Chapter 119
Chapter One Hundred-Nineteen
Shayne
The shower feels so good that I don’t want to turn the water off, even after I’m done washing up.
I might be clean now, but I know once I leave the warmth of the stream that I’ll start to feel all the aches and pains my body picked up over the long day, and I really don’t want to deal with that, so I delay it, until the water gradually gets cooler.
I turn it off with a sigh at that point.
I’ve probably left no hot water for Falcon.
Right now, I can’t seem to make myself care about that.
Maybe if I wasn’t so tired, and hungry, and fucking sore.
Groaning, I grab the towel from the edge of the bath.
Once I’m dried off, I get out and leave the bathroom, using the towel to squeeze the excess water out of my hair as I step back into the bedroom.
Robin’s still sleeping in her bed.
I’m careful not to get too close on my way to the closet.
I don’t waste too much time looking through my bag once I get there.
I put the towel in the laundry bag that’s hanging up close to the closet door, and I shove my clothes on in the dark before I leave the room.
I quickly realize my shirt is back to front, so I fix that before I head over to the table to sit down.
Jay is standing by the counter, pouring soda into a glass.
Four places have been set and there’s soup and bread laid out, I hope as just a starter.
“There’s more coming, right?” I ask, raising an eyebrow as I take my seat neat to Falcon.
He’s already eating, and he doesn’t stop to answer me.
“There’s more on the way,” Harper confirms, sounding cheerful.
He doesn’t seem to be having soup, nor does Jay, but they’ve both been eating buttered slices of bread, it would seem, at least going by the contents of their plates.
“What’s wrong with you two? Or what’s wrong with the soup?”
Jay snorts, before he sets his soda down and takes his seat across from me.
“There’s nothing wrong with the soup. We just happen to know Robin likes it so we’re making sure we save it for her.”
“Then, she should have mine, too,” I tell them.
Jay shakes his head. “Eat. You’ve been outside working all day. There’s enough left for a couple of bowls for Robin.”
“As long as you’re sure,” I murmur.
It does look good, and I’m pretty hungry.
The sandwiches we choked down standing up at lunch time were okay, but it’s been so long since lunch that it feels like that happened yesterday.
I start to eat, and the soup is gone in a heartbeat, soaked up within a couple slices of bread and a few big spoonfuls. Falcon’s done, too, and he’s leaning back in his chair now.
“I’m going to talk to Owen tomorrow. The work’s done so Shayne can stay here with the rest of you until Lana decides she has time to train him. I’ll talk to Lana about that detective who wants to visit Robin tomorrow, too. I want to see what she knows about that.”
“I want to speak to Owen, too,” Jay admits. “We need to know everything there is to know about Warren Corvina. The security risk that guy poses is fucking huge.”
“I can’t argue with that,” Falcon says. “You need to get some sleep tonight so you’re good to come with me tomorrow then.”
“I assume that means you’ll be the one staying up all night?” I ask, raising an eyebrow at Falcon.
He nods slowly. “I’ll nap on the couch after dinner, and before Jay goes to bed. That’ll be enough for me.”
“Good,” I murmur, glad that I don’t have to stay up on top of everything else.
“I assume we’ll have a day or two when we can all be together, at some point?” Harper asks, making all of us pause.
I look at Falcon. “I don’t know. Will we?”
Jay’s giving him a questioning glance when I look across the table.
“Of course,” Falcon assures us. “Robin works weekdays and dayshifts, so that’s going to be our schedule, too. We’ll have weekends together.”
“Okay,” Jay murmurs, glancing at Harper.
“It’s a big change,” I admit. “None of us were working before. Aside from Harper. That’s about to switch around completely.”
Harper’s the one who won’t be working at the academy.
“That’s true,” Harper agrees.
“You won’t be able to go back to your orchestra,” Falcon tells him. “It’s too far. We can’t get out there quickly enough from here if anything happened.”
Harper sighs. “I know. I thought about it already. I’m done with that orchestra. I’ve been bored with it for a while now. I don’t want to go back there. I’ll send them an email to resign.”
“You’re really okay with that?” I ask.
He smiles. “I didn’t know I was done with it until I got here, but yeah, I was just filling in time. I’m kind of glad I don’t have to go back there, to be honest. Really, those trips to Silver City were more about spending time with Jay.”
Jay’s lips twitch at that admission.
They were fucking in the limo, for sure.
Those two used to come home covered in the scent of Harper’s perfume, every single week, when they were supposed to be being discrete and Harper was supposed to be pretending to be a Beta.
I know Harper gets a rush whenever one of us “ruins” the effect of his suppressants.
The highlight of those practices was likely the fun they’d have in the parking lot afterward.
I can’t say I’m not jealous, but I know that time was special to Jay.
It doesn’t matter that he was Harper’s first, as soon as Falcon and I met them, the dynamics changed between them. Jay doesn’t have what our Omega needs when it comes down to his heat, and while that hasn’t mattered up until now, it’s going to be a lot more obvious now that our pack is complete.
Harper’s heat hasn’t started yet, but it’s going to happen soon.
Whatever our work schedule is when that happens, Harper’s going to need me or Falcon to be here for him, day or night. An Alpha’s knot will be the only thing to ease his heat.
None of us can change that fact.
It’s basic biology.
It doesn’t seem fair to take away Jay’s special time with Harper when he’s going to have even less time with him once his heat starts.
That’s the problem.
Nothing about our current situation is fair.
It might be convenient to stay here at Goldcrest, for now, but it’s not what our future looks like.
“I think I’m going to turn in.” I get up, leaving my pack to wait for the rest of their food.
When I get to the bedroom door, Falcon touches my arm.
I turn and he lets out a breath.
“The way things are now,” he starts. “It’s not going to be like this forever.”
“I wish I could believe that.”
He closes his eyes briefly, and he looks determined when he opens them.
“You don’t have to believe it, just believe in me. You did that once. I need you to do it again.”
“Everything is different now, Johnny.”
“I know, but you and I, we’re the same as we always were.”
“And if I had to go back in time, I’d make all the same choices.”
He smiles tentatively. “No regrets.”
“Not one.”
“I have one,” he admits.
“Uh, yeah? What’s that?”
“Marking you where no one can see it,” he says, his gaze fixing on my throat.
My heart starts to race, and my cock starts to swell.
There’s nothing quite like your first love, and he’s still mine.
If anything, I love him even more than I did the day we became mates.
I know, even if I’m not sure about what we’re doing at this academy, that he’d never do anything to hurt me, or any of our pack. Everything he does is about what’s best for us.
He wanted the right job so he could be there for us as much as possible while working.
If this is that for him, I can’t refuse it.
“My parents would have kicked me out,” I admit, knowing that would have been the consequence of coming home with a visible mating mark.
“I don’t think that would have been a bad thing,” Falcon murmurs, pining me against the door as he leans in to kiss me.
His free hand strokes the lump in my shorts as his tongue slides into my mouth.
My moans are stifled as he works his fingers over my shaft, forcing my cock to harden.
His hand slips in through the hole in front of my boxers, and his grip on my dick is like a vice.
He breaks our kiss to squeeze my cock and hear me groan.
“Where do you want my mark?” he asks, gazing at the mark Robin gave me a little higher than she probably should have, on the right side of my throat.
“Anywhere you want to give it,” I offer, craning my throat slightly.
He leans in and I see his teeth sharpen as he gets closer.
I close my eyes as his teeth sink into my skin, partially over Robin’s mark, and partly above it.
The nip of pain vanishes under the euphoric feeling that acceptance of a mating mark always causes. It makes his touch below my waist even more intense, and I bite down on my lip as I struggle to hold off on coming in my shorts.
My dick is rock hard when he lets it go.
I moan softly at the loss of his touch, but he’s not done, and I know it.
Falcon has never been a tease. He doesn’t get to start being one now.
He lifts his head and sighs softly before he sinks to his knees in front of me.
The knocking sound coming from across the room makes me look up.
Jay is standing close to the door, but he stands there with his arms folded, watching us.
Harper’s got his hands in his lap, clearly enjoying the show.
“Don’t answer it,” I warn.
“Wasn’t gonna. But give me one second.” Jay goes to the door and calls out. “Leave the cart outside the door.”
He looks back at me and nods, right as Falcon pulls my boxers down.
My dick sinks into his mouth, disappearing completely like it did the first time he ever went down on me. The tip hits the back of his throat, and I gasp in a breath, so close to losing it before he’s even gotten started.
I run a hand through his hair and hold his head right where it is.
“Fucking hell,” Harper whispers from his chair across the room.
Then, I start to rock my hips into Falcon’s face, making him take me hard and deep.
His hands reach up to my ass, stroking and grasping, and pushing me deeper.
He moans around my cock, making it swell inside his mouth.
I close my eyes, trying to hold back.
The need to knot makes my shaft swell even thicker.