Langston
Emily comes out of the bathroom wrapped in a fluffy white towel, smelling of vanilla shampoo and omega slick. We all heard them in the shower, and I’m not the only one who’s hard as a rock as she approaches the bed. Finn has taken command of the armchair in the corner, while Creed is still standing like a statue near the window. I don’t think he moved an inch the entire time they were ‘washing up’, his gaze burning a hole in the closed bathroom door. Soren gave me enough warning to strip down to my boxers, but it felt weird hovering in the middle of the room, so I’m perched on the edge of the nest. I know the bedding is brand new, since I picked it out, but I’m not sure if it’s to Emily’s taste. She’s not a fussy person, preferring to wear band tees and denim, but with her omega side coming out, maybe I should have bought cushions with more frills?
I forget all about soft furnishings as she drops the towel and comes towards me with a needy whine. Her skin glistens with moisture – both from the shower and her heat - and my mouth waters as she steps between my legs. I have an instant flashback to the night at the fundraiser, when I lost the grip on my control and backed her up against a wall, plundering her mouth like an alpha in his first rut. To my relief, she’d kissed me back, but there was more than a little guilt mingled in with the pleasure. Finn was already throwing around words like ‘soulmate’ and ‘solution’, and one taste of her mouth confirmed it. My pretty bee mentee was as close to my perfect match as I was going to find in this lifetime.
Naturally, I’d freaked out and taken personal leave, burying myself in Soren’s case. If there was a scientific way to help him, I was determined to find it, even if it meant combing through the same damn data for the hundredth time. Finn, meanwhile, took my attraction to Emily as a confirmation of his theory, and he cooked up the project job to drag her into our orbit. Should I have done more to protect her? Yes, I owed her that, both professionally and personally. At the very least, I should have given her some idea of what she was getting into, even if I didn’t know she was a switch. But Finn was certain she was a null, and that her presence would soothe Soren, and maybe even help him find a middle ground between his excruciating heats and mindless ruts.
But my attention is completely focused on Emily as her hands land on my shoulders, her thumbs stroking my collarbones as her hazy eyes drink me in. She’s taking her time, like she’s savouring the view, and the alpha in me preens as her perfume thickens around us.
Am I the sweet-smelling pollen, drawing my pretty bee mentee into our world?
Very likely, although it’s obvious she’s also attracted to the rest of my pack. And who can blame her? Soren has dazzled me since the day I met him, and both Finn and Creed seem exactly Emily’s type, which I understand on a primal level. While Finn isn’t attracted to men, he’s generous with his attention, and I enjoy the dynamic between him and Creed.
Am I selfish for wanting to make this work beyond her heat? Definitely, but I’m also a realist, and once Finn sets his mind on something, there’s no way to stop him. He’s always been the most dominant alpha in any room, just as he was when we met in college. I was a few years older, but I knew he owned me the moment I breathed him in, as wild as a feral animal under his iron-clad control. While everyone else on campus was giving him a wide berth, I gravitated towards him every chance I got, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.
“Is this weird?” Emily asks, her fingers stroking through my beard. “Because you’re my mentor, I mean.”
“Not to me.” I tilt my head back, a purr building in my chest at her gentle petting. “I felt a connection to you from the moment we met.”
It’s not lost on me that it’s exactly how I felt when I met each of my packmates, although Creed and his military mentality took a couple of months to get used to. Soren, when Finn brought him to the facility a year ago, wasn’t exactly in a state for bonding moments, but I still knew he was important to me. Call it hormones, attraction, or a soul connection, my life wouldn’t be complete without any of the people in this room.
Which has me looking past Emily as her boyfriend steps out of the bathroom behind her. I don’t need to watch Creed’s surveillance videos to know Derek’s highly protective of her, and I have to admire the way he’s handled himself so far. It can’t be easy facing a room full of dominant alphas who are about to help the love of his life through her first heat.
“Everything okay, Derek?” My hands have snaked up around Emily’s waist, but I hold still as the beta studies me with his cautious, assessing eyes. “In case you’re wondering, nothing that happens here reduces what the two of you have together, okay?”
“I know that.” He’s only wearing a towel, but his chin is up and his gaze steady. He’s not cowed in any way, and his composure just makes me respect him even more. Plenty of guys would be raging against their biology right now, but he says without a hint of hesitation, “I also know Em needs you, and I’m here to support her in any way I can.”
Emily shoots him a soft smile, but there’s no denying the tension humming in her body. As much as he has her heart, she needs a knot and all that comes with it. But Derek shouldn’t feel like a spare wheel when it comes to her heat, and I’m not starting anything until he knows that.
“Remember that your emotional connection is stronger than any of us. We can give her body relief, but she’s going to need you to stay close, okay?” Despite his calmness, relief flashes in his eyes, and I add with a predatory smile, “Plus, I have a thing for big men who can take a pounding, so if you’re interested, I’m in.” I tug Emily more firmly into the V of my thighs and smile up into her hazy eyes. “Especially with a beautiful omega in the mix.”
Derek gapes at me, but covers his surprise with a shrug. “Guess we should just see how things go,” he mumbles, but when his gaze flicks to Finn in the corner, I bite back a smile. I’m not sure if it’s a celebrity crush, since Finn is about as big as it gets in the security world, or if it’s something more, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
Anticipation thrums through my blood, and even in the pheromone-soaked room, I can smell my arousal. “Then come over here and help me give our girl her first knot.”
“Oh, good,” Soren pipes up from where he’s been leaning against the dresser and shooting Creed come-hither eyes. “Professor Fall is about to give us one of his famous lectures.” He smirks at Emily as he crosses the room to climb onto the nest, every lean line of his body flexing for our viewing pleasure. “Not pervy at all , hey, mentee?”
“I’ve been thinking unethical thoughts since the moment we met,” Emily admits. It draws a dirty chuckle from Soren, but her gaze doesn’t waver as she dips her face to mine. “Kiss me, , so I can see if the last time was just a fluke.”
Maybe it was for her, but Emily’s mouth is a soft slide into nirvana for me. The sweetness I remember is there, but as she twines her fingers through my hair and sinks into the kiss, her allure is even more powerful. The first swipe of her tongue is a revelation, calling to the deepest part of me, because she’s not the one who’s falling, I am.
“Lang,” she murmurs, pressing her body closer to mine. “I want you so much.”
I’ve been through a couple of heats before, so I know that a lot of what she says is driven by instinct more than reason, but how can I resist her when what she’s asking for is everything I want to give?
“Sit on me, sweetheart. Let me get you ready for my knot.”
“I’m already ready,” she frowns, but climbs onto my lap, pressing her breasts against my chest. I chuckle at her pout, but as she rubs her nipples against the patch of hair there, we both shiver at the sensation. I can’t resist claiming her mouth again, which is like plunging into vanilla-flavored velvet. Our tongues tangle together, and when she makes a delicious humming sound, I drink it down with a groan. I’m already addicted to her taste, but as I tilt her chin to deepen the kiss, she starts to squirm impatiently. “!”
It’s such an Emily rebuke, I can’t help but grin into her flushed face. “What is it, sweetheart? Is the kiss not up to your standards?”
“The kiss is perfect, but we can do more of that later.” She looks down, her attention clearly on a different part of my anatomy. “Can I take those off?”
If I was hard before, having her eye my boxers like gift wrap is enough to strain the fabric to breaking point. “You can do anything you want with me.”
Emily’s dimples pop at being given free rein, and the next moment she’s sliding to her knees, her perfect mouth inches from my groin. With a cheeky smile, she leans forward and wraps her lips around my straining head, sucking me gently through my underwear. She makes that humming sound again, and as she licks a hungry stripe down the side of my shaft, I have to grip the comforter beneath me to stop my hips from rocketing off the bed. “Okay,” I mutter, “anything but torture me with your wicked tongue.”
“What is it, sweetheart?” she taunts as she plays with the waistband of my boxers. “Is the kiss not up to your standards?”
Her little act gets a round of chuckles from the others, but two can play at that game. “It’s perfect,” I rumble, pressing my thumb into the corner of her mouth, “but I thought you wanted my knot in your slick little pussy.”
Her eyelids shutter, her perfume spiking as she sucks on my thumb. “ .”
There’s now a thread of pain in her plea, and both Derek and Soren move forward to ease her up onto the nest. I scoot backwards until I’m in the centre, giving them plenty of room to cuddle in close as they join me. I focus for a moment on Soren, checking him for any signs of rut, but his eyes are clear, and his alpha scent is like woodsmoke with a touch of spice. Nothing alarming, even when Emily nuzzles into him, her lips brushing over the sharp points of his collarbones.
Damn, but they make a pretty picture together.
I flick a glance towards the two other alphas in the room. Finn is his usual locked down self, but I’ve known him long enough to recognise the flickers of excitement behind his intense stare. As for Creed, there’s no denying the hunger in his eyes, but I’m humbled by the trust I also see burning there. It can’t be easy for him to watch his mate curl around the omega he’s already falling for, especially with so much still up in the air between them, but when he gives me a nod of encouragement, I turn my focus back to the nest.
Emily has untangled herself from the others enough to take in her surroundings, and has my shirt in her hands, her face hovering above the material. She’s breathing in my scent, but there’s a hint of uncertainty in her eyes as she glances at Soren. “What do I do…?”
“Anything you want. It’s yours,” he says in his soothing tone, “just like his body is yours, Omega.” His wicked black eyes flash my way. “Sniff it, rub it, whatever takes your fancy.”
That gets Emily’s hungry gaze sweeping over me, but instead of coming right to the source, she presses my shirt to her face. She drags in a breath, and with a little moan, runs it slowly down her neck and over her breasts, pausing to pinch her nipples through the fabric. Her head drops back at the sensation, and she continues down her body, pressing my shirt between her thighs. She rubs it back and forth, grinding down on the balled-up fabric, and it’s quickly drenched in her slick. The action is so erotic, I have to bite the side of my tongue to stop myself leaping at her. In all the heats I’ve either been in or heard about, I’m pretty sure she’s the first omega to get off on her alpha’s clothing. Not that I’m about to stop her. In fact, when she’s done with it, I’ll probably have it framed.
She comes in a rush of slick, but as soon as she’s done, she looks at me with glazed eyes. At first, I think she’s embarrassed, but she’s clutching my shirt like she thinks someone’s about to take it off her. “It’s yours, sweet girl,” Soren reminds her. “You can keep it for as long as you want.”
A flash of possessive pride has me reaching for her. “I’ve got a whole wardrobe of shirts you can have, sweetheart.”
She clutches my hand, but her head swings towards my motorcycle jacket, which is hanging over the back of a chair. “And jackets? I really like your leather ones.”
The thought of riding on the open highway drenched in her sweet slick has me almost biting through my lip. “I’ll lay them all out and you can roll in them,” I tell her, my voice as rough as road burn. “Just come here so I can rub you on me before I blow.”
She makes a happy humming sound, and crawls towards me, stopping to nuzzle the front of my boxers. But I strip them off before she can get too distracted, passing them to Derek with an innocent look. He rolls his eyes at me, but his focus is all on Emily as she straddles my naked thighs. My cock looks impossibly big as she wraps a hand around it, the head almost violet as it pulses with pre-cum. But instead of sliding it between her sweet folds, she leans down and nips her way across my abs.
“Looks like she’s marking you, Alpha,” Soren says with a heated smile, his hand working the length of his own very pretty dick. I twitch under the slight sting of her teeth, a wave of satisfaction burning through my blood as I stare down at the chain of hickeys. It might just be Emily’s omega testing her claws on her first alpha hide, but like Soren said, it’s still a type of claiming.
“I’m all hers,” I tell the room. “Anything she wants, she can have it.”
“I want it all,” she says, rising back up to her knees. There’s a look of concentration on her face as she takes in my straining cock, but then I feel another wave of heat roll through her and she lurches forward, sinking onto my length. The squeeze steals my breath, but her cry of need is even more exquisite, especially when she grips my shoulders and grinds down on me. I can feel her channel quivering at the intrusion, but there’s enough slick and precum to ease her way, and the strain fades from her face as she draws me all the way in. I have to fist the bedding and take a calming breath, but then her gaze settles on mine, hazy with possessiveness. “You’re mine, Alpha.”
I know I should take a mental pause here, but my instincts make my hips buck, my hands greedily encircling her waist. She cries out at the first sharp thrust, but then her head falls back, all that fiery hair cascading over her shoulders. “More, Alpha.”
“Everything,” I mutter, and lift her up my throbbing cock. She squirms at the drag, her mouth open and panting as she clutches my tip in her folds. Our gazes clash, her pupils blown to black, and then we both ram her back down, the squelch making my blood sing. Our hips grind together, and then we repeat the process, until she’s riding me hard, and the clutch of her tight channel is sending shockwaves through my body. When she rocks forward, her nails graze over my nipples and our skin slaps together. The scent of slick and alpha musk is heavy in the air as the quivering inside her becomes a flutter, then greedy waves that drown me in pleasure. I barely have time to grab a breath before I’m bucking and spurting inside her, my knot throbbing with the need to plug her with my cum.
“Careful, Lang,” Creed warns from a distant corner of the mind, and I slow my thrusts, gazing up at the vision above me. Emily is lost to her climax, her hips circling my cock in a sensual dance. Every sweet squeeze of her pussy makes me throb harder, and I drop my hands to her slick thighs, watching my knot swell against her folds.
“Are you ready, sweetheart?”
The mewl that leaves her lips is all she can manage, and I carefully notch my knot at her slick opening. It’s as violently red as the tip of my cock, and I can feel the blood pulsing under my fingers as I slide it through her folds. Her thighs tremble as it stretches her wide, but her nails bite my skin as she pushes down. There’s a moment where pain flickers through her eyes, but she gives a determined grunt, and my knot slips all the way in.
Our hips connect, alpha to omega, lightning flickering in my hindbrain while thunder rumbles in my chest.
Mine.
“You’re so beautiful, sweet girl,” Soren croons, leaning forward to suck her nipple into his mouth. Derek only hesitates for a second before he captures her other breast and they kiss and knead her until she arches her back, my knot throbbing at the stretch. “That’s it, Emily.” Soren’s voice is a lust-laced drug as it weaves around us. “Look at how well you’re taking your alpha’s big knot.”
She clenches down at the praise and bliss circles my spine. But I’m still not close enough – not quite deep enough - and I pull her up until our chests are plastered together. I’m vaguely aware of Soren crawling into Derek’s lap, but my attention is all on Emily as she rubs against me. Damp kisses pepper my throat as she rocks me to the edge of another orgasm, and I clutch her to me like a man lost in a storm. Another wave of cum pumps out of me, and she threads her fingers through my hair, humming as she pulls my mouth to her throat. “Bite me, Lang. I want you to claim me.”
My teeth graze her skin, her sweet perfume saturating my senses. I swallow against a throb of need. “Emily…”
“Please, Lang,” she whines, her nails clawing at my back, and the only thing that stops me is the growl of warning from Creed. I can feel my alpha thrashing under my skin, desperate to make her mine, but when I flick a glance at Finn, he doesn’t so much as blink. Of course he doesn’t , because this is exactly what he wants, despite his decision to sit on the sidelines during her heat. If I claim Emily, then she’s ours for good. Not only will it help manage Soren’s condition, but it will lay the foundation on which Finn will bind his pack.
But I’ll be damned if I’m the one who takes Emily’s choices away when she’s drunk on a heat haze.
“We can talk about this after, when you’re clear-headed.” I stroke her dewy cheek, torn between reason and the instincts battering inside me. “I’d hate for you to regret chaining yourself to us once your heat is over.”
It’s true -even if I have to force the words out - but Emily pushes off my chest, her hazel eyes narrowing to dangerous points. “I know the difference between a claim and a chain, Lang.” She twists her arm to show me a messy scar on her wrist. I’ve caught glimpses of it before, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it for what it is: some fucker’s attempt at forcing a mating bond. “This is what it looks like when an alpha doesn’t give you a choice.”
Rage twists through me, hotter than I’ve ever felt, but Emily is cupping my face, her hips gently dancing over mine. The pull of her body is hypnotic, but it’s the look in her eyes that sinks all the way to my soul. “I know what I want, Lang. Do you feel the same?”
“Yes.” There’s no way I can deny it, even with Creed staring me down from the side of the nest. He’s close enough to pull me off her, but he doesn’t move as I say, “I want to claim you as my mate, Emily Nash.”
The blush that climbs her neck makes her eyes glow, and I’m dazzled by the vision in my arms. My mate. The missing part of me that has now clicked into place, just like Finn predicted. I cast a glance his way, shocked by the softness reflected in his eyes. For once, the shutters are all open, his gaze full of so much affection I feel it all the way to my toes. Tearing my attention away, I slowly take in the others. Creed is silent and watchful, but Soren is almost bouncing as he clings to Derek. “Don’t keep us hanging, Alpha. It’s time to claim our sweet girl like she asked.”
But it’s not Soren’s permission I’m seeking. “Derek?”
Emily is warm and soft in my arms, but she turns almost molten as their eyes catch and his big hand reaches out to clasp hers. “I’ve never told Em what to think, and I’m not going to start now.” He arches a brow at me, the challenge clear in his face. “But remember, we’re a package deal, so if she’s in, I’m in.”