Chapter 28 Quinn #2
A second grape presses against his mouth, and the alpha looks hopeful.
He pulls back before Connall can trick him again. Turning away, he mutters, “No.” Not thank you, just No. No to everything.
Connall’s face falls, wintry scent frosting over so fast it burns Quinn’s nose.
Quinn grits his teeth. He doesn’t make any excuses. Doesn’t explain. He doesn’t owe this man anything.
“Is there anything other than fruit?” Soren calls.
With a last look at him, Connall grabs a wedge of cheese from the fridge. It’s Parmesan.
“Shit, big man. You can’t expect them to gnaw that off the rind.” Quinn tears it from his grasp, not expecting Connall to narrow his eyes.
Oops. Never take food from a rutting alpha.
“I’ll make up a board with some stuff you can feed them, okay?”
The alpha has bared teeth and is reaching for the cheese when what Quinn says penetrates the fog.
“Okay. I…can help?” Connall gets out. It’s so hesitant, it’s freaking endearing. Big, naked, and sweet. Quinn likes them like that as much as he likes the soft, sweet, and small. Or smart, sassy, and funny. Or tall, lean, and occasionally goofy. Or bespectacled, nerdy, and with an oral fixation.
The rest of their mates are watching them. Soren is crouched over the dozing Elias, hand on Isaac’s wrist. Even Kaian, who can’t smell the tension, is wringing his hands.
Fuck. He’s not helping. This is important to them, even if it’s not the same to him. Quinn may be an asshole, but he’s never been mean on purpose.
“Sorry,” Quinn mutters. “I’ll do it on my own.”
Connall’s face falls, but Quinn hasn’t a clue as to why.
“Okay. If you’re sure?”
“Yeah. I work better alone.”
Connall tilts his head at that but takes his bowl of grapes back to the living room, placing Elias’s head in his lap and finally eating the grape he’d offered to Quinn.
Quinn listens to his mates talking while he cuts cheese and rolls slices of turkey, placing them on a large wooden cutting board.
He doesn’t know the first thing about charcuterie boards, but his Mama used to make him a “love plate” when he was a kid.
Snack-style lunches on a divided plate with crackers and cheese, and sometimes chocolate chips if his Grand-mère wasn’t home.
When he’s done, it’s laden with enough food for five grown men or one rutting alpha. Sliding the board off the counter, he takes it over to the makeshift nest.
“Thank you, Quinn,” Connall murmurs, his fingers touching Quinn’s when he accepts it with a proud smile. “Looks good.”
“Cheese! The nectar of the gods!” Isaac opens his mouth like a baby bird, eyes on Quinn. “Feed me.”
Elias is still lying with his head in Connall’s lap, mouth around Connall’s semi-hard dick. But Quinn feels his soft fingers on his leg with a squeeze. Fuck.
“Stay,” Soren murmurs. He tries to pull Quinn down, but he is already backing away. It is almost harder to break away from the affection than it had been to walk away from the pack sex.
“I’ll just clean up—”
The kitchen is hardly far enough away. But he starts washing the dishes and utensils he’d used to prepare the meal anyway. Eyes down, he tries to make his mind go blank.
“Hey,” Kaian murmurs as he slips his arms around his waist. “Okay?”
He doesn’t know if Kaian is asking if he is okay in general or if he’s asking about the hug. Either way, the touch reassures him.
“Yeah.” He slips the sharp knives into the drainboard. “You?”
Kaian had done well to stay out of Connall’s reach, and the alpha had seemed to understand that Kaian was off-limits, showing a restraint Quinn had been leery of for the first few hours.
After they’d borne witness to Connall’s claiming of Soren, they’d all slipped into an exhausted doze—everyone except Quinn, who couldn’t get Soren’s contented expression out of his mind.
The way the claim had seemed to settle everything that had been driving him for years.
Connall had hauled Isaac and Elias close, pressing them between himself and Soren, then beckoned Kaian in, inviting him to lay his head on Soren’s chest. And Kaian had done it, too.
With zero self-preservation, he’d scooched in close, tugged Quinn in behind him, and been out in seconds.
Connall hadn’t laid a finger on either of them, respecting Quinn’s unspoken boundaries.
He’d not been able to get the whole day out of his mind.
Burning behind his eyes as he’d watched them all sleep.
His wolf had been livid then, too. His cock was so hard he’d ached to his bones, his wolf had tried everything he could to get Quinn to break.
An hour later, Connall had rolled Isaac on his belly, still asleep, and taken him from behind while Soren had watched through half-closed lids.
It hadn’t been long before Elias and Kaian were sharing Soren’s hardness between them. A knot of mates using hands and mouths to bring pleasure, their moans and sighs adding fuel to the fire in Quinn’s belly.
A few moments later, he’d risen to make them something to eat.
Now he’s still aching.
“Kai, you should…”
“Let you fuck me?” The dirty words break through Quinn’s mental walls. He’d been working so hard thinking of nothing that he’d almost missed it.
“What? Aren’t you—” Quinn gestures to the living space where Connall is lying, head on Soren’s chest. Elias and Isaac are gone, but the shower is on down the hall.
How long had he been standing here with the tap running, caught up in his own thoughts?
“Am I what?” Kaian turns the water off and turns him around. Uses the towel to dry his hands.
“I don’t know.” Now that he’s looking at Kaian, he can’t remember what he was going to say. Long hair tucked behind his ears, his mouth is kissed raw, and there are a few purple marks sucked into his chest. His left nipple is bright red, as if someone had been sucking on it or pinching it hard.
Kaian had been making out with Isaac and Elias earlier, both Weres working to put on a show for Soren while Connall dozed.
Quinn hadn’t let himself watch, his grip on his control hanging on by a thread.
When Kaian had cried out, Quinn had watched Isaac and Elias share a long, sloppy, come-slick kiss.
“Jesus, bébé.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Kaian smirks.
“What if I—” Quinn says aloud, and he realizes he is genuinely afraid he might bite their Human mate. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Kaian cups his jaw. Dark eyes glowing in the low light. “I trust you.”
No false reassurances. No suggested chaperone. Just the simple words. Surprisingly, it’s enough for Quinn.
“Okay.” Quinn finds what he’s looking for on the breakfast bar. Choosing a lube, he cracks the top, peeling the sticker away. He knows exactly how he wants to do this.
“Turn around and hands on the counter.”
Kaian shivers, goosebumps covering his arms.
“You are so fucking sexy, Quinn Lomax,” Kaian full names him, and it’s way better than when he’d been “in trouble” before.
“Hang on, bébé.” Quinn lifts him onto the counter, setting him on his hands and knees. Kaian’s now facing Soren and Connall in the living room. They have the alphas undivided.
“This okay?” Quinn asks.
Kaian squeaks out an affirmative right away, but Quinn is waiting for Soren and Connall to reply. He needs to know that Soren has Connall in hand, and even though he won’t admit it, he needs something from Connall too.
They both nod.
“I prepped already, alpha,” Kaian whispers. “Izzy helped.”
Quinn pulls apart Kaian’s soft cheeks so he can get at his leaking hole. The scent of lime sugar is strong. His pink hole is glistening and still open, a trail of slick slipping down his thigh.
“Fuck, that’s pretty. You smell so good. Bet it tastes even better.” Quinn’s mouth waters. “You tell me to stop if it’s too much.”
He’s done waiting and rubs his thumb over the opening. Pulling it apart, more slick slips past. Fuck, how much had Isaac used to open him up?
The ring of muscle gives way easily, and Quinn’s thumb slips inside. Kaian’s hands buckle, and he goes to his elbows, almost pitching forward over the countertop and onto the floor.
“I’m good!” Kaian squeaks. “Don’t stop. Please.”
Quinn slides two fingers in easily up to the last knuckle. Pulling them out again, he sucks them into his mouth. Sweetness bursts on his tongue, and he can’t help the moan that slips out.
Fuck does he need more of that.
Quinn pushes his tongue in alongside his pumping fingers, lapping and sucking up Isaac’s slick from Kaian’s hole as he shakes and shudders.
A sheen of sweat and slick cover the insides of his golden thighs.
There’s something underneath the lime, turning the flavor more like a tropical cocktail than a tangy dessert.
“Jesus, you are perfect. Taste so good here, bébé. Like candy. Makes me want to mark you up.” Quinn stands up again and meets Connall’s eyes over Kaian’s smooth spine with a smirk.
Sucking his fingers into his mouth, he cleans every last drop of slick from the digits before using his thumbs to pull the winking hole open. “Push out. I want the rest.”
A long, low moan precedes a stream of fluid out of Kaian’s opening and down the inside of his thigh. Quinn gives in to the urge to smack it with two fingers.
Kaian wails, droplets of clear fluid joining the mess on the countertop.
“Shit—sorry. I didn’t ask if that was all right—”
“Again,” Kaian gasps. “Please, Quinn. I need—”
Euphoria hits Quinn’s dick so hard he has to get a hand under his half-formed knot or this would have been over too fast. When he’s sure he won’t come, he gives Kaian what he needs: he slaps his hole three more times, his own cock jerking in his jeans as Kaian comes on the counter, finally falling onto his belly with a wail.
His feet don’t quite reach the floor from this angle, so Quinn guides him down until he can find his balance again.
Kaian turns in his arms and exhales against his chest, boneless. “That was so good. Can we do that again?”
Quinn huffs a quiet laugh. “What part?”