Chapter 10 – June
CHAPTER TEN
JUNE
Bennett’s arms are warm as they firmly hold me to his chest. Filtered sunlight drifts in through the large window on the far wall, and I feel his head buried against the nape of my neck, breathing in and out softly against my hair.
I hum, turning in his grasp so I can nuzzle into him, closing my eyes tightly as I savor the quiet. With our heads together, I feel his lips lift, a smile gracing his sleepy features as he moves his nose to my jaw, murmuring, “Morning.”
“Morning.” I smile back, pulling back just enough to take him in. His expression is slack, brown eyes still shut to me and the world. His dark skin is flawless, lashes brushing his cheeks as his broad nose nudges my cheek again.
I lost count how many times we fell into each other last night. The final time, his knot slipped free and I collapsed back onto a pillow, half delirious and unable to stop giggling. He’d bundled his arms around me and kissed me until sleep took us both.
And that was that.
Drowsily, I look around his room. It’s painted in a lovely, rich shade of blue that reminds me of the night sky, with little accents of yellow and orange that scream of Seth. At the thought of him, my chest aches, an emptiness in the bed that yawns open like a void.
“I should get up and brush my teeth.”
Arin wants us to go to the nesting stores tomorrow, he’s been talking about the plans since I moved in — but the urge to stay in bed keeps me from moving away from Bennett’s grasp immediately. Still, I should be working , not languishing in one man’s arms while I think of another —
“Give me five more minutes with you, darling.” Bennett kisses me suddenly, morning breath and all. “Do you think I care” — his hands wind around my bare waist, holding me steadfast — “at all how your breath smells in the morning? Because, I can assure you, I don’t give a single fuck about it.”
“I care ,” I laugh, devolving into little snorts as he peppers my face with kisses. Sliding closer, I bend into him, trying to ignore reality creeping into my subconscious, darkening the edges of this happy moment. It slides in anyway.
“I need to finish what I was working on yesterday. If I go down now, I could have enough time to wrap it up and then look it over before we leave tomorrow. My agent called a few days ago and I’m ahead enough that I could still make my original deadline for this fall for my manuscript, but she wanted to talk seriously about rescheduling the signing dates — but that means flying back to the UK. There might be openings if she can —”
Bennett shuts me up with another kiss, his lips firm on mine. His hands rise, grasping my face as he sinks into me. “We’ve been awake for five minutes, June.” His voice goes a little raw as he strokes my hair, leaning his head back to stare at me. “I want both your body and your brain in my bed — not just one.”
I peek up at him, my heart resting in my throat. “Sorry.”
He pecks my forehead, rubbing my cheeks with his thumbs. “Don’t apologize. But you’re going to give Arin a run for his money. You might even be worse than Theo and his early morning training schedule.” Bennett leans in closer and his orange perfume wafts over me, settling like a blanket. “Maybe even worse than Seth, because he leaves everything to the last possible second, then completes it flawlessly, making it infuriating to everyone involved.”
My lips twitch at the mention of Seth and I turn into Bennett’s touch, pressing a kiss against the palm of his hand.
“You know how you could keep me and my brain in bed?”
“Tell me and it’s yours.” Bennett slides an arm down, winding it around my middle.
My tongue feels heavy, and I glance away, focused on his hand as I kiss the soft skin there, pressing my nose against his wrist where a scent gland releases concentrated orange perfume. It’s not like Arin’s mint — clarifying — or like Theo’s — calming. Bennett is as steady as my own heartbeat, he’s comforting.
“I…” The words get caught as I try to force myself to vocalize what it is.
What if he thinks you’re rejecting him? What if he thinks you can’t stand to spend time alone with him? What kind of person are you to want someone else while you have it all right now?
Bennett’s fingers graze my cheek, holding my face to his wrist. “I’ll tell you what I want.”
I glance up at him, biting my tongue.
“Well, who I want.”
Hesitating for a moment, I meet his bright look as he reaches for his phone, thrown carelessly onto the nightstand. Bennett drags it between us and types something before he flashes the screen at me.
An unsent text fills the message box of his and Seth’s thread.
Bennett
Would you be interested in coming to bed with June and I?
Simple.
“Can I send this?” He catches my eyes again, holding my gaze for a heartbeat. “Do you want him to join us?”
I nod.
He presses the send button and then chucks his phone off to the side.
“Come here.” Bennett drags me back into his arms, chest to chest as he kisses my forehead and murmurs, “Stop second guessing when you want one of us — or more.”
My eyes flutter shut as he dotes on me, sinking into the feeling. I never understood the way everyone spoke about the biology between alpha and omegas — but now I think I do. My body feels calmer than it ever has been when Bennett is touching me. The general anxiety, the inconsistencies in my own brain come to heel when his fingertips are on my skin.
His thumbs smooth out the line between my brows.
“I think any of the others would agree with me in saying that we’d love if you’d ask for more , June.” His voice is gentle, contemplative. “But, I won’t lie to you. I can’t imagine what it was like to be raised by parents who said you didn’t matter because you were assumed to be a beta. I can’t imagine being told that you were inherently worthless unless you helped find an alpha their omega.”
I open my eyes, staring up at him with my nose against his. Confusion and sadness mar his features.
“It’s bizarre to me to think that the world could exist as it is, but there can only be one perfect person for every one of us. That just seems statistically ridiculous to me. What about the people that feel like soulmates, but platonically? What about the ones that are only there for a season, but very much exactly what you need in that moment of time? Are those not people you’re also fated to be with? Why is there supposed to be one, singular, magical person that is a fix-all? That’s a lot to saddle another person with.”
My throat tightens as I stare at him.
“Besides” — Bennett hugs me, rubbing my back — “I love Seth. I’ve loved him for over a decade and it transformed in that time, from a friendship to something more.” His eyes flicker, catching on mine.
The unspoken other half of the sentence hangs between us. My mind spins as the air thickens.
Does he want me to say it first? Or is he holding back because of me ?
A loud BANG startles us both as the bedroom door slams open.
Seth stands in the doorway, chest heaving like he bolted from downstairs. His eyes light up when he sees us, a grin splitting his face.
“God, it smells like you two didn’t sleep at all .”
I flush, head to toe, rolling away from Bennett and covering my face.
Seth’s laughter fills the room as I hear the door shut. The bed dips, and then hands tug at mine. Seth manages to pry my fingers away enough that I can see him hanging over me, beaming wildly.
“And garlic. It smells like so much garlic.”
I shriek as I bend away from him. He’s not deterred as he tries to grab my other hand from covering my mouth. His lips land on my eyes, on my nose — and as Seth pries my fingers away from my mouth, he kisses me squarely on the lips, pulling me partially into an arch off the bed.
I giggle, making a face at him. “I need to brush my teeth —”
“Yeah, you probably do.” Seth’s gaze softens as he holds onto me. “But it’s not going to stop me because I love you.”
The room goes quiet as we just stare at each other. My heart pounds wildly, threatening to break out of my chest. I was so stupid to think I could get away from any of this without falling completely head over heels for him — for them both —
His expression falls as he leans away, letting me sink slowly back to the bed. “I’ll let you go.”
“ No .” My voice cracks as I scramble to hold onto his forearms, sitting up under him as panic lances through me.
You took too long and now he thinks you don’t love him too, you fucking idiot — how are you this inept of a human —
I swivel my eyes to Bennett, so aware of his presence next to us as I fumble, kneeling on his bed. He shifts to sit up, his eyes flickering from me to Seth. Swinging my head back around, I stare at Seth, sucking in a breath.
“I should have told you weeks ago.”
The hopeful expression that rises breaks my fucking heart. One of his hands finds mine, squeezing my fingers as he pauses, his voice shaking slightly. “June, you don’t have to —”
Fuck it. No running .
I grab Seth by the face, uncaring as I lunge forward, nearly knocking him off the bed as I kiss him hard, whispering against his lips. “I love you too.”
His arms wrap around me as he suddenly bends us forward, pinning me to the bed in one movement as he presses between my legs, his voice raw as he kisses me back. “Thank fuck .”
I’m not made of flesh and bone — my entire body is anxious heartbeats and butterflies as Seth pulls his head back, his brown eyes roving over me, like he’s questioning that this is really happening. I reach up, touching his chest, palm to the skin over his heart.
“I love you, Seth.”
He exhales sharply, dropping his forehead to mine as his hands shake, grasping my waist. “I love you.” Seth kisses me again and the scent of fudge encircles me. “I love you, June. You don’t know how many times I’ve almost fucking said it.”
His smile shatters me as I lean up with him, turning to stare at Bennett.
The alpha in the room looks between us, his eyes soft, full of unsaid emotion. They’re shiny when he focuses on me. I reach out, one hand on Seth’s chest, the other touching Bennett’s shoulder.
My voice is softer, but infinitely stronger than before.
“I love you, Bennett.”
He surges forward, grasping my face and staring at me with a surety that I can’t fully deserve.
“I not only love you, Juniper Walden, but I am in love with you. I am in love with you in the exact same way that I am in love with Seth.” His thumb scores over my jaw. “If you question everything else in your life, please never question that.”
Seth’s arms tighten around me from behind, his lips against my head. “She won’t.”
My lips tremble. “If I ever do, I have two people who will remind me.”
“Damn right.” Seth kisses the back of my neck, then the side of my throat, his hands sliding down until they find my bare hips. I sink back against him, suddenly cognizant that Bennett and I are still fully naked from last night, muscles happily aching. I can’t stop myself from resting against Seth as Bennett moves forward, caging me against the beta, his hands moving to the fronts of my thighs as I kneel on the bed.
He kisses me first, then pulls back with a breath to turn his head and kiss Seth behind me.
Stuck between them, I’ve never felt safer, or more loved . I tilt my head, kissing Bennett’s throat as I reach behind me to rub Seth’s side, whispering. “I need you both. Right now.”
Seth’s hands coast up, cupping my breasts as Bennett’s head drops to lavish them with kisses. Sparks echo behind each touch, until I gasp when he sucks on one nipple, then the other, gazing up at us both.
“How, darling?”
The question should give me pause, but I’m speaking before I fully wrap my head around it. “In me at the same time, filling me. I want you both feeling me and each other.”
“ Fuck .” Seth mutters the curse as he nips at my jaw, making a shiver crawl up my spine as he presses closer to me from behind. “Sweet girl, you’re all ours ,” he breathes out, grinding against me as he groans. “I wish I was an alpha, so I could sink my teeth into you and make sure everyone else knew that you were mine from one glance.” His hands squeeze my chest again and I press into his touch, my breathing growing labored.
“But I can bite you.”
He pauses behind me, his breath hot on my skin as he grabs a handful of my hair and jerks my head so we can gaze at each other.
I stare at him, feeling Bennett’s teeth drag over my nipple. “I love you, Seth Harding” — licking my lips, I stare at the beta — “and I want everyone to know it too. Can I bond you? Can I mark you as mine?”
He curses under his breath again, and it’s the only warning I get before he kisses me roughly, holding my head by my hair as he grinds up against me. “ Yes , June.”
I lose myself in the sensation of his lips, the feeling of his hardness through his sweats, bare chest against his arm as Bennett’s hands drop from roving over my skin. They land on my thighs as he then pulls them wider, making me splay out in a kneel as one hand snakes between them, teasing and touching.
“You’re so fucking slick for us, omega. You’ll take us both so well.”
I whine, gasping as I pull away from Seth’s lips for a moment. Bennett helps me turn until my back is resting against his chest, in his lap with my legs spread out, thighs parted as his cock rests against me. Seth shuffles back, only enough to shed himself of his clothes as he stares, watching Bennett’s hips roll up, teasing my entrance each time.
“You’re going to take us both while I bite you, darling?” Bennett’s voice drips into my ear as he nips at my earlobe, nudging at me. “Seth can put me in you.”
A shiver crawls up my spine as I nod.
Seth jerks forward, naked and reaching for Bennett, wrapping a hand around him and pushing the head of his cock into me. Biting my lip, I throw my head back, bracing against Bennett as I writhe, the fullness making me clench down as he guides his hips up, nudging into me as Seth watches. Seth’s fingers reach between my thighs, holding one open to keep me splayed out as he circles my clit. Finally, I relax, panting out softly as Bennett sinks in, his knot nudging against me.
“That’s a good girl.” Bennett kisses my throat. “Stay relaxed, let your beta join me in that sweet tight cunt.”
Seth whimpers, moving closer until he’s crowding us, hovering over me as he slides his hand over me, feeling where Bennett and I are joined. I’m so wound up, I feel the way slick drips down my thighs and he gathers it, using it as lube on himself as he presses the head of his dick against my entrance, over Bennett’s.
“I’ll be so gentle for you.” Seth leans in, kissing me as a distraction. He pushes his hips forward. “Focus on me, baby, focus on how good it’s going to fucking feel to have both Bennett and I filling you.”
I try to hold myself back from thrashing from the pleasure, the stretch taking the air out of my lungs as I dig my nails into Bennett’s arm banded around my middle. The alpha behind me hums, staying perfectly still as he whispers filth to both of us. “You should see yourself, June. He’s just fucking slipping right into you, filling you up, but you can take it, can’t you? I lost count how many times I knotted her sweet pussy last night, Seth, it was over and over again. She even took my fist — so I know she can take us both.”
Seth’s hips punch forward and I scream as his lips clamp down on mine, swallowing the noise as he kisses me hungrily, fisting my hair in his hand again, his voice raw. “Adjust to us, baby, and then tell us when we can make you feel as good as you’re making us feel.”
Breathing hard, I try to focus on unclenching my muscles, held up between them. At some point it goes from overly full to a mind-numbing sense that I need to feel . More, both of them, movement, friction — something . My hips rock down and I make us all suck in breath as I clench on them both, experimentally, letting out a keening moan.
Bennett kisses my throat, just over my hammering pulse. “She’s ready. Seth, fuck her.”
“Yes, alpha.” His words melt me as he hooks my legs over his arms, spreading me as wide as I can go as he pulls out and thrusts back in. The movement rocks Bennett and I — and the sensation of fullness goes from blinding to heady craving. Every time Seth pulls out, Bennett punches up, almost filling me with his knot, stretching me impossibly wider as I gasp and fist Seth’s hair in one hand, my nails breaking the skin of Bennett’s arm.
“ God, I love feeling you both.” Seth’s voice sounds like it’s coming from a fishbowl as my mind focuses on the point of sheer pleasure between all three of us.
Rocking between them, I buck into the movement as much as I can, pliant and needy and overwhelmed. My mouth waters and Bennett’s tongue roves over my jugular. I drag Seth’s head closer, mirroring the movement on his throat, brushing up against his existing silver bond mark, already faded from Bennett’s bite years ago. The raised skin runs over my tongue, and I nudge it as my teeth scrape over the skin just next to it.
There isn’t much information in the world about betas and bonds. It’s generally understood that it’s a weaker connection than what forges between an alpha and an omega — but it’s instinctual how much I want to sink myself into him, to make him bear my mark like he already shows off Bennett’s.
He’s fucking mine .
I bare my teeth, and feel Seth’s cock twitch inside me just as I rear back, striking at his throat, nudging up against his existing mark as I break skin. Seth lets out a little howl, and his hips kick as he does, clinging to my legs as Bennett’s snarl reaches us both.
“I’m going to make sure that if anyone looks at either one of you, they’ll know without a shadow of a doubt that you both belong to me .” He strikes at my neck, unexpectedly sinking his teeth into my jugular at the same place.
I come with a scream, mouth against Seth’s throat as I convulse around them both — but I’m not alone in the feeling. A rush of emotions hit me in the same moment, my chest exploding with the orgasm and the unshakable gravity of both bonds locking into my heart at the same time.
Three heartbeats echo — mine, with two others, like I’m listening to everything in stereo. I’m no longer alone in myself as a flood of emotions drags me under — pure love shining through the brightest. The power of the bond stops my breath as I try to reconcile the feeling, my body shaking between them.
“Breathe, darling, breathe.” Bennett’s voice pulls me back, his lips moving over my throat, licking and sucking the wound he just gave me.
I gasp, swearing I taste oranges and chocolate as I look up at Seth, finding him staring at me wide-eyed and in awe as he touches his chest.
“God… I can…” Tears well as his lips part, his fingers pressing into his breastbone, over his heart. “I can feel you here, baby.”
Bennett is the only thing holding me up, strong and solid as I gasp over and over again, my body coming down from the orgasm while adjusting to the feeling of the bond. It feels like a taut string, leading both to the beta in front of me and the alpha behind me, golden — vibrant — tying us together, binding the three of us in ways I don’t even have the words to describe.
Seth touches my cheek as he slips out of me, kissing me slowly, the blood on his neck pooling as he does. Bennett presses us all closer, and the second a flare of doubt ignites in my mind, both of them growl. As Bennett stiffens, Seth grabs my chin roughly. “Don’t you fucking dare doubt that I want this, want you . For life .”
My throat closes as I stare at him, touching his chest, one hand moving behind me to grab at Bennett’s head and pull him to the side so I can kiss him messily while I draw Seth into it. The kiss is a confusion of tongues, lip, teeth — three breathes intermingling — but it’s us .
“You’re both mine.” I nip at Bennett’s lower lip, catching it and breaking skin. The bond flares even brighter between the three of us as I hold onto them both. My alpha brushes his nose against mine, flooding the bond with certainty and affection.
“And you’re ours,” Seth murmurs in agreement, crowding closer, joining Bennett in feeding the bond with pure adoration.
I give it right back to them.