Chapter Ten
Axel
By the time Mandy finishes telling me what happened with Chase all those years ago, her face is streaked with tears and my chest is aching for the heartbreak she still clearly feels.
If I didn’t know Chase so well, I would want to murder him. Who the fuck just up and disappears like that?
A child broken down by the demands and pressures placed upon him by his highly strung, dominant parents.
I know Chase won’t have been behind this. When I met him, he was a mess, lost in a depression I wasn’t sure he’d ever come out of, despite being in one of the most prestigious junior hockey training programs around.
He was injured when he arrived, having recently been involved in a car accident that left his uncle paralyzed from the waist down. Chase himself had whiplash, a rib contusion, and a meniscus strain. Much of his time at the program was spent recovering and trying to rebuild his skills on the ice.
I think he had checked out, convinced himself his injuries might end his career for him and that he’d be able to go home.
But that didn’t happen. He healed, he improved, and we’ve been on this journey together since.
He told me one night, about a week into being roommates, that he’d left behind the love of his life and he wasn’t sure it was the right decision or if the career that lay ahead of him was worth the pain he was feeling.
I’d encouraged him to stay. Told him that fate had plans and if it were meant to be, they’d find each other again. I was a romantic even then.
Mandy lays her head on my chest, and I stroke her hair while I purr to comfort her. Despite the heaviness of the night’s events, I feel content just snuggling here on the couch with her. The only thing missing is Chase.
It will take work—a whole ton of fucking work—but I think their relationship is reparable. The feelings they once had for each other are still there, lingering just beneath the protective walls they’ve both built.
Mandy whines against my chest, nuzzling closer as she tries to get comfortable. She squirms against me and whines again.
I’ve been putting it off because of how high her emotions are, but I can’t leave her this way.
Worked up and frustrated. That’s not how an alpha treats his omega.
She seems like she’s going into heat, or maybe having both her scent matches in one room has stirred up her instincts.
Either way, she’s needy. There’s a sweetness to her scent that hits sharper than usual.
“Mandy, baby,” I say, stroking my hand down her arm. Her skin is hot, and a trail of goosebumps follows my touch.
“Mmm?” she murmurs, lifting her head and burying her face in the nook of my shoulder and jaw, rubbing against me and marking me with her scent. She presses her chest into me, her body rubbing against mine enough to make my cock twitch in my pants.
Fuck, I want her. She’s so fucking sexy and sweet. But the timing is awful. I need to make sure she’s okay with taking our relationship to the next level. I’ve read too many romance novels where the omega was too far gone in their heat to consent and later held resentment towards their alphas.
If she’s going into heat, then this might be as lucid as she gets for the next few days.
“You’re driving me wild with that scent of yours, sweet girl. I know you said you didn’t want to jump right into bed with me, but I want to help. Can I touch you?”
“Yes, please touch me, Alpha.”
She doesn’t waste any time, climbing onto my lap and straddling me before planting her mouth on mine. Her kiss is insistent, needy and passionate as I wrap my arms around her, pulling her in so our bodies are pressed close while our tongues collide.
She grinds on my hard length and I groan at the sensation. She’s fucking soaked, her slick seeping through her jeans as her arousal builds.
My hands move to her hips, tugging her soft white blouse free from her waistband and sliding along the skin of her stomach and hips. Inching them higher, I reach her breasts, my thumbs skating across the thin lace cups and teasing her puckered nipples.
She gasps as I tease them a second time, breaking our kiss and ripping her shirt over her head without missing a beat, baring her pale skin and a soft lilac-colored bralette. Her rosy nipples peek through the lace, causing my cock to twitch against her core.
“More, Axel. I need so much more.”
“My omega gets what she wants.”
Mandy squeals, wrapping her arms around my neck as I stand from the couch, carrying her with me and walking toward the hallway. I move my hands to her thighs, gripping them tightly as she wraps them around my waist, steadying herself in my arms.
“Nest or bedroom?” I ask, gently nipping at her ear.
She half moans, half sighs, throwing her head back and exposing her neck to me in a show of complete and utter trust.
“Nest,” she breathes. “Second door on the left. This might just be a heat spike. I’m not due for my heat yet, but that’s still where I want you. I want your scent on every surface for when my heat starts.”
A shudder rolls through her as I kiss a line up her throat, desperately fighting the instincts screaming at me to bite down and mark this omega as mine. The time will come, I’m sure of it, but it isn’t now. Not yet. We have a lot to figure out before then.
I make my way to her nest, pushing the door open and flicking the light switch before slowly stepping into the room. I gently close the door behind us and then look around at Mandy’s most private space.
The room itself is small. Cozy and inviting, and it smells strongly of Mandy. Her sweet biscuity s'mores scent coats the space, heady and tantalizing, with no other scent entwined. Like no one else has ever set foot in here.
The walls are painted a lilac purple, and fairy lights and fake vines are hung on the upper part of the walls. A pair of heavy, deep purple curtains are pulled closed over the windows.
A large beanbag sits in one corner, with a small table beside it where a laptop, water bottle and packet of Twizzlers rest. The rest of the small room is taken up by what appears to be a sunken bed.
A variety of pink and purple cushions line the edges of the pit with a mismatch of blankets spread out in the middle.
“There’s a dimmer beside the light switch,” Mandy says, leaning away from my body and pointing in its direction. “It’ll turn the overhead light off and the fairy lights on. It’s too bright in here.”
I flick the switch and, sure enough, the fairy lights turn on, giving the room a warmer, softer glow.
Mandy’s lips find mine as I bring us to the bed, stepping down into the pile of cushions and blankets. The base of it is soft and spongy, and we sink into it as I lie Mandy down beneath me.
“Am I the first Alpha you’ve let in here, Mally?” I ask, eager to know the answer. She may just have a professional cleaning company come through, but something tells me that’s not the case.
“Yes,” she pants as I unbutton her jeans and pull them down her legs, revealing a matching set of lace panties. She lets her legs fall open as I toss her jeans away, and I groan. Her panties are soaked through, her slick glistening on the inside of her thighs.
There’s no hope left for me. I’m a goner. The need to taste her becomes the sole thought in my mind.
I reach down, hooking my fingers around the center of her panties where they’re the wettest, and pull. They tear free easily, exposing her juicy pussy to me. My cock throbs in my pants, my knot starting to swell at the base.
Tossing her legs over my shoulders, I lean down and lick a long line up the center of her, her flavor coating my tongue and causing me to moan at the phenomenal taste of her. There’s something inside me that shifts in that moment, like the world was tilted and now all is right again.
A shiver runs through her, a soft moan of pleasure filling my ears and spurring me on as I lick and suck her pussy, biting gently at her clit, determined to get every drop of slick. None of it will go to waste.
My desire to please her rises, as does my need to take her, knot her, and mark her as mine. The sudden realization hits me that I could easily lose control here. I need to be careful. There’s no one here to help if my instincts take over and I fall into a rut.