Chapter 53
fifty-three
I feel the exact second Atlas lets his guard down.
It happens all at once—the way one might drop a solid ton of iron after carrying it for a month. As if he’s been walking around with an entire fence on his back and has finally been allowed to set it down.
Relief sails into his lungs and sings through our connection. The soaring swoop is the only warning I get before his embrace shifts, going from proper and reciprocal to something… else.
With a quivering exhale, Atlas brings my entire body flush with his. Letting me clamp my thighs around his hips. Settling the hot steel of his groin against my trembling wetness. Flattening the broad, muscled planes of his chest into my peaked breasts.
His arms are rough, but his hands are infinitely gentle. One skirts up my spine, leaving blissful shivers in its wake, while the other fits itself around my damp cheek.
His forehead finds mine, pressing there as bottomless brown eyes peer through his square frames. “Tell me,” he husks, low and soft, with just enough dominance to prick my nipples. “What’s scared you, baby girl? You don’t like the storm?”
I must look like the most pathetic creature on Earth as I nod, holding back a hiccup. Gideon must sense how pitiful I feel because he hums. His voice is kind and quiet as he assures, “Everyone is afraid of something, Vi. We just want to be here for you.”
He bends over me again, pressing his smooth cheek to my crown and—
Scent-marking me.
Perfume and slick dribble from my tight core, but they’re both gentlemanly enough to ignore it. Aside from the distinct, involuntary twitch in Atlas’s boxers. Approval sparkles into our half-bond. I can’t tell whether it’s for me or his omega. Both, I think.
“Gideon is right,” the alpha murmurs. He lets a rueful beat of amusement thump over the tether. “I hate flying.”
Gid gives an exaggerated shudder behind me as he adds, “Snakes.”
His pouty tone is almost enough to stem the tears streaming down my cheeks. Atlas swipes his thumb through one trail, locking our gazes. Fresh oxygen suddenly whizzes into my chest, their combined scents warming my inhale and quelling my shivers.
Until another crack of thunder snaps through the room. My lungs shrivel as my airway narrows. I bleat a panicked sound, ducking back to my spot against Atlas’s wide, carved shoulder.
He turns his purr up, instantly hugging me tighter. When I sink into the sound, his low, sleep-roughened voice praises, “That’s a good girl. Just relax, and let me hold you until it passes.”
Gideon huddles closer to my back. The warmth from his exposed chest radiates through my thin nightgown. More perfume slips from my body. His scent sweetens with arousal. Gideon tries to suppress it, but his voice is distinctly raspy when he asks, “Is it the loud noise, Vi? Or the lights flashing?”
I shake my head, accidentally rubbing my face along Atlas’s throat.
He stiffens for half a second, but Gideon runs his fingers over my hair and his alpha’s again, silently reassuring us.
Atlas releases a deep breath, holding me tighter and tilting his head, giving me more of his neck.
When Gideon guides my head there—encouraging me to leave my scent over his alpha’s—the dam inside me bursts.
“It was r-raining the night they t-took me,” I blurt. “I—Briar didn’t wake up because the storm was so loud. She didn’t hear me yell, at first. Then, when I was about to scream again, they threatened to take her, too.”
Eerie stillness prickles through the room—their room, oh God—but the rest of it comes tumbling out of me anyway. “Every time it storms, I have”—my voice cracks—“flashbacks.”
Atlas hums quietly, repeating the word. “Flashbacks?”
Remembered shame and terror sweep down our tether before I can stop them. I know I have to explain, but the words scrape as they carve themselves out of me. “Being gagged,” I manage. “Restrained… and injected.”
Gideon chokes on a whine, flinging his arms around both me and Atlas. “Violet. Jesus.”
A dangerous vibration snags in Atlas’s lungs, but he purrs louder, widening his stance to form a cradle large enough for both of us to lean into his strength.
He’s so solid. Outwardly, but inside, too. I get flickers of his outrage. Pain and regret and alarm. It’s all there, but it’s muted. Blocked by the softest, warmest blanket: compassion and concern. The desire—or even need—to comfort me and Gideon.
I feel him nuzzle a scent-mark along his omega’s face while his left hand smooths over my hair, petting my head with long, slow strokes. Between that, Gideon’s body heat, their purrs, and their scents… my head feels floaty. My sobs shrink down to hiccups again.
The more relaxed I get, the more my body wants to turn toward other needs. Slick slips out of my core, the ache there kicking into a dull throb.
Atlas doesn’t flinch, though. His wide, warm hand cups the small of my back, tucking my hips tighter to his. When the impressive erection in his boxers settles between my swollen lips, I whimper, unable to help the spasm that has me bucking against him.
Oh Lord. Oh God.
Gideon senses my panic. His hand replaces Atlas’s, pressing me forward with more insistence. Almost… urging me on? Wanting me to rub myself on his alpha’s cock?
That must be it, because when my body rolls into another tentative grind, Gideon’s perfume swells. His shaky sigh ruffles my hair as Atlas purrs deeper.
“That’s right,” the alpha husks, nuzzling my ear. “Pleasure can be so comforting, right, baby girl? You take whatever you need. Whatever feels good.”
I want to moan, but Gideon does. The quiet sound is so earnestly desperate, a fresh shiver of wetness bursts onto Atlas’s straining cock. The edge of a growl roughens his purr. The rich, dark-and-sweet musk rising off his throat deepens.
I think they must be having some sort of silent conversation over my head, but I’m too comfortable to move. My Omega won’t hear of it, anyway. She’s firmly convinced this may be our only chance to be so close to either of these men, and she’s not about to waste a single second.
For once, I let myself sink into her instincts. Heeding her promises not to tear the reins away from me, this time.
I’m not sure what they communicate to each other, but Atlas swallows hard. His voice drops to a low rumble. “Come here, baby girl. Let’s get you warmed up properly.”
As in… all three of us? In their bed? Together?
Tingles streak down my back and land between my hips. I hesitate, not trusting myself quite that much—but Gideon cants his own hips against me, revealing the rock-hard length pressed against his boxers.
His smaller, softer hand replaces the one Atlas had on my cheek. He turns my face in his direction. Meeting my gaze with his smoky, smoldering irises.
“Please,” he murmurs, ragged. “I—I want you here.”
His perfume matches the arousal ticking against the small of my back. It thickens into a woody sweetness I’ve never gotten a taste of before. My mouth waters while slick dampens my thighs.
Atlas hums again, sending me another rush of approval, along with a wry sort of sympathy. As if to say, I know. He’s too perfect.
And he is. Standing behind me, staring so intently. Beaming reassurance and raw desire.
I want you here.
Does he just mean having me in their bed? Or are the instincts clamoring in my middle correct? Does he want more?
Do they both?
There’s only one way to find out, so I force my limbs to loosen, making myself pliable and nodding my acceptance.
Atlas is every bit as graceful as his omega. With one fluid motion, he has us on our sides, in the center of their king-sized mattress. Gideon follows, sliding in behind me.
He slips one arm under the crook of my waist and skims his other hand along my side. He did that a few times, earlier, when they were trying to calm me down. This time, though, his touch lingers. As if he really is trying to feel me.
My body seems to know how to handle this much better than I do.
It shifts, tucking into his. The erection fighting the seam of his underwear wedges itself into the cleft of my backside, but Gideon doesn’t move away.
He presses a fraction closer and blows out a shaking breath, dropping his forehead to my shoulder.
“Violet,” he whispers. Then, louder, with a hint of anxiety. “Atlas, I’m—”
The alpha flexes his dominance, flooding the room with warm, weighted serenity. He reaches one arm over my head, settling his palm on Gideon’s crown.
The look on his face is torn between indulgence and intensity.
“I know,” he intones thickly, gazing at Gideon.
“I can feel how much you want her.” His fathomless depths flicker to my face.
“I can also feel how much she wants you.” His other hand caresses a sensual line down my belly. “Right, baby girl?”
Oh Lord, here it comes.
“Yes,” I admit, watery with want and guilt.
“I—My Omega and I both want Gideon. And you. So much. But you two don’t belong to me.
You belong to each other, and I’m just—How can I want another omega?
Why does he want me? How could either of us even think about each other when you’re here, and you’re perfect, and we both love—”
Oh God, oh God, oh GOD.
Is that the truth? Do I love Atlas?
How could you not? my Omega whispers, watching the way the alpha frowns in consternation, openly considering my reaction and Gideon’s in tandem. Always worried about us, above himself.
And she’s right, I think. Somewhere in the midst of watching him love Gideon, I fell in love with Atlas, too.
I whip my head to Gideon, needing to beg for his forgiveness and tell him I didn’t mean to let myself develop these feelings, and probably offer to leave forever.
But the other omega doesn’t seem perturbed. Understanding sparkles in his eyes as he stares back at me. He interrupts, finishing my damning thought in the most serene tone I’ve ever heard him use.
“—love you.”
The words ring between us. So very true. So right and wrong. Impossible and undeniable.
He loves Atlas, so I’ve tried everything to stop myself from loving Atlas, too. And it didn’t work. But I think, maybe, it’s given me space in Gideon’s heart.
The other omega tightens the arm wrapped around me, pulling my body entirely flush with his. Spooning me, he positions us on the same side of some invisible line. Facing this ringing truth together. Facing his alpha together.
Gideon lifts his steady focus to Atlas. “We both love you, At,” he says, then swallows. “And I want her.”
A small smile I don’t quite understand flirts with the corners of Atlas’s mouth. A meaningful flash cuts across his gaze. “Two things can be true,” he says. “And you know my little prince always gets what he wants, if I can help it.”
Fervor gleams in his visage when he slowly slides his attention to me. He reaches over, tracing my jaw. “What about you, omega? Do you want Gideon? Do you want both of us?”
A clap of thunder interrupts, but it’s so distant, I barely hear it over the buzzing in my ears. Vicious need clamps deep in my core. More slick slips from my pussy.
My answering nod feels desperate and jerky, but Atlas smiles—a wide, awe-inspiring grin to match the pure pride swelling over our half-bond.
The alpha glances at the window. “The storm is passing,” he muses. “But I think Violet needs help relaxing before any of us go back to sleep.”
Gideon’s perfume sweetens as he buries his face against the curve of my bare shoulder. Hiding the plaintive need etched into his princely features. Breathing raggedly as he asks, “Can we help? Please?”
For a moment, I’m sure he’s seeking Atlas’s permission, the same way I am. But he slowly raises his head to look at me… just as Atlas melds his gaze into mine.
Waiting, I realize, for my answer.
I open my mouth, fully prepared to blurt a hundred words that don’t make any sense. But, blessedly, miraculously, only one falls from my trembling lips.
“Y-yes.”