Raff’s Old Room #2
Adam's gaze flickers down, catching both our movements. A faint pink stains his cheeks, and he looks away quickly. His shyness is so out of character it's like a punch to the gut.
The beta is never this timid when it comes to sex.
It speaks volumes about how much he's struggling right now.
I caress Adam's cheek as I pass him. Raff does the same, letting his hand linger for a second longer.
Twenty minutes later, we're clean. Or clean enough.
The hot water stung every cut and scrape on my body, but it felt good to wash the day off.
Raff found butterfly bandages in Odette's medicine cabinet and closed the gash above my eyebrow while I stood there dripping on the bathmat.
The graze on my bicep is wrapped in gauze that's already spotting red, but it'll hold through the night.
We make our way down the hallway in borrowed sweatpants and nothing else.
The house is dark now. Through the living room doorway, I can see Perrin stretched out on the floor beside the couch, a pillow under his head and a blanket pulled to his chest. Elowen is still curled on the cushions above him, motionless. Neither of them stirs.
Adam is already in bed when we get inside, tucked under the covers on the far side, facing away from us. He looks asleep, but I know better. His breathing is too even. The kind you do when you're trying very hard to seem like you're not awake.
Raff catches my eye in the dim room. The light from the hallway cuts a thin line across his face before I close the door, and in that brief second I see the same thought I'm having reflected back at me.
Our sweet boy is feeling shy.
The door clicks shut, and Raff’s hand finds my arm in the dark, his grip firm as we move toward the bed.
My body is a mess of aches—the graze on my arm, the split skin on my knuckles, the deep bruising on my ribs—but underneath it all is a different kind of ache, a gnawing emptiness where my pack feels fractured.
I move first, climbing into bed behind the beta. Adam is curled on the far edge of the mattress, as close to falling off as he can get without actually hitting the floor. Like he's trying to take up as little space as possible. Like he's not sure he belongs in this bed tonight.
That's not going to work.
I slip my arm around his middle and pull, gently but firmly, dragging him toward the center of the mattress. He resists for a second, his body stiff, a small sound catching in his throat.
"Come here," I murmur. “I need you between us.”
He lets me move him. His back settles against my chest, and I can feel how rigid he is, every muscle locked tight.
And his scent is off too. He smells like sun-warmed cotton, salt, and the clean soap from his shower, but threaded through all of it is something sharp and acrid that makes my chest ache.
Distress.
I've scented plenty of betas in my life. They don't carry emotion in their scent the way omegas and alphas do. It's muted and incredibly subtle. Half the time you'd miss it if you weren't paying attention. But Adam's distress has always cut through his natural scent like a knife through paper.
Raff slips into bed on the other side. The mattress dips and Adam is between us now, sandwiched in our shared warmth. Right where he belongs.
But he's still so damn tense, his controlled breaths making it clear that he wants us to believe he’s asleep.
"You're not sleeping," I murmur against the back of his neck.
The smallest whisper drifts from the beta. "No."
I wrap my arm across his waist and pull him tighter against me. In the dim moonlight seeping through the lace curtains, I can see Raff's hand find Adam's, their fingers lacing together across the beta’s stomach. Adam's breath hitches, and his shoulders tremble once, then still.
He needs this.
I can see it in the way his body fights between pulling away and pressing closer, wanting to be held but not sure he deserves it right now.
The tension in his muscles is at war with the way his fingers grip Raff's hand, knuckles going white in the silver light, holding on like he's scared we'll let go.
We won't.
I press my lips to the back of his neck. Raff brings Adam's hand to his mouth and kisses his knuckles.
And slowly, one breath at a time, the wire-tight tension in Adam's body begins to ease. Not all the way. Not tonight. But enough that his breathing deepens and his shoulders drop, and he lets himself sink into the space between us.
"I've got you," I whisper against his skin. "We've got you."
His hand tightens in Raff's as I kiss the knob of his spine. I taste clean skin and the faint salt of his sweat. I let my hand slide from his hip, down over the soft skin of his belly, feeling the abs quiver under my touch. Raff’s hand follows, tracing the line of his collarbone, his thumb stroking the hollow of his throat.
"Look at you," I breathe against his skin. "So fucking perfect."
Raff hums in agreement, his mouth finding the sensitive spot right behind Adam's ear. "So beautiful, Adam. The most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
Adam lets out a shaky breath, a sound that's half a whimper, half a sigh. He turns his head a fraction of an inch, and I capture his lips.
It's a soft kiss at first, a gentle press, but he opens for me immediately, his tongue meeting mine with a desperate hunger. He tastes like mint toothpaste and need.
Raff kisses his neck, his jaw, his shoulder, his hands roaming over Adam's chest, pinching a nipple through the thin cotton of his shirt.
Our sweet boy arches into our touch, his body finally responding, the pretense of sleep forgotten.
He rolls onto his back, caught between us, and we both move with him.
I kiss him again, deeper this time, while Raff pushes his T-shirt up, exposing his chest to the cool air.
Then the alpha leans down, his mouth closing over one of Adam's nipples, his tongue swirling around the peak, making Adam gasp into my mouth.
"We've been wanting this all night," I say, pulling back to look at him. His eyes are gleaming in the dim light, his lips swollen from my kiss. "Fuck, I need you."
"Yes," Raff echoes, his voice muffled against Adam's skin. "Felt like I was going crazy."
I move down the bed, hooking my fingers into the waistband of Adam’s boxers.
He lifts his hips without hesitation, and I pull them down, freeing his cock.
It's hard and leaking against his stomach.
I wrap my hand around it, stroking him slowly, and he whimpers, his head falling back against the pillows.
"Alpha," he breathes, his voice ragged.
"Shh," I soothe, leaning down to run my tongue along the underside of his shaft. "Let us take care of you."
Raff moves up the bed, straddling Adam's chest, his knees bracketing Adam's arms. I quickly sit up to watch as Raff braces one hand against the headboard, the other cupping Adam's cheek. "Open up for me, beautiful," he murmurs.
Adam obeys instantly, his mouth opening to take Raff in. I watch Adam’s throat work as he swallows Raff down, his lips stretched wide around Raff's thick length. The sight is obscene, perfect.
I bend my head back down, taking Adam into my mouth, sucking him down until he hits the back of my throat. The beta moans around Raff's cock, the vibration making Raff curse under his breath.
We find a rhythm, a messy, desperate dance of mouths and hands. I worship Adam's cock with my tongue, tasting his pre-come, feeling him throb against my palate. I can feel his body tensing, his thighs shaking, and I know he's close.
"Not yet," Raff says, pulling back slightly. He shifts, moving off Adam's chest. “I need to see our alpha fuck you.”
I release Adam with a final, lingering lick, and he whines at the loss. I move back up the bed, capturing his mouth in a deep, possessive kiss. "Turn over," I command, my voice low. "On your hands and knees."
The beta scrambles to obey, his body pliant and eager. He positions himself on his hands and knees in the center of the bed, his back arched, his ass presented to us.
He's breathtaking.
Raff moves behind him, his hands kneading the firm globes of Adam's ass. "Christ," he says, his voice thick with admiration. “Look at this perfect ass.”
He leans in, and I watch as he spreads Adam open, his tongue delving into the furrowed cleft. Adam cries out, then shoves his face into the pillow, biting down on the fabric to muffle the sound. His arms tremble and his fingers twist in the sheets.
I move in front of him, kneeling on the mattress, and grip his hair, tilting his head back. I feed him my cock, and he takes me eagerly, his mouth hot and wet.
Raff eats him out with a single-minded focus, his tongue fucking into Adam's hole, his hands holding him open. Adam is moaning continuously now, a desperate, needy sound that vibrates around my cock. He's lost in it, lost in us, the scent of his arousal filling the room.
"He's ready for you," Raff says, pulling back. He gives Adam's ass a final, appreciative slap. "So fucking ready."
I pull out of Adam's mouth and move behind him, replacing Raff. I line myself up, pressing the head of my cock against his slick, loosened entrance. "Look at me," I say to Raff.
The alpha meets my gaze over Adam's back, his eyes dark with lust as I push into Adam in one slow, steady thrust, burying myself to the hilt. Adam groans, his back arching, his hands fisting in the sheets.
"Fuck, yes," I breathe, my hands gripping his hips. "So tight. So good for me."
Raff kneels in front of Adam. He takes Adam's face in his hands, his thumbs stroking his cheekbones. "You're doing so good, baby," he murmurs. "Taking him so well. You look so fucking beautiful like this."
I start to move, my strokes slow and deep, angling to hit that spot inside him that makes him see stars. With every thrust, he cries out, his body rocking forward. Raff catches his mouth in a searing kiss, swallowing his cries, his hands stroking Adam's chest, his belly, his cock.
"You're ours," I say, my voice a low growl. "All ours. No one else. Only us."
"Yes," Adam gasps, his voice breaking. “I’m yours.”
His words are like a match to gasoline.
My control snaps, and in one fluid, powerful motion, I pull out, flip Adam onto his back, and yank his hips up.
I force his knees toward his chest, folding him nearly in half, exposing him completely.
The sight of him, spread open and vulnerable, his hole slick and gaping from my cock, makes my body throb.
And I slam back into him, burying myself to the hilt in one brutal thrust.
The new angle is devastatingly perfect.
I pound into my beta, my hips slapping against his ass with a wet, rhythmic sound that fills the room.
Each punishing thrust drives his body into the mattress, his cock bouncing wildly, slapping against his own stomach with a wet, fleshy smack.
He's writhing beneath me, a mess of whimpers and choked cries.
Raff moves quickly, his hand wrapping around Adam's neglected cock, jerking him off in time with my brutal rhythm. His fist is a blur, his grip tight and sure, twisting on the upstroke. The dual sensations are too much for Adam.
He's caught between the force of my thrusts and the relentless pull of Raff's hand, his body a vessel for our pleasure.
"Come for us, Adam," Raff commands in a whisper. "Come now."
Adam's body bows, his head dropping back, his orgasm ripping through him without a sound. He comes all over Raff's hand and his own belly, his inner muscles clamping down on me. The sensation is too much, and I follow him over the edge with a stifled grunt, pouring myself into him.
But something is different.
A strange pressure builds at the base of my cock. It's not the full, violent expansion of a true knot, but a distinct, undeniable swell.
The hot bulge presses against Adam's entrance, stretching him a little more, and my breath hitches. And Adam's reaction is instantaneous.
A sharp, broken gasp tears from his throat, his back arching off the bed as his body goes taut.
His eyes, which had been squeezed shut in pleasure, fly open, wide and disbelieving.
He looks down at where we're joined, then back up at my face, and a slow, beautiful smile spreads across his lips.
It's not a simple smile of pleasure. It's one of pure, unadulterated awe and joy, as if he's been given the most precious gift in the world.
"Cliff," he breathes, my name a sweet whisper on his lips. "You...you're..." He trails off as I push deeper, making the beta’s eyes roll into the back of his head.
The sight of his unbridled happiness is stunning, but it's overshadowed by a dawning, impossible realization. Alphas don't knot betas.
It's a fundamental part of our biology, a function reserved only for omegas after a mating bond has formed.
But this…this is happening.
The sensation is a perfect, snug pressure that detonates up my spine and wipes my brain clean. It's a shocking, intimate secret between my body and his, a feeling so profoundly right it stops me cold for a full breath.
"Fuck me," Raff’s eyes flashing as he stares at the inflated base of my shaft, a half-formed knot stretching Adam's ass.
The sight is so raw that it shatters the alpha’s control. He wraps a hand around his own cock, his strokes fast and desperate. With a choked groan, he comes, painting Adam's stomach and dick in thick, white ropes.
Exhausted, Raff collapses in a heap next to Adam.
We're a tangle of limbs and heaving breaths, a sweaty, sticky, sated mess. I'm still stuffed inside Adam, my under-inflated knot a deep, throbbing presence. Raff lies down beside us, his arm thrown over Adam's middle, his hand resting on my hip, his release cooling on Adam's skin between us.
I lean down, my lips finding the raised, silvered scar of the mating bite on the side of Adam's neck. I press a soft kiss to it, my tongue darting out to taste the familiar salt of his skin. A low, contented hum vibrates through the beta’s chest, a sound of pure satisfaction.
"I love you," I murmur against the mark.
"Love you too, beta," Raff echoes, his voice thick with emotion.
Adam makes a soft, contented sound, snuggled beneath me. His body finally relaxes, his breathing even and natural.