19. Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
Blaise
Halley is a puddle of goo in the middle of the nest, panting heavily and whimpering on each exhale.
Shade lies beside her, petting her hair and whispering sweet, soothing words, mopping at her brow with a cloth.
"What in the ever-loving fuck happened here?" I mutter to myself.
Knox passes me on his way to the bathroom; he's red and sweaty and has the world's most self-satisfied grin plastered on his face.
"What did you do to her?" I ask, gesturing to the boneless Omega.
He shrugs, rubs the scar on his nose, and says suggestively, "Go find out."
I swallow as the possibilities flood through my imagination.
"Viper on watch?" he asks, nodding at the door I just came through.
"Yeah. It's all quiet out there now. Think word got around there's a naked psycho Alpha guarding the Omega in heat, and no one wants their skull beaten in," I tell him joyfully. It's nice to not be the liability for once.
First, Viper straight up murders the General of this army with his bare hands. Then Knox goes full feral Alpha on one of the intruders with his knot swinging in the wind.
It. Was. Glorious.
"If they didn't fear Pack Scorch before, they certainly do now," I say, grinning to myself.
Knox rolls his eyes.
"Gonna take a shower, you're on knot duty," he says, clapping me on the shoulder and shoving me toward the nest and the wrecked Omega.
"Knot duty? Well, fuck me, if the military offered that as an option for guard duty, I wouldn't have skipped out so many times."
"You skipped out on—" Knox splutters, eyes narrowed, but he takes a deep breath and the vein in his forehead eases. "You know what? Never mind. Just follow orders today, would you?"
I hastily strip out of my clothes, knowing the unspoken rule Halley holds: no clothes in the nest.
And certainly no shoes… which apparently was obvious to everyone but me. Halley almost stabbed me for that one a few weeks ago, and I think I fell even more in love with her for it.
I skip over to the nest and flop face-first into the blankets and pillows, inhaling sharply to embed the scent of Halley's slick into my sinuses.
"Oh yeah, that's the stuff," I groan, and roll over to grin at Shade.
Halley's eyes are still shut, her flushed, trembling body pressed up against him.
"So, what did he do to her?" I ask, in a hushed voice so as not to disturb Halley.
Shade looks down at the Omega, kisses the top of her head lovingly. "You'll find out soon enough."
"Okay, that's ominous and also I think you're both messing with me. He's a virgin, how crazy could it have got?"
Shade just raises his brows.
"What? Mister stick-up-his-ass has game?" I gasp.
I get up on my knees so I can lean over Halley and inspect her properly. She looks intact. Other than the grisly bite mark, which has already healed into a silver-white scar on her mating gland, Knox didn't leave a single mark on her. Or, perhaps her advanced healing has cleared up the evidence.
I turn her onto her back, and Halley's eyes spring open at my touch.
"Blaise!" she cries, a smile blooming brightly across her face as she throws her arms around my neck and drags me down into a constricting hug.
There isn't a dark corner in my mind at the moment. Blaze knows he is not needed right now. I am all Blaise and I love that she can see that in me. I can hear it in the way she says my name.
"Hey there, Sparkles. How's the heat going?" Her already flushed cheeks grow pinker, and I smirk. "That good, huh?"
"It's… Mmm, it's a lot more intense than I expected," she says, her voice rough. Just how much did Knox make her scream? I could hear some of it outside, but I was busy hunting down and slicing up one of the fleeing intruders to give our girl my full attention.
"Yeah? Crazy good orgasms?" I wiggle my brows at her, and she giggles. Fuck, I love that sound. I'd carve up a thousand intruders with my combat knife for the promise of hearing it every day.
My eyes flit back to the scar on her mating gland. I might actually get to keep that promise. Our Prime Alpha bit and claimed her in the name of our Pack, and that means she's officially ours. Forever. Right?
My teeth ache and my mouth fills with saliva. I want to add my bite to that scar so I can see it every time she tilts her head just so.
Wanting to see her marked up by my hand isn't new.
It isn't a particularly well-hidden desire either.
Halley is more than aware of it, and I wonder how far she'd let me go.
How much could I get away with? Okay, so maybe Blaze isn't completely gone, but he's certainly taming his more destructive impulses.
"Every other heat I've had pales in comparison," she croaks, and Shade helps her sit up to sip from the canteen of water. Her lips shine afterwards, and I want to suck the residual water off them.
Shade nods and muses, "Makes sense. You're an Omega with three bonded Alphas. Your biology has changed to accommodate that."
I make an accusatory sound at the back of my throat. "Don't forget to add a sexy Pack Beta to the mix."
The tips of Shade's ears go pink, and I mentally high-five myself.
I've made it my duty to call our Beta out whenever his inferiority complex shows.
I won't let him go on thinking Alphas mean more in this Pack than him.
He's our glue and we all fucking know it.
Just gotta get his big, fat brain to clue in too.
"Tell me more," I beg Halley, sitting back on my heels, bouncing.
It's all so exciting. Not only are we an official Pack now, but we get to have the most epic sex of our lives to do it!
"The craving, the need, it's so much," she says, eyes widening and her expression darkening. "It feels like it'll swallow me whole if I don't have one of you to hold on to."
I lean forward and wink at her. "Good thing you won't ever be alone. We've got you, Sparkles."
She smiles at me and settles back down in Shade's embrace, closing her eyes to rest.
"Damn. Prime Alpha really did a number on her, didn't he?"
Shade hums in agreement. "We'll let her rest for a bit. Judging by how fast her skin is warming, I don't think it'll be long before the next wave hits. You ready?"
I clap my hands together and rub them, waggling my eyebrows at him. "I was born ready for this. How about you? You ready for your world to be rocked, Omega heat style?"
Shade purses his lips. "Mmm, think I'll leave that up to you lot. I'll be here in a supporting role."
My smile drops, excitement wavering.
I want to slap him up the side of the head.
So I do.
"Ow! Fuck, why is everyone hitting me today?" he asks, rubbing the back of his head.
"You aren't getting out of heat duty just cause you don't have a knot, idiot," I say, reaching over to slap him again.
He bats my hand away, frowning. "Oi, would you cut it out? You're being a brat."
I sigh and extend my hand. "Hi, I'm Blaise. Nice to meet you. Always have been and always will be a brat, just ask my Daddy."
He doesn't shake my hand, and I pout, pulling it back to my chest.
Shade sighs, still rubbing his head. "I don't know why you're hitting me — I'm stating facts. Halley is in heat. She needs knots to control her symptoms. I don't have a knot. Therefore, I am not critical personnel. I'll take watch when Viper gets back."
A small arm whips between us and slaps the back of Shade's head, exactly where I did.
"Ah!" he cries out, deflecting Halley's hand as it swings for another hit. "Why is everyone choosing violence?"
"Cause you're being an idiot and idiots get slapped," Halley says, one eye cracked open, and a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
"That's right, Sparkles. Idiots get slapped," I crow, smirking.
"Great, now there are two brats in this nest." Shade exhales heavily through his nose and looks to the ceiling like he can find his sanity up there. It's no use; I already checked for mine there and came back empty-handed.
Halley sits up on her elbows. She has the expression she sometimes gets when she's hungry, which I know means we have to feed her immediately, or we will be graced with a pocket-sized megalomaniac.
"What are you going to do about it then, Daddy?" she says teasingly.
Ah, that's not hunger for food. It's the kind of hunger only Shade can satisfy.
I start bouncing on my heels again, eyes flitting between Shade and Halley.
Shade looks hesitant, like he's worried playing around during her heat crosses some kind of boundary, but Halley licks her lips and his eyes lock onto her pink tongue, tracking its movement. I see the moment he breaks. His eyes lower to half-mast and go flinty with determination.
"Do you want to play, little girl?" he drawls, running his finger over her wet lips, plucking at her lower lip idly. "Think you can handle it while in heat?"
Halley nods so vigorously I'm worried she'll strain her neck.
"And what do you want Daddy to do?"
"I want to play with Blaise," she breathes, her eyes raking over my body until they fixate on my crotch.
My cock is hard, it's been hard since I first got a whiff of her heat scent hours ago, and it's aching for her touch. At her attention, it spits pre-come. Beads of it roll down the shaft, and her eyes track its path down onto my slightly swollen knot.
I look up and notice Shade is looking at my weeping cock too, his throat bobbing as he swallows.
"I want Daddy to tell us how to play," Halley adds, already reaching out for me.
Her scent spikes, and sweet slick perfumes the air in the den. Her skin has taken on a shine of sweat as she begins to overheat again.
"Your next wave is starting," Shade observes.
That's all I need to hear. Knox said I'm on knot duty, and I'm more than happy to step up to the plate. I reach for her.
"Wait." Halley stops me, her palm flat against my flexing abs, and looks at Shade expectantly.
He clears his throat, brow furrowed. "Halley… look, I'm not sure if this is the right time for me to be—"
"Daddy, it hurts," Halley whines, eyes wide and watering. "What do I do?"
Cheeky girl. I see the game now.