Chapter Three
CHAPTER THREE
“SO, OMEN, ARE you excited to be touring with this Primordial Covenant band?” Pops asks, sliding a basket overflowing with garlic bread onto the table before taking his seat. She signed a contract two days ago to be the tour photographer for the band Primordial Covenant, who are the headliners for the tour I am working as a manager-in-training.
To celebrate, my parents invited us to their house for dinner. Pops made his ‘famous’ stuffed shells—using a recipe he found on social media—one of my omega dad’s favorites. I guess my dad isn’t taking the news well that both of his girls are going on tour.
Omen’s practically drooling over the food, which makes Pops’ chest puff up with pride as he watches her load her plate full. I get it though. When Oms had first come to live with our family, it was a task to get her out of her bedroom, let alone to convince her to eat more than toddler sized portions. A reaction to the remnants of the trauma caused by her fucked up family. She wasn’t used to being able to eat whatever she wanted, let alone to ask for seconds.
Slowly but surely, she found her place with us. As soon as she accepted her new status as a Powell, my parents started doting on her the same as they always have me. We don’t push her limits much, but food is always the one form of affection she easily accepts.
“They are my favorite band, so yes. I’m ecstatic.”
We all sense the but, having expected my troubled best friend to struggle with the sudden influx of good fortune in her life.
“But?” Pops presses gently.
“We’ll be on tour for over two months. Sharing a small tour bus. It worries me.”
Ah, I hadn’t considered how difficult it would be to live on a tour bus with strangers when you have to take drastic steps to hide your identity. If the guys from Primordial Covenant see Omen without her icy blue contacts or notice the brown of her roots growing out, they might ask questions she can’t answer without outing herself as a Montgomery.
My dads share a look, one that says they have also been worried about this.
“We’ll make it work,” I promise. “I can help cover for you as needed. You aren’t in this alone, Oms.”
She gives me a strained smile, but her eyes show her relief. She knows I’ve always got her back. That’s what best friends are for.
“How’s packing going?” My mother asks, earning a groan from me. There is still a lot of stuff in my bedroom to put into boxes, but I’d rather pretend it will all magically pack itself. Mom laughs, patting my shoulder lightly as she passes me a bowl of salad.
Family dinners are my favorite. I’m going to miss them while we’re on tour, but Omen and I can make our own family dinners while we’re away.
“Bumblebee.”
I stop when I hear my omega dad call my name. “What’s up, Dad?”
“Be careful, okay?” His blue eyes grow teary as he pulls me in for a bear hug, squishing me against his chest. I awkwardly pat his back to soothe him. He’s a natural worrier. It was difficult enough to console him when we left for the Omega Academy four years ago, and that was a situation where we would only be a few hours’ drive away. Going on tour means we will be on the opposite side of the country at some points.
“We will be fine, Dad.”
“I know you think that but-“
“Come on, Forrest, you’re suffocating her.” Mom appears and gently pries his arms from around my back. She gives me a grateful smile before turning soft eyes on Dad.
I look just like her. The same dark curly hair, though hers is short while mine hangs around my shoulders. Golden bronze skin gives us a youthful complexion. We’re often mistaken for siblings instead of mother and daughter.
“Bea and Omen will both check in often. They’ve already promised you weekly video calls. Let them head back before it gets too late and you have another reason to fret over them.”
Dad concedes, sniffling as Mom drags him back into the house.
I mouth ‘thank you’ as I climb into the passenger seat of the car Omen and I share. She’s smiling up at the farmhouse door, having watched the entire interaction. I know sometimes it cuts her how deeply my family cares for me when her own family couldn’t care less about her. Bumping my shoulder against hers, I buckle myself in and hook my phone up to the radio.
“Please get us out of here before he has a full meltdown,” I joke.
She shakes her head and rolls her eyes as she pulls us out of the driveway and starts us on what will hopefully be our last trip back to the dorms at the Omega Academy.
Moving is a pain in my ass.
I started feeling the urge to nest late last night, which hasn’t helped my declining mood. My heat is way too close to have this many strangers in my space. I can only hope I will last through everyone helping us move into our new place.
“Come on, bumblebee,” Dad calls from the empty living room. I’m dragging my feet. Trying to force myself to leave the now empty bedroom and carry the last bag out to the car so we can head to Starburgh to meet Omen and the rest of our friends at the apartment.
I fidget through the drive, picking at the seams of my pants and trying not to freak out from how bright the car is. Dad notices though and slips his giant hoodie off to drop it over my head. His buttery popcorn scent fills my nose as I’m buried in the soft fabric. It’s big enough the hood flops down over my eyes, providing the darkness I need to keep myself calm.
I flash him a grateful smile and he squeezes my hand twice before pulling away. As a male omega, he understands all of my urges and instincts on a level my alpha fathers do not.
The urge to hide away in a dark place in anticipation of my upcoming heat is almost overwhelming, especially when there is so much to be done at the apartment. I feel awful for leaving Omen to unpack most of our stuff, but I’ll be checking into a heat suite tonight. There is no way I can handle a messy room with an incomplete nest right now.
The moving truck we rented sits outside of the tan stone building where our new apartment is. A small set of steps leads up into a tiny front yard with neatly kept flower beds beneath the living room window. The reinforced front door currently stands wide open as family friends help us carry boxes and furniture inside. It’s a chaotic mess of scents and bodies that puts my nerves right back on edge.
Stepping inside, I force myself to dive into sorting out the boxes and totes, dragging them to the side in whatever room they belong in. The main room is an open kitchen and living room, separated by a decent sized island with barstools tucked beneath the outer side. My bedroom is directly off of this space, with my nest tucked beside my closet in the back corner. Our shared bathroom and Omen's bedroom are located down a short hallway from my room.
It’s small, but cozy. Perfect for two unbonded omegas to share while they kick ass in their professional careers.
Dragging a box into my bedroom, I find Pops building my bed while my Uncle Memphis reassembles my desk. I wave to them both as I drop a box off and head back to the trucks.
Time blurs as I help unload all of our stuff. Sweat covers my body and my nose itches from all the scents blending together. I’m shuffling over to turn on the scent canceling system attached to our air conditioning unit when Donovan Griffith, my mother’s boss, arrives carrying an enormous stack of pizzas.
The smell of cheesy goodness perks me back up from the funk my hormones have me in, but when he announces he is assigning Omen and me bodyguards for the duration of the Primordial Covenant tour, all my happiness seeps back out of me.
“No.” I demand, shrinking at the thought of being tailed by a stranger for the next two months. For all I know, whoever they assign to us could relay our every move back to Donovan and my parents. I may come from a happy, relaxed family, but that doesn’t mean I want them to know about my late night hook ups. Some things are not supposed to be shared with family.
“Yes,” my father, Phoenix, says sternly. His tone brokers no arguments, but I ignore the pressure of his alpha presence.
Before I can get any complaints out, my mother cuts in. “We aren’t budging on this, Sabine. A senator from New Hampshire has announced his intention to run for office, including an early campaign tour that collides with several of your tour stops. This isn’t about saddling you with a babysitter. There are genuine concerns the protests around the shows may lead to Omen’s identity being outed.”
Well shit. She certainly knows me well enough to know what buttons to press to get me to back down. I would do anything to keep Omen’s birth family from finding her. Even putting up with whatever overbearing bodyguard the DAU sends my way.
When my shoulders sink, my parents relax. They wouldn’t push this on us if it wasn’t serious. Knowing that and accepting it are two very different things. Especially when I am not thinking straight from the pre-heat hormones throwing a rave in my body.
A knock at the apartment door pulls their attention away, so I slip to the couch and sink down next to Omen, grumbling my displeasure and pouting about the situation we’ve found ourselves in.
Two men walk in, greeting Donovan and my parents. My heart races as I watch them. They’re gorgeous. The type of ripped and cocky that makes my pussy weep, and that’s before our eyes even meet.
Donovan leads them over, introducing Omen to her guard first. Lex Ferguson is slightly shorter than his partner, closer to six feet. His dark, honey blonde hair is wavy but short, hanging down over his forehead on top. Dazzling stormy gray eyes quickly move from my best friend to me, and a full body shudder tries to work its way down my spine with the intensity of their depths. The scowl on his face and his rigid posture make him seem like an asshole. I’ve always loved an unredeemable bad boy.
“Bea, meet your assigned bodyguard, Ridley Hale.” Donovan introduces the second man with a gesture of his hand. Short, disheveled hickory hair and a panty melting smile make this alpha seem flirty and down for a quick fuck in the bathroom. His bright blue-green eyes crinkle at the corners as he beams at me, unaffected by my crabby attitude.
I’m in the best kind of trouble if I get to spend the next eight weeks with these two.
Lex and Ridley aren’t here for long before my exuberant new bodyguard is whispering a promise to see me soon and slipping out the front door. Longing pierces my heart as they leave, but I brush it off as a side effect of the closeness of my heat.
Slowly, our apartment empties. The stress drains from my body when it’s just me and Omen left. My best friend shoots me a knowing look. “You need to call your heat helpers and get to the hotel.”
My head flops against the back of the couch as I groan. I don’t want to get up. I want to curl into a ball here and sleep for a week. Oms doesn’t let me settle though, pulling me up by the arms and sending me into my bedroom to pull out all the things I’ll need for my heat nest. She takes my phone and sends a message to the alpha and beta I’d requested for my heat and orders me a ride share to get to the heat center I’ll be staying in until I’m clear-headed again.
Before I carry my bags out to the car, I grab an unopened pack of suppressants and take two. They are low dose to help shorten my heat without stopping it. I will also have longer bouts of clarity to make sure no one is taking advantage of my hormone addled state.
Omen hugs me, promising she’ll let my parents know what happened. She also promises to pick me up from the hotel when my heat ends in a few days. I pout as she pushes me into the car, sad I have to leave our new home so soon. As disappointing as it is, I won’t subject her to having strangers in her safe space to help me with my heat.
I’m sweating and miserable by the time I stumble into the heat suite the hotel assigned me. Since neither of my temporary partners is here yet, I take the time to construct my nest. A soft blanket here, wrapped over the giant pillow there. Step by step, I rearrange everything until it feels right.
It’s missing something I can’t quite place, but nothing in the room fills the empty spot my instincts are declaring is there. When I hear a knock at the room door, I step away and accept this is the best it will get.
My eyes widen when I greet my guest, heat pooling in my stomach at the tall, tattooed alpha standing before me. He’s dressed casually in basketball shorts and a tank top. His peacock blue hair is messy around his head, like he’s just woken from a nap. The color makes his amber eyes pop. A grin stretches across his lips as he takes a moment to scan me from head to toe. Every inch of my body comes alive beneath his gaze.
The tiniest warning bell rings in my head when I feel the small spark of connection between us. Like the horny mess of an omega I am, I ignore that bitch and invite him inside.
The beta helper shows up a few minutes later. He’s reserved, almost clinical as he goes over his role. He won’t fuck me, but he will assist with ensuring I shower and eat.
I wave him off, my eyes still glued to the smirking alpha across the room. The black tank top he’s wearing shows off the intricate, colorful designs of the tattoos running down both his arms and up his neck, disappearing beneath the fabric. How low do they go?
“Miss Powell, please focus,” the beta, Derek, snaps. I know he’s just trying to do his job, to define my limits before we step into the nest, but I officially have knots for brains. The heat fog is descending and if I don’t get that alpha’s dick in me now, I’m going to cry.
Derek sighs and hands the checklist to the alpha, who steps closer. His tattooed knuckles run across my collarbones, teasing the edge of my white crop top as he reads everything over. Once Derek appears satisfied with his acceptance of my boundaries, I’m swept against my alpha’s muscular chest and he carries me into the nest.
I scramble to get the scratchy clothes off my body, preening when he lets out a low groan once I’m bared to him. “Look at you, Omega. Gorgeous and soaking the nest for me. Spread your legs and show me the sweet little pussy I’ll be fucking.” I keep my eyes on him as I do as he asked, letting him look his fill.
Slowly, he pulls his tank top over his head, letting me see the colorful ink stretching below his jeans. A deep v cuts towards the bulge hidden there, and a whine slips through my lips. I need it. Need to taste him on my tongue and feel him buried in my throat.
I’m on my knees, crawling to him as he undoes the button and slowly works the denim down his thighs. Skin tight black boxer briefs cover my prize, already damp with pre-cum. My nails trail through the hair on his legs, traveling up and up until I reach the band of his underwear and quickly remove them.
He bobs in my face. Long and thick and… “Holy fuck,” I moan as I grip his knot and lean in to get a closer look at the ink lining his length. He has a tattooed dick! A massive Kraken spans his left hip and one of the many tentacles drops to wrap around his magnificent cock.
My tongue has a mind of its own as it traces the lines of ink down to his tip. The first swipe of salty, slightly citrusy pre-cum has slick flowing down my thighs in tiny rivers. I need more, so I take it, wrapping my lips around him and sucking him down.
“Such a hungry little omega, aren’t you? Need a belly full of my cum to help ease the heat burning in your veins?” One hand digs into my curls, pulling at the tangled strands as he grips the back of my head and guides himself further into my mouth. I gag a little before swallowing around him, letting his length slip into my throat. When his knot brushes my lips, he pulls back and roughly thrusts back in.
Watching his abs ripple with each pump into my mouth makes me wetter. This view is heavenly. If I wasn’t riding the edge of painful heat cramps, I would sit on my knees all day and let this alpha use my mouth for his pleasure.
He must recognize the look in my glassy eyes because I’ve barely blinked before he’s pulling me off of him. One hand splays between my breasts, slowly guiding me to lie on my back in the middle of my nest. I track his every move as he kneels between my thighs, cock bouncing as he shuffles forward.
A needy moan slips through my lips, my hands reaching down to grab him, but he pushes me away. Smirking as he strokes himself against my soaked pussy lips. “I’ve got you, Omega. Gonna stuff this pretty pussy full and give you all the cum your body craves.” He slips down, tip teasing my entrance for several seconds before pressing inside. The stretch is tortuously slow as he feeds me every inch of him until his knot presses tight against my entrance.
My mouth opens, ready to demand he push the rest of the way inside, but all thought cuts off when he pulls out just as slowly. The quiver of my walls around him is mesmerizing, creating a burning euphoria ignited by the heat in my body. When his hips snap forward, spearing into me hard enough to push me up the bed, my back arches and I come. Slick soaks his knot and thighs, leaking down onto the bed beneath us.
“There’s one,” the alpha grins. He moves my legs up to his shoulder, lifting my hips off the bed far enough to allow him to slip into me even deeper, teasing me with his knot on each thrust. Time fades to nothingness as pleasure consumes me. My world devolves to the colorful swirls of his tattoos, the wanton sound of my moans, and the electric feel of his cock pumping into me.
“Two,” he murmurs to himself, the number barely filtering into my brain as I’m thrown over the edge again.
Weight settles against me, warming my cool skin and settling my haywire instincts. Wet warmth envelops my nipple, a tongue laving over the tipped peak and teeth teasing the flesh to add an edge of pain to my endless pleasure.
When my walls contract again, squeezing his cock as I come again, he buries his face between my breasts and pushes his knot in. The pop of it locking into place is loud in the quiet room, drowned out by my pleasured scream as he throws me into an orgasm to end all orgasms.
I can feel the kicks of his cock as he comes, filling me with his seed and sating my need to be bred. He rolls us to the side, one hand brushing my messy hair away from my face.
Exhaustion weighs me down, forcing my eyes to slip closed. The last thing I see before the first heat nap claims me is his warm amber eyes, so bright they almost glow golden beneath the soft nest lights.