Chapter 28
I extracted myself from the nest when I heard rustling downstairs. Ava was deep in sleep, not stirring at all when I climbed out. I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and slipped down the stairs, finding Bryce and Luke creeping inside.
“Glad to see you two made it back without a single murder being committed.”
“We went on the zip line !” Bryce said much too loudly.
Luke closed his hand over Bryce’s mouth, grimacing. “Sorry. I bet him he couldn’t drink the hundred-ounce margarita, and he won.”
“Oh god. He’s gonna throw up, isn’t he?”
“He did that on the way home out the cab window, so hopefully he’s good the rest of the night.”
“How pissed was the driver?”
Luke shrugged. “Not very, considering Moneybags gave him a two-grand tip.”
Relief washed over me. I raised an eyebrow, watching them. Luke seemed relaxed, amused, totally unlike himself when it came to Bryce. Maybe all it had taken was liquor and adrenaline for them to come to terms with each other.
Bryce pried Luke’s hand down. “It was fucking delicious.”
“Happy to hear it,” I said with a laugh.
“Going down…not coming back up,” Bryce clarified.
“You had fun overall, though?”
“ So much fun,” Bryce replied, dragging Luke into a hug. Apparently Bryce was an affectionate drunk. That was good to know. “Luke is way cooler when he’s being nice.”
“Imagine that.” I tapped Luke’s ass with the side of my foot on my way to the kitchen to get Bryce some water. “Ava’s asleep, so try to keep it down.”
Bryce frowned. “I miss her.”
“Of course you do.” I passed him a glass of water, entertained as hell by this version of him. “Drink this and then you can go climb in with her.”
“You guys are the best.” He swallowed the water down with almost terrifying speed, leading me to wonder if he had been a chugging champion in his university days. He was already stripping down on his way up the stairs, leaving a trail of clothing in his wake.
“You think he’ll be okay with her like this?” Luke asked.
“I’m sure he’ll be fine. Jesse’s up there and I assume we’re not going to be down here for too much longer.”
“I guess that’s fair.”
“Did you get what you wanted out of tonight?”
“Mostly.” Luke shrugged. “He feels a lot more like an actual human now.”
“What the fuck was he before?”
“Gilded statue in a museum.”
“You’re gonna have to get over the fact that he has a lot more money than we do.” I patted Luke on the shoulder and got each of us some water as well to sip. “He’s not being a dick about his dollars. He’s using it to make our lives easier, to give Ava everything she deserves.”
“I know that. It’s just that I want to be able to give her what she deserves.”
“You’re doing that by making Bryce feel welcome here.”
Luke said nothing for a while but eventually nodded.
“We played with your favorite hole tonight,” I told him.
He froze, pupils dilating. “I…did not think Ava would be down for that.”
“It was her first time. Safe to say it won’t be her last.”
He ground his palm against his crotch. “Don’t say things like that to me. I can’t do anything about it.”
“Maybe not right this moment, but when I asked her if she wanted you and me to play with her together, her pussy damn near squeezed the life out of me.”
“ Micah ,” Luke growled, “shut the fuck up or I’m going to need a cold shower before bed.”
“Not my fault you’re fun to tease.” I leaned on the counter, watching him. “I’m going to ask her if she’ll bond me during her heat after the baby’s born.”
“Do you think she’ll be ready that soon?”
“I can only hope. She’s already bonded to Jesse.”
“Not by her own choice.”
“It doesn’t hurt to ask, though. I have no business living any life that doesn’t have her in it. I want to make things permanent, have our pack be official.”
“It can be official with paperwork,” Luke replied.
“Are you saying you don’t want to bond her?”
Luke sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I’d bond her tomorrow if she asked, but I’m still not sure I’m good enough to accept. Definitely not good enough to ask her myself. It feels like there’s so much up in the air still.”
“Like what? We have a pack house, we have a pregnant omega, we just had a baby shower. What on earth is up in the air?”
“Our jobs, dumbass. Bryce might have a full bank account, but I don’t want to live off him forever. Ava knows what we do, but I’m not sure how to move forward with any of it.”
“We could ask her.”
“And what if she wants us to take it off the table entirely?”
“Then you find something else you’re good at.”
Luke frowned. “I don’t have anything else I’m good at. Fuck, Micah, I don’t have skills.”
“Okay, okay.” I rounded the counter and dragged him into a hug. “Take a breath for me. What if this is an opportunity and not a catastrophe?”
“How so?” He didn’t pull away from the hug, but he didn’t lean into it either.
“I bet Bryce would fund you going to college. You never had the chance before and you could learn whatever you wanted.”
“I’m not taking his money.”
“Call it a loan, then. Pay it all back when you get a job in your chosen field.”
Luke huffed. “I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
“Start thinking about it. You have a financially stable support system now and we can afford for you to explore all the things that were taken away from you because you were escaping a shitty parent. In any case, let’s get some sleep before any panicking happens. Maybe it’ll all look clearer in the morning.”
“Okay, fair.”
Up in the nest, Jesse rolled over to let Luke slide in between him and Ava, and I stretched out next to Bryce. He was passed right out, his face buried in Ava’s hair. Even if not quite everything was sorted out yet, we were finally starting to feel like a real pack.
When morning finally rolled around, it was just Bryce, Ava, and I left in the nest. Ava looked so perfect and sweet fast asleep: her cheeks pink, sandy hair fanned over her pillow, lips soft. She slept curled on her side and Bryce was on her like a barnacle. That wasn’t at all surprising, considering how affectionate he’d been with Luke last night.
I took a quick moment to relieve myself and brush my teeth before returning to the nest, moving languorously as I sprawled out where I could easily access her pretty pussy.
I slipped the pillow from between her knees and carefully cradled her thigh to open her up to me. We had tired her out last night and I wanted her to wake up coming. She was asleep on a mountain of pillows so it was a simple matter to remove a few from where I was kneeling so I would be at the perfect height to fuck my sweet beauty into the waking world.
Even totally asleep, it was like she sensed my intentions, her scent shifting as my fingertips drew closer to the crux of her thighs. Ava let out a soft sigh, like she was remembering the night before in her dreams. I teased the pad of my thumb over her entrance, not delving in, and avoiding her clit for the moment, just alerting her body to prepare itself while her conscious mind was resting. It took only a few seconds before she was dripping slick.
Playing with my own omega like this was a thrill I had never experienced when I played with this kink during the live heats. The omegas who permitted it always had fun, and it wasn’t that I didn’t, but with Ava, I was desperate to give her every pleasure. I knew her shitty ex had been stingy on that front, and we were blessed that Ava was curious about so many opportunities to experience what she had missed out on. She was just as eager as we were to discover every new thing she might enjoy.
I braced both my palms against her ass and thigh, reminding myself to go slow. Her pussy might be begging to be filled, but it would still need time to adapt. Her eyes whipped back and forth beneath her closed lids, her scent rising. Bryce groaned quietly and tucked himself even closer to her.
I nudged him just enough to rouse him and held a finger to my lips.
“What?” he whispered.
“Now is your time to leave if you don’t want to watch me fuck her awake.”
He blinked rapidly, his eyes glassy from what I presumed to be a hangover. He growled dangerously once he’d processed my words. “You can’t do that while she’s asleep.”
“She gave me permission last night. She likes it.”
Bryce frowned and sat up carefully, giving me a full view of exactly how much he liked it too. “Are you serious?”
“Very. I would never do this without permission. Are you staying or going?”
Ava shifted, pulling the pillow at her chest tighter against her, but she didn’t wake, her breathing remaining smooth and even.
With a hand pressed against his forehead, Bryce lay back. Guess that meant he was staying.
I pressed the tip of my cock into her, slowly, incrementally, and pulled it back out, my skin shiny with slick. I kept a steady focus on Ava’s face, listening to her breathing and watching the adorable scrunch of her eyebrows as I worked my way in. She smelled like heaven and felt like a dream. Bryce took a lazy hand to his own cock, palm still on his forehead. Endorphins were certainly one way to nurse a hangover.
“That’s it, angel,” I whispered to Ava. “Let your alpha all the way in.”
Her fingers dug into her pillow. I started a smooth pattern now that there wasn’t an ounce of resistance and enough slick had formed that she was like silk against my cock.
The first moan left her and Bryce cursed, picking up his own speed. I kept my steady pace, reveling in the feel of her as she inched her way toward consciousness.
I chanced lifting her leg, hooking her knee over my shoulder and bracing her thigh with my arm while the other descended to work her clit. The next thrust was hard and fast, drawing her to the surface with a muffled cry, Ava burying her face against the fabric.
Her pussy clenched hard and I worked her clit, fucking her until her moaning and panting were the only thing in my world as she spilled over the edge again.
“Micah,” she gasped. “ Fuck .”
She trembled, her muscles straining as I helped her climb the next peak.
“That’s my girl. So fucking beautiful when you fall apart.”
Her keening whine shot straight down my spine and I slammed home just in time for her to come all over my knot. Watching her squirm and shake and grapple for control as the pleasure overwhelmed her was a sweet intoxication. Bryce spilled all over himself with a groan.
I kissed Ava’s knee where it was propped against me. “I think Bryce enjoyed the show.”
Ava let out an unsteady laugh. “Not as much as I enjoyed being in it. One more.”
That got Bryce moving and he rolled over, pressing against her back so he could reach her clit. Her eyes flared wide when he wedged his face against her throat and bit down, his fingers working at a brisk pace. Every ripple of pleasure had her squeezing me and I dug my fingers into her plush thigh while Bryce unraveled her.
She shivered head to toe, her teeth snaring the pillow as he plunged her over the slope.
When he finally let her rest, she burst into giggles.
“Something entertaining you, angel?”
Ava beamed at me. “Just thinking that’s one hell of a way to wake up.”
“Anytime you want it, just ask.”
“You’re going to spoil me.” She reached out, pulling me as close as I could get at this angle. It wasn’t enough for a kiss, so she turned her head to Bryce instead, their mouths a tangle of desire.
“If spoiling you means fucking you exactly the way you want, then hell yeah I’m going to spoil you.”