Chapter 11
My wife, it turned out, could hold one hell of a grudge, which made me wildly proud. She was taking the marriage thing in her stride, celebrating her new status and her husbands—all except Dusk, whom she was entirely ignoring.
And I couldn’t begrudge her that, not when it had taken Umbra and I so off guard.
I was someone who always tried to avoid giving my upbringing too much thought. From the moment my life had collided with Umbra and Dusk, everything changed. Not just because of my illness, which made me wonder if I would ever have a normal life again—but because my pack brothers were so different from everything I’d ever known.
But I’d been raised in a home that assumed any pack I joined or omega I chose would be for political gain or alliance. A world in which things like scent matches were the enemy for how erratic and unpredictable they were.
And because of that, I had always hated the idea of partnerships like marriage or betrothals.
At least, I thought I had until I saw the papers naming Shatter my wife. Nothing had changed, and yet everything had all at the same time.
No matter where she was in the room, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Whether she was napping in my arms on the couch, or peering into a bowl of dough Umbra was mixing, with flour dusting her nose and honey brown locks.
Surviving this with our pack intact suddenly felt… possible. I couldn’t explain it. It wasn’t a want—it was a need, as if the life waiting for us on the other end of this nightmare had skipped the queue and found us already.
It was something I knew every member of this pack was anxious about because there wasn’t a single one of us who believed we were destined for good. For something like a complete family, wife, and… future.
And yet, good had found us amidst all of this, and that was an unavoidable truth. Now, it was tangible. In reach.
On Saturday afternoon, Roxy came over to visit. She helped me get one of my hair masks properly through all of Shatter’s thick curls, and they spent the next few hours letting Umbra show them how to play his favourite aura boxing video game.
Dusk left for the afternoon, and I thought I knew exactly why. Sure enough, he sent a slew of texts throughout the day, all with pictures attached.
Dusk: Do you think these are close?
Dusk: I’m getting an idea of the options.
Dusk: Or if you want to come too, I can wait.
I hid my phone from Shatter as I scrolled through the photos of rings he was looking at.
Dusk: I can’t find any that seem right. Trying another shop.
It wasn’t for another hour that I got a text with a photo that I knew was the perfect ring.
Dusk: This is the one. I can even get the placement of the diamonds changed.
Dusk: I’m worried. Its not as expensive as the others, but they can do it in a pack set, so I can get it in three parts.
Me: It’s perfect.
I don’t think Shatter cared about the price at all. She deserved the right ring.
And besides, I knew Dusk and Umbra had never quite settled into that reality of my family wealth: money didn’t matter. I grew up with so much that expensive gifts lost meaning. Dusk could buy her the most expensive ring in the shop, and that number didn’t make a dent in our bank account.
Umbra: Agree. Last one.
Umbra: I think you should be the one to give it to her.
Me: Yup.
Dusk: I’m not rushing it. She deserves everything to be perfect.
Somehow, despite the circumstances, we found a semblance of normalcy.
We stayed in for the weekend, and Shatter continued to refuse to acknowledge Dusk. The alterations on the ring would take a little while.
To my amusement, her resentment included refusing to eat anything Dusk made—which was, apparently, a whole thing. Umbra, in light of that, was trying more and more extravagant cooking, which I would appreciate more if I weren’t worried it might kill us.
One thing Umbra didn’t stand a chance against was Dusk’s homemade scones, and he actually made them on Sunday morning, possibly to bribe Shatter into claiming one. But Shatter had appeared in the kitchen to find two plates of scones to choose from. One that looked pristine, with a sprinkling of herbs, and the second, which somewhat resembled a pile of dense pale rocks in odd shapes.
Boldly, she took one of Umbra’s rock scones, biting into it with a worrying crack as she sank to his lap on the couch while Dusk ate his breakfast.
And the rest of the day… Well, it was glorious.
The afternoon was spent sorting the new (new) couch, and then we’d watched movies all evening. Shatter had taken it in turns between my lap and Umbra’s, and apparently now, for Shatter, sitting on our laps also included bonuses.
In the cutest display of Shatter-dominance I’d ever seen, she’d curled her hand around Umbra’s neck, tugged open his zipper and then sank right over his length until she’d knotted her sweet little cunt and was locked in tight. Then she proceeded to purr contentedly as the movie ran.
When it released her, she moved on to me.
“You can use me like this whenever you want, Little Reaper,” I growled as she settled over me for the second time in the night.
It almost came to blows at one point, when Dusk had shifted where he was sitting and reached out to her. Umbra had caught his wrist without taking his eyes off the apocalypse movie we were watching.
“Touch her,” Umbra growled, “and I’ll break your fingers.”
Dusk’s lips had drawn back in a snarl, but Shatter, a ball of delight in the bond, had rewarded Umbra with a nip on the neck, then ground over him until he finished with his lip caught in his teeth and his grip circling her waist.
She was very, very smug as she curled back up against his chest, golden gaze fixed on Dusk. He had withdrawn, watching her every movement with something deadly in his eyes. If Dusk was looking at me like that, I would take it much more seriously than she seemed to.
The omega power, I thought, was going to her head, even if I had no problem with that at all.
I wasn’t looking forward to the upcoming week. I had a meeting with the Lincoln pack on Tuesday evening, and I was surprised they thought they had a chance with me, but maybe it spoke to their desperation—hiring Mord Sato was desperation.
On the bright side, Monday morning brought with it some unforgettable entertainment. As we were getting ready for class, Shatter appeared with a sheer scarf around her neck, perfectly covering Dusk’s bite. She was still ignoring him, and while he was showing more restraint than I expected, he did pause when he spotted her scarf.
“Shatter.” His voice was deadly, and bright yellow eyes narrowed. “Take it off.”
It wasn’t a dark bond command, which seemed deliberate.
Shatter glared at him, folding her arms and doing nothing.
“Be mad at me all you want, but you will not hide my claim,” he growled.
Her eyes flickered to him for the briefest second, something haughty in them, but still, she didn’t move.
“Couch.” His voice was low and deadly.
She spun on him from her seat. “What?”
“Don’t make me ask again.”
She looked about to argue but slipped from the bar stool and stalked over to the new couch. I raised my eyebrow as she pressed herself over the arm without a word. I wondered, for a second, if this was exactly why Dusk was so careful about picking those couches out. He wanted one with an arm high enough that she’d fit over it just like she was right now.
I met Umbra’s gaze. He’d frozen in the middle of mixing batter for pancakes, edging across the kitchen and looking completely ridiculous in his flour-dusted apron and slippers as he watched Shatter with undeniable interest.
This was one hell of a start to a Monday.
I grabbed my plate and joined Shatter on the couch, crossing my legs and getting ready for the show. She narrowed her eyes at me, but I’d missed far too many Shatter punishments to skip another second.
Besides, she was mad enough at Dusk she wouldn’t even remember my excitement.
What Umbra had said back in the cabin was right. The two of them had something… different. Special, and when I watched them together, I always learned something new about them both.
Dusk didn’t stand from where he was finishing his piece of toast. “How many?” he asked, and he might as well have been reading a newspaper for his casual indifference.
There was a long silence as Shatter met my eyes for half a second. She pouted, but I felt that spike of lust from her in the bond. Angry, she might be, but this dance she had going on with Dusk turned her on. More, I thought, when we were watching.
“Shatter.”Dusk’s voice was a warning.
She made an angry little sound. “Seven.”
I saw the twitch of a smile on Dusk’s lips as he dropped his crust on his plate and got to his feet.
“Hand or belt?”
Dusk took his time pouring himself a drink of water.
Shatter’s cheeks were burning, and I heard a little growl of irritation from her.
Finally, he stepped up behind her, hand caressing her hip as he waited, lifting her skirt to show the rich skin of her perfect ass to the whole living room and kitchen.
“Belt,” she whispered.
“What?” Dusk asked, hand lingering on her exposed ass, and she shivered at his touch.
“Belt,” she said again, louder.
Dusk waited, his grip on her ass becoming punishing. Shatter wriggled, pressing her cheek to the couch and fixing her gaze on the TV.
“Belt, Alpha,” she said.
“Better.”
Dusk stepped first to the coffee table, where he opened a drawer and pulled out his bottle of massage oil. When he returned behind her, he unclasped his belt and removed it. I saw Shatter shift, trying to get a glimpse of him.
Her nightshade was heavy in the air, and her cheeks were bright pink. I might not swing that way, but I got it. Dusk looked deadly: dark button-up half untucked in black pants as he coiled the belt clasp around his palm, taking his sweet time. His yellow eyes traced her shivering body, bent over the couch as she waited for him.
The longer he took, the more she shifted impatiently, brows bunching in irritation. Her nightshade rose in the room to dangerous levels, and I had to readjust how I was sitting to give my own cock some breathing room.
I refrained from looking to the kitchen, rather preferring not to have the image of batter-stirring-Umbra in an apron and sporting a raging hard on burned into my brain for life.
Dusk brushed Shatter’s ass with his knuckle, and she jumped, the tiniest squeak escaping her before she realised it was just his hand.
“Are you being a brat because you’re mad at me, or because you like what happens when you are?” He trailed his touch to where the slip of lace hugged her flesh. He pressed splayed fingers over her skin.
“I’m mad at—” She cut off with a breath as his middle finger dipped lower, and then he pressed it into her without warning. “I’m mad at you,” she whined.
I snorted at how pitiful it sounded, and her golden eyes snapped up to me with a glare. For half a second anyway, before Dusk added a second finger and her lips parted.
He drew his hand back, letting go. “Are you ready, Gem?”
“Mhmm,” she said, clearly losing her fight in the face of overwhelming lust.
Her whine was so hot as the first belt strike cracked against her skin. She balled her fists, her breathing heavy as Dusk picked up the oil from the counter and rubbed it on her sore flesh.
By the second and third, she was panting, a needy whine rising in her chest as Dusk massaged the oil in.
Fuckme.
I cracked, meeting Umbra’s eyes (only). His batter stirring had come to a complete halt. I knew by the look we shared that we were both getting far too wound up for a Monday morning.
Could we just call it on class and fuck?
Another strike, and she wasn’t even hiding her needy moans as Dusk squeezed her ass, stepping right up to her so he could grind his hard on against her cunt.
She was breathing hard, pressing back against him shamelessly.
Another strike, and another, and I swear she arched that perfect little body further with each like she was presenting for him.
On the seventh strike, she was shivering. When Dusk stepped closer to squeeze her ass where he’d struck, she let out a little moan, wriggling back against him and?—
“Shatter!”Dusk let go of her instantly, so startled he didn’t find his command before she let out a whine, body trembling with what was definitely an orgasm.
Umbra barked a laugh as I snorted.
“What?” she asked, breathless, failing epically at playing innocent as she pushed herself up and stared at him with pink cheeks. But nightshade had gone off like a bomb in the room, making me want to drag her over and bury my knot deep into her.
Dusk raised an eyebrow as she turned to him, and we all felt the flare of defiance from her in the bond.
Boy, was she playing with fire.
Dusk side stepped her and took a seat on the couch. “Knees,” he said coldly.
She tugged her skirt down and sank between his splayed legs, a dangerously smug look on her face.
“Unzip me,” Dusk said.
She reached up, voice oh-so-bratty. “When I said seven, I didn’t know you were going to—” She cut off with a whine as Dusk pulled her lips to his cock and pressed it halfway into her mouth.
“Gem,” he purred, dragging her the rest of the way until her fists balled on his legs and his shaft was choking her completely. He held her there, and her wide golden eyes were fixed on him. “This is because you got cocky.”
He waited a good few seconds before releasing her, and when she drew back, she took gasping breaths.
“Be mad all you want, but hide my claim and I’ll remind you who these holes belong to.” He dragged her over his length again and I watched the way her nails dug into his thighs. “And that they’re mine to use whenever I want.”
“Now. You do the rest,” he told her, a command in the words. “And fuck that sweet throat worse for every bratty plan you’ve come up with in the last few days. I’ll let you decide how they deserve punishment; if you think they were fair, you can go easy.”
“W-wait—” Her eyes were wide in shock even as she was forced to draw her lips back to his tip. “Dusk,” she whimpered. “I wasn’t going to do any of them.”
He gathered her hair in his fist a cruel smile on his lips. “And keep your eyes on me, Gem.”
Dusk leaned back on the couch, a pleased expression on his face as he rested his head back, letting out a groan of pleasure as Shatter began what became the most brutal self-imposed face-fuck I’d ever even been able to even conceive of.
The command was airtight, and there was clearly no shortage of vindictive ideas for her to punish herself over because she kept pressing those plush lips all the way to his swollen knot, eyes blazing with fury as she grappled with the order.
Dusk kept pausing her as he collected himself, and he made it last a good fifteen minutes.
She was panting by the time she finished, tears pouring down her cheeks, her cheeks bright pink, and sweat beading on her forehead. Through the bond, the empire of brattiness she’d been building over the weekend was swept away for submission.
“Good girl,” Dusk growled as he finally finished, his fist returning to her hair as he held her over his length and emptied down her throat.
“Take off the neck covering,” he said. “Tie up your hair and get on my lap.”
She tugged it off as she got to shaky feet and fought with her hair to get it in a bun. It was a bit lopsided, but outrageously cute as she slid onto his lap.
She folded her arms, eyes fixed on me defiantly as Dusk drew her close and sank his teeth into her neck again, renewing the dark bite he’d left.
Her lips opened in shock.
When he drew back, a trickle of blood glistened upon her skin. She reached for it, but he caught her wrist.
“You won’t touch it,” he hissed.
Her chest heaved, but her look of outrage was offset by how blown her pupils were—and her scent, which was still heavy in the space.
The problem was, this show was far too hot for a Monday morning, and I wasn’t the only one who agreed. We were just exiting the apartment when Shatter halted. “Oh, just um… give me a second. I forgot my water bottle.”
“Since when do you have a water bottle?” I asked.
“Omega Studies said I should stay hydrated,” she muttered. “Just uh… don’t come in—” she added, shoving Umbra back as he made to step back in with her.
“There’s a couple of bottles in the cupboard over the sink,” he told her. She nodded, then vanished, leaving the door a crack open.
We all waited in the hallway in silence, hearing the tap turn on. I took the time to adjust myself, trying to think of anything to rid me off this hard-on.
The water only ran for a few moments before it shut off. Then there was the undeniable crunch and scraping sound of someone scooping ice from the ice bin in the fridge followed by the clatter that I guessed was the ice tumbling into a plastic bottle.
There was a pause, then the clatter of ice sounded again. Then again. Another pause, and then one more time. I raised an eyebrow, catching Umbra’s eye. That, I thought, was a lot of ice considering we were heading quickly for winter.
I glanced at Dusk, who was doing a shit job at keeping his expression neutral. The edge of his lips quirked mischievously as he folded his arms and leaned against the wall, not meeting our eyes.
As much as I took Shatter’s side on the marriage thing, I couldn’t help but admire Dusk. He worked well as pack lead. He waited, watched, and learned the best way. With me, he was patient. A rigid, cruel upbringing had left me sensitive to strict rules, but with Umbra, who he knew better than he knew even himself, he could be brutal. With Shatter, he’d found a perfect balance between rules and freedom.
He’d taken pack lead because he believed he’d had to, but he deserved it. I knew Umbra had tried to take it back, and Shatter had intervened, but I think that was testament to how fast she’d come to understand this pack.
We finally heard the sound of the fridge closing and plastic on plastic as she screwed the top on the bottle.
Another brief pause, an indiscernible and furious mutter from Shatter, then the fridge opened again. At another sound of the scoop of ice, I caught Umbra grinning. I was battling my own at this point.
“The Arkology program won’t allow another absence,” I warned Dusk, adjusting my bag on my shoulder.
He glanced at me briefly. “I know.”
“If she goes into heat…”
“I will, uh…” Dusk cleared his throat. “Take it easy.”
Shatter finally appeared in the doorway, stuffing a water bottle (crammed to the brim with ice) into her bag.
“Okay. I’m um… I’m good now,” she said quickly, slipping past us, hand hovering over the fresh bite and drying blood on her neck that Dusk had commanded her not to mess with.
I noticed she kept as much distance from him as possible, but I had a strong feeling Shatter was going to be mad at Dusk for as long as she could possibly manage.