9. Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
Raece
I t had been three days since the bonding ceremony. And I’d detected the changes in Wren’s scent each time I passed her door. She was too fucking close to her cycle. And she still refused to leave her room or allow anyone in except Mateo.
Even when the gigantic alpha went into her room, he merely brought her a tray of food then left, repeating the act for each meal.
Perhaps he could earn her trust since he wasn’t trying to force himself on her or demanding she allow him to sink his teeth into her.
“You think you can get her to let you mark her?” I asked him as we sat around the dinner table.
He’d just returned from leaving her last meal of the day.
“I’m not pack lead,” he said before tucking into his dinner.
“Doesn’t matter. You’re one of her alphas. It should be enough to tie her to Pack Stryder so we can finally register.”
“You say finally like she’s been here a year,” Dean said.
The flirty beta had been a little more subdued than usual. And I had a feeling it was the same reason Winter, Mateo, and I were all feeling a little more aggressive. Omega pheromones were driving us fucking crazy.
Whether we’d all agreed on this or not, there was a biological need to provide for an omega, to care for them, to breed them. I wasn’t exactly keen on the whole parenthood thing, but unless we were able to procure some black-market birth control before sinking our cocks into her, there might not be much choice.
“Anyone have any rubbers?” I blurted out.
“You better not force yourself on her. I’ll beat the fuck out of you myself,” Mateo warned.
A growl rumbled from my chest at his challenge, but I would let it go for now. “Maybe if we gave her the option, let her know we don’t expect her to start popping out kids right away, she might be more amenable to letting us help her out in a few days. Any of you really think you can keep your distance while she’s in her nest screaming and writhing in pain?”
Something flashed over Doran’s face, but I ignored it for now. I assumed it was the same jealousy he felt anytime Dean, or any beta or omega, flirted with Winter.
“I have a box in my room. For when I’m in the mood for a little variety,” he said, that fucking grin stretching on his face.
No one rose to the bait, instead choosing to ignore him for the time being. Unlike Doran’s possessiveness over Winter, none of us gave a shit about who Dean fucked or sucked.
“Want me to take them to her? Show her we’re not expecting her to carry around pups every nine months?” Dean asked.
Mateo jabbed a finger in the beta’s direction. “You’re the last person we want around her right now.”
“Just go fucking mark her. Give her the choice of pleasure with the pain or claim her. They’re going to cancel our fucking contract, otherwise,” Doran said, shocking the shit out of me.
Of the entire pack, he’d been the most verbal against this arrangement. And I knew it had everything to do with fear Winter might choose an omega over him, might choose to stay in her room instead of the bed they shared.
Frowning at him, I watched as that same look crossed through his eyes.
“Something up?” I asked.
I wasn’t sure what exactly made me so suspicious, but there was something there, something he was trying to hide.
“You want to fuck her, too, or something?”
His head snapped back, and his mouth dropped open. “At what point did any of my protests bring you to that conclusion?”
“He has a point,” Winter said. “The longer we wait, the higher the chance of our contract being cancelled. And then she’ll end up back at the Center or with some piece of shit pack who will force her on her back. Goes against what we’ve built, Raece.”
We hadn’t truly built anything. We trafficked omegas. Or reverse trafficked. We extracted them from situations when they weren’t able to go through legal channels and relocated them as far away as they wanted to go. The money we’d accrued came from the sales of firearms and other illegally gained items we’d acquired during those clandestine raids.
“She’ll fucking hate you if you force the claim on her,” Mateo warned. “And I’ll fuck you up if you fuck her against her–”
“Mother fucker!” I practically roared. “How many years have you known me? And that’s the shit you want to say to me? That’s what you think of me?”
A muscle jumped in Mateo’s jaw, but he didn’t look away nor did he say anything else.
“Fuck,” I muttered, pushing from the table and practically stomping away.
I hated this. I hated this whole situation. I’d known by her file Wren would be a firecracker. I’d had no idea she would refuse the bonding mark. She was still technically unclaimed, unmated, which made her vulnerable. It put her at risk.
Maybe if I reminded her that her status as a bonded omega would earn her more freedom she might finally relent and let me tie her to the pack. Although I had a feeling she would still fight against being in bed with me.
I hated the thought of hurting her, but she was giving me little choice. The only way to avoid the bite hurting her was if she was in the middle of pleasure. And the only way I knew how to do that was by actually touching her.
Before I realized my feet were moving, I was pushing through the door to her quarters to find her stepping out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her torso, droplets of water rolling down her back and chest from her wet curls.
Even through the bodywash and shampoo, I could smell her pheromones, could smell the slick from her rising cycle.
She looked pale. Or paler than usual. And her features were pinched as though she was fighting against the cramping in her abdomen.
“Why won’t you let us help you?” I asked, ignoring the way my cock was suddenly painfully hard and straining against the fabric that barely restrained it.
“Can I get some privacy, please?” she snapped back. But it didn’t hold nearly as much fire as her words had mere days ago. She was already beginning to suffer and refused to admit it or ask for help.
“We have to complete the bond, omega. I have to leave my bite on your shoulder. Once your heat has passed, the Center will demand a check in. They’ll examine you for the bond. And when they don’t find one, they’ll take you away. I know you hate us, but I promise you there are far worse packs out there.”
“You think I don’t know that?” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and held her towel tighter around herself, preventing it from slipping.
And I fought the urge to grab a handful of that terry cloth and rip it away from her body so I could see what she was hiding. I wanted to wrap my hands in her hair, tilt her face back, and claim her fucking mouth. I wanted to latch my lips around her nipples and draw the buds into my mouth.
Then I wanted to feast on her sweet-smelling cunt that called to me even from across the room.
Before I had too much time to think about it, I stalked across the room, reaching for her hair, and tilting her head to the side.
When she began to struggle, I stilled her with a bark. Her body became rigid, but the fire was burning bright in the stunning blue of her irises.
Bending forward, I quickly sunk my teeth into her shoulder, sighing at the coppery sweetness of her blood as it entered my mouth and coated my tongue.
Wren cried out, a short, quick sound, but it still squeezed my heart painfully. I was the cause of that sound. I was the cause of her pain.
But whether she would ever admit it or not, whether she understood it or not, I’d done it to protect her as much as I’d done it for my pack.
My cock felt as though it would punch a hole through my pants and my heart raced as my alpha pushed to the surface, demanding more, demanding I bare her body and plunge my cock balls deep into her heat, demanding I give her my knot and lock us together until she cried out in pleasure instead of pain.
After tending to the mark, lapping at the blood to help it heal, I stepped away to look into her face. Tears streaked down her cheeks; her bottom lip trembled.
Fuck .
I’d done that. I’d made her cry. While bringing an omega into the pack had been my decision, I hadn’t really thought much further than registering with the government. I hadn’t thought about the fact the health and happiness of another human being could lie solely in my hands.
And, within seconds, I’d shattered what little bit of respect and trust she might have found in me with the distance I’d given her.
When I lifted my hand to wipe away her tears, she jerked her face away, stepping back over and over until she was in the doorway of her personal bedroom. Then she closed the door, blocking her from my sight and leaving me feeling like a complete and total fucking asshole.
So much rage burned through my veins. Self-loathing. And my dick was still rock fucking hard.
I needed to get this out, to get the aggression out, the frustration, the self-hate.
As I stormed from her room, I caught Dean as he passed, his eyes on her door, his pupils blown at the scent pouring from the omega wing.
With my hands tangled in the fabric of his shirt, I shoved him against the wall and slammed my mouth against his, letting him get a taste of Wren’s blood from my lips and tongue.
He hummed into my mouth, his hand cupping my junk through my jeans.
We made our way down the hall until he dragged me into his room, the space filled with his autumn smell of fallen leaves and wood smoke.
He kicked the door shut and popped the top button of my jeans open before ripping the zipper down, his hand instantly wrapping around my cock the second it was free.
More. I needed more than his hand or even his mouth.
Since Dean wore nothing but a pair of gray sweats, I shoved them over his hips then bent him over the bed. “Lube,” I growled out with my alpha so close to the surface.
“Top drawer.”
Instead of waiting for me to find it, he straightened and removed the bottle, pouring an ample amount into his palm before rubbing his hands together then over my hard length, ensuring I was slicked and ready for him.
Dean bent forward, placing one hand on the bed for stability while wrapping the other around his own cock.
The beta wasn’t someone I had to be careful with; he’d earned the title of slut because he would do just about anyone in any possible position, as long as he got off.
With one hand wrapped around my dick, I positioned the head against his ass and slowly pushed forward until I was fully sheathed. His body wasn’t fit for an alpha knot, not that he hadn’t begged me to try more than once. I was pretty sure Dean fell on the masochistic side of kinks.
Once his body had a moment to stretch around my size, I plowed into him, fucking him hard enough to push his body forward, my knot pressing against his ass and balls with each thrust.
This wouldn’t be enough. It would never be enough, not until I had the pretty redheaded omega impaled on my cock.
But for now, it would take the edge off. It would get some of the baby batter from clogging up my brain so I could think straight.
And give me time to find an appropriate way to punish myself for hurting the tiny woman in the other room.
Dean’s fist pumped hard and fast as he stroked himself while I slammed into him over and over, the sounds of our flesh slapping together mixing with our grunts, groans, and growls.
He came first, spilling pearly ribbons onto his own fucking bed. His ass clenched around me with each jet, squeezing me and milking me until I finished inside of him, almost collapsing onto his back…
Wren’s name leaving my lips as I came. Hard.
After a while, we ended up lying side by side on his bed, my heart finally slowing to a more normal rate.
Dean chuckled a deep sound. “You marked her.”
I rolled my head on the pillow to look at him.
He turned toward me. “I can smell her all over you. And you looked crazed in the hallway. Either she rejected you or you marked her.”
“I marked her.”
Her face flashed through my mind, the tears that streaked down her cheeks, the agonized sound when my teeth had broken through her skin.
I would never erase any of that from my memories and wondered if she would ever forgive me.
I was pretty sure I might never forgive myself.