Chapter 28
SIN
I hated being stuck in our own wing, but it was good to be surrounded by allies.
The Emerald pack had found a checkerboard to borrow, setting it up in the hall out front of our cell, and Phantom was playing against Justin. Vandle was boxing with some of the Wakefield alphas. I had been too, but now I wanted to shower off my sweat and do something else.
I shoved the door to our cell open, immediately hit with a wave of velvet rose and cocoa, twirling and twining with Karma’s scent. My cock went rock hard and I slammed the door behind me when I caught sight of both of them on the bed.
Their scents were strong, but I didn’t think anyone else had caught a whiff—that meant I could experience this view all to myself.
Crescent’s clothes were dishevelled, the collar of her sweater skewed to one side and the fabric shoved up to expose the smooth, pale skin of her stomach.
Karma hovered over her, shirtless, his pants slung low on his hips, their lips a breath apart.
The muscles bunched and tensed in his back—probably from the effort of holding back.
“Crescent?” I asked. “Are you alright?”
She looked pleased, but Karma could be a bit much.
Her cheeks were stained pink, her gold eyes wide as she swung her attention to me. “Fine!” she squeaked.
Karma growled when I got too close, but I put my hand on his shoulder and hauled him back off her. Yeah, I’d had her already, but could he really stop me from claiming a quick kiss from my omega?
He tried to scramble back up, his eyes dark with the feral energy he always had, but I glared. “Stay!” I snapped.
The command felt potent, like it had to be listened to, and kept the air taut between us
I felt oddly powerful, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.
Karma froze, but his muscles flexed like he wanted to move. His growl rumbled deeper and more feral, his fingers twitching toward Crescent. She sat up on the bed, readjusting her sweater to cover the expanse of skin.
“Crescent, come,” Karma commanded in a snarl.
Her feet touched the floor in seconds, and she made it two steps before I grabbed her arm and stopped her. His order had potency too, and I knew what it had to be. He’d used the dark bond to order her around, and my mind became a dark cloud.
They dark bonded her to keep her safe. Not so they could use her pretty body at their fucking whim to keep their feral instincts in check.
I wouldn’t let that happen.
“Let her go,” I growled, holding our omega back from going to him.
There it was again, that energy to my words. Karma blinked a few times, but then words spilled from him that I’m not sure he intended to say. “You don’t have to come,” he said to Crescent before his attention turned to me. “Sin, what the fuck are you doing to me?”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“Then why do I have to listen to you?”
My nose wrinkled. “You don’t.”
Karma growled. “You interrupted, and she was fine with me touching her. But as soon as you told me to stay here, it was like my knees were rooted to the fucking ground. I can’t move.”
To illustrate his point, he tried—thighs straining, veins showing on his neck, his effort comically obvious—only to double over with a pained howl when he’d barely moved a few inches.
Crescent dropped to her knees in front of him, hands fluttering around him like she wanted to help but had no idea how to fix him. “Oh my gosh, what’s wrong?”
Karma winced, the darkness receding from his eyes as he looked down at her. He glanced up at me like he wanted an explanation, but I didn’t have one.
Why couldn’t he move?
I’d told him to stay, but that shouldn’t mean much. I didn’t even have a strong aura to back up my order like an alpha would. “Say something,” I requested.
“This is messed up. You—”
“Shut up.” I tried to bring back up the anger I felt earlier and infuse it into my words to give them that same energy as before.
Karma’s voice cut out with a choked sound, his mouth flapping as his words became silent.
Holy shit.
I could order these assholes around?
I wasn’t sure how it happened, but maybe it had something to do with the bond changing colour on my neck when they dark bonded Crescent into the pack. Either way, there were so many ways to utilize this.
Like making Karma sit down and shut up while I took over playing with our little omega.
Second time he’d have to watch quietly, except this time I was in full control.
“What’s happening?” Crescent asked, grabbing at his arms while his mouth worked helplessly.
I grabbed her under the arms and hauled her up, pulling her a few steps away before pushing her down onto the mattress into a pile of pillows. When I hovered over her like Karma was, my hand pushing her sweatshirt up to expose her stomach again, she started to pant.
The scent of her spiked in the room again, all sweet and delicate.
Karma growled, rumbly and barely existent, and I looked over to find his eyes near black again. His attention fixed on her bare stomach, but he didn’t make a move forward.
He was stuck.
Which meant she was mine now. I would finish what he started… while he watched. I sent him a smirk.
“You need taking care of, don’t you?” I asked Crescent.
Her cheeks flushed and she looked away instead of answering.
“Is that what Karma was doing? Taking care of you?”
To that she gave a short nod.
“Well, I’m stealing you from him. That alright?”
She sank her teeth into her bottom lip and nodded again.
I placed one hand on her stomach, fingers teasing at going under her sweatshirt, and the other went to tilt her chin so she was forced to look at me. “Use your words, Princess.”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “I’d like that,” she whispered. “As long as Karma is OK too.”
“Karma is fine, I promise.” I shot him a smirk as I said it.
He might keel over from blue balls before this was done, but… the idea of making that happen sent a thrill through my veins beyond the lust I was feeling with her before me.
I wanted him watching me play with her.
And that opinion had absolutely nothing to do with how desperate I was to touch her.
Slipping my fingers up under the sweater, I cupped her breast in my hand. She gasped wispily like this was already a level of pleasure she could barely tolerate.
She was so sensitive.
So touch starved.
“Is there anything you want me to do to make you feel good?” I asked. “What was Karma going to do?”
Her gaze flicked to Karma, the flush of her cheeks extending down her neck. I bet he was talking about all sorts of nasty things he wanted to do to her.
“Nothing specific,” she said.
Little liar.
I wouldn’t make her say those things out loud, though. This was an omega that didn’t like to swear. Repeating Karma’s words might give her a heart attack.
“I’ll do it my way, then.” I rolled her nipple between my fingers, pinching and squeezing.
She gave me another nod, and fuck if it didn’t kill me how she looked so trusting when her golden eyes met mine.
We all needed to treat her like the most precious thing in the world until she eventually realized that she was.
Reaching down, I grabbed the bottom hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head, then shoved my pants down my legs. It left me completely naked, and I puffed up a bit at Crescent’s gasp and the heightening of her scent.
“Let’s get you out of your clothes,” I said to her.
She sat up and fiddled with the sleeves of her sweater. She often had her hands tucked in, like hiding them was a piece of comfort for her, and I wondered if she would be alright with me taking that away from her.
The cage had been different, with her exposed to everyone, running on the adrenaline of the moment.
Here I didn’t want her fuelled by adrenaline; only lust.
“You don’t have to,” I amended. “Just the pants, maybe?”
Her expression shifted, a set of determination to her eyes. “No, I want to.”
And then she grabbed the sweater and pulled it up, and it was all I could do not to jump her immediately.