Chapter 3
I woke to the sound of a low growl. Lily of the valley was a sudden and overpowering mist of outrage in the air around me.
I blinked bleary eyes open, trying to get my bearings and determine the source of the growl. I was first met by the sight of the ruined nest, shredded textbooks, and splinters of wood littering the floor—remnants of what used to be her desk and bookshelves. My attention was diverted by Ransom, however, who was sitting up in bed in the dim light, his lips drawn back in a snarl, his hands clutching his cheek.
“What happened?” I whispered, yawning.
“He punched me,” he hissed, voice low and furious.
“Who?” I blinked.
“Umbra.”
I tried to sit up, but as soon as I moved, I almost toppled to the floor.
How had I ended up on this end of the bed? I’d gone to sleep next to Shatter—with Ransom at my back.
Had he…?
I straightened. Had the little shit shoved me away while we were sleeping?
Oh. He deserved a punch.
“I’m pack lead.”I kept my hiss low. “I get to sleep next to our omega.” On the first night we’d all been with her at least—or what the hell was this all for?
“Neither of us do,” he hissed back.
I realised, with a grin, that there was a deep purple bruise swelling around his eye.
“He got you good,” I said, peering over his shoulder. “What did you do?”
“I just wanted to cuddle her.”
I grinned as I peered over to see Shatter curled up in Umbra’s arms. She looked so tiny engulfed in his huge frame, and he had both arms wrapped around her possessively as he held her close. Her eyes were closed, half her face obscured by curls that were still glossy from the ball the night before.
Honestly, violence or not, I’d take it. It had been a long time since I’d seen that side of Umbra, and he deserved a peaceful morning.
Ransom, however, did not look ready to drop it. He was pouting, and he shuffled closer carefully, reaching for her.
I didn’t warn Ransom that violence while sleeping was not a new phenomenon for Umbra, and he certainly shouldn’t try. He’d stolen my place next to Shatter so it was fair fucking game.
Umbra shifted in his sleep, his arms tightening around her, a faint growl rattling in the air with a deep inhale. Ransom drew back, a bitter look on his face.
And that was when I caught Shatter inch one eye open the slightest bit, a flash of gold glinting in the dim light filtering from the bathroom.
Her gaze found Ransom, then mine, before she snapped it shut again.
I swear she wriggled against Umbra, the ghost of a very smug smile edging her lips as his sleepy growl cut off for a deep purr.
Wolfsbane and blood vibrated in the air with Umbra’s purr.
I was warm and cosy right now. There had only been one second this morning when I’d felt fear creeping in; a flicker when reality had crashed in and everything that happened last night came to haunt me.
And then, as if he could sense it—which he might have from my scent—Umbra had drawn me tight into his arms as he slept and drowned all my fears away.
My alpha.
He had gone to a dark place last night, and I needed to bring him back. That was my job—because I was theirs, no matter what anyone said about bonds and evil fucking parasites.
I knew it was hard for him. I knew how much it had devastated all of them, seeing the ruin of our home.
I was determined, though, that I wouldn’t let it be enough to destroy us.
The real issue, though, was that I think some of my worry had like… rubbed off on him on a hormone level, because he just landed a lumbering, sleepy punch right into Ransom’s face for trying to cuddle me.
It wasn’t a good thing.
Not at all.
And I was definitely a really, really bad omega if it made me all warm and fuzzy inside that two of my favourite alphas were fighting over me.
Oh, and Dusk knew it, too. He was awake, and he had just caught me peeking.
We needed to be serious this morning. We probably had a lot to talk about, and plan.
But Ransom’s hand trailed down my arm, and his scent was still furious. There was another low, warning growl from Umbra that vibrated up my spine.
I snuggled desperately under his arm so Dusk wouldn’t spot me smiling. I’d definitely be in trouble for that.
How did Umbra know what Ransom was doing? Was it just instinct, or was he awake like me?
Ransom’s cool forest lily of the valley spiked with downright indignance and I dared to peek again to see him scowling.
Absolutely unable to help myself, I pressed back against Umbra, shifting against his huge, warm body. He drew me closer, his growl shifting to a purr for the briefest moment.
Wrong move.
Ransom let out his own growl, fingers closing around Umbra’s wrist, ready to tug me free.
One beat passed, in which Umbra went absolutely still—perhaps waking up. Then he rolled just enough to tuck me beneath him, and his aura split the air as he launched over me completely, sandstorm eyes vicious as he reached for Ransom.
Oh…
Okay.
Well… shit.
Ransom’s aura flared in response, but it faltered against Umbra’s overwhelming force. In a swift, predatory movement, Umbra locked his grip around Ransom’s throat as he pinned him against the mattress beneath the sheer mass of his body.
I was left by myself, deposited on my front and I pushed myself up frantically, sweeping my hair out of my face to see what was happening.
“Fuck… you!” Ransom’s voice sounded choked, and his fingers gripped Umbra’s forearm to no avail. “You don’t get to hog her!” In a surge of fury, he jerked his head forward, smashing his forehead into Umbra’s nose. With what looked like every bit of his strength, Ransom twisted, using Umbra’s disorientation to his advantage and threw his full weight against him. To my utter shock, they both went tumbling over the bed’s far edge, bodies tangled amidst limbs, and debris and furious snarls cut through the air.
Oh… dear.
They were actually fighting.
I met Dusk’s startled yellow eyes for half a beat, then scrambled over the mess of bedding to see them both wrestling across the mess-strewn floor.
This was very bad.
So bad.
Mostly because I could feel the heat crawling up my neck as I watched them crash over debris and mess with wide eyes.
Control your excitement, you horrible omega. What if they got scratched by all the splinters?
It would be my fault.
But why was it so hot?
Neither of them were upset through the bond, though. Not actually upset. In fact, what I was getting from them wasn’t negative at all. Both seemed caught in a thrill that buried the undercurrent of darkness lurking in the pack bond since the moment we had seen the apartment last night.
“You aren’t even trying to settle them, are you?” Dusk’s voice, a soft murmur against my ear, startled me, sending a shiver down my spine. I attempted to whirl to face him only for his grip to catch a hold of my hair and crush my cheek against the sheets.
“I was,” I lied. “I swear.” He must be wondering why his omega was so immature that she was focused on her alphas fighting instead of sorting out the issues from—my thoughts cut off as Dusk easily tugged my panties down and pressed a finger into me.
Oh.
Okay. Maybe not.
Heat shot through my veins, and I saw the scrap halt from the corner of my now limited vision.
“You’re soaked, Gem,” he breathed. “Does it make you wet, seeing them fight over you?”
I bit my lip, groaning again as he pressed in a second finger.
“Tell me.” His command grabbed me as I felt him move behind me.
“Yes,” I said with a desperate sound. He adjusted again, and then I felt his tip at my entrance. He drove into me without warning, his other hand on my hip so he could control his pace.
Umbra and Ransom froze mid-struggle, pupils blown, all attention fixed on me.
They both lurched toward us at the same moment. Umbra attempted to shove Ransom out of his way to be met with a defiant growl and a retaliatory body check that sent him staggering to the floor—pretty impressive given Umbra’s size. But Umbra managed to grab Ransom by the ankle and send him sprawling before he could reach us.
“Fight as hard as you can to get to them,” Dusk breathed in my ear.
I blinked, one wild second passing as I processed the demand, and then I threw my weight away from him with all of my strength.
Dusk’s grip became punishing and he released my hair, instead grabbing my hips in both hands and driving into me hard.
I moaned, grabbing at the sheets, low panting coming from my chest. I fell into the command easily, struggling against him with all my might, blood scorching my veins as he slammed in again and another strangled whine rose in my chest.
The hormones in the air shifted palpably from frantic to downright primal in a split second flat.
Ransom let out a snarl from where he was pinned by Umbra—who had frozen, too, eyes back on me. I heard Dusk’s breath of a laugh behind me as he dragged me and the sheets I had seized backward as he impaled me on his cock again.
The sounds I was making were frantic, blood pounded in my ears, and the pheromones in the room sent me barrelling toward the most intense orgasm of my life.
In a fluid motion, Dusk repositioned us both, so he was laying back against a stack of pillows. He dragged me back over his length with ease, leaving me facing the others while I straddled him. I grabbed at his wrists, fighting him, right as Umbra managed to shove himself free of Ransom’s hold and finally came crashing onto the bed before us.
Dusk’s grip tightened at my waist as Umbra drew up before us. His eyes were so inky with lust there was barely a fleck of sandstorm left in them—he was made of nothing but pure and feral, alpha.
His touch clamped around my waist possessively, gaze roaming my body as if trying to work out what he was seeing. Dusk rocked into me, his knot teasing my entrance. I bit my lip, one hand releasing his wrists and reaching for Umbra. I whined as my fingers tangled in his hair, asking for… I didn’t know what. I just needed him.
The room was a swamp of primal lust as Ransom barrelled onto the bed at Umbra’s side, eyes darting between me, Dusk, and Umbra, and the hold they had on me. The auras had vanished at some point down the line.
Umbra tried to pry Dusk’s hands away, but Dusk growled and I moaned as I felt his knot press against me again, and my grip became vicious in Umbra’s hair as I stared at him in need.
I needed him. I needed all of them.
I let out another breathless sound, trying to drag him closer, my teeth grazing the scars along his chest.
“You want us, Gem?”
I could barely form a comprehensible word as I nodded. I needed them claiming me here, right now.
I shivered on the edge of an orgasm, and Dusk hadn’t moved enough to push me over the edge.
The drag of my teeth against his skin flipped a switch and next thing I knew he’d released my waist, pinning Dusk against the bed by his neck.
I thought he would try to pull me away again, but he didn’t. He lifted my T-shirt up, tugging it off and pausing only a moment to stare across my body. Dusk adjusted below me, settling deep into my core, holding me firm against him. Ransom shifted, hooking my arms behind my back and dragging me down. Between Dusk’s grip that remained on my hips, and Ransom, I was arched back, trapped over Dusk’s cock while exposed fully to Umbra.
I whined again as I fought them, sanity draining in the face of a fierce and heady lust.
“Alpha…”
What were they doing? I needed them.
All of them.
Umbra shifted, using one hand to free his cock as he continued pinning Dusk by his neck with the other. Then I felt his fingers at my clit, but they didn’t linger there, moving further down. I let out a breath of surprise as I felt him press his fingers into my core alongside Dusk’s length. I tensed, eyes wide as he entered with ease through my slick, stretching me almost as much as a knot might.
The world faded for a second, edging with blackness as ecstasy tried to rip me away.
“Can you take us both at once, Gem?” Dusk’s low voice grounded me, and I struggled against their hold as I looked between Ransom and Umbra. I whined again, far past words.
That, it seemed, was all Umbra needed to dare him on. With a low, rumbling growl, he released Dusk, caging us in completely as he adjusted himself. I couldn’t move or see what he was doing. Before me was the huge, rippling tan muscles of his torso lined with his scars. I could just see Ransom above me somewhere, still trapping my arms as he watched my expression with a wild look in his forest green eyes.
Then I felt Umbra’s tip at my entrance.
“Fuck…”My curse was desperate as he pressed slowly into the space already taken by Dusk. I sank back further against him, letting Umbra in. Blackness swept in again, and I lost a few moments to pure intensity. I was breathing hard, each exhale laced with desperation as my body adjusted to him. I could feel every shift and every movement of him stretching me to accommodate his girth. It was a collision of pain and pleasure that left my body shuddering and limp, completely theirs.
When my world reformed, Umbra was fucking me with long, hard strokes. The orgasm I’d been close to was gone, goalposts shifting further away as bliss swept through my whole body. His hands circled my waist, those primal, inky eyes full of intensity and fixed on mine as he drank in every moment of my ruin.
This was everything–almost everything.
“Ransom…” In a daze, I found him above me, auburn hair wild and loose around his shoulder from the fight, an expression just as intent as Umbra’s. He was still pinning my hands behind my back, but he released me, replacing his grip in my hair. Then he forced my neck back so he could position himself on his knees at my side as Umbra picked up his pace.
“Mhmm…” I was giddy with lust as Ransom pressed his tip to my lips, and I pressed my tongue out, letting him slide in all the way easily. I was still shaking, overwhelmed with sensation as Umbra’s pace slowed, each movement deliberate and deep.
“Relax for him, beautiful,” Dusk breathed, and the command unwound every muscle in my body. Ransom groaned as one of Dusk’s hands released my hips, wandering up my body until he caught my nipple between his fingers and twisted.
I shuddered as Dusk’s grip tightened at my waist, shifting his knot just the slightest bit into me as Umbra continued to drive into my core. “You’re ours, Gem. Look how beautiful you look, letting us all claim your sweet body at once.”
They were everywhere.
My safety.
My pack.
My purr sent vibrations through my body, my eyes rolling back as Ransom began a steady pace. Heat was boiling in my core. A million little bolts of electricity with every shift.
Ransom drove all the way into my throat, holding there for a long moment as Umbra continued.
“Fuuuuck.”The word was a half snarl from Umbra as his pace picked up, while Ransom kept me suspended without air for another few seconds.
“Good girl.” Dusk’s breath tickled my ear, his hand dropping to my clit, circling it. I tensed, low sounds building in my chest as Ransom withdrew and thrust back in. Umbra let out a growl, and his strokes became slower and deeper.
Ransom picked up his pace right as Umbra groaned, him and Dusk reaching their peak at the same time, and I felt the deep warmth in my core as they finished inside me. My eyes rolled back as my body shook with my orgasm. There were low whines in my chest with every breath, another cresting my spent body as Dusk’s touch on my clit became relentless.
I was shaking and lost to bliss as Ransom’s strokes slowed, each thrust deep until his grip on my hair became punishing and he finished down my throat.