Chapter 11 #2
All I cared about was that I was back with them. Touching them, reminding myself this was real.
I was safe.
“Kane? Caspian?” I asked, glancing around.
“They’re upstairs. I don’t think they knew you were coming back. None of us did. But Rydell heard something, and I felt—”
“The bond,” Rydell said firmly. “Something I want to talk about.”
I was already moving around them, heading inside. “Caspian! Kane!” My voice rang out in the building. It smelled like chemicals, cleaners, and a hint of my pack.
Wrong, but much better than the hellscape I was in.
There was a thunder of footsteps as Caspian and Kane launched themselves down the stairs. Their eyes were frantic as they rushed toward me.
My blond alpha reached me first, pulling me close just like the others, crushing me to him. I swear I was going to be bruised just from their hugs alone, but I’d take them happily.
It was a reminder that I was alive.
Caspian took a shaky breath, studying me as he held me back just far enough to make sure I was intact.
“I’m okay. They didn’t have a chance to hurt me,” I reassured him.
“Oh, thank god,” Kane said, pulling me into a hug of his own. “I’ll be much more gentle than the others.”
“We have a lot to talk about before this heat hits,” Ares said after Kane and I had a moment to hold each other tight. “I want you to have everything I can possibly give you right now.”
“Shower, food, and then we can talk nesting,”
“Food, nesting talk, then shower,” he countered my offer with one of his own.
“And tea,” Kane supplied, taking my hand and leading me toward what I assumed was the kitchen.
“That sounds nice,” I admitted, but stopped walking. “Except for the fact that I’m covered in blood.”
I glanced down at myself and back up at my pack. “I’m taking a shower before I even touch food. Do you see this?”
It was as if he was taking me in for the first time, and he winced. “Okay, you’re right. You definitely should wash that off.”
I turned around to face Ledger, the alpha I knew had kept them all together, made sure Rydell wasn’t losing his mind completely, kept everyone safe, and led the search for me. I held my hand out to him.
“Join me?”
Ledger didn’t hesitate to put his hand in mine and follow me upstairs, a grin on his face. I glanced back long enough to tell Ares that I’d be down soon.
“You sure you want me to help you? I understand if you need space.”
He barely got the words out when I scoffed.
“Space is the last thing I want right now. I’ve had space, and I’ve had plenty of time to think while I was locked in that cell and injected with heat meds.
You guys were the only things that kept me from losing my mind.
I knew I had to fight to get back to you, that I had to try whatever I could to make it out alive. I was prepared to fight.”
“You did fight.”
“Oh god, I killed a man, Ledger,” I admitted. Horror and disgust hit me right in the chest.
“You protected yourself,” he corrected me, “and don’t you ever doubt that for a second. Do you hear me, Wilding? That man had to die. Tell me you understand that.”
I took a shaky breath and nodded.
“In reality, I did know that,” I admitted quietly. “But he wanted to—”
“I know, Wilding. But he didn’t get that chance. You made sure of it. In fact, he can’t hurt any other omegas ever again.”
I let out a long breath, realizing he was right. I had made sure that man couldn’t cause any more harm.
“You did good. You did what you had to do to survive, and you did survive.”
“Only because you came for me,” I admitted. “The fight was out of desperation, my body was spent.”
“I’ll always come for you. Hell, I nearly called my father. I was willing to risk it all for you.”
My eyes widened at his words. “You didn’t call him, did you?”
“Of course, not,” he said quickly. “Well, I shouldn’t say that. I was very fucking close. But Ares talked me out of it. Told me to trust him.”
“He sure likes to ask us to trust him,” I grumbled, but couldn’t stop the smile. It was nice knowing he had the calm control we all could use a little more of in our lives.
“I think that’s for good reason,” he said. “Look at all the resources he brought.”
“If he’s going to get everyone out of there, then I have to believe him.”
“He will,” Ledger agreed. “Now, how about that shower? I have a feeling Ares and the others won’t wait long for us.”
“They better, or they’re going to see more of you than they asked for,” I joked.
“I’m not worried about that. They better get used to it. If we’re going to go through a heat, they’re going to see a lot more than my bare ass.”
His words had a laugh bubbling out of me.
“Is it silly that I’m nervous about this heat? Like, I’m so excited, I want to spend this heat with you guys…”
“But you’ve also never had a heat,” he finished for me.
“Exactly.”
“Well, this is your chance to feel normal. To have a heat and the nest you deserve.”
“I do deserve it,” I said softly. “Though, I don’t really know what to do for a nest. I’ve never had a chance to think about it. I barely was allowed a blanket before here, and ARC doesn’t give omegas nesting supplies.”
Ledger hummed softly as he started the shower, waiting until steam filled the room before he curled his fingers at the hem of the dress.
“Can I help you?”
I held my hands up and nodded, allowing him to help me out of the awful white fabric I never wanted to see again.
“I’m tired of not being able to smell your scent through all this blood,” he admitted. “I wish I could have given you a soft life, one where you never had to deal with any of this.”
“Unfortunately, that’s not possible,” I said. “But you came for me, Ledger. You got me out of there and you’re going to remind me why you’re the only ones who ever gets to touch me.”
“I’ll remind you that you belong to me, just as much as I belong to you. There is no other omega in this world for me… just you.”
Curiosity won out. Even though this moment was meant to be between me and Ledger, I couldn’t help but ask the question that lingered in my mind.
“What about Ansel? Sometimes I wonder if he’ll change his mind one day.”
“To be blunt,” Ledger said, “Ansel is not my scent-match. I’d gladly help him through a heat if he wanted me to. He’s my packmate and I care about him. You know that I’d do anything to make sure he’s safe and comfortable. But it’s not the same as how I feel about you.”
“I feel like I’m stealing something from Ansel. Like I claimed all of you alphas, and I won’t allow him to have one. It makes me feel petty and selfish.”
“You would never do that. If Ansel was our scent-match and we wanted him the same way we wanted you, and he wanted the same, you’d allow it.
Your heart is huge and you’d want us all to be happy.
No matter what society says should happen, that’s just not our dynamic, and that’s okay.
Ansel doesn’t want an alpha, and I respect that. ”
“I just worry sometimes,” I admitted with a sigh. “I don’t want him to be unhappy.”
“Well then,” Ledger said, smiling softly. “Good thing you’re enough to make him happy, to make all of us happy.”
With that he pulled the dress off of me and over my head. I was naked underneath and shivered in the cold and the weight of my alpha’s stare.
Leger didn’t say anything else as he helped me into the shower, his hands brushing my hair over my shoulders before lathering his hands up with soap. He gently massaged them over my skin, adding more as he needed it, and working out every sore muscle.
The damage on my feet wasn’t as bad as I expected other than a bit of lingering soreness but he washed them just as carefully.
When he was finally satisfied that no speck of the forest or the attack were on my skin, he spun me around with a grin.
My eyes drifted closed as he massaged shampoo and then conditioner into my hair, fingers working their magic and relaxing me enough I thought I might just turn into a puddle.
Then he was rinsing me off, placing a kiss on my wet forehead when I was facing him again.
“Alright, my sweet omega. You smell like you again.” To emphasize his point he buried his nose in my neck and shoulder, breathing in for a few moments as the water rained over us, warming me until I stopped shaking.
Having his hands all over me had my heat perking up. Not a spike, but enough I was feeling needy all over again.
I didn’t want to ruin the moment but I needed his touch.
I shouldn’t have worried. Leger always seemed to know exactly what I needed. His soft kisses and brushes of his fingers shifted from sweet, to possessive.
“You smell amazing,” he breathed out as he dropped to his knees right there on the shower floor. I watched him sink down, heart pounding as this gorgeous alpha looked up at me like I was everything he could ever want or need.
My gaze drifted slowly down his muscled form until I reached his cock. It was hard and leaking and now all I could focus on was having him inside of me.
“Please,” I begged, a rush of slick leaking down my legs now.
“I’m going to make you come for me,” he promised as he guided my hands to his shoulder before hooking one leg over his arm, spreading me open for him.
Ledger leaned down, licking my pussy slowly, cleaning up all of the slick he coaxed from my body. I cried out softly as his tongue flicked over my clit, two fingers sinking into my core.
There were no desperate, hurried movements. He took his time as he savored my taste and scent, doing everything he knew I liked until I was riding the edge of my release, nails digging into his skin as I tried to hold myself together.
Ledger groaned every time I whimpered, a fresh wave of slick filling his mouth. His tongue caught every drop eagerly as he gently fucked me with his fingers, never faltering his pace.
Finally, he curled the fingers and sucked hard on my clit, a silent command to fall apart for him. To give him my release.
My body folded like a deck of cards, hips snapping forward as my orgasm radiated through every inch of my body. My muscles were so tight that they ached more than ever, but the relief I felt as it hit was pure fucking bliss.
He leaned back, tilting his head into the water to wash away the evidence of what we’ve done.
“We don’t want to break the others, now do we?” he teased with a wink before helping me stand on my own and climbing to his feet. He captured my lips in a final, claiming kiss.
I could taste myself on his tongue, but underneath that was all Ledger. Between his scent and mine, and the way he owned my body, I could feel the heat creeping in. Everything felt more intense, every sense on fire for him.
“Stay with me a little longer, Wildling. We have to make a nest for you,” he said, stepping back so cold air cut between us, chasing away the fog.
My stomach rumbled loudly and I sighed. “You’re right. And I need food in the worst way.”
“Let’s go.” He held out his hand, and I put mine in his, letting him pull me out of the shower. He had a towel waiting, meticulously drying every inch of me.
He peeked out the door to find a stack of clothes waiting. Instead of grabbing the ones meant for me, he handed over a long t-shirt that fell past my knees. I pressed my nose to the fabric and breathed in, dark plum, leather, ink, and violet filling my senses.
Rydell.
My temperature spiked but he didn’t let me linger, tugging me gently toward the others.
We had quite a bit to discuss, because by the end of this heat, they were all finally going to be mine.
The bite marks on my skin would finally be my choosing, ones that tied me to these men forever.
Exactly as I was always meant to be.