept, carefully monitoring her through the bond. Once she had bonded Ryder, the heat had pretty much winked out of existence, maybe satisfied that she was no longer surrounded by scent matches she wasn’t bonded to.
Kit stretched his arms overhead. “Do we get to know what happened now? All we got was an SOS.”
The question set off sparks of panic in Morgan, everyone instantly on high alert. She’d been so thoroughly distracted by the heat flare that I was pretty sure her brain had shut out everything that had happened beforehand.
“He was here . He tried?—”
My packmates erupted in a cacophony of fury, questions, and concern. I motioned for them to all chill the fuck out and pulled Morgan onto my lap so I could have her close and still sign.
Pumpkin, hearing that we were awake, howled on the other side of the door. Ryder let her in and she bounded into the nest, licking Morgan’s face.
Our omega wrapped her arms around our dog, pressing her face into Pumpkin’s fur. “You saved my life again. I’m gonna have to get you a medal or something.”
Pumpkin wiggled happily at all of the attention, licking Morgan’s tears away as quickly as they came down.
“Little fox, he tried to hurt you again?”
“He—” She hiccuped. “He wanted to do to me what Paul did to Maisie, or kill me if I wouldn’t go back with him. God, that sounds so fucked up to say.”
“I’m gonna kill him,” said Maverick, fury rolling off him in waves. “Where is he now?”
Oh, shit. I forgot he still needed to be dealt with. Was it cold enough for him to have died of exposure, sparing the world his miserable existence?
“Outside,” I signed.
“What the fuck do you mean outside ?” Ryder snapped. “Outside where?”
I shrugged. “Mile or two out. He found a trap I missed.”
“Holy shit,” Kit breathed. “Is he still alive? Have we called the cops?”
I shrugged again for the first and shook my head for the second.
“Pretty sure I went into heat before Bear got me back,” Morgan said, her voice muffled against Pumpkin. “I don’t remember a lot of the trip home.”
“The police are going to want to talk to you,” Kit told Morgan, gently lifting her face. “You’re probably not feeling up to it, but I imagine they’ll need a statement, maybe some pictures of your injuries.”
Morgan nudged Pumpkin away, staring down at herself as if she hadn’t even realized she’d been hurt. “Oh god.” She flipped on her bedside lamp, bringing her arms into the light so she could see better.
“Your heat hormones probably drowned out the pain,” Ryder said. “We got you as cleaned up as best we could.”
“I can call,” Maverick offered. “Not even sure who to call, but I’ll do it. Do you think we need an ambulance for him?”
“Probably,” replied Morgan.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Maverick disappeared to contact emergency services.
Morgan leaned her weight back against me, Pumpkin draping herself across our laps, head tipped up to keep a watchful eye on her mama.
No one said much while we waited, Ryder and Kit tucking closer.
Maverick popped back in. “Okay, they’re getting the sheriff out of bed for this since Brandon is wanted for attempted murder. They’re sending two ambulances, one for him and one to check over Morgan, and a few more people to get details to add to the investigation and get him off the trail. Bear, you’ll probably have to guide them since you’re the only one who knows where he is.”
I nodded my assent. I didn’t usually travel in the dark, but I would bring Pumpkin with me just in case.
“How about a bath and some food while we wait?” Kit suggested.
“Should I wait if they have to take pictures?”
“We can take some ourselves,” Maverick said. “They said that would be okay as long as we were thorough.”
Morgan winced as she crawled from the nest. We got her into a simple pair of panties and hooked on a bra, tucking the straps out of the way. We didn’t need anyone outside of the pack seeing her naked. She had already been through enough today.
We took her into the bathroom to get the best light, and Maverick took a few full body shots, getting close-ups of the finger mark bruises, the numerous cuts covering her legs, and the impact bruising on her hips and shoulders. Her jacket had protected most of her upper half, but her leggings hadn’t done much to guard her legs against the undergrowth in the forest.
“Thank you for telling them,” Morgan whispered to me.
I tilted my head in question.
“That they could bond me. I wasn’t sure if you actually would.”
“You’re happy?”
“Feels weird to say with everything that happened before and everything we’re going to have to deal with shortly, but yeah. I am.”
That was all I needed.