Chapter 27
LUCA
Four days of the most beautiful woman on earth in my arms, in my mouth, around my dick, begging for me in a voice that’s going to live rent-free in my head until the day I die.
My cock is genuinely sore. I didn’t know that was possible, but I’ve discovered new information about myself this week. I’d keep going if she asked me to, though.
Right now, Adelaide is standing at the mirror, running a wide-toothed comb through the wet length of her hair, wearing jeans and a soft cotton blouse, and is simply stunning. I’ve stopped pretending I’m not staring.
Ace is in the kitchenette demolishing the remains of a fruit platter like he hasn’t eaten in a month, which, given what we’ve been doing, is not entirely inaccurate. North is leaning back in one of the chairs, drinking coffee, grinning to himself.
Adelaide catches my eye in the mirror.
“You’re staring,” she says.
“You bet.” I cross the room and come up behind her, resting my hands on her hips. “You expected different behavior? After four days of making you my Omega?”
She gives me that devious grin when she knows she’s destroying me.
I bend my head and press my mouth to the curve where her neck meets her shoulder, and she leans into me, exhaling deeply. “Your scent is in my head, your naked body in my mind, your screams are in my ears.” I leave a trail of kisses across her neck. “You are my everything.”
She moans in my arms, and I’m genuinely smiling at the happiness she smothers me in.
A deep crack of thunder rolls across the roof of the building, and she startles in my embrace.
“Holy shit,” Ace states through a mouthful of pineapple. “That’s a big one.”
“That’s what she said,” I blurt out because I can’t help myself, and Adelaide giggles while Ace rolls his eyes.
“It’s going to be ugly out there,” North adds.
Suddenly, all three of our phones buzz at once.
We grab them almost in sync. Mine is in my pocket. I yank it out and check the screen. The home security app is flashing a notification across the top.
POWER OUTAGE DETECTED. SYSTEM OFFLINE. 09:42.
“Fuck,” Ace mutters.
“What?” Adelaide asks.
“Power’s out at the house,” I say. “Whole security system’s down with it. Backup generator has to be started manually.”
“Storm probably took a line down somewhere,” North says, already reaching for his bag. “It’s happened before. We need to get back and fix it.”
“We have to go out in that?” Adelaide asks as another crack of thunder rattles the building.
“Yep,” I say.
She’s already moving, gathering her things, a small crease between her brows as she pulls on her low-heeled boots.
A minute later, North is holding the door open. We all head down the hallway toward the front, but while they stop just before the glass doors, staring out at the sheet of rain and figuring out how to get to the cars without getting drenched, I turn back to the receptionist.
She smiles at me. “Hope your stay was everything you wanted and more.”
I glance toward Adelaide over my shoulder and grin. “More than I was expecting, actually.”
The lady’s mouth curves like she knows exactly what kind of room she checked us into and approves of the outcome.
“I’m settling the bill for The Reef room,” I say.
“The bill is under Clio’s account, and she confirmed she will be covering all charges,” she says.
“Move it to mine.” I hand over my Amex Black Card. “All of it. The room, the meals, the service, the whole stay. And put four more days on Clio’s account in advance too, for whatever she needs next. Consider it a thank-you.”
Her brows lift just slightly, but she recovers fast and takes the card with an even bigger smile. “Of course, sir.”
She works quickly, fingers tapping across the screen, while the storm batters the windows behind me. Then she hands my card back. “I can have the invoice emailed over, if you’d like.”
“No need.”
I tuck the card away and head back to the others, where the rain is still coming down hard enough to turn the parking lot into a gray blur.
“Well,” I say, stopping beside them, “this is going to be fun. Not like we’re strangers to getting wet.” I laugh at my own joke.
Three heads turn toward me.
“Geez,” I mutter. “Tough crowd.”
Adelaide’s phone lights in her hand. She glances down, starts typing, then stops as something else catches her eye. Her thumb scrolls. Her face changes.
“What is it?” North asks.
She lifts her chin, a smile on her face. “Clio messaged. But I also missed a bunch from my brother over the last few days.” Her voice thins. “He found Rebecca, and she’s in Whispering Grove after all.”
I can’t help but grin, knowing she needed to hear this news.
She nods quickly. “Yeah. He did as we asked. He didn’t go inside, just got close enough to see her through the window.
He even sent a photo.” She shows it to us, and yep, it’s her, looking so bright and settled.
“Let me read some of this. Confirmed. I found the woman. She seemed happy. Was laughing with a customer. Nothing strange. Followed her for a couple of days and nothing out of the ordinary.” Her gaze lifts to mine.
“He also found out she’s newer in town and discovered her exactly where you said she’d be, Ace. ”
She throws herself at us all at once, arms around whoever she can reach, and I get one hand on her back while North and Luca close in too. When she leans back, there are tears clinging to her lashes, but she’s smiling now, shaky and beautiful and ruined around the edges.
“You were telling the truth.”
“I know,” Ace says softly.
“I wanted to believe you. I did,” she says. “But I needed to hear it from someone else…” She gives a helpless little shrug. “Someone I knew and was unbiased.”
“That’s fair,” North adds.
Ace takes her hand and kisses the knuckles one at a time. “Whatever you need to trust us again, for however long it takes, we’ll give it to you. You’re the only one of us who gets to decide when the waiting ends.”
“Chris is a good man to have in your corner,” she says. “We’re going to like him.”
“Would need to meet him one day,” I suggest.
She laughs. “Oh, he’ll want to meet you three.”
Another crack of thunder shakes the windows.
“Now we really have to go,” North murmurs. “Ace is coming with me so we can do a quick check on the main grid near our place. Luca, use Ace’s truck and take Adelaide straight home.”
I nod, and Ace is handing over his keys.
The second the glass door opens, the rain comes down sideways, smacking into us.
Adelaide squeals, so I pull her under my wing, tucked against me, and we’re running across the parking area.
The sky is slate and black in uneven layers, and a line of lightning forks across the eastern horizon as we watch.
The jacaranda tree nearby is whipping sideways.
“Oh my God,” Adelaide breathes. “The rain is so cold.”
“Just run.” I get her into the passenger seat of my truck, slam the door, and sprint around to my side. By the time I’m in, my shirt is glued to my back and the rain is drumming on the roof like someone’s throwing gravel at us. Adelaide laughs, wiping water off her cheeks.
“That was insane.”
I turn on the engine, blasting the heater. “Gonna get you warm.”
North and Ace pull out ahead of us, and I follow them. The windshield becomes a blur of water, the wipers can barely keep up, and the trees are being thrown around on either side of the road.
“It’s the middle of the morning, and it looks like night.”
“Yep, it’s a shitty storm.” I reach over and rest my hand on her thigh, just above her knee, because the contact helps us both. “How are you, really?” I ask.
“Sore but also very calm, and not a sign of my heat.” She’s grinning at me, pushing hair behind her ears.
“Four days of three Alphas in rut. That’s a lot.”
She pinches her lips to one side. “Of course my body is asking for a break, yes. But I have never in my life wanted anything more than I did every single second of the last four days. And I never expected that.” She watches me driving. “But now, I might need a few days of no sex.”
My mouth drops open in elaborate outrage. “Adelaide. Fine. Just pussy-licking, as I hear that’s very soothing after a few days of heat. And not sure if you’ve noticed, but I have an especially long tongue.” I stick it out, touching my nose with it.
She bursts out laughing. “That’s impressive. I can’t do that.” I’m watching her attempting to, and end up swerving on the road.
She grins. “So, you can’t tell me you’re not sore either. All that thrusting, friction, and knotting.”
I bellow a laugh so hard I nearly hit a puddle sideways. “You got me, you got me. I’m also negotiating with my anatomy.”
“See?”
“Okay, deal, only a few days of no action. I’ll allow it.”
“Oh, wow.”
“I’m a generous man.”
She’s laughing, and I’m gripping the wheel tight as we hit a sheet of rain that lifts the wheels by a fraction and lets them down again over a pool of water on the road.
I pull off the main road onto the private coastal lane that leads to our house. The trees press in close on either side. Water is sluicing down the road in actual rivers when I spot our front gate at the end of the drive.
“Power’s definitely out,” I mutter. “Gate’s not responding to the fob.
” I pull up close in our driveaway and jump out.
The rain hits me like someone threw a bucket.
I unlock the gate with my physical key and haul it open against the wind, which does not want me to.
Then I jog back and jump into the truck, and we drive through. I leave it open for Ace and North.
I park close to the garage doors and realize I don’t have those keys on me. Fuck.
“Inside. You’re drenched,” I say as I kill the engine.