40. Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty
Jax
L eah’s heat has burned for hours. We’ve tended to her with everything we have, knotting her, feeding her sips of water and broth when her body can stand it, holding her through every crest and shattered aftershock.
Now we’re collapsed around her, spent and grateful for the brief hush while she sleeps draped over Gabriel, sated on his knot.
Adrian’s voice sounds through the speaker. "Nesting materials picked out by Mira and Emma are outside your door. Let me know if you need more. I’m going to push the parcel through now."
Relief surges through me so deep I close my eyes for a heartbeat. Finally, something she needs. "Thank you, Adrian," Ronan says, his voice soft under the gravel.
But the speaker stays live; there’s a pause, not quite silence, and then Adrian’s voice sharpens, careful. "I…need another blood sample. There’s something in Leah’s bloodwork we haven’t seen before."
My instincts light up, prickling hot along my spine. "What is it, Adrian?"
Adrian’s voice is slow when he answers. "Your Omega is infected with the Mortalis Strain, but…not in any way I’ve ever seen. It looks different to the way it normally presents. I need more blood to run a number of tests we don’t usually do."
"What the fuck does that mean?" Ronan says.
"I wish I knew. That’s why I need more blood," Adrian says.
I clasp Ronan’s shoulder. "Relax, brother. Adrian is on our side." Ronan is as tense as we all are, his instincts riding high, but as prime Alpha, the weight of responsibility pulses through our pack bond.
"There’s something else you need to know, Adrian. There was a chemical taint in Leah’s perfume that’s fading the more she’s in heat. Like her fever is burning out what it needs to."
"You’re certain?" Excitement rings in Adrian’s tone. "If possible, I’d like more samples over the next few hours."
Thunder rumbles from Ronan’s chest. He immediately stops when Leah stirs.
"I’m sorry to ask, Ronan. But it could mean the difference to your Omega… Please, brother. If she’s anything like Mira and Emma, she would do anything to help."
Adrian is right. All three Omegas have been through so much. Too much. If this is a way we can give them back something positive, we must do it. "If Leah wasn’t in the depths of her heat, you know she’d agree," I say.
Ronan plows his fingers through his hair as the muscle at his temple works. "Tell me exactly what you need. "
"Note any changes in her symptoms and her scent. It’s too soon to say, but Ronan, Jax, please. This could be vitally important," Adrian says.
"We’ll do it. Let me know when you’d like the draw and we’ll do our best. But Adrian, if it causes our Omega undue stress, you’ll get nothing," Ronan rolls out.
"I wouldn’t expect anything less," Adrian says. “I will slide the package through now.”
There’s a brief pause, then a slot opens at the bottom of the sealed door and a large, shrink-wrapped parcel is pushed through, followed by a sealed box.
Ronan brings both back and zips the plastic back up behind him. Large, soft towels, throw rugs and scatter cushions in all shapes, sizes and colors spill from the shrink wrap. The box reveals several syringes, vials and containers.
"I hate the idea of causing her more pain," Ronan says.
"I know, brother. But if she found out she could fight back against what was done to her and we didn’t let her try, she’d hand our asses to us," I say.
Ronan nods, a spark returning to his gaze as it settles on Leah. "On a silver platter."
Leah stirs, lashes fluttering before opening. Her gaze locks on the pile of items scattered at the side of the bed and something fundamental shifts. Her next breath is sharp and she’s upright so quickly the motion startles Gabriel awake.
"Alpha?" A whimper and question both.
"Take what you need to build your nest, Omega," Ronan says, voice gentle despite the discord running through our bond.
Gabriel gentles his hand on her hips as he helps her slide off his knot with a slight wince. She crawls across the bed, and I can't look away. She hovers at the edge of the pile for a heartbeat.
I lower myself to my haunches so I’m at eye level with her. "Touch them, Omega. Take what you need."
Leah begins to sort through the materials.
She drags the edge of a towel to her cheek and tests the softness before setting it aside.
Her eyes flutter closed as she tests each texture.
When she’s gone through and taken what she wants, she spins on the bed, a cute little growl rumbling from her when she finds Gabriel still sitting against the headboard.
"I think that means move your ass, brother," I say.
Gabriel springs from the bed as she starts to smooth a large, fluffy throw rug over the mattress.
Every line of her body is poetry as she builds her nest. She’s beautiful.
Mesmerizing . She’s both a miracle and a little ferocious thing, every instinct and nerve tuned to the tactile urges only Omegas have.
Ronan stands on one side of me, arms folded and tension leaking from him with every soft sound Leah makes.
Gabriel’s at my other side, eyes shining with the pure, unguarded wonder as our Omega fluffs a pillow, presses a rolled towel just-so under it, layering comfort the way only an Omega knows how.
Her movements are unselfconscious, elemental, stripped of shame or hesitation.
She’s cute. Absolutely fucking adorable , but she’s also sexy, devastatingly so.
Every roll of her hips and arch of her spine is pure Omega. Everything she was born to be.
A fortress of blankets and cushions blooms around a hollow and with a satisfied little sound, she adds one final couch cushion to the wall.
The nest is gorgeous, chaotic, and absolutely her.
Her chest heaves when she stands back, but agitation prickles under the surface. Her hands flex as she looks about.
Gabriel takes a cautious step toward her. "What do you need, Sweetheart?"
She doesn’t answer, can’t. She’s too far in her heat to formulate too many words. Her pupils are nearly black, skin shining with perspiration. She frowns, scanning the room, and then she sees our clothes littered across the carpet where we threw them off to tend to her.
She pounces on Ronan’s shirt, Gabriel's hoodie and my t-shirt, and buries her face in each. Her shoulders loosen before she tucks our clothing into the weave of materials she created her nest with.
When it’s done with a satisfaction only she knows, she turns to us. The look in her eyes nearly floors me. Her eyes brim with hunger, intent and the fierce claim of an Omega who is taking whatever she Godsdamned wants to.
Her gentle grip closes around my wrist as she leads me to the edge of the bed, all command and grace before she leads me into her nest. My heart thuds like a trapped thing as I climb over the soft rim she’s crafted, settling exactly where she guides me.
She fluffs towels and pillows around my head, positions my legs just so, settles my hands on my stomach.
I let her do whatever she wants. She can carve me like stone should she wish it.
She drags her nose over the gland on my neck, snuffling where my pulse thrums, before her chest breaks out in a little purr.
She moves down the centerline of my body, all the way to my groin, where my cock’s standing painfully hard, already leaking against the rise of my abdomen.
She flicks the tip with her tongue, quick and hot and devastating before giving a satisfied moan.
Stars explode behind my eyes, and I nearly rocket off the mattress. Her purr cuts out and she snarls, pining me with a glare.
Gabriel chuckles. "Let the queen finish her inspection. Perhaps she’ll give you a gold star if you lie still."
Leah’s head snaps toward him. Before he can say anything else, she hooks his wrist and tugs him bodily into the nest, positioning him right beside me.
She gives him the same treatment, scenting along his throat, then chest, then all the way down until her nose and mouth find his cock.
She inhales, licks, tastes his salt, tests the heat of him.
I smirk at him. "Suck it up, Gabriel. See how easy it is to lie still when your Omega’s mouth is on your cock."
She flashes me a glare that only makes me want to worship her more, then catches Ronan in her orbit. She pulls him into the nest, too, putting him where she wants him. She scents him to her satisfaction before climbing over Ronan to me.
There’s no waiting, no shy glance, just an elemental urgency as she straddles my hips. Her heat pours off her and I’m showering in rose petals on a fresh, spring breeze as her fingers wrap around my cock, aiming me at her center, and sinks down.
The sensation is incandescent. World-stopping. Her velvet heat squeezes every inch of me as she takes me all the way in. I’m being devoured and saved at once. My mind blanks. The nest closes in as her cunt grips me and flutters along my length.
Her lips are greedy when she takes my mouth with hers.
She kisses me, hungry and demanding, using her lips, teeth and tongue.
She grinds her clit against my abdomen as she works her core up and down my length.
Each roll sends sparks through my body, tugs helpless noises straight from my chest. Her rhythm is frantic, unruly, all Omega, all need. It’s pure worship, pure hunger.
She breaks the kiss with a gasp, and raises her ass in the air, exposing her cunt squeezing around my cock. She reaches for Ronan and whines a high, pleading sound.
He glides his hand over her beautiful line of her back to dip between her cheeks. "Is this what you’re asking for, Kitten? Want me to take you here?"
The moment his finger breaches her rosebud, her walls clench in a vice around me. I throw my head back. "Fuck, Omega."
She whimpers and wriggles.
"I take that as a yes," Gabriel rasps. He moves onto his elbow, large hand grasping his cock as he watches our Omega take her pleasure.