Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Rhys
The walk to the nest is a blur of red.
I can still taste her on my tongue. Copper and salt and the sweet, addictive spike of her distress turning into relief.
Eli carries her like she’s a war prize, her face buried in his neck, her legs wrapped around his waist. Blood smeared on the crisp white collar of his shirt. It should look messy. It looks fucking triumphant.
I follow close on his heels, Knox and Declan following, the air in the hallway thick enough to choke on. She is finally ours. Irrevocably. But the job isn’t done. I growl low in my throat, the sound involuntary.
Mia lifts her head at the sound, her eyes glassy. She looks ruined. She looks perfect.
“Rhys?” she whispers, reaching a hand out over Eli’s shoulder.
I catch it, interlacing our fingers, squeezing hard enough to bruise. “I’m here. We’re all here.”
Eli kicks the door to the nest open.
The room is dim, the heavy curtains still drawn from days ago. Eli drops to his knees in the nest, taking her with him, and lays her out in the center of the sheets.
She scrambles to sit up, frantic energy still vibrating under her skin, fingers clutching at her neck and the fresh bites Knox and I left.
“It still itches,” she gasps, her chest heaving. “It still… I feel floaty.”
“We know.” I move behind her, dragging her hips back until her spine is flush against my chest. I lock one arm around her waist, anchoring her, and hold out my free hand without looking.
Knox presses the black silk tie into my palm instantly.
“Declan,” I bark. “Hands.”
Declan moves instantly. He climbs onto the bed, settling between her spread legs. He captures her wrists, dragging her arms forward and locking them in a grip that gives her zero leverage.
“What are you—” Mia starts, her breath hitching.
“You’re shaking apart,” I murmur against her ear, bringing the silk tie up. “You’re so high on the first two marks you can’t focus.”
I cover her eyes with the silk.
“So I’m helping you focus.” I tie the blindfold firm. Total darkness.
Mia gasps, her body jerking against my hold, her head falling back against my shoulder.
“Don’t fight it,” Knox says from the foot of the bed. “You asked for all of us. We’re just making sure you can take it.”
“You’re halfway there, Mia,” Eli says from somewhere to her left, his voice low and calm. “But you’re not done.”
“I—” Mia cuts herself off with a whimper as Declan tightens his grip on her wrists.
“So now,” I whisper, dropping a kiss to the fresh, bleeding bite mark on her neck, “we finish the set.”
“Weight,” she whispers, the word trembling. “I need weight.”
“You want weight?” Declan growls.
He leans over her, pressing his chest down until he’s covering her, effectively sandbagging her against me. He’s heavy, crushing her in the best possible way.
Mia lets out a long, broken exhale, her muscles finally, finally relaxing.
“Yes,” she breathes. “That.”
“I haven’t marked you yet,” Declan murmurs against her mouth.
“No,” she whimpers. “Please. Do it.”
“Rhys, hold her,” Declan orders.
I slide my arm up, locking it across her chest, pinning her back to me while Declan shifts. He buries his face in the untouched curve of her shoulder, inhaling deep.
“Mine,” he breathes.
Then he bites.
Mia screams, her back arching off the mattress, but I’ve got her. I hold her down, absorbing her struggles, letting her feel the absolute immovability of the pack she chose.
Declan grinds his teeth down, breaking skin, sealing the bond. The room shifts immediately. The anxiety in her scent vanishes, replaced by a deep, heavy thrum of belonging.
“Eli,” Mia gasps, thrashing in my grip. “Eli, please.”
She needs the final seal.
“Not yet,” Eli says. His voice is calm, but it’s the calm of the eye of a hurricane. “You’re not ready.”
“I am!”
“You’re bracing for it. I want you breaking when it happens.” Eli’s words pull a whimper from her throat that I immediately want to swallow.
Declan shifts, moving from her neck to the side of the bed. He grips her left thigh, pinning it heavily to the mattress to keep her open. Knox moves instantly to fill the void between her legs, his big hands landing on her hips.
“We need you gone, Mia,” Knox growls. “We need you completely under.”
He shoves her knees wider, exposing her completely, followed immediately by the heat of his mouth.
Mia screams again, her head thrashing against my shoulder. She can’t see. She can’t move. Declan anchors her left side, his weight pinning her thigh to the mattress so she can’t buck away. I’m a wall of muscle at her back. Knox devours her.
“Too much,” she sobs, but her hips are bucking up, grinding into Knox’s face.
“Take it.” My alpha command slips out, my hand sliding down to cover her breast, pinching the nipple hard. “Take all of it.”
We overwhelm her.
We drown her in sensation until there is no room left for anything else.
Declan releases her wrists only to run his hands down her body, mapping her ribs, her waist, his fingers digging in. I keep her pinned, whispering into her ear, telling her exactly who owns her, exactly where she’s going to sleep every night for the rest of her life.
Knox is relentless. He uses his tongue, his teeth, sucking her clit until she’s keening, crying, begging for release.
“Eli,” she sobs. “Eli, please. I need your mark.”
“Make her come,” Eli orders from the darkness.
Knox hums a vibration against her clit and doubles his speed.
Tension coils in her body, a tight spring winding up. She stiffens in my arms, her head falling back onto my shoulder, her neck bared and marked and beautiful.
“Let go,” I growl.
She shatters.
It’s a violent release, her body bowing, spasms rocking through her that are strong enough to shake the nest. When she cries out, it’s a raw, wordless sound of absolute surrender.
Knox pulls back, chest heaving, and shifts aside to clear the path.
Eli seizes his chance. He grips her ankles and drags her down the mattress until she’s hanging off the edge of the nest.
I follow, keeping her upper body supported, but now she’s displayed for him.
Eli steps between her spread legs, gripping her hips. “Open your eyes,” he commands.
Reaching behind her head, he tugs the knot free and pulls the silk away.
Mia blinks, dazed, tears tracking through the sweat on her face, but her eyes find him.
Eli looks terrifying. His expression is stripped of every ounce of his usual patience. He looks at the marks on her neck and a growl rumbles up his throat.
“We’re done waiting,” he says. It’s final.
He shoves into her in one long, claiming thrust.
Mia’s head falls back against my chest with a gasp.
Eli sets a punishing rhythm, driving into her with a force that rocks her whole body. He leans down, bracing his hands on the mattress on either side of us, caging her completely.
“You said we were too polite?” he grinds out, his hips snapping forward.
“Yes,” she sobs.
“You said you wanted the scars?”
“Yes.”
He buries his face in the junction of her neck and bites. It’s the deepest one yet.
Mia screams, her body convulsing, clamping down on his cock. The bond slams into place, the final lock turning. We all feel it. A heavy chain linking the five of us.
Her body goes heavy, as Eli groans, pouring himself into her, his seed mixing with her slick. He stays there, buried deep, his teeth still grazing the mark he made, licking her skin.
Declan is stroking her hair. Knox is resting his forehead against her thigh. I’m holding her weight.
Mia goes limp in my arms.
She looks pinned.
“Heavy,” she whispers, her eyes fluttering closed, a small smile curving her lips.
“Yeah,” I murmur, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “We made sure of that.”
She’s not just in the nest. She is the nest.
And she’s finally home.