Chapter Four
CHAPTER FOUR
THE SWEET OMEGA curled against my chest has long buried instincts stirring awake. A beast I’ve worked tirelessly to tame blinks its sleepy eyes just to get a look at her.
It’s unnerving.
Taking part in heats through the Mateability app has been the only way to prevent myself from going feral. It’s physically relieving, and sates my protective urges. In all the years I’ve taken part, I have never felt drawn to an omega I helped. I’ve appreciated their beauty and the pieces of their personality I could see during the time they were clear-headed, but there has never been a genuine connection between us.
Bea Powell is different.
And that fucking terrifies me.
Perhaps my imagination is conjuring this pull to torment me. It wouldn’t be the first ghost I created to haunt me. Letting my eyes slip shut, I feel the jagged edges of the shattered bond in my chest. The wound is still tender six years later. If I focus hard enough, I can see the echo of what it used to be. A ray of sunshine lighting up the darkest parts of my soul.
Bea stirs on my chest, a whimper slipping through her lips as she grinds against me. It’s for the best I get distracted. Thinking of the past is a dangerous path to walk.
Sliding my palms down her back, I grip her hips and help her work her hips. She hasn’t fully woken yet, but it won’t be long until those stunning blue eyes are peering up at me, all hazy from the heat fog. The first knot was necessary to curb the initial wave of heat cramps. I can take my time with her now, drag out the pleasure into bigger, explosive orgasms to ease the heat longer.
When she blinks her eyes open, I flip her to her back and crawl down the mattress. Golden skin tempts me, shining with a light layer of sweat. My lips press against her collarbone, tongue darting out to get a small taste of the coconut scent clinging to her. I trail them across her chest and down between her breasts, fingers pinching and teasing her peaked nipples before I lave my tongue over them. Her back arches when I nip at her skin with my teeth, her slick core sliding against my thigh where it has settled against her.
“Alpha!” Bea’s whine has my cock jerking, pre-cum leaking from my tip and smearing against her stomach. If she said my name right now, I’d go fucking feral.
“Shush, Omega. Relax and let me work,” I scold her lightly, moving my kisses down across her stomach to the apex of her thighs. So close to her pussy, her scent nearly bowls me over. A hint of sugary sweetness tinges her pineapple-coconut scent, like a mixed drink enjoyed on a sunny tropical island.
She’s intoxicating.
The first swipe of my tongue has her thighs clamping around my head. I chuckle against her skin as I wrap one arm around her waist to hold her in place. My shoulders wedge her legs apart, opening her up to me again. I savor every lick, every drop of slick that leaks from her hole. Her hands tangle in my messy hair, twisting the strands and tugging, trying to pull my attention up to her clit.
“So demanding,” I mumble as I give in, sucking the rigid nub between my lips. Her body twitches, moans falling from her lips as I tease her. Two fingers slide into her entrance with ease, curling to press against the spot where my knot will swell inside of her. It’s like a live-wire straight to every pleasure receptor in her body.
When her walls flutter around me, I pull back to kneel between her legs. An indignant huff escapes her lips, a frown turning them down. “Don’t stop!”
“You want my cock, Omega?” I ask, stroking my hand down my length to draw her attention to it. Her pretty tongue darts across her lips. I’d love to have my dick down her throat again, but we can save that for later. “Present for me and I’ll feed your hungry little pussy.”
She scrambles to comply, flipping to her hands and knees before sinking her chest against the mattress. I have to bite my fist to keep from groaning. She’s gorgeous. Bubbly ass, thick thighs, and the pinkest pussy all wet with her slick. A fucking wet dream brought to reality to tempt me.
I grip her hips, spreading her open so I can watch as she takes every inch of my tattooed length. Her walls choke me, trying to drag me in faster and testing my self-control, but I keep a slow, steady pace. Building her up with firm, deep strokes. She’s mindless with pleasure, pleas falling from her lips and hands scrambling in the sheets to anchor herself. Tilting my hips, I focus my thrusts so my tip glides against her pleasure spot with each pass.
It’s heavenly torture to pull out when her walls clamp down around me. She cries out at the loss, frustrated I have denied her yet another orgasm. I just laugh and grab her hips, flipping her onto her back. My body settles against her, my forearms pressed into the mattress on either side of her head. I push my lips to hers, sighing when she parts them for me, her tongue darting out to tangle with mine as I line myself back up with her core and press inside.
“Is that better, Omega? Is your pussy nice and full and ready for my cum?” She nods, her head bumping against mine. Her lips chase mine as I lean up to move her legs to wrap around my waist, changing the angle and allowing me to pound into her deeper.
I don’t hold back this time. She’s burning up, ready to be sated. Her magnificent tits jiggle with each harsh thrust as I rut into her. If I could capture this moment in my memory, I’d replay it every night as I jerked myself off.
“Knot, Alpha.” Her hands claw down my arms, leaving scratch marks I’ll cherish when her heat is over and she’s gone from my life once more.
My teeth ache as I slam into her, my knot pressing past her entrance and popping inside. When she begs for my bite, I nearly lose it.
What the fuck is wrong with me? This is getting dangerous.
As my cock kicks inside of her, flooding her pussy with my cum, she detonates. Back arching, pushing her tits against my chest as she screams out her pleasure. When her walls stop strangling my dick, I grind against her to extend her pleasure, enjoying the way her limbs shake with the aftershocks.
Clear blue eyes meet mine several moments later, pink tinging her cheeks as she gives me a shy smile. I grin back at her as I wrap my arms around her back and carefully pull us up. She’s still locked to my knot, settled on my lap and soaked in slick and sweat.
“Miss Powell, drink.” The beta helper hired for her heat breaks the moment by pushing a smoothie into her hand. He’s rash, but Bea doesn’t seem to mind. She gives him a soft ‘thank you’ before she drinks.
I’m entirely too focused on the way her throat works with each swallow, so the press of cold against my hand startles me. I accept the bottle of water and quickly down it before asking for another. Heats are hard work when there is only one alpha to help, even suppressed heats like the one Bea is experiencing. If this was an unmedicated heat, we would never manage alone. The exhaustion both our bodies would experience after four or five days of straight sex with brief breaks between rounds… No, thank you.
“How are you feeling, Miss Powell? Coherent enough for a shower, or would you prefer me to ask again during the next moment of lucidity?”
Bea takes a moment to check in with herself, hands lightly skimming her legs and back like she’s testing how sticky her skin has gotten. When she shakes her head to deny the need for a shower, my body hums with joy. I like her smelling like me. Our combined scent soaked into her skin is quickly becoming one of my favorite things.
Which is a damned problem because this omega isn’t mine. I’m just a temporary solution to a recurring problem in her life.
She wiggles on my lap, grinding against my slowly deflating knot. My fingers press into her jaw, turning her face to mine. The foggy look is back in her eyes, the beginning of another wave of heat. Derek takes her smoothie and disappears, leaving me to help her bounce on my still hard cock.
Her arms wrap around my neck, holding me close while she takes her pleasure from my tired body. This heat is only beginning and I already know walking away is going to be one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do.
We’re getting close to the end of Bea’s heat. Her bouts of lucidity are getting longer, and her need to be knotted isn’t as fierce. Pressing a hand to her temple, I note the decrease in her temperature. One big orgasm should be enough.
Pressing my hand between her shoulder blades, I holding her down and pound into her, entranced by the way her ass bounces with each of my thrusts. I’m close enough I could knot her, but she isn’t ready yet. With my knot pressed against her entrance, I still. My hand digs into her hip hard enough to bruise as I come.
Bea keens as I drag my length back out of her, leaving her empty and wanting. I drop to my knees, watching my cum drip out of her abused core before sliding my tongue up her slit. She jolts, then settles against me, moaning as I fuck her pussy with my tongue. Popping back, I flop to my back and pull her to straddle my face. “Smother me with your slick, Omega. Drown me in your pleasure.”
She’s gorgeous as she presses her full weight against my mouth, unconcerned about my ability to breathe. When she reaches up to cup her tits, pinching her nipples as her hips grind against my face, I nearly come again. Such a pretty fucking sight.
“More,” she demands, grabbing one of my hands and pushing it to her center. I oblige her, pressing three fingers inside of her core to stretch her as she uses my tongue to find her release. She flutters around me, body locking up and head falling back as she comes, shuddering on top of me with the force of her orgasm.
Sliding from beneath her, I flip her to her back and push her knees up to her chest, folding her in half as I thrust my aching cock back inside of her. She’s still experiencing aftershocks as I relentlessly pummel my hips against hers, forcing her into another orgasm before she can fully recover from the first. Her nails dig into my forearm, thighs shaking as I push my knot inside of her. Those stunning sapphire eyes roll up into her skull as she convulses.
I’m fucking gone, barely holding myself upright as I empty myself inside of her for the dozenth time today. My muscles are screaming from overuse, my skin sticky with sweat, slick, and cum. As her eyes slip closed, soft snores filling the air, I move her legs to settle outside of my own and roll to my back so she’s lying on top of me.
Derek shuffles in, a thermometer in hand. When he presses it to her forehead and shows me the screen, we both blow out a breath. Her fever is rapidly dropping, marking the end of her heat. She may have another small spike when she rouses, but the worst of her haze is over.
I pinch my eyes closed to hide how sad I feel. I’m not ready to say goodbye to this beauty, but that’s the way our world works. Being a heat helper isn’t about finding a mate, and if I’m honest with myself, I don’t know if I’m ready for that type of commitment again.
Chasing a pull likely caused by her heat is a ludicrous idea.
Walking away is what’s best for both of us.
“Orion, it’s good to see you.” Shiloh Acherley, my former band manager and the man responsible for dragging me from the brink of death, stands to shake my hand. I asked him to meet me for dinner, a small way to thank him and check in now that I’ve moved back to the East Coast.
“Shiloh,” I acknowledge. A server arrives to take our orders, and I quickly scan the menu. I’m starving. Still burned out from helping Bea through her heat for the past two days. I order way too much food, earning a raised brow from my companion, but I just shrug. “How’s life as a label executive? Do you miss managing bands yet?”
“I still deal with all the same nonsense, only from the comfort of my office.” Shiloh used to manage my old band, Shattered Horizons, when we were still performing six years ago. He’d joined the rank of execs a year after I had left the band.
“I don’t think I could handle sitting inside all day. I need concerts to keep me sane.”
He studies me as our drinks arrive, searching for signs I am struggling. When I first met Shiloh, I was young, happy, and in love. My bandmates and I had recently graduated from the Alpha Academy, and I had bonded my high school sweetheart, Serenity. I was on top of the world. Our music career was taking off, the dream I’d had since I was in middle school and bought my first guitar.
One year is all it took for everything to come crashing down around me. A car accident took the life of my bonded mate, leaving me in ruins on stage several hours away.
After we found out what had happened, Shiloh pulled the rest of our shows, giving me a break to decide whether I could continue in the music industry. My life devolved to drugs and alcohol. Any quick fix I could find to ease the pain in my shattered bond. Shiloh found me a year later, passed out and on the verge of overdosing. He’d forced me onto a plane and booked me into a rehab facility out in California. They’d detoxed me and put my ass in therapy to deal with the grief I was drowning in. I was there for two years before they let me out into the world.
I owe this man my life, not that he will ever admit he saved me. He’d much rather remind me I’m a pain in his ass than accept my gratitude.
“I’m good. Exhausted, but that’s for other reasons.”
He quirks an eyebrow as our food arrives, but I just grin and toss a wink his way. I’m certainly not going to tell my old manager about Bea. It’s not like I’ll ever see her again.
“Are you here to visit, or is this trip to the East Coast permanent?” Shiloh asks as we leave. I’m sure the label has already informed him of my transfer back home, but it’s nice he asked.
“I’m ready to be home. It’s time to face everything I left behind.”
“You will return to work at the label.” He demands, tone hard as he stops beside his car. He’s worried I will spiral again, which is always a possibility.
“Yep. Though I’m not singing anymore. I write songs and work in marketing now.” His nose scrunches, making me bust out a loud laugh. Yeah, I never would have expected this career change either, but I enjoy creating ad campaigns for the new bands. “I know it’s out of character. You’ll see, I’m badass at getting ticket sales.”
“I look forward to judging your creations,” he responds, his tone as serious as ever.
“I’m out of the office for the rest of the week, but we should grab lunch next week!” I call over my shoulder as I head to where my ride share is pulling up. He doesn’t respond, but I hear his car door click shut so I know he heard me.
Riding through the busy city streets, I stare up at the bleary sky and try not to let my thoughts drift back to the tantalizing scent of coconut and pineapple. Fate really likes to test my limits, dangling such a dreamy omega in front of me and surrounding me with memories of my time with Ren. Guilt churns in my stomach each time my thoughts drift to Bea.
Somehow it feels like acknowledging the way she’s ingrained herself in my mind is an injustice to my first mate.