Chapter 7
Broken Basement, The Institute
It’s been five days, at least to judge by the lunches that the gorgeous Beta guard has slipped to us.
Antonio did honor his promise to bring me a delicious chicken and mayo sandwich, and yesterday, a thermos of black coffee.
When I took my first sip of the rich, smoky coffee, I could’ve kissed Antonio.
Lark looked like he wanted to devour him more than the lunch.
Antonio’s energizing presence and the shadow of the auctions (which are like a ticking time bomb that we’re too scared to mention), have brought Lark and me to life.
Everything feels brighter, more vibrant, and sharper.
Every moment may be our last together.
We’re not wasting a single breath.
Every touch and look is precious.
I’m hoarding each one for a future time, when this will be nothing but a memory.
This week with Lark and Antonio has become the best time of my life.
I’ve nuzzled on the bed with Lark, as we scented each other like then, we’ll never be able to be washed from each other’s skin. We’ve whispered confessions from our past lives, learning more about each other than anyone else ever has.
As I share every intimate part of my heart, so that part of me will remain with Lark, even when we’re torn apart, Lark’s warm hands massage my limbs to coax them back to strength.
He’s helped me to build up to looping my arm over his shoulder, in order to take my first stumbling steps across the cell.
When my legs have buckled, he’s caught me.
But he hasn’t let up on me like I’m weak. He’s urged me on, rewarding me with kisses for every step.
Hour by hour, day by day, I’m able to push myself further.
Lark’s lips are the perfect encouragement.
He was right. In the end, it doesn’t matter if you’re in a mansion or a cell.
It doesn’t matter where you are but who you’re with.
Now that I’m with Lark, I feel like I’m flying.
This is freedom.
I hope that Fletcher, as he watches us on the cameras, is taking this as the fuck you that we mean it to be.
Living well and with love in the face of those who’d tear you down is the best revenge.
Although, I’ve been flushed with heat the last few days. My forehead has been beaded with sweat.
Is it the Broken Bond Syndrome or could it be my preheats?
Fuck, I hope that it’s not my heats coming on.
I hoped that the starvation and stress would delay or stop my heats. Breaking a bond usually impacts them badly.
We have no toys to help me through a heat.
Plus, I don’t want any government approved Alpha to be called to help me through it.
Lark would probably turn fully feral.
Suffering through a heat without an Alpha is agony.
But for a Brok would it be deadly?
As much as I don’t want this auction to happen, I know that both Lark and I need new Alphas.
Biologically, we need them for our heats.
Even if Lark dreams of a pack without Alphas, I can’t lose my faith that there are good Alphas because I’ve known them. I know that my brother will be an incredible Alpha one day to his pack.
His Omega will be lucky.
I’ve dreamed since I was a kid of being part of a pack like that. It’s how we’re meant to live: Alpha, Beta, and Omega in harmony.
Everything that I’ve read or watched shows how happy all three dynamics can be together.
They fit.
Like I did with my lavender eyed first love turned FBI’s most wanted.
Now, I take another shaky step across the cell in my routine morning exercises.
Lark has his arm loosely around my waist, allowing me to take as much weight as possible myself but making certain that I don’t fall.
I’m breathing hard. My muscles are aching.
“You’re doing well.” Lark presses his plush lips to mine. “Just a little bit more.”
I take another step. “Do you think Toni wiggles his ass like that at us on purpose?”
“I’m helping you with your physiotherapy.” Lark bends down, and his silky hair brushes my cheek. Then he nips my ear, and I yelp. “And you’re thinking about a guard’s ass…?”
“Not any guard,” I grouch. “Only our Beta’s.”
I can’t help glowing when I say our Beta’s.
“Our Beta’s, huh?” Lark replies. “I think Toni wiggles his ass, bends over, and swings his hips as he slinks down the corridor all to show off his tight little ass to us.”
“Is he courting us?” I whisper.
“Let me see,” Lark says quietly, in case the cameras are on, “he’s bringing us special food, taking punishments for us, and offering a flirting masterclass. I’d say so.”
“But he has an Alpha.”
“We don’t all get to choose whether we have an Alpha.” Lark’s lips thin. “Does it hurt for us to accept him into our pack, when we only have…?”
He doesn’t finish the sentence. It hurts too much.
We’re already breaking a ton of taboos by creating a Brok pack in the first place. Why not break another and pretend that Antonio is ours for this short time?
Antonio’s kind, funny, and gorgeous.
He’s like our sunlight.
He risked a lot to take Lark’s message to Millie.
When he returned and told Lark that Millie was fine and had told him that she loved her daddy and he was good too…
I can’t repay what Antonio did for Lark because those words meant the world to him.
They unbroke Lark.
Yet Antonio doesn’t want repaying.
He simply turns up like the sun has dipped into the basement to shine on us. I no longer miss the sky, when he’s with us. Despite the Institute’s darkness, he chases away the shadows.
Each day, Antonio slinks like he’s on an assassin’s mission down the corridor, then dramatically points at the stinking bucket at the back of the cell. “Time for me to take the piss!”
The joke hasn’t — yet — grown old.
On the third day, Lark accidentally spilled some of that piss over the sides of the bucket and onto Antonio’s hand, as he shoved it through the larger slot in the door with disdain (he truly has never done chores in his life).
Antonio only laughed, scrunching up his nose. “I’m kinky, but golden showers aren’t my thing. Not that I’d ever yuck your yum.”
Lark snorted in amusement.
Unfortunately, Miss Connall chose that moment to check on her new guard.
Her thin, pinched face flooded with rage at the sight of Lark next to the spill.
Antonio held up his wet hands. “My fault. I was clumsy. Sorry, boss.”
Lark and I exchanged a glance.
As much as we liked the guard, we didn’t expect him to cover for us.
“You’re useless. The worst hire that I’ve ever made,” Connall sneered.
“You’re making me blush. Can I have that on a certificate to show my Alpha?”
“I shall be writing a complaint to your Alpha,” she barked.
“Ma’am.” Lark’s shoulders straightened, and his gaze became steely. “It wasn’t—”
“Shut up,” Antonio ordered.
I’d never heard Antonio sound coldly dominant like that. He sounded more like a gang boss, deadly and sharp.
Lark looked as shocked as me.
Yet it was to make sure that Antonio took the blame. He was protecting Lark.
Was Antonio punished by his Alpha?
It makes my guts churn. I hate the thought of that.
I take a couple of determined steps across the cell, thinking furiously. “Toni’s earned his place in our pack many times over. He’s only twenty-one and he doesn’t deserve to be trapped here either.”
Lark hums in agreement. “Noticed anything?”
I blink.
What does he mean?
Then I realize that his arms are no longer around my waist, supporting me.
I’m standing on the opposite side of the cell to him.
Wait, how?
I’m walking unaided for the first time!
Lark’s been using this conversation to distract me, while he untangled himself from supporting me, in the same way that a dad does when teaching a kid to ride their first bike.
But it’s worked.
“You tricked me!” I’m grinning, widely.
Lark strolls to me, pushing a strand of hair behind his ear.
I want to kiss the smug curl off his lips.
Both of us deserve it.
“It appears that Antonio’s ass is a good physiotherapy aid after all.” Lark’s eyes twinkle. “One more step.” He holds his arms out to me, and I stumble into them. “That’s it. You’re so good. I’m proud of you, cupcake.”
My legs feel like jelly after the exertion.
Lark helps me to the mattress.
I take him by surprise, however, when I drag him down with me.
We lie side by side, even if I’m too tired to even raise my arms.
Lark arches his brow. “Eager for your reward are you, good Omega?”
I shiver at the good Omega.
It means something so different, when it’s coming from Lark.
“Always,” I reply. “But I warn you, you’ve tired me out. You may have to do all the work.”
“Demanding.” Lark’s eyes sparkle. He ducks as if to kiss me, and I open my lips. I’m already wet with excitement. Then he pulls back with a smirk. “Oh, you’re adorable when you pout.”
“And you’re adorable when you reward me properly.” I purse my lips hopefully.
He lets out a breathy laugh. “I’m almost thirty but being with you makes me feel like I could be Antonio’s age again. My aunt was a strict woman who never smiled. There was no laughter in our house. There was even less with Sydney. This with you feels like reclaiming all that lost time.”
My chest is tight. “You make me happy too.”
I begin to purr, and Lark nuzzles against my neck.
I take in deep breaths of his rich, plum scent.
Then to my surprise, Lark’s gaze becomes half-hooded as he glances up at me.
I lick my lips, expectantly.
Here comes my kiss…
Unexpectedly, Lark begins to slide down my body, inching up my nightie to ruck it under his jacket that I’m wearing as he goes.
My eyes widen. “Where are you going? What about my reward? My lips are up here.”
Lark strokes his hands down my sides, and my skin tingles. He licks around my belly button, reverentially.
“You walked by yourself for the first time. You’re strong and brave, Mercy. I always knew that you were. You deserve a special reward this time. Who said that I’d be kissing those lips?”
He glances up at me significantly and then down toward my pussy.
I blush. “I’ve never…if we’re talking about firsts…”
“You should always have been worshiped. You will be by me.”
He edges even further down me, kissing the crease between my thigh and hip.
I shiver.
“Please,” I whisper.
“I’m going to teach you to beg better than that. I can’t wait to taste your sweet pussy. It’s an honor to be the first to show you how incredible a man’s mouth feels sucking on your clit.”
My breath hitches at Lark’s dirty talk, which sounds a thousand times filthier in his educated accent. “Please, my songbird.”
“See, such a fast student. Excellent begging already.”
Then he pushes my thighs apart and settles between them.
My back arches in shock, as he licks a long stripe along my pussy.
Lark’s chuckle vibrates through my core. So does his purr.
“Oh, fuck,” I gasp.
The vibrations almost make me come instantly.
My pupils are blown wide with desire.
Seeing a man like this between my thighs (and Lark’s black hair spread like he’s an Omega merman come out of the water only to pleasure me), is making my head spin.
He’s stunning.
Dominant for an Omega and yet entirely focused on my pleasure.
I’m breathing fast, as Lark circles my clit, before sucking on it.
I can’t stop myself. I bury my hands in his hair, and he whines.
His purring increases.
I use him like a vibrating sex toy.
Now that I’ve felt this incredible feeling (I didn’t even know that men did this for women, and fuck, I’ve been missing out), I can’t get enough of this.
I must have an exhibitionist side because I hope that Fletcher is watching.
I want him to see that an Omega can make me shudder with greater pleasure than he ever brought me.
Lark is worshiping me.
I ride Lark’s face, moving him where I want him and allowing him to take desperate gasps of air, although he dives back like he wants to be tasting me more than he wants to be sucking in oxygen.
Ecstasy is winding through me.
I’m shaking.
When my orgasm hits me, it happens so fast that it catches me off guard with its intensity.
It’s overwhelming.
I scream, holding Lark’s head still in one place, as he eats me out like I’m a feast.
“Songbird!” I howl.
He keeps sucking on my clit, working me through the tidal wave of all-encompassing pleasure, until I’m oversensitive.
I stroke my hands through Lark’s hair, and he pulls back with a final, satisfied lick.
He’s still purring.
He looks up at me, and his lips are wet with my slick.
I blush, but hell, I’d be happy to keep him just like this.
“Did you like your reward?” Lark asks, checking in. “How was my tongue service?”
Lazy and sated, I don’t stop petting him. “Five out of five. I’m giving you an excellent review: toe-curling, mind-blowing pleasure with added vibrations, courtesy of purring; will use again. I’m never going to want your pretty mouth anywhere but busy between my thighs now.”
“Wow, you guys really are better than OmegaHub,” Antonio calls. “I thought that Omega horniness was a myth but way to go. I’m all for sexual liberation and empowerment.”
Lark pulls down my nightie to cover me, before turning to glare over his shoulder, although he looks smug as well.
“How long have you been there?” Lark demands. “Have you been to ninja school?”
Antonio is shifting restlessly in the corridor. “Something like that.”
“Are you simply here as a voyeur?”
“The online auction is happening now.” Antonio stalks even closer.
Lark and I freeze. Our gazes meet.
I whine in distress, reaching down to Lark, who sits up. He grasps my hand.
This is our last day together.
I’m not ready.
I’m not fucking ready to lose Lark.
To lose either of these men.
“Calm down.” Antonio’s eyes are hard, and suddenly, he looks older.
What the hell is going on?
I’m shaking, but this time, not from pleasure but rather, from fear of the auction.
“Don’t order us around,” Lark growls. “When it comes down to it, we’re prisoners who are going to be sold. You’re still a guard who gets to go home to his pack after work.”
I wince.
Antonio only slips his hand in his pocket and slouches, looking even more disreputable than normal.
He pulls out the key to the cell and holds it up dramatically. “This is going to come as a shock, so hold onto your pretty asses, but I’m not actually a guard. I guess I am, since the assholes employed me. Idiots. But I reckon that you’d call it being undercover. I’m a criminal…well, outlaw…well, mafia. Stop looking at me like that. I’m a bad guy who’s doing a good thing. I’m breaking you out.”
Then he opens the cell door and swings it open.