Chapter Thirty-Three
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
“YOU NEED TO eat,” Shiloh growls, gripping my hips hard enough to hurt. I can’t help it if I’m squirming with his cock buried inside of me. The need for a release is an instinctual drive I literally cannot ignore when I am in heat.
And he feels way too damn good stretching against all the most intimate parts of me. How am I supposed to focus on food when his knot is right there, begging to squeeze inside of me?
“Alpha,” I protest, but he lifts the fork to my mouth, offering me another bite of the protein packed pasta his chef left for us. When my attempt at pouting doesn’t work, I open my mouth and grudgingly accept the bite.
Sure, the cheese covered noodles explode with flavor, filling my gurgling stomach with warmth, but I could be enjoying the slightly salty taste of his cum instead.
“It seems you’ve decided to be a brat today, Omega. I do hope you are ready for the consequences your misbehavior will bring.” His words are spoken firmly against my ear and punctuated by another squeeze of my hips.
If I get a little wetter at the thought of him punishing me, that’s the heat talking.
Only when both our bowls are empty does he loosen his grip on my body. I shift my hips, trying to grind down on his knot, but I am stopped when his palm presses my chest against the cold counter top. I whimper in protest when his cock slips from my center, leaving me empty.
“Brats are not in control,” he growls, kicking his stool backward so he is standing behind me. “Brats get to take what is given to them.” The first swat of his hand lands on my ass, stinging with the intensity. Several hits follow in rapid succession, turning the sting into a burn. “When I tell you to sit still and eat, you will listen.”
Shiloh switches to the other cheek, landing five quick slaps against my skin. His fingers dig into the tender skin as he grips my hips and slams back inside of me. My cries echo through the open kitchen as he fucks me against the counter, ignoring the way the marble digs into my hips.
“Knot, please!” I beg, tears soaking my cheeks as I teeter on the edge of oblivion.
He stills, warm cum spilling inside of me and leaking out on the floor when he pulls away.
“No,” I sob, trying to grab his arm and pull him back.
“On your knees, Omega. Clean up the mess you’ve made of me.”
I’m tempted to reach down and get myself off, but I know that will only delay him giving me his knot. Slipping to the floor, my legs shake as I drop to mouth at his still hard cock. The mix of our flavors on his skin has my eyes rolling back into my skull. I eagerly lap up his release, circling his head with my tongue and pressing against the slit in his tip.
His hand grips my hair, tangling in the messy curls, and he pulls me back. I’m forced to stare up at him, delirious with the need to be knotted. “You will drink a full bottle of water and return to the nest. If you want my knot, you will have this bubbly ass in the air, presenting for me when I rejoin you. Do you understand, Omega?”
“Yes, sir,” I bite out. He raises a brow at my petulant tone, but doesn’t comment. I accept the water he offers me, guzzling it greedily. Heats really are no joke. We’re both exhausted and due for a twelve hour nap as soon as it breaks.
I leave him in the kitchen, trying not to drool over the sight of his magnificent ass as he rinses our dishes and puts them in the dishwasher.
My temporary nest is a mess. Saturated in the scent of slick and sweat. I crawl across the cushions, fixing blankets as I go. When I have them rearranged so I’m not kneeling in a wet spot, I press my chest to the floor and keep my ass in the air.
It feels like an eternity before I sense him behind me. His eyes roaming my skin feel like a physical caress. One that spreads gooseflesh across my limbs.
“Much better, Omega. You look so delectable when you present for me, offering this pussy for your alpha’s enjoyment. Are you going to be a good girl for me?”
I shudder, on the verge of tears as my instincts rear their head. “I’ll be good.”
His hands rub tenderly over my ass, soothing the ache from his spanking. Lips and tongue trail up my back, tracing the curve of my spine until he is pressed against me. I can feel the weight of his heavy cock against my thigh and I want it inside of me.
“Please, Alpha.”
Something presses against my temple seconds before a beep fills my ear. A thermometer. “As I thought. Your fever is much lower today, Sabine. We are nearing the end of your heat.”
I nod mindlessly, shifting slightly so his length is rubbing against my pussy. If he doesn’t get inside of me, I will cry. This is torture.
His weight disappears from my back, then I feel his tip sliding along my slit. “I am going to wring enough orgasms from you to kick the remaining embers of your heat.” He presses into me slowly, letting me feel the stretch. As his knot bumps against my entrance, he pulls back until only his tip remains inside of me. “Hold tight, Omega. I’m going to ruin you.”
Each thrust is harder and faster than the last until he’s rutting against me. A scream tears from my sore throat as an orgasm barrels down my spine, stealing my breath and leaving me dizzy. One turns to two, two to three, until I’m an overstimulated mess of slick.
Shiloh pulls out suddenly and I want to cry, but he flips me to my back and presses back inside. Knot and all. Euphoria spreads through my body. Every nerve ending alight with electric desire.
I keen when we shift to our sides, my leg tossed over his hip to accommodate his knot. Moving sets off another series of mini orgasms that leave me breathless.
My instincts demand he bite us. The words are on the tip of my tongue, but I bite down on my cheek until I can taste the coppery tang of blood. I am far too delirious to be begging my boss to claim me, and we both know he wouldn’t do it even if I did ask. Better to spare myself the humiliation now.
After we’ve slept off the post-heat exhaustion and eaten our weight in pizza, I will bring up the connection between us. Whatever jealousy issues he believes he has, we can work through them as a pack.
Placing the last blanket on the bed in Shiloh’s guest room, I take a moment to enjoy the pleasant ache in my body. When I was still a student at the Omega Academy, I never would have imagined enjoying the way my body feels after a heat. Suffering through a medicated heat alone is miserable.
A heat with Shiloh? This is a memory to last a lifetime.
My nose twitches at the lack of our scents in the room. A cleaning company had arrived early this morning to gather all the blankets, pillows, and sheets used in the temporary nest Shiloh built in his closet. They returned an hour ago. Freshly washed and smelling of scent-neutral laundry detergent.
The timer on the oven beeps, letting me know dinner is almost done. I grab the now empty laundry basket and carry it downstairs. Under the steps is a small storage closet, where another basket is neatly stacked in the corner. Dropping mine on top, I follow the scents of chicken pot pie. Post heat hunger rivals newly presented alphas. Burning so many calories so quickly leaves omegas in a calorie deficit that our bodies demand be reset as soon as we are fully coherent.
“Would you like to eat on the balcony?” Shiloh asks, pushing a steaming bowl my way. A bottle of wine sits open on the counter, two glasses already full and waiting.
“That sounds lovely. Thank you.” I grab my bowl and glass, following as he leads me to the wall of windows. I’m awestruck as he pushes one open to reveal a small balcony with a metal garden dining set and a sun lounger.
A gentle breeze cuts through the oppressive September heat, allowing us to enjoy the fresh air without sweating through our t-shirts. We eat in silence, comfortable enough with each other now to enjoy the moment.
I study Shiloh after I finish. He’s dressed casually in a faded Shattered Horizons shirt and black joggers. It’s still odd seeing him out of his usual suits and dress clothes.
His dark hair is messy from his shower, sticking up all over his head. The wet strands highlight the silver starting to grow at his temples. Imagining him a few years from now, when it has all turned silver, has me pressing my thighs together. My handsome mate will be the definition of a Silver Fox.
“Sabine.”
I blush knowing he has caught me staring, but I don’t apologize. Why hide my interest after everything that has happened between us?
“Yes?”
“Seeing as you’ll be staying here for an undetermined amount of time, I took the liberty of ordering you a floor cushion to place in the bottom of the guest room closet.”
“Thank you for taking my comfort into consideration,” I say with a tight smile. Moving back into the guest room and away from him is not what I want, but I know I have to take baby steps with my skittish mate.
He nods, returning to a silence that is now awkward.
“Shiloh… About our Fated connection,” I start, rubbing my palms on my legs below the hem of my shorts. Bringing this up makes me nervous. After he’d told me he could never share me with my other mates, it feels a little hopeless to ask him to try for me. But I can’t sit here with his scent still clinging to my skin and pretend he doesn’t mean something to me.
His head whips toward me, a guarded expression on his face.
“I know you said-“
“Nothing has changed, Sabine. I have no intention of sharing you with another, and you have Fate matched mates waiting to return to you.”
Sharp pain lances through my heart as he completely dismisses the idea. Do I mean so little to him he won’t even try? It isn’t like all packs fuck their omegas together outside of a heat. There have to be omegas who spend time with their mates one at a time, right?
“I—you won’t even consider meeting my other mates to see if you’d get along with them?”
Shiloh shakes his head, pushing to his feet and walking to the door with his dirty dishes in his hands. “It’s me or them. There was never any other option for us.”
The door closes behind him, leaving me shattered on the weathered floor of his balcony. “Please stay.” My whispered plea is carried by the breeze, lost like the scattered pieces of my heart.
I just want someone to stay. To choose me. Was I so terrible in my past life that the Fates have cursed me to be bound to men who walk away?
Ridley may have spent our time together during the tour repeating his desire to claim me, but as soon as he was free to do so he left to chase a madman.
Lex refuses to do more than acknowledge our connection when he loses control of his instincts.
And Orion… His past is a hurdle he isn’t close to overcoming.
Four mates. Four men who won’t choose me.
Blinking tears from my eyes, I mentally brush this crushing spiral away. I’m Bea fucking Powell. Badass band manager and an omega who knows how to stand on her own two feet.
I won’t let anyone get in the way of my happily ever after. Fate matched mates or otherwise.
Collapsing onto my scentless, borrowed bed, I grab my phone and start a video call with my bestie. Focusing on Omen’s mate drama should be a great distraction from my own heartache. And I need to check in with her now that my heat is over. She had text me a few times and might be worried after I didn’t answer.
“Hey,” she greets. I suck in a sharp breathe when her face comes into focus on the screen. She looks like shit. Dark eyed and pale skinned, the physical effect of her chemical rejection are clearly taking a bigger toll on her than she is letting on. Even with medicine that is supposed to mitigate the worst of it.
“I’m alive,” I joke, wincing when the corner of her lips falls. “Sorry, poor taste. I was in heat, that is why I didn’t respond to your messages.”
Omen’s nose scrunches. “An early heat?”
“Yeah.” I shrug. My heats have been regular since I presented as an omega, unlike Omen who took several years to regulate. It is unusual to have my heat start early, but with the stress I’ve been under over the past few weeks, it isn’t completely unexpected. My close proximity to three of my four mates could also be a factor. Biology is complicated when you have to factor in heats, ruts, bonds, and Fate matched mates.
Grinning, I wiggle my eyebrows at her. “But I didn’t suffer through this heat alone!”
“Did you find a heat helper who could assist you last minute?”
“Nope!” I pop the p, earning a raised brow in response. “Shiloh.”
Omen’s jaw drops before snapping shut again. “So much for no employer/employee romance, huh?”
Rolling to my stomach, I prop my phone against the headboard and rest my chin on my hands. “I don’t know if romantic is the right word to describe what happened between us. Sensuous, filthy, carnal. Those might fit better.”
“Was it everything you dreamed of?”
“Post-heat, I feel amazing. So yes! Absolutely yes!”
A mischievous twinkle lights her green eyes, bringing a liveliness she has been lacking since her mates caused her to experience a chemical rejection several weeks ago. My heart squeezes, feeding the tiny ember of hope I’ve been harboring for her future.
“Was it better than your tattooed mystery helper last heat?”
Heat flushes up my neck, burning across my cheeks when flashes of the heat I spent with Orion flicker through my mind. With everything that has happened to Omen, and her declining health, I haven’t told her he works for the label. Or about our date.
A croaky laugh rattles through the speaker, turning into a cough that has my smile slipping away. I open my mouth to ask if she is alright, but she cuts me off with a sharp shake of her head. “We’ve talked circles around my drama for weeks. I want to hear about what is going on in your life. Please.”
Studying her for several seconds, I relent when I see the plea for normalcy in her eyes. “He’s no longer a mystery. The alpha who helped me through my heat in June. His name is Orion.”
Omen’s grin grows as I tell her about running into him at work and our date. “He had to fly to California for awhile for work,” I admit with a half smile. I’m not going to mention why he is there, as his story isn’t mine to tell.
“That sucks. He’s coming back though, right?” I nod. “And Ridley will be back soon too. Hopefully. So you’ll just have to get cozy with Shiloh while you wait!”
My smile falls, twisting into a grimace. “I can’t… Shiloh and I aren’t happening. Outside of him helping me through my heat, we will only be boss and employee.”
“What happened?” Concern and indignation lace her voice, reminding me of why I love her so much. Without knowing the reasons, she’s already pissed on my behalf.
“He said he won’t share me, and thinks it would be unfair to ask me to choose him over my other mates,” I tell her.
“That asshole is rejecting you?!”
My head shakes in denial. “No. Well, maybe. My omega isn’t taking it that way, so I don’t know.”
“Lucky.” She whispers the word softly enough I know it wasn’t meant for my ears. Her instincts took her mate’s cutting her off as a rejection, resulting in the chemical Rejected Omega Syndrome she has been battling. They never specifically said the words to reject her, which is how most omega’s get ROS.
Until she mentioned it, I hadn’t considered the possibility that Shiloh’s refusal to be part of my pack could lead to ROS. Unlike Omen, I believe the connection I feel to my other mates is what saved me from sharing her fate.
“I don’t know the full story,” I continue, “but he seems to think sharing me with the others would be bad for all of us. It fucking sucks, and he has been a complete dick about it, but I refuse to chase a man who won’t even give me a chance.”
To distract her from her own struggles for a bit longer, I recount all my run-in with Shiloh after my lunch with Ayla, and the slew of other times my handsome boss has shown how cold he can be. I know his frigidity is a mask he wears to protect himself, but that doesn’t make his cutting remarks hurt less.
“We really drew the short straw, didn’t we?” Omen asks, the words muffled by the blankets piled on top of her sleepy figure. We’ll have to end the call soon so she can get some much needed rest. “Mates who can’t accept our pasts or who can’t move on from their own. Fate must enjoy the torture we’re being subjected to.”
With a sigh, I roll to my back and stare up at the ceiling. Omen’s eyes are closed now and she’s starting to softly snore. “Fate only creates the paths,” I whisper. “It is us who decides where they will lead us.”
No one know what trouble the future will bring. Whatever hurdles I come across, I know I can pass them. Mated or mateless, as long as I have my family and friends at my side, I can survive anything.