Chapter 24
Iwas drowning and I never wanted to surface.
I’d always thought trees would be even more perfect if they could fruit and flower at the same time so we could appreciate the beauty and celebrate the bounty all at once.
Now, having Carter’s ripe peach and Maisie’s peach blossom in my nose, I knew I was right. The two of them were perfection.
Overwhelmed didn’t even begin to describe it. Between the trust Maisie was putting in me, and Carter’s desire for me, I was up against a wall of worries that I would disappoint someone, or do the wrong thing, but breathing them in made it harder to focus on all of that.
Carter writhed under Maisie, his frantic rocking making her a delectable, whimpering mess. Every descent into his body flicked off the anxiety switches in my brain. He wanted me and he wasn’t shy about making sure I knew it. How had I stumbled into a blessing like him?
And Maisie…she treated him with the same reverence.
Having her between us like this, both of us riding Carter, was sort of like I was phantom fucking her—she could feel every thrust I made, had my warm breath on her skin, and the frankly pathetic sounds I made in her ear.
Maybe that was what she needed, to be close to an alpha like this in a way that wouldn’t hit too many of her trauma points.
I set my hand on her knee, inching it higher to where the hem of her dress bunched on her thighs. She leaned back into me with a breathy sigh, hooking one arm behind my neck, and grabbing my hand with the other to slide it between her thighs.
Fucking hell. She was so wet, her slick gliding down to join Carter’s and ease my way into him. Her body trembled beautifully as she let herself surrender. Trying to tend to both omegas at once was a bit like patting my head and rubbing my belly, but dammit, I intended to do my best.
She and Carter both moaned when I found her clit, Carter squeezing around me, that brush of pleasure gliding through all three of us in a circuit.
Chasing the sensations was easy. Making this all the perfect experience for my first time with two scent matches felt infinitely more complicated.
At least until Maisie started rocking against my hand.
Delicate panting breaths and little moans escaped her, like she was too nervous to make much sound, but not enough to hide what she wanted. I let her grind on my fingers while she fucked Carter, focusing on keeping my rhythm for him, until her sounds pitched and her body went taut.
The air saturated with peach blossom syrup, the floral sweetness invading my lungs and tossing a warm blanket over my thoughts. Her whine shot through me like an arrow.
Maisie’s skin burned like a furnace around me, and I could feel it right through her dress.
“Bryan,” Carter gasped. “She’s—fuck—heat.”
Heat?
Oh fuck. That was bad. We hadn’t established enough with her, hadn’t built the trust it would take to carry her through a heat. Before I could spiral, she whined again, kicking all my sleeping instincts into gear.
No, it was okay. We could do this. She needed us to. Maybe there was a way to break the heat without her needing a knot. If there was, I would find it.
I slid my free hand up her body, leaning to whisper, “We’ve got you. You’re safe right here.”
She whimpered again, hips still frantically moving. Carter’s eyes rolled back with a groan, apparently overwhelmed by the two of us.
“That’s a good girl,” I told Maisie. “You know what your body needs.”
I kissed along her throat, completing that pleasure circuit again as I drove into Carter. Maisie tipped her head so she could catch my mouth like she was determined to leave me aching and breathless in the wake of her desire. She went taut as a bowstring again, bowing up in an arch.
Maisie tugged at her dress. She only held on tighter when I tried to pull away from her kiss so we could drag the dress off.
Instead, I navigated around it, slipping my hand beneath the fabric, her stomach twitching under my touch, her back arching harder when I swept over the smooth cups of her bra.
I dipped beneath one, teasing the pebbled tip.
I knew straightforward guidance delivered gently could help an omega when their hormonal surges overwhelmed them. I pulled away from her kiss, replacing my lips with my fingers.
“Arms up, omega. Let’s get this dress off.”
She complied, and I moved quickly, tipping her forward to unclasp the back of her bra while she was feeling cooperative. That phase only lasted a few seconds.
“Carter, how close can you get to her?”
He lifted himself as far as his body would allow and Maisie pitched forward to meet him. I had just enough space to wedge my fingers between them so she could continue chasing her pleasure.
I leaned over them, hoping that the closeness would help.
Carter fell apart with our combined attention.
The squeeze of his ass around my cock almost pushed me over the edge, but I forced myself to breathe through it.
Her shift in position, pressing him back down to the table and flattening herself against him exposed her filled pussy.
She hadn’t forbidden me from using fingers on her, only my cock.
I moved slowly, giving her time to react, laying my hands on the roundness of her ass cheeks.
I swiped my thumbs over her slick-drenched folds, holding my breath as I teased along the seam of her cunt where Carter’s cock met it.
Both of them groaned, and when Maisie made no reaction against it, I carefully teased where they joined until my fingers could slip in as well, giving her the fullness of an alpha cock. She shuddered, rocking back against me.
Carter was incoherent with desire, the two of them devouring one another’s mouths.
His heat suppressants were probably fighting a war against Maisie’s heat pheromones, his body wanting to respond in kind.
As much as I wanted to experience a heat with Carter, I absolutely wouldn’t be able to tackle a double omega heat on my own, and Maisie hadn’t crossed this boundary with Wyatt or Colt so far as I was aware.
I couldn’t call them in for backup without her go-ahead.
Both omegas whined as I sorted out a pace to finger-fuck them, gliding along Carter’s cock and teasing inside Maisie’s pussy.
I got as close as I could without blocking my own movements, thrusting into Carter, and wiggling up my other hand between them again.
Feeling every twitch and squeeze of her cunt in response to what I did to her was quite the power trip.
I fucked them like this until my muscles burned.
My own battle with coming was lost after the third time pleasure cascaded between us, the grip of Carter’s ass on me too much to bear.
His ankles locked behind me and pushed me closer, his thighs trembling as Maisie consumed every delicious sound from him.
It was pure hubris to think I could do this on my own, but what other choice was there?
“Carter,” I gasped. “I need you to hold on everywhere, as tight as you can.”
When his arms were looped around me, I hoisted us up and back, locking my arms around him and staggering to my bedroom.
I collapsed backward onto the bed, Carter sitting in my lap, Maisie sprawled across my chest. We wiggled farther up on the blankets, and Maisie squirmed, letting her head fall back next to mine.
She was too far from his cock now, but he wedged his fingers into her while I took over her clit.
Between the two of us, she was bucking, half feral as she scaled the peak again.
Maisie was all desperate, salacious energy, a live wire electrifying us. Carter bent as best he could while knotted to reach her breasts, sucking one tip into his mouth. I lapped up her salt and peach blossom sweetness from the curve of her throat.
I reached to move her hair from my face after a particularly intense flail, her growling whine the only warning I got before she turned her head and sank her teeth into my forearm. A curse tumbled out of me, pleasure hitting me like I had stuck a fork in a socket, and I bit without thinking.
Maisie bucked harder, holding my arm to her mouth, and my head to her throat. She went off like a New Year’s Eve firework in my chest, bright, crackling energy that slugged me in the gut and wrapped me up.
I heard Carter’s own curse, sounding far away, then pressure on my forehead, like he was trying to make me let go of her. But she hadn’t let go of me. I needed to stay in this euphoria.
As bright and beautiful as she was, I couldn’t help shying away from the distant darkness. I gathered her up, cocooning her in my arms, though it made no difference. Whatever it was, was a festering spot within the perfection of my omega.
“Bryan, fuck.” Carter pushed at me again. “Maisie! You guys!”
Maisie let go, her head falling back, her harsh panting filling my ear. It was only then that I released my own bite. I had no idea what Carter was upset about, only knew that Maisie was mine on a soul-deep level.
Knocking echoed in the distance. I certainly wasn’t getting up to answer the door.
Carter was still snug on my knot, and Maisie was draped across me like hot silk.
I let my fingertips trace her body, dipping into curves, gliding over swells until my palm laid over her pounding heart.
My own was probably moving that fast, too.
I let my purr take over. The low rumbling had Maisie melting, even blunting the edge to Carter’s panic.
The bitter darkness in Maisie unleashed a barrage of fury. My omega started shaking, her fear blossoming in my chest.
No.
I reached for the light of her inside me.
If I could touch her, then she could touch me.
I curled around her physically, but I focused hard on crossing the chasm between me and whatever the fuck that was trying to hurt her.
I slotted myself in like a shield, whispering that she was safe, that I had her.
The darkness was like acid on my skin, but Maisie was mine to protect now and I sure as fuck wasn’t going to let her feel that misery.
Her shaking subsided, her fear disappearing with every breath.
I was grateful for that, but it didn’t stop the darkness.
It was a fury like I had never felt before, a more intense version of when I had been small, berated by those I loved most until I wanted to shrink, become invisible so they couldn’t find me to hurt me.
Maisie had nowhere to hide except behind me.
“I’ve got you,” I whispered, cradling her head against mine. “I’ve got you.”
Carter brushed his fingertips over my cheek.
We weren’t connected the same way, but it helped, knowing that I was safe, too.
Carter was a protector in ways he probably didn’t even understand.
I pulled him closer so I could hold both of them.
His affection was a shield, as was his love and his gentle care, and he didn’t even know it.
I would protect him, too. I’d made a promise to myself that I would never stand by when someone needed me, and now I had a chance to prove to myself that I could be who Maisie needed.
The main door swung open and footsteps thundered toward the bedroom.
Carter turned to whoever it was, but I couldn’t see them behind him. “Maisie went into a heat flare. She and Bryan bonded.”
Bonded.
The word echoed in my head. Did that mean the darkness was Paul? Was this what she experienced every day? The thought made me growl.
Fuck him.
He wasn’t the only one in here now, and the only way he was going to keep tormenting her was over my dead fucking body.