14. Meadow
Chapter 14
Meadow
T he only thing I truly registered was that, with every second that passed in the presence of Arlo’s apple cider scent, my nausea was disappearing and being incrementally replaced with a swell of lust that stole my breath. Fucking scent matches. What kind of witchcraft was this?
All of my past months of suffering crashed over me in an instant, and I threw myself into his arms, deeply gratified when they locked around me and his scent exploded like plumes of smoke out of a volcano. Apple cider infused every breath. I didn’t know exactly how all of it worked. I should have needed Hendrix to eliminate the bonding sickness, but Arlo was part of his pack— my pack?—so maybe some of the magic transferred to him. Curls of desire slipped down my limbs, my fingers clenching in the back of his shirt. He was all sweaty, and normally that would ick me out, but right now, I wanted to rub myself all over him. I swiped my cheek along his jaw, and we both froze.
“Did you just scent mark me?” he asked.
“Um…”
“That’s so fucking hot. Do it again.”
I only got halfway through the second scent mark before his mouth was on mine and I was drowning, my brain melting out my ears at the taste of him. Fruit and floral waged a war for dominance as Arlo tumbled backward onto the couch, drawing me onto his lap in the tour bus that had changed my life.
What the fuck am I doing? I was here to find Hendrix, not hook up with his pack. The thought lasted for about half a second before Arlo’s hands on my hips blitzed it straight out of my head. I didn’t even recognize myself as I whimpered against his mouth and ground my hips down. My brain might not know what was going on, but my body certainly did. Every ounce of misery since I had hopped out of Hendrix’s bed vanished under the touch and taste of his pack mate. What gave him the right to taste so fucking good?
His hands snaked under the hem of my shirt, and I whined at the contact of skin on skin, his fingers digging into me, his thumbs stroking over the barely there swell of my belly.
That brought reality careening back. I pushed away from him, staring down at him while my chest heaved and I tried desperately to gain a foothold in rationality. All I wanted to do was tell him to take me to the bedroom and ruin me, so I could bask in feeling this fucking amazing for a little while longer.
“Wait.”
Arlo blinked up at me. “For what?”
“I don’t—I don’t even know you.”
“You’re pack.” He said it like it changed everything, and maybe he was right.
Was I really pack? “That shouldn’t count. I don’t know Hendrix, either.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Arlo insisted. “You’re ours.”
It was absolutely ridiculous how much those words made me preen. My omega traits had never made me this pitiful before. I was a strong, confident, rational woman. Most of the time. Apparently, all it took was two words from this alpha to unravel all of that.
“If you want me to stop, I’ll stop,” he promised. “I was just hoping to get to know you now that you’re part of the pack. Hen was totally hogging you.”
“This is ridiculous,” I lamented. “Hendrix was a one-night stand.”
“Is he still just that?” Arlo tilted his head like a pup, examining me.
It was really fucking hard to think when I could feel his cock pressing against me while I straddled his lap. “I mean, he’s the father of my baby, but I don’t know him.”
“Do you want to?” Arlo asked. “We all want to know you.”
Why was he so cute? His stubble was the perfect amount of grown in, his hair all spiked up and styled, and his brown eyes plaintive while still burning with desire. My resolve was crumbling, even as I tried to shove the bricks of it back into place.
I didn’t need to sleep with him to feel better, but I hadn’t felt this good in months. The pain being gone was like a natural high, and I was pretty sure I didn’t have the willpower to turn away from it right now. I’d been avoiding thinking about it too hard, but since Hendrix had a pack, that meant they would all be the fathers of our child in some capacity, even if they weren’t in my life. It was probably in all our best interests if I grabbed on to the chances they offered me, despite my practicality screaming at the idea.
I moved before I could mentally talk myself out of it, putting my mouth back on his and groaning at the burst of scent, slick pooling between my thighs at the jump of his cock. Arlo cupped my ass cheeks and rocked me over his hard cock, making me dizzy with want until I was peeling off my shirt and tearing at his, desperate to get closer.
His laugh was like music when he scooped me up and kicked in the door to the bedroom where Hendrix had taken me that first time. Arlo laid me out on the bed, pulling away just long enough to whip his shirt off before dropping forward to cage me in with his arms. I couldn’t quite catch my breath with him all around me. Arlo made quick work of my bra and sucked my nipple into his mouth, the swipe of his tongue and the groan that followed almost enough to undo me right there. I squirmed beneath him, fingers clutched in his hair, the most pathetic mewls slipping from my lips.
“The show,” I mumbled, half remembering that the concert was far from over.
“They can handle it.” His voice was muffled against my skin as he switched from one breast to the other, his fingers curling into the waistband of my leggings to peel them down. “The real question is, can you handle me , princess?”
I honestly wasn’t sure if I could. Sweat pricked at my skin, my core temperature rising. I had never been this desperate for anyone before, but apparently the universe wanted me to get acquainted with that feeling.
“Arlo,” I whined.
His moan echoed in the small space. “Fuck. Me. I’ve been waiting to know what my name on your lips would sound like. The fantasy of it can’t even compare. Say it again.”
Before I could draw breath to speak, he slipped his fingers into my panties, gliding through the slick there.
His low growl rose every hair on my body. I struggled with the intensity of the eye contact when he withdrew and dragged two fingers over his tongue. A shudder rolled through me, and I rocked my hips in silent invitation.
“Arlo, please.”
“Goddamn. You begging me is even sweeter. I hadn’t planned on getting my hands on you this quickly, but I’m very glad you want me as much as I want you. Did you know—” He spread my thighs and rocked himself between them. “—that we almost had a couple fights break out because your scent was in here and Hendrix was trying to hog it? They’re all going to lose it when they discover how much better it smells from the source.”
“Hendrix already found that out.”
“Yeah, but whatever he was on wiped anything useful about you from his brain.” He buried his face against my throat, inhaling dramatically. “You smell so fucking good. You want me to taste you, princess?”
What kind of question was that? Of course I wanted him to. My pussy was practically weeping, waiting for him to get to that. “ Yes .”
Apparently I was just going to throw caution to the wind today, but it was so hard to regret when he tugged off my panties and buried his face between my thighs. I arched off the bed like a cat, pleasure zinging up my spine.
Arlo matched my feral whine with a moan. His tongue snaked over my heated skin, lapping up my slick while I squirmed, his hands locking over my thighs to spread me out. Arlo rubbed his stubble over my inner thighs, nipping softly. “I’m going to eat this pussy every fucking day if you let me.”
Oh god.
I locked my fingers into his hair. I couldn’t think about anything after this moment, or I was going to tumble headlong into panic. “Please.”
“Please what, princess?”
“Don’t make me think. Please.”
Arlo took the request to heart and went back to work on my clit, effectively flicking off the switch of my brain. I squirmed and shuddered, caught in the waves of bliss that seemed so much more potent compared to how shitty I had felt when I had been staring at the band members onstage. When I broke apart, he lifted his self-satisfied smile to me, his grin turning manic, his eyes light.
“Should I stop here, or are you going to let me fuck you?”
Well, fuck. In for a penny, in for a pound. I reached one grabby hand toward him, and Arlo was on me in a second. The weight of him and the overwhelming surge of apple cider scent had my head swimming. I wanted every bit of him right this second. With my body still thrumming from my orgasm, I wrestled his pants open and used my toes to help push them farther down when they slipped beyond the reach of my fingers.
Arlo laughed against my skin, kissing his way up my shoulder and throat. “Haven’t seen that move before. Ten points for creative use of toes.”
Every instinct sang to have him this close to me, and my pussy throbbed, a silent demand that I do something about it immediately. “Condom?”
He pulled away to look down at me, gaze flicking from my face to my stomach, and I bit down on the whine that crawled up my throat. “You can’t get more pregnant.”
My cheeks warmed. “No, but…”
“Ah, one second.” He snatched one of the frames on the wall and held it up proudly for me to see. It took me a hot second to realize what it was…An STI panel.
“You framed it?”
“Some of us are proud to be in the clean peen club. We all are, by the way. After we figured out Hen had bonded someone, we all got tested to make sure you could be safely railed any way you might like. It was easy. We just stopped at a private clinic between tour stops.”
“Oh. My. God. What the hell have I bonded into?” Embarrassment clashed with desire. It was thoughtful, if a bit weird.
“Chaos,” Arlo replied. “But you’ll get used to it.”
I sat up to watch him replace the frame on the wall while trying not to think about how many people had probably been defiled in this bed.
A glint of light caught my attention, and my eyes were drawn to the delicate metal hoop pierced through the tip of his cock.
My mouth went dry. “Is that a…”
Arlo glanced down and then beamed at me. “A Prince Albert piercing? You bet that gorgeous ass it is. Want to touch it?”
No.
Yes?
The mere idea of it had sparks igniting in my brain. I swallowed hard. “Maybe?”
I reached out tentative fingers and was rewarded with his low, delighted groan when I made contact. Toying with the metal had Arlo dripping pre-cum, a shudder rolling through him. Of course, now that I was this close, I noticed something else that even the piercing couldn’t distract me from. A tattoo between the vee of his hips that read Choking Hazard . Good fucking god. If I weren’t feeling so incredible right now, that tattoo would have had me laughing all the way out the door.
I wasn’t able to play long before my hindbrain kicked up a fucking fuss, screaming I get as close as possible to this alpha.
Arlo was wicked fast, pressing me back into the bed, and I was locking every limb around him. My instincts never rode me this hard. I was pretty certain if we stopped now, I would simply perish.
“Ready for me, princess?”
“Yes,” I gasped out.
My brain blanked out, pleasure going off like a rocket as Arlo’s cock stretched me out. A purr erupted, and I couldn’t tell if it was his or mine or both as he adjusted carefully before fucking into me so hard I had to reach up to brace myself on the headboard.
“That’s my good little omega. Hold on tight.”
Before I could even wonder what that meant, he showed me. Arlo fucked like he was ravenous for me, his body driving into me and setting off fireworks with every impact of our hips. I didn’t recognize the sounds I made. I could hardly get a full breath as every thrust forced some new gasp or moan from my lips.
Arlo braced his hands on the headboard, adjusted his hips incrementally, and sent me over the fucking edge. My vision flared white, pleasure like molten lava in every cell. The world faded out until Arlo’s lips were gentle against mine, coaxing me back.
“Holy fuck,” I whispered.
Arlo chuckled, nipping my bottom lip. “You’re welcome.”