15. Chapter 15
15
The storm battered the barn, and the horses let out displeased snorts.
“Do you think the rain will let up soon?” Bram called out from Charlie’s stable. He was content to brush the spoiled bull, happy that he was free of chores in the meantime. Hale slammed through the door, and my answer was lost on the tip of my tongue. He raced toward us with his buttons askew, as if he’d been attacked. Ruck leaped to his feet and reeled back, clutching his nose.
“What?” I asked, scrambling to my feet. Scent hammered into me, sweet summer dessert. Sunshine-drenched peaches and thick cream. It coated my nostrils and flooded my throat. Saliva pooled in my mouth as hunger surged in my veins. My pupils dilated, and my nostrils flared.
Desperate for more.
It was Esta, strong and lush, like I’d never known.
“Why would you come here?” Ruck snapped through his hands, still trying to block the delectable scent. But I was past prevention, rearing up at my brother and stealing her scent that clung to his body. Hale ran past us to the trough. He ripped off his shirt and scrubbed his body. As if he hadn’t heard us at all. My cock was half hard in my trousers, and I fought the urge to cup it.
“Stay with Charlie, Bram.” I hauled my damp brother back while he protested. My fingers wrapped around his belt as I dragged him over to the front of the barn. My lungs burst with Esta’s scent like an addict. I couldn’t stop. Ruck followed at a distance, exerting control I lacked.
“Esta’s in heat, isn’t she?” Her scent wrapped around my brain, rapidly wiping away logical thought. I ground my teeth to stem the desire to go to her, to give her the relief she needed. Hale sank to his knees, looking up at us with his hands limp on his thighs.
“I couldn’t. If I stay with her, I know I’ll never leave.” His voice was hoarse. My veins surged with fury, and I choked at his honesty. His stupidity. He’d left the most beautiful woman all alone in agony. He shirked his duty, the vows he made to protect her.
My brother crumpled into the dirt, letting out a plaintive sob. Not from pain, but despair. My skin itched at the idea of Esta suffering. Because she would be in pain without an alpha to assist her.
“I need you to do it.” Hale looked between Ruck and me with glassy eyes. “Do what I can’t.”
My spine snapped straight, and I rocked backward in surprise. Did he mean what I thought he did? A surge of hope left me lightheaded.
It wasn’t right. Esta was Hale’s wife, his omega, his responsibility.
But I didn’t care. How many nights had I imagined Esta in my arms. Pretended she belonged to me, not Hale.
Ruck scrubbed his face, exchanging a horrified look with me. “Speak plainly,” he demanded.
Hale dropped his head, shivering from the damp on his upper half. Or from shame?
“Her heat, it was so sudden.” Hale swallowed and his eyes blazed to mine. “I thought I could handle it, but her scent, her body, her everything. It’s too much and I can feel myself slipping, caving to her omega power. I can feel her here.” He clawed at his chest, as if trying to carve out his heart and rid himself of his desire for Esta. “I need you to see her through it. I can’t lose control again or go back to that dark place in my head. But she’s in pain and I can’t stand the thought of her alone. Tend her through her heat and give her what she craves.”
My fist moved before I could process what I was doing. Hale sprawled out on the ground, dirt streaked across his shoulders. His jaw bloomed angrily where I hit it. I shook out my fist and glared at him. My stomach was a pit of bubbling acid. Did he know how much I wanted to do what he asked? Did he understand what he was asking of me? He couldn’t touch Esta anymore without falling further into her thrall. But didn’t he understand how far I was in her grasp as well?
My brother’s wife. Forbidden.
Designated didn’t have packs anymore, but it used to be just this way. Groups of alphas, even betas tending precious omegas. What Hale was proposing wasn’t just taboo, it was illegal, according to human law. My chest cramped with harried breaths. Esta’s scent filtered in the air, the ultimate temptation and my secret desire. I’d done so well at pushing down my feelings for Esta, captivated by her spirit, her courageous heart. The calluses she coveted like badges of honor.
It had been the hardest thing I’d ever done to turn away from her.
To treat her like she was nothing.
She was everything, and Hale was giving her up. Bile coated my throat, and I choked.
“You ask too much.” Ruck’s voice broke as his fists clenched and unclenched by his side. He blew out furious audible breaths.
“Do you mean it?” I prodded, and Ruck gave me an incredulous look. Hale shuffled forward, holding his hands out in plaintive begging. This was breaking him, just like it was us. Or had Esta’s arrival destroyed us the moment she got off the train and turned our lives upside down? My ribs ached with tight emotion. Would Hale have stayed with Esta if his experience with Claudia hadn’t traumatized him?
It didn’t matter. I’d already made up my mind.
“I didn’t stay nearly long enough. I d-don’t want to hurt her, but I can’t do it. Please, I know you’ll take care of her the way she deserves. Something I could never do. I can feel the beast in me, the animal. I vowed never again.”
I hovered, giving him one last moment to refute me. He nodded and I gave in.
Let me have her. I would lavish her with all the warmth I’d hidden in my heart.
Ruck raced after me as Hale stayed silent. Sheets of rain soaked us both as I marched toward the house. Unperturbed by the storm and the rain.
“Wait,” Ruck caught my soaked shoulder and spun me around to face him. I snarled, teeth flashing in animalistic warning. “You can’t be serious. You’d really do this? Esta is his wife, not ours.”
I stared at him as rain dripped off the sharp line of my brow. There was so much want in his expression, but where I was resolved, he was unsure.
“We shouldn’t,” he said, but it was a weak protest, swallowed by the rain and washed away. I shook off his hold. He took a step backward, and his boots squelched.
From the moment I saw Esta I knew this would happen.
When you grow up in a brothel, you learn a lot about ‘love making’ and how there was very little ‘love’ in it. I’d grown up lonely for the warmth Esta gave so freely. She was my heart’s pulse. I had no doubt about how right it was.
The gods were giving her to me. The Warrior knew her heart needed protection, and I would fight until my last breath to see it done.
“If she were mine, I never would’ve left her. And neither would you.” I gave Ruck my broad back.
Let him grapple with his indecision.
My omega waited for me.
Esta’s scent drowned the house and I let myself soak in it. My fingers shook as I fumbled with my buttons. Chill from the rain, I told myself, but it was a lie. I would do what my brother wanted. I would care for his wife. Lavish her with the attention he denied her, give her my body and anything else she demanded.
She needed me, and her whines drew me in. Made my scent thicken and my cock. The frantic, desperate sound burrowed into my chest and drove me forward. I staggered at the hoarse way she wept. The sound cut off just as I entered the room.
Fuck.
I tumbled onto the bed at the force of her smell. Tasted juicy peaches as I gnashed my teeth. I pulled her onto my lap as Ruck stumbled into the room, naked. His eyes blew open as I cradled her. Her hand moved with furtive despair, burrowed between her legs. Seeking her own relief. It wouldn’t be enough.
I clamped my hand over it with a croon. “Esta, Esta. It hurts, I know, but I need you to be here with me. I need your permission.”
Ruck sagged on the bed.
“You’re a better alpha than me,” he muttered, eyes fixed on Esta’s flushed neck.
She was a goddess, with curved milky breasts that hung heavy. A brief shot of anger roared through me as I saw the deep red scars over her shoulder. The only blemish on her beautiful body. Her soft stomach shuddered as she wriggled in my patient hold.
Hale had done wrong by her, so wrong. Now I was going to make it right.
My vision blurred with need, as I waited for her permission. Cum beaded on the end of Ruck’s steel cock and Esta turned her head, her nose catching the scent of it. She whined, reaching for the lusty liquid.
He collected it on his finger and held it up. “Listen to Oliver. There’s a good girl,” he praised as she shook off her haze enough to blink up at me. “I’ll give you this when he’s finished, alright?”
Esta shook so hard her teeth clattered together and she nodded, frantic but semi-lucid.
“Hale…my heat.” Her body wracked with shivers. I clucked my tongue, melting her into my firm embrace. It was taking everything in me to wait, to parcel out words.
“He ain’t coming back, Esta. But he asked Ruck and me to take his place. You can use us for your heat if you want. If you don’t, we’ll leave and stay away until it passes.”
Ruck let out a soft noise of protest. His restraint obliterated now that we were swallowed by the force of Esta’s luscious scent.
If she didn’t want this, we would leave.
If Esta turned away from us, I would peel my fingernails off, drag myself to the door.
Let us stay, I begged her silently. Let us take care of you like you deserve.
Esta sagged against me and covered her mouth to muffle a sob. The hand between her legs stilled as she processed what we’d said. Her eyes filled with tears. “He’s not coming back.” Her lower lip wobbled.
I shook my head, cursing Hale internally. “It’s nothing to do with you. The other omegas…”
Esta hissed, perhaps at the mention of another omega. She knew about Claudia, but not my ma. Not the beautiful, mercurial omega who reveled in the attention of others. Hale thought she’d seduced our father. But she didn’t care about her clients.
She was addicted to being coveted. Whatever lies my father told Hale, they stuck. Twisting his insides until it hurt the person who deserved it the least.
Esta.
“Do you want us to go?” I pressed. The cloud of her scent stripped my logic. If she didn’t want us, I would need to leave soon. Her cheeks were already flushed pink, but they darkened in embarrassment. Her throat worked on an answer while we waited. Sweat trickled down my back.
“We shouldn’t…” she pressed her breasts to my chest, her voice husky despite the noncommittal answer. I clenched my jaw and hooked my arms under her legs, and deposited her on the bed.
My chest ached as I dragged myself away, trying to ignore the throbbing of my thick member. Esta whined and I stumbled. She gripped the bedspread and shook her head. Ruck let out a sharp gasp.
“Please, don’t go.” Her wide eyes beseeched me. I leaned toward her.
“You want Ruck and I to ease your heat? If you want us to stay, you need to speak plain. Claim us.”
Heat threaded through my stomach at the demand.
Claim us .
She’d taken vows to be Hale’s wife. But Hale gave his sweet omega to us, and I wanted her to use me. To make me hers. Gods, I would treat her so well. The drop of cum was still on the point of Ruck’s finger, and her gaze drifted to it. She licked her lips, palming her breasts. “I want you. Please, don’t make me do this alone. It hurts.”
Ruck sagged with relief in front of her in a blur. He held out his finger. “Good girl, perfect girl. Here, a taste just for you.” Her blazing mouth swallowed his trembling digit, and he moaned as her tongue flickered on the digit, collecting every drop. Esta’s eyes rolled backward, and her hand shot out to grip his wrist. Her teeth scraped.
“More,” she demanded.
My heart thundered as I mounted the bed behind her, wrapping her dampened hair in my fist, leveraging it to tip back her head. My tongue invaded her mouth, swiping away her guttural moan. Ruck surged forward. Filled his hands with her breasts and sucked her nipple into his mouth. She jerked as if lightning shot down her spine.
We would tend our omega.
Ruck’s fingers burrowed between her legs, sinking into her soaked pussy and he licked a path between her breasts. Her taste was sweet and decadent, flooding my taste buds. Ruck tapped her thighs, wordlessly encouraging her to spread them wide. She didn’t hesitate, moaning into my hungry kiss as Ruck thrust his fingers deeper.
I’d never fucked an omega before, and the slick that dripped onto my thighs was a revelation.
Esta needed me.
I hoisted Esta up until she was on all fours and slipped behind her. Shivers ran through my veins as I rubbed the engorged head of my cock down her slit. Esta’s plump lower lips parted with warmth that scrambled my brain.
“I need it.” Esta looked back at me and her pupils were so wide there was only a sliver of white around them. I squeezed her ass cheeks and rubbed myself along her.
Teased her.
But the heat stole all hesitation and patience from our omega. Her lucid moment of acceptance devolved into pure hunger for what we were offering. She rocked her hips back, almost violently.
“Did you take Hale’s cock in your mouth, Esta?” Ruck inched forward.
I met his gaze with a flare of surprise. He was fully invested now, his hand around his cock as he pushed it toward her mouth. She shook her head, licking her lips with sudden hunger as she noticed. So close to her lips, she could reach out and—gods, Esta swirled her tongue to collect the beading cum off Ruck’s cock.
I slid my cock through her soaked folds with a groan.
“No,” she whispered. “But you could teach me?”
I was jealous for a moment; I wanted her mouth.
No matter. I would have her every way, a thousand times over before this heat was finished. I spread her cheeks and entered Esta. She let out a choked gasp, distracted by me giving her what she wanted. What she needed. Our mingled scents pulsed in the room, thick with lust, tangled with desperate need. There was the faintest lick of Hale, and as I filled my lungs with our combined scent, my eyes burned.
Our omega.
We were fated to be like this, together, caring for her. I thrust into her with a low groan, stars rained down my vision as I claimed her pulsing channel.
She was perfect.
I nudged her toward Ruck’s straining hardness. And he smiled, slack with lust as he threaded his fingers through her luscious hair, sun streaked white.
“You are so beautiful.” The admission tumbled out of me. The perfect wet heat made my knees tremble.
“Look at you, taking me so perfectly.” Ruck choked out and his abs rippled as Esta swallowed his length. We rocked, the three of us twisted in pleasure, melded in lust. Forged in love. I couldn’t pretend any longer, not when I saw my awe reflected on Ruck’s face. Esta’s head bobbed and Ruck tossed his back with a rattling purr.
“You like Ruck’s purr, Esta? Your pussy is strangling me right now.” My throat bobbed. A purr hovered in my throat, tasting like rust. I hadn’t used it for years. Not after Mrs. Hartlock said it was a poor excuse of a sound. My balls tingled, tightening as my release inched closer.
Ruck brushed Esta’s hair away from her face. “I’m going to cum. Do you want it in your mouth?”
Her pussy clenched around me, sucking me in deeper. My knot ground against her and there was the slightest give.
Would she take me?
My head swam as we hovered on the edge of paradise.
“Let me in, Esta,” I whispered, and she did as I asked.
White, hot bliss barreled through me as her cheeks hollowed and I couldn’t hold back. Ruck cradled the back of her head as his cock jerked. His purr intensified as he pulled out of her. I snapped my hips, chasing the perfect, tight clasp of her. I snuck my hand underneath and found her swollen clit. Within a few, desperate strokes of my hand she came apart. The heat ripened her body for intense and prolonged pleasure.
I stuttered my thrusts, groaning to the ceiling as I filled Esta with my own release. She slumped on the bed, hissing her pleasure. Her eyelashes fluttered against her flushed cheeks as a dreamy smile crept across her face. I draped myself over her back, pressing sweet kisses between her shoulder blades. But the reprieve was limited. After a moment of rest, Esta rocked again, looking back at me with desperation. Like she was afraid I would leave her.
“We’re not going anywhere, Esta,” I promised her.