12. Chapter Twelve
Chapter Twelve
Gabriel
R onan shifts her in his lap, turning Leah to face me, and Gods…
She’s flushed, her dark hair clinging to her sweat-slicked neck, eyes glassy with pleasure and lingering fear. Ronan’s hands cup her hips, holding her steady, but Leah’s chest rises fast, her breath uneven. Every inch of her is trembling, her skin still glowing from her first release.
Fuck.
She’s so beautiful, untamed and wrecked and so Godsdamned alive.
Ronan’s still shaking. Still needing. I hate to imagine her like this, vulnerable and lost to her heat at the whim of those animals who forced this on her.
Those who held her down and gave her no relief while they used her body for their own purposes.
She should never have suffered an unfulfilled heat. Never.
The thought claws at me, a snarl rising in my throat, but I force it down. I can’t give in to the rage. Not when she’s looking at me, like she’s waiting for me to ruin her.
I flick my gaze up to Ronan. His eyes are black with lust, but he gives me a single, sharp nod. "Go slow, brother."
Jax, from the corner, rumbles low, his dark gaze watching every minute detail of our Omega. "She’s still afraid of wanting us."
"I know." I know exactly what Jax means. Leah’s breathing is too quick, her fingers knotted tight, tendons straining. Even sinking into the depths of her heat, she’s still on edge. Parts of her aware that her compulsion comes at a price.
"Sweetheart," I murmur, dragging my voice into something lighter, teasing, anything to put an end to the nightmares in her head. "You look so pretty like this. All messy for us."
Her lips part on a hitch of breath and I rejoice on the inside. She’s hearing me .
"I’m going to touch you, now. Would that be all right? If I touch you?" Leah’s legs tremble, her thighs slick where they press together, but she doesn’t pull away when I wrap my fingers around her ankle. Her stormy eyes drop to where I’m touching her.
"Don’t fuck this up, brother," Jax says.
I resist the urge to throw him a death stare because he’s right.
I tighten my grip a little and am rewarded with a sweet plume of her heady perfume.
My head goes fuzzy and my cock jerks in my pants.
The urge to rise over her, cover her with my body and scent, and sink into her warmth is too much to stop.
But I do. I rein in every urge because she’s giving us this.
Letting me touch her. Letting us look at her. It’s huge.
If she wasn’t suffering the effects of her heat, she wouldn’t let us anywhere near, but in giving way to her base instincts, she’s trusting us, and I’ll chew off my own dick rather than sacrifice this major step .
She whines a soft, aching sound that carves straight through me.
Her body tenses, warmth radiating from her skin in waves.
My cock pulses in my jeans, but I grit my teeth and force the discomfort down.
It doesn't matter how much I throb, how many days I’ll ache afterward.
I don’t care. She’s gone through a thousand times worse than my small amount of suffering.
"Sweetheart." My voice is rough, but I keep it low. Gentle. "Can I touch you more? Do you need..." I swallow, willing my hands to stay steady even as my blood burns. "Do you need me to touch where it hurts?"
Her eyes flicker to mine, her breath coming too fast. She hesitates, just for a second. Her perfect lips part. "Alpha, please."
My chest tightens. This trust, this moment, is sacred .
"I’m going to touch your leg. I’ll go nice and slow.
" She doesn’t answer, but her gaze drops back to where I touch her, and her breaths deepen.
I move slowly, letting her see every intention.
My fingers skim her calf, feather-light, gauging her reaction.
When she doesn’t tense, doesn’t pull away, I trail higher and around the inside of her knee.
"Is this okay, Omega?" I murmur.
She whimpers and parts her knees. I glimpse her glossy thighs and peek at the pink slit between them. When she moves, the towel drops from her shoulders and reveals her body.
It takes all my control not to react.
I see everything and holy fucking Godsdammit .
Her body is a canvas of cruelty.
Purpling bruises wrap around her ribs. Finger-shaped marks mar the soft skin of her hips. A scar curves beneath her breast.
Hardwick did this.
Leah called them experiments. I call it torture.
My vision tints red, my canines aching. Jax muffles a curse so rough it cracks. Our pack bond swells, Ronan’s warning to control ourselves rippling with thunder.
I exhale .
She is here. With us. And we will fix this. For now, she needs us in a way only her mates can give her. She needs softness instead of cruelty. Care instead of neglect. Safety and gentleness and …and love.
She needs love so badly, but I don’t think she knows what it looks like.
We’ll teach her. Starting now.
Gently, I trail my fingers along her thigh. As tension coils under her skin, I sweep my thumb in slow, soothing circles.
Her stomach cramps, her body jerking, and a fresh wave of slick spills from her pussy, glistening on her thighs. Fresh roses drench the air. She whimpers, pain threading the sound.
Ronan’s voice scrapes low. "Don’t make her wait, brother."
My gaze rises to her face to see the flush of her cheeks. The strain around her eyes. "I’m going to touch you now," I tell her, my voice thick. "Just where you want me to. Where you need me to."
My first touch is a whisper. Just the pad of my finger tracing her soaked slit. She’s drenched, swollen, so soft and hot my mouth waters. I circle her clit, feather-light, and she jerks, a broken sound spilling from her lips.
I increase the pressure, just slightly. "That’s it, Sweetheart.”
Her hips lift a fraction, chasing the sensation as a soft mewl falls past her plump lips.
"She likes it, Gabe. Keep going," Jax says.
When my fingers first slip inside her, her thighs part wider, her body arching off Ronan’s lap with a shuddering gasp.
She’s drenched. So slick, my fingers glide effortlessly between her folds, sinking into her tight, molten core.
Her eyes flutter closed, and she drops her head against Ronan’s shoulder.
So fucking perfect.
My fingers disappear into her, her soft pink flesh clinging deliciously to me. Her clit throbs under the slow circles of my thumb. Fresh rose and spiced anise explodes around us, so thick and intoxicating I’m thrown into a thicket of blooms .
She sinks her teeth into her lower lip. Her hands fist in the couch cushions as I angle my fingers just right, dragging another broken whimper from her chest. "Alpha."
"Keep going." Ronan’s hands flex on her hips where he holds her steady. "She’s close, brother."
Her breaths come ragged, her walls fluttering around my fingers, her hips rocking desperately against my hand. I can do so much better than just my fingers. My mouth waters with the want driving through my body.
"I want to taste you, Omega." My voice is so rough. "Please. Will you let me?"
Her eyes flutter open, clouded with pleasure and surprise, but it’s the tiny, gut-wrenching whimper that nearly undoes me.
A sound so vulnerable it claws straight through my chest. She tries to speak, no words come, but her perfume thickens to blanket us all.
Jax fists his cock in a stranglehold so hard he might just bend it permanently out of shape.
"Okay. I understand." Slowly, carefully, I slide my fingers from her, earning a needy whine, and move to kneel between her thighs. I guide her legs over my shoulders, her body splayed open for me.
"So beautiful," I grit out before lowering my mouth to her.
The first lick is sin.
The second is divination incarnate.
Her taste ruins me. Wild roses, honey and salt, all of it flooding my mouth as I groan against her slick flesh.
I lick into her like a man starved, like this is the only thing that’ll keep me breathing.
My tongue drags slow and up her slit before swirling tight around her clit, and she jerks, a sharp cry tearing from her throat.
"Alpha!" Her shriek echoes off the ceiling.
Her fingers fist in my hair, yanking, her thighs trembling on either side of my head. And then perfection. She locks me in, holding my face against her pussy with a grip that rides between pleasure and pain.
I don’t stop.
I suck her clit, flattening my tongue against it on each pull, relentless, rough enough to make her gasp with pleasure. My fingers pump inside her, curling, crooking, finding that sweet spot deep inside her that has her back arching off Ronan’s lap.
Her breath stutters and comes in short, sharp little rasps.
Her hips grind down against my mouth, chasing the pleasure with a desperation that kills me.
I’m so hard I’m throbbing, my cock straining, my balls drawn up tight.
Pre-cum soaks my boxers, my pulse pounding in my shaft.
I grind my dick into the couch cushions hard enough to leave a permanent dent.
I don’t give a fuck what damage my dick sustains.
Not when I have my Omega shaking on the edge of an orgasm brought about by my fingers and mouth.
Her thighs shake around me, her clit swelling under my tongue, her slick dripping down my chin.
And when she clenches around my fingers, I look up the length of her body to see her gaze locked on me, eyes flared, mouth open and panting hard.
"Come for me, Sweetheart." I suck harder, fucking her faster.
A broken scream rips from her as her orgasm crashes through her, her pussy pulsing around my fingers, her taste flooding my mouth. I drink her down, greedy, not stopping until her grip in my hair turns from desperation to oversensitivity, her whimpers soft and wrecked.
When I finally pull back, my lips are glistening, my underwear and the couch under my crotch is ruined from the mess I’ve made.
"You’re absolute perfection," I rasp.