36. Ben
Ben
I jerked awake to find Ember doing her level best to burrow into me. She was shaking like a leaf and burning up. I had already wrapped my arms around her while we slept, my hands brushing Alejandro’s shoulders, judging from the scent.
Ember whined again, and I purred loudly, desperately looking around to see the threat.
The nest didn’t seem any different. The light quality hadn’t changed. I didn’t smell anyone else. I’d have known if there was, despite the sharp burnt tang of lemon and sour milk overriding everything.
Ember’s scent was worse now than it was this evening, and it had been pretty bad. I immediately started purring and Alejandro followed suit.
“What’s wrong, my love?” I put my hand at the base of her neck and rubbed. She was a ball of tension.
“Mom,” she whimpered. “Where’s my mom?”
“Shit.” West’s voice was hoarse. Movement near Ember. The only thing keeping my alpha instincts from growling was I smelled West’s soured milk and honey scent. I felt his hand on her forehead.
“She’s burning up.” I pushed the blanket down, but she immediately started shivering.
“Ember?” West shook her shoulder softly.
She ignored him, keeping her sweaty face pressed against my neck, her nose firmly pressed into my scent gland. She had Alejandro’s hand in the same spot, like she wanted to huff us both at the same time.
“Ember, wake up.” West’s voice was commanding.
Ember whined again, pressing herself against me.
“What do we do?” I sounded sharper than I meant to, but my alpha instincts were screaming. She was hurt; she was sick. I had to do something. “Call a doctor?”
“Rian, go get some washcloths and run them under room-temperature water. Ring them out so they’re damp, not soaking.” West’s voice was still right next to me. He must have been leaning over Alejandro.
I bitterly wished I knew what to do. I was inadequate. West was hurting too but instead he had to make sure Ember was taken care of. Next time I’ll know , I told my alpha instincts.
The mattress shifted as Rian left the nest, and I growled, not liking any of the omegas to leave.
“No doctors or hospitals,” West said firmly. “It will push her into being feral for sure.”
Ember shivered and it felt like an eternity until Rian brought the damp washcloths. He came around my side of nest and leaned over me. Through our bond he felt worried but pushed reassurance at me. I must be closer to losing my shit than I thought.
“Rian, keep your hand on her shoulder. Alphas, stay put.” West’s voice was calm and in control, but his scent was still burnt honey and soured milk. I grabbed him with my free hand and rubbed my cheek against his skin.
He shifted, and a cool washcloth brushed against my bare chest.
“Sorry, Ben,” West said, still moving.
“Whatever she needs.” Her baking heat had tapered off enough that I was no longer worried she would melt her brains.
Ember jerked suddenly. “What’s happening?”
“Are you awake?” West asked, moving over my arm.
“Tired.” Every muscle tensed in her body. “Oh my god, West, no. Make it stop.” Her voice ended on a wail.
“It’s okay, honey. We’re here.” I squeezed her gently.
“It’s going to be a bad one.” Ember rubbed her arms, scratching her skin. “Why now? Everyone’s going to think I’m crazy.”
“No,” I said quickly.
“We would never,” Alejandro said.
“Of course not,” Rian said, his voice husky.
Ember’s lemon scent became more bitter, until I resisted the urge to cough. She started breathing heavily. “I can’t stop thinking about it. Every time I close my eyes, I see the chunk of plane breaking off.”
Oh, shit. I really, really hoped she wasn’t saying what I thought she was.
“Breathe through it.” West moved his hand between us so he could feel her heartbeat. I started purring again, and Alejandro matched me.
“Breathe slowly.”
Ember huffed and sucked in a breath. She whined again and I tightened my grip on her. She could have asked me for anything in that moment and it would have been hers on a silver platter.
“Good, and out.” West kept working her through breathing exercises, but she wiggled. She scratched her arm until West took her wrists. “Hey, hey, it’s okay.”
West’s voice changed a bit. “Rian, which nest would she like the best?”
“She really sounded excited about the tunnel one?” My omega sounded uncertain.
I pushed my own reassurance at him. He was an omega; he had excellent instincts.
“I agree. Grab the blankets she’s been using. Stuff some of our clothes in there, some food, Gatorade, and anything else you can think of.”
Ember started panting heavier and couldn’t take a deep breath in. She whimpered for her parents, and her body shook like we were in the Arctic without a jacket.
“It’s ready,” Rian called, and I picked her up. We walked out of the bedroom, down the hall, and around the corner to the tunnel nest. It had a low ceiling, but if I squatted, I could get in. It was all soft materials and scents of the pack around us.
West slid next to me, his milk and honey scent still sour.
I tapped Ember’s shoulder. “You’re safe, omega. Make your nest.”
She grunted and started moving things around. We waited for her to settle but she never really did. She curled next to me, and the other three rotated behind her. She moved blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals from the textures I felt against my chest.
She finally lay still, still burning up, and she whimpered in her sleep.
I let out a sigh, exhausted. Something was still wrong, but maybe she would wake up better.
“Is she going into heat?” Rian asked quietly.
“I don’t know.” West sounded tired himself. “It would be a month early.”
I leaned over to touch him and made sure he was getting cuddled. He was on Ember’s other side and Alejandro had him spooned.
“Maybe with the nest…” Rian trailed off, no doubt remembering that it was West’s nest too.
“It’s more likely a bad panic attack. We’ll see how she does.”
I drifted off to sleep only to wake up when Ember shouted.
Adrenaline pumped through my body. The close walls of the nest helped, and I took another deep breath in. I saw why Ember liked the tunnel of the nest. It would be hard to sneak in here. I smelled no one but our makeshift pack.
“No, please,” Ember cried out, her body going rigid. “Mom.”
West shook her shoulder. “Wake up. It’s a bad dream.”
She startled awake, pressing her nose to my throat again. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Her face was wet with tears.
I stroked her hair. “Nothing to apologize for, my love. What can we do?”
“My body hurts. Nothing feels right.” She shifted between me and West. She whined, and I purred as hard as I could, stroking my hand over her face.
“They’re going to be disgusted,” she said. “I need to leave before they see me lose my shit.”
“They won’t,” West said calmly. “We would have left a while ago if I thought that would happen.”
I tightened my grip. “You mean us? Ember, lose all your marbles. We just want you to feel better.”
“No way,” Alejandro said, sounding firm. “You’re stuck with me.”
“You can’t leave. You just made the nest,” Rian said, sounding vaguely scandalized. “We still have to layer our scents in here.”
Ember sniffled, like she didn’t believe us.
“You’re mine,” I growled. “I’m not letting you go.”
Ember relaxed at that.
My alpha instincts were in go mode. My omega was upset but I couldn’t do anything but hold her while she cried. It made me cranky.
West shifted. Rian’s scent got closer. Rian put his arms around her. She was still burning up.
The night passed in snatches of time. We tried to sleep as best as we could, but Ember startled awake every couple of hours, semi-lucid.
She complained that everything smelled like burnt rubber, so we rubbed our wrists under her nose.
She stayed hot, so we kept cool washcloths rotating.
She cried in her sleep until one of us woke her up.
We rubbed her back, cuddled her, and tried to get her to drink some fluids. She refused the fluids but allowed the cuddles.
I knew I should have moved, let someone else take her other side, but I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t make myself move her arm wrapped around my neck even if I’d had a gun to my head.
The others didn’t seem to mind and shifted positions behind her.
West curled up closer to our heads, another benefit to the nest. We could surround her with our bodies, a living nest.
We finally got a long stretch of sleep like that, with West lying almost horizontally, his head close to mine; Ember between us; and then Rian cuddled behind her with Alejandro lying further down the nest so he could wrap his hands over her legs.
I woke up to the scent of her perfume, so thick and heavy my cock was painfully hard. She licked my neck, and I tightened my hands, stroking down her side.
“Alpha,” she whispered, gyrating her hips against me.
“Yes, omega.” I leaned forward, kissing her forehead.
She rubbed against me, her breasts pressed against my chest, and everything went molten. My omega needed me, she smelled like lemon cake with whipped cream, and I could have died happily making her smell that intense.
“You hungry?” I told my hormones to calm down. She smelled like she was going into heat, but she needed to eat.
“Yes,” she purred, and hooked a leg over my waist and brought her hot pussy against my cock. She was already so wet.
I kissed her cheek and moved down to her neck. She tilted her head back.
West’s scent spiked, almonds flowing out of the milk and honey, and she panted. “West, yes, yes.”
I kept stroking her body, cupping her breasts, touching West’s hand sometimes as he caressed her. I tried to keep the pace slow and sensual, build it up for her. The pain and sorrow of last night lingering on her body, and I needed to erase that.
I cupped my hand between her legs, and she inhaled. I slid two fingers inside her. She was soaking wet, slick coating her thighs. West curled two fingers inside her with me, and we moved in time, stretching her until she quivered between us. She rocked back and forth, keening.
Rian and Alejandro’s scents were heavy, and I caught their scents too, Alejandro’s rough palms passing over my own hands, Rian’s mouth on her neck. We kissed her and touched her slowly, covering her with our scents.
She moaned, biting my shoulder. I grunted, unable to help it.
Instincts took over; her scent bloomed. I slid inside her, feeling the gorgeous clench of her.
With each thrust it felt like she was sucking me in, like her pussy didn’t want to let me go.
I drove into her, making her cry out, losing track of where West’s hands were.
When he slipped into her ass, I felt the stretch of her pussy and I groaned, thrusting harder.
The nest was a chorus of bliss, and she held on to my hips as I fucked her senseless. She came hard, clenching tightly on my cock, but I kept going. She needed more, so much more. I would drive myself into her until I dropped.
West’s pace pushed her against me, driving her harder to her pleasure. West groaned and shifted until he moved behind me.
I purred, “Yes, omega, yes.”
West rubbed his still-hard cock against my ass, and I shifted my hips. Rian’s sweet amber scent hit me as he slid next to Ember. He rubbed his cock at her entrance, and I groaned. We took turns pushing inside her as she fell apart. Her perfume filled the room, and I stopped thinking or worrying.
I had her in my arms, and she was crying out my name, crying out Rian’s name. She whimpered, gasping my name as I slowly moved inside her, as the scent shifted again, and I smelled Alejandro.
Yes, let her have her entire pack. That was what she needed. Ember curled against me, whining. Alejandro pumped into her, and she cried out, “Alpha, please. Please, knot.”
“You get your knot after you’ve fucked all of us,” Alejandro gasped. “You want all of us covering you, carina.”
“Listen to your alpha.” I grunted, taking my turn to slide back in. She was still so hot and wet; it was pure heaven. I held still while Alejandro worked his cock inside her too, the stretch of us pushing her to her limits.
She whined and panted but took us like the perfect omega she was. I pulled out and Alejandro angled her hips back against him. I helped, holding her leg up, as Rian came to her head, rubbing his cock on her mouth.
She licked him immediately. “Yes, please, more. West.”
She wanted all of us. West had already taken the condom off, and he and Rian took turns fucking her mouth. I kept my hands on them, wanting to know what they were doing to unravel her.
Alejandro kept up the pace until they were both screaming. As soon as he pulled out, I thrust back into her. She cried out, her pussy still clenching from her orgasm.
I drove into her, needing to taste her, feel her, breathe her. She was mine and I would brand her with my body, would scream her name until the entire world knew. Everything narrowed down to her, her cries of pleasure, the scents of the pack around me.
She shifted forward on my chest, the other two omegas pausing. She smelled like all of us, our scents mingled. I buried my face into her neck, and she arched against me, melting like we were one body and mind.
I knotted her, locking inside her forever. I would protect her, keep her safe, and give every part of myself to do that.