9. Jinx
Chapter 9
Jinx
Everything inside me is a live wire, sparking and dangerous.
The walls of the mansion press in, too close, too tight after watching Cayenne sleep. After remembering her blood on my hands. The scent of gunpowder and hospital antiseptic clings to my throat like a noose.
Get out. Need to get out.
She’s okay, I tell myself. She’s healing. She’s safe.
But the thoughts spin and spiral, a hurricane of images I can’t control. Her body falling. The sound of the bullet. The way her blood looked, so bright against the club floor.
“Theo.” His name tears from my throat before I realize I’m at his door. The rich scent of omega comfort bleeds through the wood, promising safety. Sanctuary.
I don’t remember getting here. Don’t remember the journey through darkened halls. Time slips through my fingers like water, like blood, like?—
Need my omega.
My body hits his door with enough force to rattle hinges. I slide to the floor, muscles trembling with the effort of containing the chaos threatening to break free. The bees in my head buzz louder, drowning out everything except the thundering of my heart and the relentless pounding of rain against windows I can’t see.
Fractured. Broken. Every piece of me splintering apart.
“Hey.” Theo’s voice cuts through the static, followed by the warmth of his hands on my face. “Come on.”
His arms wrap around me like a lifeline, but it’s not enough. Not when every cell in my body screams for release, for something to drive back the darkness closing in.
“Jinx. Come back to me.” The command in his voice sounds distant, cracked around the edges with concern.
“Hey, what’s—” Finn’s scent hits me next, beta calm tinged with worry. “Fuck, you need help?”
“I don’t know.” Theo’s uncertainty makes something primal rear up inside me.
Do I see them? Or just shadows of what I need?
The alpha in me snarls to life, recognizing pack, recognizing safety. Something inside me snaps, and I surge forward, pushing Finn toward the center of Theo’s nest. He falls with a startled sound, glasses scattering across silk sheets.
“You,” I growl, already tearing at my shirt. There are only two things an alpha can count on when the world goes sideways—fucking and fighting.
And I can’t fight Cayenne’s demons.
“Feral,” Theo whispers, but the word holds no fear—only understanding.
My focus narrows to Finn beneath me, the way he trembles as I mouth at his throat. He tastes like sunshine and old books, like everything steady I’ve never been. My hips roll against his, drawing out a gasp that cuts through the chaos in my head.
“Have you been practicing?” The question comes out guttural as I grind down, savoring the way his body responds to mine. Even through layers of clothing, I can feel how hard he is, how ready.
“Y-yes.” The stammer in his voice does things to my already fractured control. Sweet, steady Finn, coming apart for me.
Warmth blankets my back as Theo presses close, his cock hard against me. The dual sensation of omega heat and beta surrender makes my head spin.
“Have you used the plug?” I manage, desperate to know if he’s ready for what I need to give.
“Yes.” Stronger now, more sure. More like the Finn who keeps us all in line.
“Enough to let me knot your ass?” Raw need tears through me, threatening to shred what little control I have left.
Cool air hits my skin as Theo makes quick work of my remaining clothes. Then his fingers are there, slick and knowing, working me open with the precise care that makes him so lethal.
“You okay, Finn?” Theo asks, ever our caretaker, even as he drives me mad with his touch.
I’m beyond words, beyond thought, grinding mindlessly between them.
Need to fuck or fight.
Need to do something before I shatter completely.
“Fuck—” The word stretches into a moan as Theo slides home in one smooth thrust, the bite of pain exactly what I need to focus.
His hand finds my throat, grip sure and grounding. “Still with us?”
“Still clothed,” I growl, forcing myself to focus on Finn beneath me. Theo wraps around me like a living restraint, one hand still at my throat while he holds himself still inside me. “Strip.”
“How do you want to play this?” Theo asks Finn, not me. They both know I’m too far gone for decisions, skating the edge of feral.
Finn’s movements are quick and efficient as he sheds his clothes, but his voice stays steady. “Let him go.”
“Are you sure?” Theo’s grip tightens, cutting off just enough air to make spots dance at the edges of my vision.
The controlled asphyxiation makes me buck, fucking myself on Theo’s cock while need claws at my insides.
More. Need more. Now .
A click of a cap, then cool slickness wraps around my length. I hiss, watching Finn’s clever hands work me from base to tip. The sight of our beta touching me like this does something primitive to my brain and I slap his hands away.
“Down,” I demand, urging him toward the center of the nest.
He rolls over, presenting himself to me with perfect trust. The sight makes the alpha in me howl.
“Now if I let you go, are you going to be good?” Theo shakes me slightly, grip still firm on my throat.
All I can focus on is Finn’s ass, the way he’s waiting for me. Patient. Perfect.
“No,” I admit through gritted teeth.
Theo’s grip becomes punishing. “Focus. If you can’t pay attention to how you’re touching him, you can’t touch.”
Heat engulfs my cock as Finn’s mouth takes me deep, and Theo’s voice goes silk-soft by my ear. “Look at him. He’s so hungry for you.”
Something in me fractures and reforms at the sight of our beta on his knees, taking me apart with that clever mouth. “Be good,” I promise, the words more plea than command.
This time when I press Finn into the nest, Theo lets me move. I line myself up, fighting every instinct screaming at me to take, claim, possess.
“Slowly,” Theo commands as I push into Finn’s tight heat. His own cock still buried deep in me adds another layer of sensation that threatens to short-circuit my brain.
Then we’re moving, all of us connected, a circuit of pleasure and pack bonds that drives back the darkness eating at my mind. Theo sets the pace from behind, each thrust pushing me deeper into Finn, who takes everything I give him with breathy moans that sound like surrender.
Reality blurs and sharpens in waves. Sometimes I’m hyperaware—of Finn’s fingers clutching silk sheets, of Theo’s teeth at my neck, of the way our scents blend into something wild and perfect. Other times I lose myself completely to sensation, to the primal rhythm of taking and being taken.
“You going to let me rut you?” The question tears from my throat, rough and desperate. Even in my feral state, some primal part of me needs his consent, needs to know our beta wants this as badly as I do. My cock throbs with each thrust, already beginning to swell at the base where my knot will tie us together.
“I think you already are, alpha.” Finn’s laugh dissolves into a broken moan as I angle deeper, finding that sweet spot that makes his inner walls clench around me. His beta scent spikes with arousal, mixing with my alpha musk and Theo’s omega sweetness into something intoxicating. The scent of pack, of mate, of mine.
Behind me, Theo’s rhythm turns punishing, his omega strength on full display as he claims me. Each thrust drives me deeper into Finn, creating a perfect circuit of pleasure. When Theo comes, his growl vibrates through my chest, awakening something primitive in my blood. But he doesn’t stop—omega stamina is a beautiful, terrible thing. His cock stays hard inside me, his body producing the slick that marks omega arousal, ready to go again and again until we’re all satisfied.
“Knot me, alpha.” Finn’s plea shatters what remains of my control. His voice carries that perfect mix of beta authority and submission that makes my inner alpha howl. His body arches beneath me, presenting himself in a way that speaks to the most primitive part of my nature. “Need to feel you. Need to feel your knot stretching me open, filling me up. Making me yours.”
The base of my cock throbs in response, my knot already beginning to swell. The alpha in me roars with satisfaction as Finn’s body yields, accepting every inch of what I have to give him. His inner muscles flutter around my growing knot, drawing me deeper, begging for the tie that will bind us together.
I press forward slowly, watching my knot catch at his rim before pushing past that tight ring of muscle. The pressure is exquisite, perfect, maddening. Finn takes me like he was made for it, body yielding until I’m locked inside him.
Everything goes white-hot and hazy after that. I’m vaguely aware of praising him, of telling him how perfect he feels taking my knot, how good he is for us. Theo fucks me through it all, steady and relentless, until the demons in my head retreat under an onslaught of pleasure and pack bonds.
When awareness seeps back in, I’m still buried deep in Finn while Theo rocks into me from behind. They’ve chased away my darkness the only way they know how—by surrounding me with light.
Theo eases out of me first, but keeps one hand on my neck—grounding, possessive. My knot’s still locked inside Finn, who sighs contentedly as I collapse over his back, careful to keep my weight on my elbows.
“Better?” Finn asks, voice rough but steady. Always steady, our beta.
“Getting there.” The words come easier now, less fragmented. The hurricane in my head has calmed to a manageable storm. “Sorry for?—”
“Don’t.” Theo’s command cuts through my guilt. “We take care of our own.”
“Even when our own are batshit crazy?” The attempt at humor falls flat, tasting like ash on my tongue.
“Especially then.” Finn reaches back to grip my hip, keeping me close even though my knot’s already ensuring I’m not going anywhere. “Though next time, maybe use your words before going full feral alpha on us?”
A laugh bubbles up, surprising in its authenticity. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“He has a point,” Theo muses, running gentle fingers through my sweat-damp hair. “The element of surprise does add a certain... excitement.”
“Don’t encourage him.” But Finn’s voice carries a smile. “Some of us appreciate a little warning before being ravished.”
“Liar.” I nip at his shoulder, savoring his shiver. “You love it when I lose control.”
“Perhaps.” He tries for prim and proper, but the effect is somewhat ruined by the way he’s still clenching around my knot. “But my glasses are somewhere in this nest, probably broken, and I rather liked that pair.”
“I’ll buy you new ones.” I press closer, inhaling the mixed scents of our pleasure. “Twenty pairs. A hundred.”
“Or,” Theo suggests dryly, “you could try not throwing our beta around like a rag doll.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Finn and I echo together, then break into exhausted laughter.
“You were thinking about her.” Theo’s voice is soft but sure as he settles beside us, fingers still working through my hair. “About the shooting.”
The laughter dies in my throat. “Don’t.”
“We have to talk about it.” But he keeps his touch gentle, knowing I’m still raw. “The way you spiraled?—”
“I said don’t.” The words come out closer to a growl than I intend, making Finn tense beneath me.
“Easy,” he murmurs, squeezing my hip. “We’re all worried about her too.”
“It’s not—” I break off, struggling to put the chaos into words. “I couldn’t do anything. Couldn’t fight. Couldn’t protect. Just had to watch and wait and?—”
“And trust others to help her,” Theo finishes. “Which is exactly what you did. What we all did.”
“I punched an orderly.”
“Two orderlies,” Finn corrects mildly. “And a vending machine. Which, by the way, I had to write a rather large check for.”
“Send the bill to Ryker.” I let my forehead rest between Finn’s shoulder blades, breathing in the calming scent of pack. “He’s the one who wouldn’t let me in the operating room.”
“Because you were feral,” Theo points out. “Like tonight.”
“Different kind of feral.” But the defense sounds weak even to my ears.
“Is it?” Finn shifts slightly, reminding me we’re still locked together in the most intimate way possible. “You needed release then, same as now. The only difference is that this time, you came to us instead of taking it out on hospital property.”
“Progress,” Theo declares with that hint of omega satisfaction that means he’s proud of me. “Though perhaps next time, try using the door instead of nearly breaking it down?”
“Next time,” I growl, feeling the familiar chaos start to rise again at the mention of broken doors and hospitals, “I’ll remember to knock.”
“Jinx...” Theo’s warning comes too late.
I’m already moving, grinding deep into Finn who lets out a startled gasp that quickly turns into something needier. My knot’s started to go down, but that just means I can build it again.
“Round two?” Finn’s attempt at casual is ruined by the way his voice breaks as I start a slow, deep rhythm.
“Need you,” I confess into his skin, the words burning in my throat like whiskey. My tongue traces the salt of his sweat, tasting beta comfort and arousal. “Need this. Need?—”
The rest fragments as another wave of feral energy crashes through me, making my cock pulse inside him.
“We’ve got you.” Theo’s voice carries that unique omega command—not the brute force of an alpha order, but something deeper, more primal. It resonates through our pack bonds like a plucked string, making both Finn and I shiver as our bodies respond to our omega’s call. The sound travels straight to my cock, making my forming knot throb with renewed urgency. “Take what you need.”
I surrender to the command, setting a punishing pace that has Finn crying out into the silk sheets. His beta scent spikes with each thrust, flooding my senses with notes of submission and desire. The tight clutch of his body becomes my entire world—each drag of my cock against his sensitive walls, each clench of muscle around my growing knot. Every snap of my hips drives the memories further back, replacing hospitals and helplessness with the primal rhythm of claiming my pack.
Blood and bullets fade against the reality of this—the perfect heat of him, the way he pushes back to meet each thrust, his body begging for more even as pleased whimpers escape his throat. Theo’s hands slide over my sweat-slick back, his omega touch both grounding and inflammatory. His nails dig into my skin just enough to remind me who I belong to, even as I claim our beta. Three bodies, three designations, one pack—the way it should be.
“Harder,” he gasps, that carefully constructed beta control finally shattering. His scent shifts from its usual scholarly notes to something darker, headier—pure need and submission flooding my senses. “Make me feel it. Make me feel like yours.”
Something primitive snaps in my chest at his words, the alpha in me howling at his surrender. I grip his hips hard enough to bruise, repositioning him to take me deeper. The angle changes and he keens, inner walls clenching around me as I hit that perfect spot. My knot’s already starting to swell again, catching at his rim with each thrust, threatening to lock us together.
“Going to fill you up,” I growl against his neck, letting my teeth graze the sensitive skin where a mating bite would go. Where his is. His pulse races beneath my tongue, beta hormones spiking at the promise of being claimed. “Make you take every inch, every drop. Keep you tied to my knot until the sun rises. Want the whole pack to smell me on you tomorrow.”
“Yes,” he hisses, reaching back to fist his hand in my hair. The sharp pull sends electricity down my spine, making my cock throb inside him. All that beta composure is gone now, replaced by raw need.
“Give it to me.” His voice breaks as he pushes back, taking me impossibly deeper. My eyes lock onto my claiming bite on his neck—the scarred mark that declares him pack, mine, ours. The sight of it, permanent and proud against his pale skin, makes my alpha instincts surge. My tongue traces the raised flesh, tasting the concentrated beta essence there, feeling the way our pack bond pulses stronger with the contact.
Finn keens at the touch, his pack bond flaring bright and hot through our connection. Even claimed and marked as mine, each time we come together like this reinforces the bond, makes it deeper, stronger. His scent changes subtly—scholarly beta notes deepening into something richer, marked by my alpha musk, carrying traces of our whole pack.
Behind us, Theo’s omega scent thickens with approval. “Beautiful,” he purrs, hands sliding over our sweat-slick skin. His touch traces my bite mark on Finn’s neck, making us both shudder as pack bonds resonate. “My claimed boys, still falling apart for each other after all this time.”
“Show him.” Theo’s command vibrates through our pack bonds, omega voice resonating at a frequency that makes both claimed alpha and beta tremble. “Show our beta exactly what he still does to you, even wearing your mark.”
I bare my teeth against my own claiming bite, feeling the way Finn’s inner walls clench at the contact. Each brush of my lips against the scar sends shockwaves through our bond. I increase my pace, drinking in his desperate sounds as I remind him exactly why he wears my mark. Each thrust drives him further into the sheets, his usual beta composure completely shattered beneath the onslaught of sensation and pack bonds.
My hands grip his hips harder, pulling him back onto my cock as my knot begins to swell. The sight of him like this—marked, claimed, and still begging for more—drives my alpha instincts wild. Every fiber of my being demands I remind him why he’s mine, why he wears my bite, why he chose to be claimed by a broken alpha.
“That’s it,” I growl, watching my knot catch and pull at his rim. “Take it. Take everything.”
“Please,” Finn gasps, all that analytical precision reduced to raw need. “Alpha...”
The title hits me like a drug, making me snap my hips harder. My knot’s growing faster this time, ready to lock us together again.
“Going to knot you so deep,” I promise, one hand sliding beneath him to grip his length. “Want to feel you come on my knot again.”
Theo moves behind us, his scent heavy with arousal. “Make him beg for it.”
I slow my thrusts to a torturous pace that has Finn writhing. “What do you need, beta? Tell me.”
“You know what I need,” he pants, trying to push back against me.
I grip his hips, holding him still. “Say it.”
“Your knot.” The words spill out desperate and raw. “Need you to fill me up. Need to feel you for days.”
Something primitive and possessive roars to life in my chest. I slam home, forcing my growing knot past that tight ring of muscle even as Finn cries out beneath me.
The pressure is exquisite as my knot locks us together, Finn’s body squeezing me like a vice. I work him with my hand in time with shallow thrusts, each movement sending sparks of pleasure through both of us.
“Perfect,” I praise against his neck, feeling him tremble. “So perfect for me. For us.”
Theo’s hands slide over my back, adding another layer of sensation. “Make him come,” he orders. “Want to watch you both fall apart.”
I twist my wrist just so, knowing exactly how to touch him after so many nights together. Finn’s breath hitches, his body clenching around my knot in a way that makes me see stars.
“That’s it,” I growl against my claiming mark, voice completely wrecked. Our pack bond pulses with each thrust, amplified by the contact with his scarred skin. “Come for me. Show your alpha how good I make you feel, how perfect you are wearing my mark.”
“Jinx,” he gasps, that carefully cultivated beta control splintering beneath the dual assault of physical pleasure and pack bond resonance. His scent spikes sharply—books and beta musk and the lingering trace of my claim all mixing together. “I’m going to?—”
“Do it.” My teeth find their home in the claiming bite, not breaking skin but pressing into the scarred flesh with possessive pressure. The contact sends shockwaves through our bond, making my knot pulse where it’s locked inside him. “Come on your alpha’s knot. Show everyone who you belong to, my perfect, claimed beta.”
He shatters completely, crying out my name as his release coats my hand. His inner walls clamp down rhythmically around my knot, milking me as pack bonds flare incandescent between us. The dual sensation of physical pleasure and spiritual connection triggers my own orgasm—harder, deeper than the first. I flood him with my seed, locked deep inside, reinforcing my claim in the most primal way possible.
Each pulse of my release makes my claiming bite throb in response, our connection so deep I can taste his pleasure on my tongue, feel his satisfaction humming through our bond. His body takes everything I give him, claimed and knotted and perfect.
Theo’s satisfied omega purr resonates through both of us, his own pack bonds wrapping around us like a warm embrace. “Beautiful,” he murmurs, pressing reverent kisses along my spine, his clever hands tracing patterns over our sweat-slick skin. “My beautiful, broken boys—claimed and marked and still so desperate for each other.”
The praise makes my knot pulse again, drawing a whimper from Finn as I fill him with another surge of seed. Even claimed and mated, the urge to mark him, fill him, remind him he’s mine never fades. If anything, it grows stronger with each joining.
We’re still catching our breath when a new scent cuts through the sex-heavy air—alpha arousal with sharp notes of cedar and steel. The door opens without ceremony, revealing Ryker’s imposing frame.
His nostrils flare as he takes in the scene—me still locked inside Finn, Theo radiating omega need. “Started without me?”
“Jinx needed immediate intervention,” Theo explains, but his voice has gone breathy. The kind of breathy that makes alphas lose their minds.
Ryker’s eyes darken to midnight as he stalks forward, power rolling off him in waves. His fingers work at his shirt buttons with predatory grace, his alpha scent flooding the room—pine and power mixing with the heavy musk of arousal. “And now our omega needs attention.” The words rumble from his chest, making Theo’s breath catch audibly.
“Our omega always needs attention,” I manage through the pleasure still pulsing where I’m tied to Finn. The movement makes my knot tug at his rim, drawing a breathless laugh from our claimed beta. Through our pack bonds, I can feel Theo’s omega need intensifying, his scent turning sweeter with desperation.
“True.” Ryker’s grin is pure alpha dominance as he reaches for Theo, one hand tangling in our omega’s wild hair. The pack bonds between them crackle with electricity, making all of us shiver in response. “Fortunately, that’s what alphas are for. To take care of our perfect omega.”
Theo’s whole body arches toward Ryker, responding to the alpha command in his voice. The sight of them together—dark and light, power and grace—sends another pulse of pleasure through my knot. Finn feels it too, clenching around me as we watch our pack leaders come together.
The last thing I see before surrendering to another wave of pleasure is Ryker claiming Theo’s mouth in a devastating kiss. His hand still fisted in our omega’s hair, controlling the angle, showing his power even as Theo melts against him. The desperate whimper that escapes Theo’s throat is swallowed by Ryker’s kiss, but the sound reverberates through all our pack bonds, a symphony of need and belonging.
Through it all, I can feel my claiming bite on Finn’s neck pulsing in time with my knot, reminding us all of the bonds that tie us together—marked and claimed, alpha and beta and omega, pack in every way possible.
Some demons need fighting.
Some need fucking.
And sometimes, if you’re really lucky, your pack helps you do both.