17. Mako
Chapter seventeen
Mako
You, who I know best are still a stranger to me, but that just makes me want you more- Mathew ‘Mako’ Fate
She cries in her sleep every time she closes her eyes. Auryn Raines calls for my pack mate like he is the love of her life, and he’s broken her heart.
I sit back with a fist to my mouth and watch her as she curls tighter into a ball and whispers his name. Nothing we do stops it. We’ve held her while she cries, tried to wake her up, promised he doesn’t hate her. When she’s awake, she’s an omega in heat, and when she’s asleep, she mourns our Envy.
Now and then, in her sobbing, my name or Tyr’s or Digs’ will slip past her lips with the same pain that she has when she calls for him.
It rips open something raw inside me, leaving a gaping wound that is now filled with wishes and regrets. All I can do is watch, willing her to wake up, willing her to sleep without her sorrow. If I could go back and force her to see us, to not waste a single day without us, I would do it in a heartbeat.
The depths of her grief it’s not just from him refusing her heat, that is clear as day. This is deeper. She’s been feeling this way all this time. Has she missed us this much? This is more than friends, this is deep feelings, this is real, true grieving.
The way I missed her.
How had Ryn been doing in the year away from us? Did any of us really think that through? She hides so much behind that mask of hers, keeping all her feelings on the inside, protecting everyone else. But has Auryn been grieving for us like a lover would? Has she got feelings for us that are deeper and more romantic than we could have known? I know she likes us, but this reaction is more. This is so much more than missing a friend.
I think she might be in love with us.
She lets out a broken sob and whispers my name. My heart clenches, and I have to ball my fists so I don’t rush over there.
Digs sits beside me and grunts, startling me out of my musings. “It’s been six days. I think she’ll come out of the heat soon.”
I don’t answer him. Instead, I watch as Tyr pulls her into his arms. She wakes up, changing from grieving woman to sensual omega, and wiggles her way down his body, wrapping those gorgeous, plump lips around his cock, sucking hard enough to have him spit out curses.
“Do you think it’s weird that she’s so obsessed with Envy?” Digs asks, but I know he’s silently asking another question. What feelings does this omega hold for us? Does she love us the way she loves Envy?
“I mean, yes and no." My best option is to answer honestly. “I think she would be the same if any of us were missing,” I say evasively. I’m not ready to face it yet because facing her feelings means I have to face our failures and the massive roadblock that still exists.
I hum as I watch. “Your turn, Digs.”
He looks at the omega, who is presenting her dripping cunt to the room and whining around Tyr’s cock.
She is a voracious and generous lover who wakes us up with her fearless demands. She was up for anything and everything, not shying away from Digs fucking her sleeping body or Tyr’s controlling teasing. Even with my aggression, she met with equal force, no sign of fear or intimidation.
Digs slams into her, setting a brutal force that practically drives her onto Tyr’s cock.
He lets out a groan and grabs her hair, fucking her face.
She doesn’t ask for a reprieve; she doesn’t beg for them to stop. No, Ryn wants more.
She demands more.
The sounds have my cock getting hard. I stand up and take a step to the bed when I catch a scent I haven’t smelled in a week.
I turn away from them, searching until I find a pair of pants. I take the stairs two at a time and pause at the top, looking back over my shoulder.
She is gorgeous. I won’t ever forget this. It was my privilege and my honor to see her through her first heat.
But it’s over.
I can feel it in the air .
Her eyes are clearing. Tyr comes, filling her belly with his release, his fist in her hair holding her still while he grunts his enjoyment.
Tyr glances up at me and nods. No knots.
I turn, my heart pounding in anticipation.
Envy is here.
I step out of the nest and find him wearing clean clothes and staring out the dining-room window.
I walk up behind him and slip my arms around his waist.
“I missed you.”
“You didn’t even notice I was gone,” Envy murmurs.
For a long couple of minutes, I just hold him. I have missed him. We are usually never apart. These last few days have been hard without him.
“You’re here!” It’s a soft exhale of pure relief.
I let go of Envy and turn, finding Ryn wearing a pair of shorts and a singlet with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. I don’t even know where they came from, but she looks cute and completely sated. She beams a watery smile in his direction. The happiness pouring into the room is thick and potent. So deeply coconut that it’s impossible to miss.
I can just see the tops of some of the hickies we left on her breasts and guilt slices at me. Envy steps away from me and folds his arms over his chest, turning back to the window. His body language screams don’t touch me, I’m not pleased. His reception is cold and rips the omega who cried for him apart.
I’m torn between wanting to protect them both and explain to both of them, but the tension in the air is charged, so I hold my breath and wait.
Her lower lip trembles, and her eyes fill with tears.
I want to scream at Envy, tell him how often she called his name. How she kept refusing knots and sex because she kept waiting for him. How, even in her sleep, she searched for him. Her cries, her screams, his name, him.
She wanted him.
I glare at the side of his head, willing him to do something, anything to fix this, but he is stone. I get nothing from him.
Where the fuck is Tyr?
Envy looks over his shoulder, staring straight at her, and the hopeful expression disappears. Now she just looks too raw, too bruised. Defeated. I don’t want to see defeated on this omega’s face. She fought too hard; she tried too hard.
Envy sighs heavily and turns back to look out the window. His rejection of her feelings clear to see. It’s raining, and I can’t help but think how appropriate it is for this moment .
Envy is closed off. I can’t feel him in the bonds, which makes me want to pin him against the cold glass and push him until he tells me what the hell is wrong with him.
I reach out and touch his shoulder, and for a second, just one, I catch his emotions. Fear. Potent and thick. I withdraw my hand, staring at his back in confusion.
“Envy?” Ryn whispers hopefully.
I stare at him, trying to figure out what that was. What is he so afraid of? What could freak him out that much?
Envy lets out a distressed sound so quiet I almost don’t hear it.
Oh, shit.