38. Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ronan
L eah is molten desolation and divinity.
Her body undoes itself with every ragged breath, every desperate spasm of her hips as I lower her to the center of the stripped bed.
The sterile walls of this godawful room should be an insult, but all I see is her, a living fire that turns the clinical white into something holy.
She’s so lost in her heat she doesn’t even notice us tossing the hastily arranged nesting materials off the bed.
Pillows and blankets scatter before they can get in her way.
Thank the Gods she also misses the plastic sheet we zip up the moment we slip inside.
She remains oblivious to the Beta scientists in hazmat suits prowling the hall beyond the door we slam in their faces.
She writhes on the mattress, every muscle in her body straining for what her body calls for.
Her knees splay, showing us her beautiful pussy, glistening and swollen with arousal.
Her hair’s a halo of sweat-damp darkness against her flushed cheeks.
Her lips are bitten raw no doubt from how hard she’s tried to hold back the sounds tearing out of her.
All that restraint, all that grit, shattered by arousal so fierce it rises off her, sharp as the chemical taint that contaminates her perfume.
I quickly throw off my clothing and settle over her, my body caging hers, pinning her to the reality that I will not let her be consumed by fear or the ghosts crawling under her skin. My arms bracket her head as I ease between her splayed thighs and Gods. Fuck. Gods !
There are no words for being skin against skin with my Omega. My mate. A deep shiver thunders through me and my cock aches where it swells so hard it almost splits, testing my skin.
I trace the line of her cheekbones and bottom lip. Her tongue darts out to taste me before she sucks my fingers into her mouth. Her glazed eyes bore into me, heavy-lidded as her perfect lips close around my thumb.
She’s fucking sublime.
Every line of her is pure temptation. Even caught in torment, she’s luminous .
"Gods, Leah. Omega, look at you," I whisper, my voice sandpaper rough. "You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen."
She releases my thumb and grabs my wrists.
Her nails dig into me with desperate strength as she bows her chest and crushes her breasts against me.
Her thighs wrap around my hips, heels digging into my thighs, as she paints her slick over my cock.
Her scent is both sweet and sour beneath the ripeness of her heat.
Cold reality descends over me, because I don’t know what that means.
She’s been infected by the Mortalis Strain, and I had no idea. I’ve witnessed the worst humanity has to offer in my line of work, yet Hardwick’s cruelty still manages to shock me. I force down the instant rage because it won’t help if I’m anything less than completely focused on her.
"Need you…fuck me, Alpha, please…" Her voice cracks, impossible sweetness and agony tangled in every word .
I bury my mouth in her hair, my breath ragged against her scalp. She peers up at me, her eyes shining and reaching for me as though I’m her salvation.
"I’ve got you, Kitten," I promise, my voice a broken vow.
And I swear, I do have her. If it kills me, I’ll see her through this. I’ll worship every inch of her. I’ll burn with her. This is what I was made for. I will hold her together while I make her come apart.
I brace myself over her, one hand tangling in her sweat-soaked hair, the other anchoring her thighs wide, and press the thick head of my cock to her entrance. She’s so slick and needy that even the lightest pressure has her shuddering, her hips rolling up to chase me, greedy for every inch.
The sensation is cataclysmic. Every nerve in my body lights up as I notch against the heat of her. I push in slow, the head sliding past tight, pulsing flesh, and she keens, the sound half-pain, half-ecstasy.
The way her body draws me in, like she’s been hollowed out for me alone, is transcendent.
Slick gushes around me, coating my cock, her molten warmth so intense it blurs the line between pleasure and agony.
When I bottom out, hips flush to hers, her body goes taut.
Her nails rake down my back, her thighs clamp around my waist.
She arches, mouth falling open as a moan bursts from her lips. "Feel you…everywhere."
Her words vibrate up my cock straight into my spine. Her channel molds to me, greedy and grasping. Her body sings for mine begging me to fill every shadow. And I want to. Gods, how I want to burn them away.
I’m lost to sensation. There’s nothing else but her heat, her slick, her hunger.
My balls settle against her, the urge to knot burning at the base of my spine, but I hold back, forcing myself to be slow, to let her feel every inch of how perfectly we fit.
Every movement is molten, every inch I slide in and out a feast of velvet clutch, the suction of her body like she’s swallowing me whole.
She thrashes beneath me, hips grinding up, sobbing and gasping as I fill her. My hands lock over her hips, anchoring her to me, and I lower my forehead to hers, breathing her in, letting her scent fill every hollow in my chest .
"You’re so fucking perfect, Omega." My words drag from me, half-lost to the wet slap of our bodies, the frantic noises she makes for me. Each pulse of her cunt drags me into the heart of her.
She wraps her arms around my neck, clutching at me like I’m the last solid thing in the world. She moans, a sharp, torn sound that leaves her lips like a prayer and profanity. "Don’t stop. More, please. need more, need all of you, please, Alpha…"
Her mouth falls open and her whole body goes rigid beneath me as she convulses around my cock and it’s all I can do not to lose myself completely in the way her body milks me.
The urge to bond her. Claim her. Make her all mine slams into me.
My knot swells, thick and punishing, pushing at her entrance, and then, with a desperate thrust, I breach her, sealing her to me, locking us together in a way that is both animal and sacred.
The world disappears. There’s nothing but the hot, relentless grip of her cunt and the thundering echo of her climax as it rips through me, burns straight through my nerves in a volcanic surge.
She spasms around me and I lose the boundaries between her and myself. She is everything. Everywhere. Her heart echoes in mine and the visceral need to fuse us together in the ultimate way rears through me.
Venom fills my mouth. Thick and achingly sweet. It tastes of completion and forever, bonding, mind, body and soul. My canines ache to sink into her, to mark her as mine, to seal us in a way that will never, ever be undone.
The urge blinds me. Absolute, feral longing sears through every other impulse. I bend to her throat. My jaw clicks with the pressure to bite, but suddenly I’m stopped by Jax’s grip on my shoulder.
"Brother. No." He barks at me, the bite in his tone dragging me back from the edge.
She is ours, but she will decide when and how she is claimed.
I will not take away her choice.
My body screams for what I can’t have but I rein myself back.
I kiss her sweat-soaked neck instead, let the hunger breathe, and concentrate on my knot lodged inside her.
The heated, swollen ring of muscle pins us together.
I worship her with every shallow thrust where she’s stretched around me in the most primordial way.
I gently rock as she continues to flutter around me, waves of aftershocks wracking us both. It’s the most basic, brutal, and tender truth I’ve ever felt: my Omega, filled, locked, wrung out and safe.
The most animal part of me is satisfied and gentled by the knowledge that nothing can break this hold. I roll us over, keeping her impaled and astride me. Her body is loose. Boneless. She sprawls over my chest, forehead pressed to my heart.
I swipe strands of hair off her neck and inhale, dragging in a second inhale to be certain. That horrible chemical taint is thinner. Dulled. My heart pounds with what it might mean.
"Jax. Scent her. Tell me what you find," I order.
Jax breathes her in. His eyes close, brows knitting before his jaw loosens when he sits back. "Gods…" His gaze flickers to mine, wonder and disbelief tangled in his voice. "You’re right. It isn’t as strong."
"Gabriel." I need all of us to confer. I don’t want this to be a figment of my imagination.
Gabriel wastes no time breathing her in. An astonished flicker flashes over his face as he sets wide eyes on me. "Shit. She smells like herself more than that chemical stain."
We lock eyes, hope rising. The wordless relief that floods through us is so sharp it hurts.
"Maybe this is why Hardwick never let an Alpha near her during heat,” I say. “Maybe she knew that an Alpha knotting might purge what’s in her blood. Maybe we were the cure she needed all along. They knew a real bond could save her."
Gabriel grins, the gold in his eyes burning bright. "Fuck, I hope you’re right, brother."
A beep sounds, startling us. We all stiffen, bare teeth flashing out of instinct before realizing the sound comes from a wall speaker I hadn’t noticed before .
Adrian’s voice is modulated, careful, but it carries across the room.
"If I may. Ronan, Jax, Gabriel, I know your instincts are running hot, but if Leah’s right and she’s been infected, I need her bloodwork.
I can help her. There’s no better lab in the country.
Let me send someone in. If we can confirm what’s happening, we can help your Omega. Do I have your permission?"
Every protective bone in my body bristles. I tighten my arms around Leah, her sleeping form now precious beyond words. The Alpha in me wants to rip apart anyone who so much as comes close, especially while she’s still in heat, still so vulnerable. I can’t let anyone touch her.
"No one’s coming in here. Send in a collection kit. I’ll do the draw," Gabriel says.
Adrian’s voice comes back. "Understood. I’ll have a Beta bring the equipment to your door." There’s a pause and he sighs. "How is she really? Mira and Emma are going out of their minds with worry."
I press a steadying palm to Leah’s back, staring at the angry smudges circling her arms, the shadowed bruises trailing her ribs and the fresh scrapes on her body.
Her skin blooms with evidence of what those bastards did to her.
The old and new violence she survived. My chest aches with the knowledge that it will be a long time before these marks fade both physically and mentally.
I keep my voice level for my Omega’s sake. She’s finally resting, and she’ll need all her energy when she wakes. "She’s in full heat," I say, forcing the words past my clenched jaw. "But she’s injured, Adrian. Bruised all over, arms, ribs, legs. She’s holding on, but she’s not in great shape."
I swallow hard, looking down at the precious bundle in my arms. Mira and Emma will be devastated. Emma barely held herself together at the gala for the sake of her friend. Leah will need her friends as anchors now more than ever.
"I won’t sugarcoat this. She’s been through hell."
Adrian is silent for a moment, then his voice comes through, softer, weighted with the kind of gravity that tells me he means every word.
"Thank you for telling me. I’ll send down everything Leah needs.
Supplies, food, whatever comforts we can provide.
If you think of anything else, let us know.
There’s no limit. No expense spared. Leah is pack now.
And so are you. We’ll do everything it takes to make sure she pulls through. "
The line clicks out but his promise hangs in the air. I curl tighter around Leah, as Jax and Gabriel create a living wall around her. We’re not alone. Leah has her Alphas and her friends looking out for her and all of us together will make sure she’ll be whole again.
Leah stirs against my chest. Her skin grows slick with sweat.
She squirms, lashes fluttering, and then a low, helpless moan escapes her as my knot slips free, a sticky wetness trickling down my thighs.
Her perfume explodes into the air, thick and intoxicating.
Her ripe Omega perfume is tinged with desire and desperation.
She shrinks in on herself, breath coming in little whimpers she can’t quite muffle and my gut twists with helpless anger. I hate that she’s hurting. Hate that all I can do is hold her and wait for the next wave to crash through her body, but Gabriel reaches for her. "Come here, Sweetheart."
He coaxes her onto his lap, settling her over his thighs where he sits against the headboard.
His palm finds the back of her neck, stroking, grounding.
He pulls her in, cradling her like she’s the most precious thing in the world because she is.
"Let me look after you, Omega. Let me take care of everything. "