Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
MAX
One moment, I stared into his eyes, holding my breath, and the next our lips fused in a searing kiss.
The world slipped away beneath my feet.
Plunged into the deep with him, all I knew was the taste of his mouth on mine, his scent—growing stronger by the second—and the tiny mewling sounds I made when he clasped my face between his hands to anchor me.
He pulled away, peppering kisses all over my face. “No more heat teachers,” he growled, before finding my lips again. His tongue demanded entry, and I obeyed, melting beneath him.
Breaking off to trail his mouth down my neck, he dragged his tongue across my scent gland before teasing it with his teeth, making me shudder.
My fingers dug into his back. “Fuck,” I cursed, dropping my head back against the wall.
“No other alphas,” he continued, breathing the words into the hollow space of my collarbone. “No one else.”
“No one else,” I echoed. Yes. Only alpha. Only he can keep us safe and bred till we’re full and warm and—
Sudden and sharp, a pang of hot, tingling need zipped through my lower belly, followed by a cramp. I groaned.
That was heat. The real thing, not some finicky ‘yes, no, maybe so’ tease.
He’d done it. He’d tipped me over the edge.
“Max?” he asked, gripping my shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
“Please,” I croaked, holding onto him. “It’s starting.”
The emptiness inside me ached. Suddenly, I realized how much I hadn’t done yet. I hadn’t made a nest or stocked the pantry with easy food or electrolytes. I’d been so caught up on the Masked Man, I’d let everything else go until it was too late.
“I need—”
Another cramp had me doubled over. Him, my omega purred. Our alpha. We need our alpha.
“What do you need?” he asked. Apparently, the reality of the situation sobered him, too. “Do you need me to take you somewhere? Do you want to go to the clinic?”
Nonononononononono! Why would he ask that? Can’t he see how right this is? Can’t he tell we’ve waited for him? That there’s no other alpha but him?
“No,” I said, frantic. “Don’t make me go back there.”
I stared into those blue eyes, brighter than I’d ever seen. There was only earnest truth in his gaze—no jealousy or hesitance. Only unmasked devotion.
He cupped my face tenderly. “Okay. It’s alright, sweetheart. We won’t do anything you don’t want. Just tell me what you need.”
I believed him, wholly and completely. The man was in a perpetual rut, and if I asked him to, he’d take me somewhere else instead.
But I didn’t want to go anywhere else. All I could think about was him, and the way I knew he’d hold me while he filled me up so well. My omega had picked him, and that was enough.
That was everything.
I bet his knot can grow bigger than any of our old toys, my omega purred. He’ll know exactly how much we need. He’s a perfect match. He’ll get us warm and lock us together and then stuff his pups deep inside.
The hole inside me shaped like him yawned open, needy and wanton.
Fuck it.
“You,” I breathed. “I need you. I choose you.”
His chest heaved as if he’d just run a marathon. He cursed and knocked his forehead against mine. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
I shivered, his tone setting me ablaze, and then nuzzled my nose into his. “It hurts without you,” I whispered, pressing against my aching belly. “I don’t want Owen, or anyone else. I couldn’t stand it when he touched me. You’re the only one I want. Please, alpha.”
He groaned, eyes matching the storm’s intensity before they flickered and darkened, his pupils overtaking the addictive blue. “Damn right I’m the only one.”
Fully descended into rut, my alpha was in charge now.
He kissed me, violent and greedy. Tilting his head to deepen the kiss, he stole every last bit of my remaining sanity.
Together, we plunged into darkness, and yet he lit me up like a ten-thousand-watt bulb, pouring hot need all over me. I clawed at him, digging my fingers into the folds of his jacket and hoodie to pull him closer.
I wanted more. I wanted everything.
Feeling for the bottom of his mask, I asked, “Can I…?”
In a flash, he pinned my hands above my head. “It stays on,” he said, voice thick. “For your own good.”
I whined, my eyes searching his, but before I could beg again, he adjusted his hold so he clasped both wrists in one hand and gripped my ass with the other, pulling us flush.
I melted into it, not even attempting to fight.
Where else would I want to be besides right here with him, staring danger in the face and yet so, so safe in his arms?
Any restraint he showed before was gone. He dove into the places our skin touched, rough stubble scratching my sensitive skin when he dragged his cheek across mine, mirroring the act on both sides.
Scent marking. He’s scent-marking me.
Like an alpha claiming his conquest, this told anyone nearby exactly who I belonged to. Without a word, he shouted in triumph for the omega he’d caught and pinned—for me.
My breath hitched. If I could purr, I would’ve. Small, gasping noises I’d never heard myself make tumbled from my mouth as his pheromones washed over me, thick with lust and possession.
“You smell so good,” he growled, taking a deep inhale from the crook of my neck before kissing me again. “You smell like you want me. You smell like mine.”
I lost myself.
There was no more Max. That syrupy haze descended, making my limbs feel liquid and heavy.
All of my worries, cares, goals, and aspirations floated away, leaving only pure, instinctual need.
His lips against mine were the only thing I knew, the only thing that mattered at all, coaxing my mouth open to plunge his tongue inside.
Before, I’d felt out of control. Now, I just felt like I was home. There was no room for fear, or stimulants, or blood, because I was with my alpha. It was just us, and I was safe.
Safe.
Safe.
Safe.
My bedroom was only a few steps away down the hall, but we wouldn’t make it there. We’d both waited for this moment for too long.
“Touch me,” I begged, suddenly aware of how empty I was. I thrust my hips into his, hoping for friction, pressure, anything he was willing to give. My shorts did nothing to conceal my raging hard-on, and even through the material, his cock pressed insistently against my stomach.
“Where?” he asked, panting. “Tell me what you need, sweetheart.”
All of his arrogance was gone, but the no-nonsense confidence remained. He wasn’t teasing. He was assessing me, calculating where his touch would be most potent, most effective—learning my body, instead of treating me like anybody else.
“Everywhere,” I answered helpfully. “My cock. Inside me. I’m empty. Need you everywhere, alpha.”
The sharp want from earlier pulsed, hollow and hungry. Slick soaked through my underwear. If he didn’t do something immediately, I’d go feral.
He cursed again and then released me, hands dragging down my body as he knelt. His touch wandered below my shirt, tickling my sensitive skin.
I took the hint and tore it off over my head, flinging it away. Already touch-sensitive from my heat, every caress and puff of warm breath was even more heightened.
His stubble tickled when he pressed his face against my belly, inhaling deeply. “I’ll make you smell like me. I’ll put my cum in here,” he mumbled, more to himself than me. He kissed and nipped at the skin below my belly button, where I was already tender. “And then you won’t be empty anymore.”
“Fuck,” I cursed, bracing my shoulders against the wall so I wouldn’t fall. My cock throbbed as he rubbed his cheek against my middle, scenting me there, too. That needy place inside me ached at the possessiveness. “Yes. Do it.”
His fingers dug into my hips. I wanted his marks, his bruises. I wanted proof that I was a claimed omega—his claimed omega.
No one would dare touch what belonged to him.
“Soon,” he promised again, kissing my hip bone. Then he spun me around so my cheek pressed against the cool drywall. “Now, hands on the wall.”
Before I could get my bearings, his fingers hooked in the waistband of my shorts and briefs and pulled them down. Freeing one foot, he knocked my legs apart and buried his face in the crease where my thighs and ass met, sticky with slick.
I cringed away instinctually, but he gripped my hips firmly before lapping at the back of my thighs in one long drag.
“Holy shit,” I swore, eyes wide and wild.
He groaned and chased the slick all the way up till his tongue found the delicate space between my balls and leaking hole.
I cried out, slapping a hand against the wall. “That’s—that’s too much,” I said, words stuttering on each lick.
I’d never been cleaned like that. The man was wild; like my slick was the only thing keeping him alive.
The rough scratch of his stubble disappeared. I wished I could see his face fully. I bet he looked wrecked. “The scent of your slick has taunted me for two fucking years,” he replied, ghosting his lips over the swell of my ass. “So I’ll drink all of it before I have you.”
With a yank, he gripped my hips and tugged me backwards, so I was practically sitting on his upturned face, giving him better access to my hole.
I stopped asking questions after that.
Reaching down, I pumped my cock—which also leaked profusely—while he lapped and speared his tongue into me, sloppy and greedy. My eyes rolled back when he reached through my legs and batted my hand away to stroke me himself. The glide of his skin-warmed leather gloves was magical.
But it wasn’t enough.
“Inside,” I huffed, grinding down onto his face. “I want your knot inside me. I need you, alpha. If you don’t fuck me right now, I might actually die.”
Lucid Max would say that was a tad alarmist, but needs must.
The aching emptiness clawed at me, threatening to tear me apart. Didn’t he understand how desperate I was? How crucial it was for my alpha to give me what I needed, right now?
He pulled away with a gasp, coming up for air. I guess I’d nearly suffocated him.
Oops. Oh, well. He didn’t seem upset about it.