Chapter 17
Eight days until appeal
CRESCENT
By morning I realized I maybe shouldn't have slept curled up all night with Sin, drowning in his desert eclipse and basking in the potent scents of my alphas.
The sensation of coming heat was growing again. Nesting had helped. A little bit.
But now I had a nest full of my alphas’ scents—a nest. A real, actual nest.
And it was a perfect place to spend a heat.
Well, it would be if we weren’t in a prison full of near-feral alphas, with no way to lock ourselves away during the day.
I had to keep reminding myself of that so my body didn’t let this excitement go too far.
But… things weren’t going completely the way I’d been taught to expect. I’d been bonded, and they’d made me a nest, but there’d been no… consummation.
I’d never been with anyone before… Was I ready? And what if it was with all of them?
The warm sensation swirling in my stomach told me no.
Not a problem.
Sin had cuddled me furiously, but he hadn’t wanted to do anything more.
He wasn’t pack lead, but he was sort of… pack king? And an omega like me. So it seemed like a good place to start. But he hadn’t seemed to want it…
I had to keep my disappointment to a minimum or they’d feel it through the bond. We could go at any pace they felt most comfortable with.
Holding a pillow to my chest, I scooted to the edge of the bed and looked around the small room.
It was only Vandle and Phantom right now.
My real nest with my real pack, and my real alphas.
It was all too much to process, and my hormones were all over the place, as if they’d infused me with feral instincts with their cuddles while we’d all slept.
Phantom yesterday—he’d even dark-bond-commended me to be a nuisance. I stuffed down a giggle, thinking of what Sister Matilda would say about that! But the elation quickly crashed.
This was too much of a dream. What would go wrong?
There had to be something—it couldn’t be this perfect.
I stared around the quiet, stone room, shrinking a little. It was cool in here, though the baggy white top was keeping the goosebumps away. It always felt a little damp, and beyond the intermittent howls of mad alphas, I could hear the low rumble of thunder.
Sin had left a while ago and Karma went with him. Yesterday when they were updating me and Vandle on Anarchy politics, they’d said it was safer to stay in a group, but I found myself wishing they would take me with them so we could all be safe together…
Two wasn’t a big group, after all.
Would they be safe?
A chirp of panic escaped my chest as I thought of it, and I almost buried myself back in my pillows.
I couldn’t lose them now.
They were so sweet, and cuddled me, and took care of me in a way I’d never been able to dream of. And Vandle was a seer so it was all legal, even by the Sisterhood’s standards.
Phantom was in the shower while Vandle lounged on the bottom bunk opposite my nest. It was a miracle he fit, his frame almost taller than the bed was long. He had a book open on his lap, but I hadn’t seen him turning many pages. He was either a slow reader, or the book was just for show.
“Um, Vandle?” I cleared my throat, avoiding eye contact with the massive alpha. “Can we…”
I trailed off.
He’s going to say no, and it’s a stupid idea anyway.
You can just be good and stay quiet.
“Never mind,” I mumbled, bailing out of even asking for the book.
I’d almost scooted back into the comfort of the blanket cave when his hand caught my ankle, bare skin on bare skin. I gasped, nails digging into the pillow as I met his eyes.
They stared back at me, one white and one red, seeing so much more than my panicked expression. It felt like he could see inside my soul, and it should be unnerving… but I liked it.
“What did you want, Princess?” he asked.
He sounded so sincere, like he would give me anything. I couldn’t be selfish enough to ask for him to take me for a walk—not when me leaving this room was so dangerous for all of them.
His touch on me had made the tight feeling in my core so much more intense, though. I needed to walk it off now more than ever, so the request ended up just spilling out.
“Can you take me out of here? Just for a little while?” I asked.
Vandle knelt down on the floor beside the bed, dragging me by the ankle back to the edge. He settled between my legs, my knees spread on either side of his chest as I sat back upright. He was hot, fighting off the pervasive chill that always seemed to hover in the air here.
My body heated to match his warmth, starting at the apex of my thighs and ending in my reddened cheeks.
He wouldn’t let me shy away, bringing his hands up to hold my thighs. The heat of his touch seared me and I let out a whine.
“Are we not keeping you entertained enough?” Vandle’s voice was deep and rough.
I shot a helpless look at the bathroom door. The water was still running—Phantom wasn’t about to come out and save me from myself.
It wasn’t that I was afraid, but these alphas kept doing things the Sisters hadn’t taught me about. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing.
“I’m just… hungry,” I squeaked. “Yeah, um, can we go to the cafeteria?”
His scent, the earthy, iron-tinged aroma of burning wood and embers, washed over me in waves as he leaned close.
It was sending slick to build in my core, and I couldn’t even squeeze my thighs together to hide it.
“I’m hungry, too,” he said.
Relief had me bouncing to my feet. “So… a snack, then?”
I didn’t get to stay standing long.
He caught the waistband of my sweatpants in his hands and yanked them down, then pushed me back down to the thin mattress as I gasped.
Cool air washed over my sensitive core and I snapped my legs together to hide the evidence of my arousal on my thin panties.
It had been only minutes ago that I’d been hot and bothered thinking about being with them, but I didn’t know what he was doing. I thought he was supposed to be… on top or something?
Vandle chuckled, reaching out to grab my chin and tilt it so I was forced to look at him. “I wasn’t talking about a snack from the cafeteria.”
My thighs rubbed together on their own, trying to soothe the ache. The more he touched me, the more I needed something more than just escape from this pheromone filled room.
“What, um… other kind of snacks are there?” I whispered.
My cheeks were on fire.
His other hand went down to tease at the apex of my thighs. My legs parted at the tingles of pleasure, and he slid his hand down further to cup that sensitive part of me.
“You, princess.”
A shiver ran through me.
“Do you trust me?”
I almost said yes without thinking for a single second. My mouth opened and I let out a single syllable of sound before I stopped myself.
Think, Crescent.
He deserved a real answer and not one driven by instinct alone. I wasn’t sure exactly what he was proposing—but did I trust him to do what I needed? To make this anxious energy fade away so I could relax again?
“I trust you,” I said after my pause.
“Good girl,” he growled.
“I’m just… worried I won’t know what to do.”
His fingers slid under the fabric of my panties as his beautiful, mismatched eyes held mine. “Lift your hips.”
It was a wash of relief when he used a dark bond command—I couldn’t mess this up anymore.
I lifted them instantly, tucking my hands into the sleeves of my sweater awkwardly.
He didn’t try to get me to take it off, and I was glad.
It was a comfort to be able to hide just a little bit when his hot breath hit my slickness.
Vandle inhaled deeply, exhaling on a laboured groan. “You’re all mine, Crescent, and thank fuck for that.”
“Don’t swear.” I bit my lip after I said it, cheeks heating.
He chuckled. “Your wish is my command, Princess.”
It didn’t matter, really. But I wasn’t used to the foul language they all seemed to use.
Every time they did, I was reminded of how furious the Ascendants were when people broke the swearing rule.
I could almost feel the sting of the cane on my hands from the one time I had.
I didn’t want to think of that place, though. Not anymore, not with him.
I was right to say I trusted him, though. He was my mate.
He moved me like a doll in his grip, and I let him. I ended up with my thighs on his shoulders, his mouth dangerously close to me. He had me prop my head up with a pillow so I could look down to him if I wanted, but I couldn’t bring myself to.
I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, my body taut. I could pinpoint the sensation rushing through me this time, only because there was nothing else it could be.
Desire. Need.
Would having him between my legs banish some of the tension that had been constant while around their heavy scents?
He must think so.
He touched me before I could start to panic. His tongue, heated and probing, slipped through my folds to taste me.
My toes curled. The sensation was foreign but also… nice. Nothing life-shatteringly spectacular, but enough to make me wonder if this was maybe only the beginning. Would there be more?
He licked and kissed at me, gently sucking. Vandle was moaning more than me as he got situated down there, seeming to love the taste of my slick.
That switched quickly when he sucked harder at a spot that sent a jolt of pleasure through me.
I cried out, back arching from the bed and eyes flying open. Wrapping my arms around myself, hands still tucked into the sweater sleeves, I stared down at him. His eyes met mine, and there was self-satisfaction shining in them.
“What was that?” I asked, breathing heavily.
He did it again, and I contained myself a bit more that time. “That’s what I think you need to be a bit less anxious in here. Do you still trust me?”
That time, I did nod without hesitation. “Yes.”
He pressed a kiss to my inner thigh, then attached his lips back to that one spot that made me feel so much more than any other.
I clenched my hands into fists, breaths ragged as he gave me more and more pleasure using only his mouth. It felt like there was a goal, somewhere he was taking me, but when I thought about it, it only felt farther off.
So I did my best to relax into the feelings and not worry about destinations or anything silly like that.
Vandle made my back arch and my body writhe against him, and he did it so gently I never realized how close I was to the peak that I couldn’t crest.
At least, not until he demanded it of me.
“Come for me, Crescent.” There was the bite of the dark bond in his words, the command holding me in its tight grip.
I didn’t know how to follow the instructions, but my body did—and I didn’t want to resist, so that must be good enough.
When he brought his mouth back to me, my lips parted on a choked cry as the pleasure multiplied a thousandfold. It crashed over me in waves, sending my body into overdrive. For a few tense seconds I couldn’t think or process, and I could only move in the way it demanded me to.
Writhing and trembling and shaking as the world became something different around me.
Being touched felt this good?
When I’d spent so many heats in pain…?
If I’d known, I might have worked harder to be one of the worthy ones who got to have a pack.
I was barely breathing when the door to the bathroom was hauled open, bright fluorescent light spilling into the shadowed corner of my nest. Phantom stood backlit, taking a few steps out into the room before stopping short.
“Oh,” he said. “I heard her shout—thought she might be hurt.”
I flushed as he stared at me, fighting to close my legs but only managing to squeeze Vandle’s head a bit. “Sorry, um—”
“Don’t apologize,” Vandle said. “Tell me how you feel.”
My attention swung back to him. How I feel? I’m not sure how I’m supposed to know that. It was… amazing. And now…
I blinked down at him as I realized. “It’s… gone,” I said. “I was feeling all cooped up and anxious before, but now it’s gone.”
Vandle grinned. “Good girl.”
He let me swing my legs off his shoulders, planting my feet on the ground. I sat up on the edge of the bed and rested my hands on my thighs.
Phantom watched every movement, disappointment crossing his expression when he couldn’t see my centre anymore. He hadn’t come further into the room, but also hadn’t retreated back into the steamy, bright bathroom.
“She wants to go to the cafeteria,” Vandle said.
“I don’t know if I need to anymore,” I mumbled.
I’d been trying to escape the feelings, but apparently all I’d needed was that—not a dangerous trip out of their wing. I didn’t want to inconvenience them more when I was already feeling better.
The Sisters had only ever talked about what we would do to please our alphas. But Vandle was satisfied through the bond, so that was good.
It had just been overly focused on… well, me.
“It’s probably better to keep her in here until we go for our appeal,” Phantom said.
Vandle looked like he half agreed, but shook his head. “Can’t keep her locked in here the whole time. When the Emerald pack go to eat, we should go with them. Safety in numbers.”
Phantom’s jaw clenched. I didn’t like that tense, worried look on his face, and pushed to my feet. Crossing the small room, I grabbed his hand.
He glanced down at it, eyebrows drawn together, and I almost lost my nerve and dropped it. Then he hauled me to his side, huddling me under his arm. “What do you want, Little Omega?” he asked.
“I don’t need to leave,” I promised. “We can stay here all the time and maybe Vandle can just… do that again, if I get antsy.”
His growl made me startle. “Next time is my turn.”
“Oh. You don’t have to—”
“It’s my turn next. I can make you come just as well as he can.”
My face flamed and I turned to hide it against his side.
He wanted to?
They would be taking turns? What was so special about it? I felt more like a burden than anything else…
Phantom held me close, his hand caressing my back as I clung to him. “We’ll go out later if you’re settled for now. There are protein bars if you need a snack before dinner.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I snuck a peek at Vandle and caught his pleased smirk. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, cleaning it of my slick.
I would never hear the word ‘snack’ the same way ever again.