Chapter 36
I am a physician first, and the physician in me recognizes that this is a medically sound course of action to calm down a mass of Alphas in rut when there isn’t enough Omegas to go around.
The Omega in me preens at the idea of getting this much Alpha attention exclusively on her.
And the woman in me? She realizes that this is a stupid plan, but it’s the only one I’ve got.
As soon as the words leave my lips, Dario whines, slumping in Matteo’s hold and trying to crawl towards me.
“Please,” he whimpers, reaching out for me. “Please.”
I know what he’s begging for.
An Alpha rut consists of three phases. Which is dominant, the one that drives the rut and lasts the longest, depends on the Alpha.
The first is sexual desire. This is always the first phase of a rut, and is the one most Alphas stay in, because they either get blockers immediately or they have a partner to help them through it.
It’s characterized by an extreme need to fuck, bite, and claim.
It can be dangerous for an Omega if there isn’t a Beta around to ensure the Alpha keeps some of his control, but they are still susceptible to Omega growls.
Then, there is aggression. Without exposure to an Omega during the sexual desire phase, an Alpha may progress to phase two of a rut, which means they’re going to want to fight anything and everything until they find one.
Once they reach this phase, it’s harder to pull them out of a rut, but not impossible.
An unbonded Alpha is more likely to fall into an aggressive stage of rut.
Finally, there is desperation. This stage is characterized by an Alpha feeling as if he is going to die without an Omega, and his sole focus will be on finding an Omega and knotting them.
He will do anything to get one. During the desperation phase, an Alpha may beg, plead, and cry for his Omega.
He’s despondent and unable to focus on anything but an Omega.
Once an Alpha reaches the desperation phase, no amount of blockers will help get him out of the rut.
And Dario just crossed over to desperation.
Dexter is staring at me, his face expressionless. “You want to fuck me?”
I pull my hair back with the elastic on my wrist, trying to calm my breathing and approach this as the physician part of me, not the Omega or the woman.
“It makes the most sense. From what I can see, they are all quite far gone to the rut, which means it’s not safe for me to be with any of them right now.
But they need my pheromones to come out of the haze.
You’re not in a rut, and can keep control of yourself. ”
“How is me fucking you going to help them?” he asks, rubbing his face with one hand. His bicep flexes around that circular black tattoo, drawing my attention and making my mouth water .
It will be no hardship to sleep with Dexter Reynolds.
I push past the desire that curls inside me.
“My pheromones will saturate the air, made more potent by exposure to yours and taking your knot. The ones in here are stale, and they weren’t a part of the production of them, so it’s making the rut worse because jealousy is in play.
Us being together, it should be enough to get them to manageable levels where masturbation could satisfy the residual urges.
” I’m doing my best to keep this clinical.
I had no intention of sleeping with Matteo, but I won’t deny that it was incredible.
Part of me regrets that, if Dexter agrees to my plan, this will be our first, and potentially only, time together.
“There is no pressure, however,” I tell him, slowly reaching out to place a hand on his arm.
“I understand that this isn’t something you want.
But we can’t just wait out a rut, and they are all at risk of hurting me if I try to ease them through this.
Plus, I had a heat spike earlier. Our pheromones would feed off each other, and I don’t think anyone would like the way that could end.
There is the potential that it could force me into an early heat. ”
He nods slowly, navy blue eyes unblinking as he stares at my face. He, like his brother, who is currently running his fingers up my bare calf, whimpering, is handsome in the way that stops your breath. That makes your heart stutter.
“I know you don’t like Omegas,” I say quietly.
“And there is no pressure for you to do this. We don’t know each other well, but I think you know me enough now to realize this isn’t something I would offer lightly.
Because it was my pheromones that sent them into this rut, mine are the best chance of pulling them out.
We could try to let them fuck each other, let them beat each other up, but you and Matteo could get caught in that crossfire, and I can’t have that on my conscience, not when I have the ability to stop this. ”
He runs his hand through his hair, and exhaustion weighs down his shoulders. “I don’t like Omegas,” he says quietly. “But I don’t mind you all that much.”
It’s the closest thing to a compliment I’ve ever gotten from Dexter, and I have to bury the Omega need to fawn over it.
Matteo is standing off to the side, watching the conversation. At the same time, the other three Alphas are frozen in place from the combination of my command and the relaxing pheromones I’m trying to express for them.
I’ve never felt as much like an Omega as I do right now.
“Can I…” Dexter inhales deeply and moves a little closer to me. He holds a hand out, hovering it near me. “Could I touch you first?”
A shy smile creeps up my face, and my cheeks flush red. I nod, unable to form words in the face of his vulnerability.
When his warm palm makes contact with my cheek, a purr escapes me, and I nuzzle into it.
“I’ve touched you before,” he says softly. “When you were sick. I held you while you were passed out, did you know that? But this feels different.” His thumb gently brushes across my skin, touching the corner of my lips. “I’m fucked up, you know that, right?”
My tongue darts out and touches his thumb. He shivers at the contact. “I am, too, Dexter. It can be just sex. I think right now, that’s all both of us can handle. I’m not asking for you to accept my bite.”
“Good, because I won’t,” he says, but the emotion in his voice tells a different story .
Maybe he isn’t as against me as his initial reaction would suggest.
Not that it can matter to me, because I’m not sticking around. I can’t.
Maybe if I tell myself that enough, I’ll be able to ignore the sinking feeling that I won’t be able to escape these men.
Before I can come up with something else to say, Dexter’s lips are on mine. They’re plush and soft, tentative and fearful in an unexpected way. The moment his tongue takes advantage of my little gasping breaths, the other Alphas growl low in their throats.
It’s a sound designed by evolution to cause slick to pool in my panties and my pheromones to cloud the air.
Dexter pulls away, gasping, forehead resting on mine. “I…” he stutters, eyes hazy with arousal. “You taste so good.”
His tart caramel apple scent invades my senses, and I lean forward, pressing a kiss to his throat. He bears it to me, but I know it’s just a reflex. “Right back at ya.”
A startled yelp has our heads whipping around to see Quinton on top of Matteo, the Beta’s shorts around his ankles, the Alpha licking his cock slowly, methodically. Quinton groans, his hips thrusting into the carpet as he tastes his partner.
“Omega,” Quinton purrs, making eye contact with me. “He still tastes like you.”
I whimper, unable to smother the noise. Dexter grabs the front of my t-shirt and pulls me back to his mouth, claiming me without words and demanding my attention return to him.
He lowers me down onto the floor, and from the corner of my eye, I see Dario watching with rapt attention, his hand in his shorts. Jude looms behind him, his face in a feral snarl as he stares me down.
But I can’t pay attention to the other Alphas when Dexter’s hands are pushing my shirt off, revealing my breasts to the thick air of the trailer.
He hesitantly, tentatively, begins to kiss down my neck and chest, as if he’s unsure what to do.
When his tongue flicks across my nipple and I yelp, he sits up quickly, pulling his hands off of me and holding them up in surrender.
“I’m sorry,” he says softly.
That’s when I notice the fear in his eyes. But it’s not fear of me.
“Dexter,” I whisper, sitting up and moving close enough that the words are just for us. “Have you ever been with anyone before?”
He shakes his head. “No,” he answers, just as quietly as I spoke. “I’ve never had the desire to before.”
“And you want to now?” I can’t help but look at the crotch of his basketball shorts, which shows his obvious arousal. But that could be a physical reaction to my pheromones. It doesn’t mean he actually wants me, wants this.
For what may be the first time, I watch as Dexter blushes. It colors his pale brown skin pink and is so charming that I want to kiss across his cheeks and nose. “I do.”
“Not just to help the others?” I have to be sure. I won’t let him take this step for them. While this may be to get the others out of a rut, I still want him to enjoy it.
He gulps, eyes dragging down my bare chest. “No. I want you. I think that’s why you being here makes me so angry. I shouldn’t want you like I do.”
I swing a leg over his lap, balancing myself on top of him. “I shouldn’t want any of you like I do.”