Chapter 48 Summer
SUMMER
I blamed the knot between my legs for my early awakening. Nighttime blue filtered through my windows, the hour unknown. I could feel the rise and fall of three steady breaths around me.
How long had Lucien and I been asleep? I couldn’t believe we were still knotted.
I reached down, exploring where we were joined.
My breathing shallowed as I traced my folds.
I could feel the hard swell of his knot stretching me out.
I moved a little higher. Circled my clit.
The teasing strokes of my own fingers were starting to work me up.
I rocked my hips slowly against the knot inside me, stoking the growing heat in my core.
“Omega.”
The guttural tear of sound was the only warning I got that Lucien was awake. Then a sudden pressure on the side of my neck. The metallic scent of blood. Sharp pain and piercing teeth .
I found myself arching into his bite with a satisfied purr. Lucien wriggled into my soul, along with his panic and guilt.
“Did I just…?” He flinched away in shock. “Oh fuck.”
I immediately found him in our new bond, love and reassurance braiding with his anxiety. “Tend to your mark while I come on your knot, alpha,” I said, tugging his mouth back to my neck.
Lucien groaned, cupping my bare breast. “You want this, too?”
“More than anything,” I whispered.
He licked the fresh wound carefully as tingles shot down my spine. “I can’t believe you’re mine,” he said with such reverence it stole my breath. My pleasure gradually twined with his, sending us both rapidly over the edge.
“Are we bonding now?” Jae’s voice came out of the dark. His lips closed around my other breast, his tongue swirling around my budded nipple before giving it a deliberate tug with his teeth.
“Yeah, we are,” I said breathlessly. It felt like a formality, really. We had already chosen each other. “Wake Mercer.”
Jae rolled over and kicked him. “Get up. Summer wants to take a bite out of you.”
“She wants to what?” Mercer sat up, rubbing his eyes. “What time is it? I can’t fucking see shit.”
Jae turned on the low, diffused light above my canopy. “Angel, have you bitten Lucien back yet or just left him hanging?”
Lucien’s injured grumble answered for me.
“I’ll bite him back once we’re not knotted,” I said innocently. “Where should I do it?”
“In his hair where no one can see,” Mercer suggested immediately.
“His butt so he can’t sit down for days.”
I knew Jae was joking, but it was a legitimate suggestion, as Lucien had a lovely butt. Mercer and Jae continued throwing out suggestions.
“What about his armpit?”
“Gross, we can’t make Summer go through that.”
“I fucking hate this conversation,” Lucien complained as his knot deflated and slipped out of me.
Many omegas were bonded in the throes of orgasms amid declarations of love. I decided I much preferred it while shit-talking with my pack.
“Hmm, let me get a good look at you,” I purred. I advanced on Lucien, scanning his naked body for the perfect place to bond him. The neck was a very classic choice. His forearms were definitely bitable. I deliberately lingered on his crotch and licked my lips.
Lucien cupped his penis protectively. “Please don’t,” he winced.
“Please do!” Jae said enthusiastically.
I laughed. I wouldn’t do that to him. I knew where I wanted my mark. Lucien’s throat bobbed as I crawled over him. His abdomen tensed with anticipation, lips parted as his breath faltered. The need in his scent was so sharp, a fingernail sliced across a citrus rind.
I bonded Lucien on his chest, right over his heart. Seeing the crescent moons of my teeth fed the possessive beast within me. Mine . The connection between us grew new vines and sprouted fruit.
“Vicious girl,” Lucien said, all warmth and tenderness. “Go finish bonding your pack.”
Jae was already all over me. Nuzzling and purring as he scent-marked between my breasts up to my throat. “Where should I put it?” he asked.
“Anywhere you want.”
“No, love, you have to give him boundaries,” Mercer cut in. “He suggested you bond Lucien on his ass, for Christ’s sake.”
It was hard to focus as Jae kept nipping me everywhere, leaving me wondering when the almost-bites would turn real. My whimpers turned into a high-pitched gasp as he finally marked me on my inner thigh.
“There you are, angel.”
There we both were. Our bond vibrated along its own frequency, a secret language for him and me.
“Hi,” was all I could muster.
Jae’s tongue ran over the bite, and I squirmed at the phantom pleasure in my clit. “I can’t wait to spend the next few days tending to this,” he said earnestly. “I’m going to have to take my time and be really thorough so it heals properly.”
“Damn, he’s smarter than we thought,” Lucien muttered to Mercer.
“Devastating turn of events,” Mercer agreed.
They were so silly, the three of them.
I searched the blank spaces between ink on Jae’s skin. With my eyes, then with my mouth. Mimicking his own path down my body on him, tracing the sharp V of his abdominals as his waist narrowed. I met his burning eyes watching me and knew this was the place.
“Fuck,” he groaned as I bit down. There was a quiet thump as he fell back, his grip on the back of my head tightening. I lapped my new mark with slow, suggestive stripes, feeling his unravelling desire thread through our bond.
“So cruel,” he said, his voice taut.
“You love it.” I kissed him and tasted his joy. Only one more bond until my pack was complete.
Mercer was leaned back against the pillows along the edge of my nest, relaxed, one arm behind his head. He looked like art, carved from marble just for me.
“Are you going to make it count?” he asked casually.
I frowned, not following.
“Our bond won’t be like the other two. We only get one. Your bite on me.” He lifted his chin, exposing the muscular line of his neck. I nearly lurched forward. “You want your teeth marks here? Where everyone can see?”
The vehemence that burst out surprised even me. “You know I do.” Even though my bonds were brand-new, the absence of his stung.
The easy tilt of his mouth rose a touch. “Yeah, I bet.”
I was on him in a flash, done with his blasé attitude. His throat in my grip, bending his head back, and forcing him to look at me. “Is this what you wanted?” I whispered, soft and dangerous. “To know I need to make you mine this badly?”
The adrenaline spike in his scent was a flash of red to my omega.
But then it softened. Softened into that spark of wonder in unearthing a small green shoot, the beginning of something completely new. “Summer, I’m already yours,” Mercer said simply. “Before I even laid eyes on you. That girl in the bakery next door, singing her heart out.”
God . No one could rock my emotions like he could. “What’s the matter with you?” I cried. “You drive me crazy. And I love you for it.” He was making me all sniffly, the ass.
“Love you, too.” He grinned, turning his head for me. “Come on, kitten. Bond me so you can stop eying my neck like it’s a steak.”
Our connection formed, made of tender unspoken things and always-meant-to-bes.
“I can’t believe you called me kitten,” I grumbled, knowing he could read between all my lines now.
Mercer scoffed. “Aren’t you, though? Tiny sharp teeth coming at me. Practically mauled my throat.”
A thin rivulet of blood ran down his neck, proving his point. I liked it more than I should.
Lucien and Jae drew closer, huddling around me. The four of us knew the best pretzel to sleep in now. “Happy?” Lucien asked.
I smiled, not needing to answer out loud.