King
Sage presses up against my back, and when his hand comes around my waist to stabilize himself, I grab him, holding him to me.
The urge to hurt him is strangely absent.
In fact, I want his touch, I welcome it.
All my violent tendencies are tamped down with this pack.
Sage is surprised, I can feel the moment of hesitation before he takes the silent invitation and leans into me fully.
“I need to talk to you.”
“About?” I say and continue pouring my coffee and ignoring the way my cock has stiffened. Fuck it. I twist in his arms, abandoning my coffee, and kiss him slowly, softly.
I can almost taste his surprise, but he makes this adorable sound in his throat as I deepen the kiss, demanding everything from him.
With reluctance, because if I keep going, I’m going to bend him over the kitchen bench and take him here, I pull away.
“Good morning.”
His pretty green eyes search mine. “Morning.”
That raspy sound, deepened with desire, has me closing the distance, my hand on his lower spine, pinning our hips and cocks together.
“I had something important to tell you,” he pants.
“Mmm, so tell me,” I say, and when he opens his mouth, I fill that void with my tongue. Exploring him and tasting him. He moans and clutches at me, holding himself up as I stroke my hand over his ass and then grab, pulling him even closer.
He grunts.
“Morning, kittens.”
Sage pulls back, turning with wide eyes to Blaze, who steals my coffee and walks off, tapping away on his phone.
Sage drops his forehead to my shoulder with a groan, and I find myself amused by his confusion. It’s nice to see Mummy so off balance. I stroke his back, waiting while he reevaluates his life and puts this new information in the right place.
“So, this is?”
“I want you,” I say simply. “Does it have to be more complicated than that?”
“No,” Sage says. “I didn’t think you liked us.”
“Mmm,” I say, pouring three more coffees. I can feel Rolly, who has been stirred by my actions through the bond, moving towards us. He’s deadly silent as he comes up behind Sage and presses into him.
“I thought we agreed to seduce him together?” Rolly says, nipping at Sage’s exposed skin.
We did nothing of the sort, but seeing Sage so off balance is adorable.
“You were…what?” Sage splutters. “Since when?”
“Well, I mean, you walk around in singlets and those tight pants that hug your ass, what else am I to think but that it’s an invitation. And the way you tell me off, mm, it’s so…fucking…hot.”
Sage narrows his eyes. “Do you really mean this?”
“Yes.”
“So, you’d take my bond?”
“Yes,” Rolly says without hesitation.
I glance at him. Would we? Rolly nods. I shrug. Okay. We would.
“While I would love to continue this conversation, I need to talk to you about Merle and Jay. They had a bad night last night, went wandering, got really sad and low. So, Merle is feeling a bit brittle this morning.”
“How do you know that?”
“Her scent, the nightmares she had, the way she is currently curled around Roseland like he is the only safe rock in the entire ocean for her to hold on to.”
My heart clenches. Well, at least that’s proof I have one.
I move away from Sage and glance at Rolly. “Plan 3B?”
He considers it. “Not 4A?”
I shake my head. “Too aggressive.”
He nods. “You might be right. I’ll cook. You go get everything ready.”
“What is happening here?” Sage says in exasperation.
“We need all the shiny things you can find.” I turn away and pause, turning back. “And a space that is safe and feels good but doesn’t have memories yet. Do we have one of those?”
Sage licks his lips and then nods. “Follow me.”
He unlocks the locked door and pushes it open. The room is an octagonal shape and set slightly lower than the rest of the house, but it’s got higher ceilings.
“The nest?” I ask.
Sage nods. “This is the nest for our omegas.”
It’s a good space. I glance at Rolly and smile. This will work perfectly.
Roseland and Rolly bullied Merle into eating, though she fought them on every mouthful. She is flat and tired, and her scent feels heavy and dark.
When she walks too slowly towards the surprise I have for her, I pick her up and carry her into the room, then I toss her onto the bed.
She lies there, staring up at the room, only her eyes moving. She rolls over onto her hands and knees, then up to her knees, twisting so she can take it all in.
Her scent explodes, rich and deep. Tonka beans and iris that is warm and sweet and so pleased.
From the high ceiling, Sage, Blaze, Roseland, Rolly, and I have hung the entire set of cutlery, ladles, CDs, bits of tinfoil, chip and chocolate wrappers that have been cleaned and shaped into stars.
One of the best parts is a revolving light that shines out undulating waves of light that bounce off everything shiny, spreading so it looks like the whole room is slowly moving.
Beside the bed is a box with nesting materials.
She ignores it, standing up and reaching for a star.
“Pretty,” she murmurs.
Rolly comes in and drops a heavy box on the bed beside her. “This was everything I could find.”
She glances at the box, then dives in, grabbing out shiny gemstones and holding them up to the light. She scurries off the bed with a handful, muttering as she starts placing them on the floor near the wall. If there’s a pattern or reason to her madness, I can’t see it, but she’s happy.
All I care about is her happiness.
She coos, and I drop into a crouch, resting my chin on my hand, and watch her like she’s the most interesting thing in the world.
Back and forth, she places the stones, goes and checks, goes back and adjusts them. She completely ignores the blankets. The pillows. But she does grab scented soaps and carve shavings off, letting them fall like snow over her crystal collection.
The mattress is bare.
I frown as the hours pass, trying to figure out what this means when she suddenly springs out of the room, moving through the house with purpose.
I have to rush to keep up with her. She goes into Blaze’s room and into his wardrobe, pulling at his clothing until she finds a grey satin robe that shimmers in the light.
She rubs her face on it, purring, and then goes off again.
Merle goes to all of our clothes, stealing buckles from belts, a mirror, a grey scarf, a massive grey jumper, two pairs of sunglasses, and when she gets to Rose’s room, she finds a massive knife.
She picks it up, her hand hesitating over it.
“Put it down!” Merle says firmly, startling me. For a moment, I thought it was actually her.
She hesitates and whines, her whole demeanor changing, but it changes back just as quickly. Someone with more confidence, who is stronger in personality, takes over.
“No. Put that down. It’s not for you!” she says firmly.
What is she doing? I shift on silent feet, trying to see her face so I can figure out what is going on.
Her alters are arguing with her. Why doesn’t she want her to have that knife, and who doesn’t want her to have it?
Merle snarls but drops the knife and turns and leaves the room. I wander over and pick it up. It’s one of those folded kinds, but it has an engraving.
“For you, R.”
Who is R? Or is this a gift to someone else? Perhaps Roseland sent it to himself. Or maybe it was just a thank you gift.
I set it down and slip out of the room, not bothering to clean up the mess Merle has made.
Rolly is bullying her into eating again, but this time, she is a whole lot more willing; she even smiles. After she’s finished, she spends a long time spreading the grey silky material before she lies down in the middle and exhales.
I think…perhaps…she feels safe.
She half sits up and holds her hand out to me. I step lightly over to her, trying not to mess up anything that she has created. She pulls me down onto the bed and then pulls my arms around her and buries her face in my chest, breathing deeply.
I stroke her back.
“You’re okay. You have a beautiful nest. Gorgeous.”
She makes a movement that feels like she’s pleased.
“You are gorgeous.”
She purrs and then goes still. She shoves back from me, and it’s the way she touches me, like she’s not certain, that has me hesitating.
She glances up and around, taking it in, her face transforming with wonder.
“I didn’t think I’d ever have a nest and never anything this pretty.”
“You deserve to have pretty things.”
She glances at me sharply. “You don’t know me.”
“No, I don’t yet, but I’d like to. I want to stay in your life and Merle’s.”
Her eyes are flat and furious. “Who am I?”
“You’re Raptor,” I say with conviction. “Merle is soft and scared; Raven is confident and self-assured. Kestrel would have asked if I’m okay before she noticed anything else, and Jay doesn’t smell the same.”
I’ve surprised her.
“Lie down with me,” I say.
“I’m not fucking you!” she snarls.
I laugh.
She swings at me. I catch her fist, holding it in a firm grip. Her eyes glint, and the vulnerability disappears.
I yank her to me and take us out of the nest and carry her into my space. She sees the gym and lets out a sound of pure delight, running and doing several flips before she does a series of kicks and punches that have my cock straining against the zipper of my jeans.
I toe off my shoes and walk towards her. This is…unexpected. She whirls back to me, her eyes shining.
“Spar with me? I never get to practice with anyone. Please?”
She’s adorable.
I thought she was supposed to kill us all. I attack, and she dodges and attacks back, I block her, and we step back, taking each other’s measure. She is incredibly well trained.
“Ready?” I ask.
She tosses that mane of orange-tipped black hair. “Always.”
We attack.
We don’t stop until we both drop to the mats, covered in sweat, chests heaving.
“That was fun,” I say happily.
“It really was.”
She rolls so she’s on top of me, and I’m acutely reminded that this is not Merle.
“I like you. What you have done for Merle and Kestrel. For the nest, but I like you for me because of this. I won’t kill you.”
I grin at her. “Thanks.”
She leans down and seals our lips together. She’s fire and smoke. Brimstone and ice. I slide my hand up one of her thighs, dragging it up over my hip.
She pulls back and stares into my eyes. “King?”
“Yeah?”
“Can we go back and look at the nest for a bit before I have to go?”
“Of course. Would you like to have dinner with us?”
She smiles; I think that perhaps for her, smiling doesn’t come naturally, but she’s really gorgeous.
“Will Rolly be there?”
“Yes, he will.”
“And Sage?”
“And Sage.”
“Okay. I will have dinner with you, then I will let the others come play.”
I hold out my hand, waiting, letting her make a choice. She reaches out, and I thread my fingers through hers.
She pulls me to a stop and steps into me, wrapping her arms around me and just hugging me for a long moment.
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Ever. I want to get to know you, too. Especially after today.”
When she steps back, I tilt her head back and touch my lips to hers.
“I am so very, very pleased to meet you.”