32. LOREN
Chapter thirty-two
LOREN
C allum grumbles in the kitchen, looking through the refrigerator for leftovers. It's not often he’s able to slip home for lunch– not like he used to. I don’t know if some of it is Katie being in the house, but I don’t like the distance he’s putting between himself and all of us. It’s like the old, hardened Callum from the battlefield has reemerged.
I enter the kitchen from the library, holding the census records that Katie has been leafing through. I’m not sure what she’s looking for, but I desperately want to help. My Alpha instincts itch under my skin to aid her in whatever she pursues. I set the book down on the counter and watch the hunched form of my packmate and oldest friend.
“She’s not here,” I say. Callum straightens and looks at me, his hands full with a glass bowl of fruit. He quirks a single eyebrow in question.
“Max took her to the gym. I think she was feeling a little stifled here.” I sweep a hand through my hair. “It’s a huge change for her. She’s used to freedom and autonomy. I think she’s having a difficult time adjusting.”
I have so much I want to say, so much I want to think through with Callum. We used to talk all the time, to process the day and whatever intelligence my father sent over to us every night. We used to be closer.
Then Genevieve disrupted all of that, and we're still putting the pieces back together.
“She’ll feel better after a fight,” he says, his voice gravelly.
“Maybe,” I say, with a sigh. She’d feel better if she stopped fighting being an Omega and let us take care of her. Let us help her adjust to Savolinna and life here. But I don’t say this, not when I can see in the set of Callum’s shoulders that he’s not in the mood to be generous with our Omega. Or himself.
“I spoke to her,” he says and I jerk my gaze from perusing Cal’s body to read his stormy gaze.
“And?” I ask.
“And, I apologized for our first encounter.”
“And?” I say, leaning forward. If she rejected his apology, then she might as well have rejected all of us. There’s already a mountain to climb. If she rejects the Alpha of Pack Murphy, then it’s almost impossible for us to keep her, blood match or no.
My heart throbs painfully. I don’t want to lose my Omega, not when we’ve just found her. But I can’t lose my packmate.
He shrugs, the infuriating Alpha!
“Callum, what did she say?”
“We will begin again, as long as I can control myself,” he says, a mingled tone of pleasure and pain in his words. As though he's still ashamed of their first encounter, but also glad they are starting over.
I exhale, the tightness in my chest relaxing.
“You’re too tightly wound,” he growls, leaning across the counter to hover close to my face. “It’s been a long time since you’ve let yourself relax, even before the Omega came.”
I can’t look away from him. Our intimacy used to be frequent, as much a part of our relationship as our friendship and mutual respect. But with Genevieve, and the ways she twisted intimacy and made everything a competition, it burned us both. Not just from trusting outsiders, but trusting each other.
“Cal,” I say, wanting to express how much I feel, the words that used to be so easy now stuck. Maybe I had pinned my hopes on this Omega filling these broken parts of us. Maybe I’d hoped too much in the biological instincts of an Omega to soothe and fix and bring packs together .
Maybe before I can really pursue my Omega, I need to heal these broken edges with my packmate, my friend, and my lover.
“When did it get so hard?” I say, my words barely above a whisper.
Callum shakes his head. “When everything got hard.” He stalks around the counter, running his hands over my shoulders. “Let’s not make it harder right now,” he says.
He takes my face in his hands and kisses me, his lips at first a light pressure, then opening, demanding entry. This is Callum, all force and need, like a storm that needs to blow itself out.
I open, letting him take all he needs, finding I need him to take it, to pull all my ache and desire from where I’ve kept it on a tight leash. I want my Omega with a ferocity that is terrifying. But I have locked all that need away so I don’t scare her.
But Cal knows my needs, knows how much I’ve kept myself in check. He sweeps his tongue into my mouth, demanding more of me.
When he pulls away, sucking on my bottom lip, I know he’s going to let me give him all of my pent up desire.
“Unbutton your pants,” he commands. I respond without question, shoving my trousers and drawers down until my already hard cock springs free. Fuck, the anticipation makes me strain for him.
I love the way he takes charge of me. I am an Alpha and can control an army with a single command, but with Callum I am allowed to follow. To let him lead me, and it always ends in pleasure.
Instead of spinning me around and bending me over the counter, like I anticipate, he kneels and licks his lips. I groan before he even touches me. It’s rare that Cal gets on his knees for me. Not because he won’t, but because he knows I like him when he dominates my space.
He licks my tip, and I gasp.
“I’ve missed the taste of you,” he murmurs, before licking around the head of my cock. I clutch a fistful of his black hair.
“Cal, fuck, Cal it’s been too long.”
He grunts before sliding me into his mouth, sucking me down until I nudge the back of his throat. He slides up again, his tongue circling my head.
I might explode from the pleasure of it right now. We’ve barely begun but I am wound so tight with wanting– wanting Katie, wanting Cal, wanting both of them together, fuck it’s almost too much for one person to bear.
He slides down my length, his nose brushing my swelling knot. My hips jerk and I fight the urge to rut into his mouth. He would let me, if I needed it. But it would mean this pleasure would end too quickly, with my Alpha a slobbering mess around my cock. Not the worst thing, but I want more.
He slides back slowly, one of his hands reaching around to cup my ass.
“You are so needy, aren’t you?” He growls. “You’ve been such a good boy, waiting for our Omega. But you need release too.”
Gods Above, when Callum praises me, it’s like a switch is turned on. I nod, wanting more.
“Loren, you’re a good boy for your Alpha, aren’t you?”
I nod. My cock strains toward where his lips hover just a few inches away.
“But you need more and your Alpha is going to give it to you, since you’ve been such a good boy.”
I groan. Callum stands, slowly unbuckling his belt, then unzipping his trousers.
I lick my lips.
“What do you say to your Alpha for taking care of you?” He demands.
“Thank you, Alpha.” I drop to my knees without asking. Greedily I pull his cock into my mouth before he gives me leave, not caring if this isn't what he had in mind. I need to taste him, even for a moment. The salt of his precum floods my mouth as I lick around his head, sucking him down my throat until I nose his knot.
“I should scold you,” he says, his words tight. “But I want you to get this cock nice and wet.”
My ass cheeks tighten as I slide him out of my mouth. I lick and suck his cock, wanting both to stay here and taste him, and wanting all the pleasure he’s promising me. I spit on his tip, before leaning back.
“On your hands and knees, like a good boy,” Callum says. He briefly touches my cheek before I comply, shaking off my trousers as I settle onto all fours.
Suddenly, I’m glad Max took Katie to the gym. Callum and I need this alone time, this moment to reconnect. Katie isn’t a wedge; no, she’s going to be the glue that holds us. But everything is still so tentative with her. All the desire building up without the trust yet for release.
Callum rubs his cock, spitting in his hand and running his wet fingers around my hole.
“Relax, Lor. I’ll never hurt you,” Callum says, lining up his cock. “Unless you ask me too,” he adds, a smirk in his voice.
I laugh, then feel the pressure as his cock pushes past my ring of muscle. It burns for a moment, not quite enough lube to make the entrance smooth. But fuck , it feels good to have him inside me again.
He moves slowly at first, one hand gripping my hip.
“Is this what my good boy needs?” Cal says, his voice thick.
“Yes,” I groan, throwing my head back. He leans forward to kiss me, his hips moving slowly back and forth.
“I need to fuck you hard,” he growls in my ear. “Can you take me hard, Lor? Can you take all of me in?”
Usually we use lube for this, for what he’s asking. But the little bit of discomfort of his stretch will be worth the pleasure of the release.
“Fuck me, Alpha,” I say, arching my back as Callum’s thrusts come faster. He grabs my hips, his fingers digging into my sides with each of his thrusts forcing himself deeper. His sack hits against mine, and I feel his knot edge my hole. The pleasure builds, winding tighter and tighter like a spring.
“Mother of wolves!” He roars, thrusting forward, forcing his swelling knot into my ass as it inflates, his hot release filling me and easing the sting of the stretch. Callum gasps, leaning over my body, his fingers coming around my own cock to pump it in time with his own deep ruts.
“Callum,” I moan, on the edge of my release. My hips jerk in his hand, working with him, feeling the pump of his fingers and the pressure of his cock and knot as I am pleasured with the push and the pull of Callum surrounding me.
His hand slides back to my knot, squeezing hard until I come, coating my belly and the floor with each pulse of my own release. Callum’s hips find their rhythm, rutting deep inside of me, nudging us both on, forcing another release and waves of pleasure break over us.
Finally he slumps against my back, before guiding us both to our sides on the floor. We are locked together, pleasure drunk in a haze of our mingled scents and sticky with sex.
“Fuck, Loren, you have the tightest ass,” Callum says, leaning forward to nip at my shoulder.
“You’re welcome,” I say over my shoulder, stealing a kiss.
He holds me as our breathing slows, and the haze begins to dissipate.
“I love you,” I say, a frantic need to hold on to this intimacy edging my words.
Callum grabs my face, tuning it back toward him. “I have always and will always love you. Omega or no, you will always belong to me.”
I nod, the truth of his words resonating in my bones and settling something deep within my chest.