Chapter 35
I ache.
Empty. So empty.
It hurts. I want my pack. I want them.
I hear the whine echoing dully in my ears.
My mate who smells like a rainstorm is missing. He was filling me. But he's gone. My mate who smells like basil isn't here. Their bonds are quiet. Little licks of light in my chest. They're safe. They're content. They aren't here.
The nest smells like them. I made it perfect for them. But they aren't here.
Another whimper. My heart is thudding. I'm scrambling—
Shhhh, Omega. We're here.
My beta.
We'll look after you, darling.
My alpha. The one who smells like sleep.
Lavender and mint whirl around me.
Strong, warm, safe, gentle hands. Soothing my burning skin. Electrifying my flesh with want.
My alpha wraps me up from behind. Fills my emptiness. Wave after wave of bright sparkling relief. My beta fills my mouth. Filling me completely. Sating my need, just for now.
I swallow my beta down.
But I need more.
I pull my beta's chest down to me. Warm hands on my face. Dark liquid eyes edged with grey pools.
"Mine?" I mewl.
He has to be mine. They both have to be mine.
Yes, omega. Claim your beta. My alpha is purring for both of us.
Mint and lavender flood the nest. My hands threading through soft curls. My beta's breath on my neck.
"Mine?" I whisper into his collarbone.
Soft breath in my ear. You're mine, too.
My teeth claim his shoulder as sharp, bright, crisp pain blossoms, electrifies, pushes another cresting wave of pleasure. I feel a tenderness, a calmness bloom in my chest. It lights up with the gentle glow of my beta's bond.
He's there. My beta. My mate who smells like mornings.
I nurse my mate's bondmark, and pull us both back against our alpha. He's filling me, stretching me on his knot.
I lean back against his chest. His arms wrap around me and our beta. Surrounded by lavender. Held. Safe.
I nuzzle into his neck. "Mine."
Yours. Claim what's yours, omega.
My alpha purrs for me as I sink my teeth into his neck. His knot pulses as I nurse his mark. Another cresting wave of sparkling relief.
I tilt my head away and nuzzle his shoulder.
Sudden blossoming sharpness on the back of my neck shatters into another fizzing wave. And in my chest, another light blooming from my alpha's bond. This one pulses, warm with care, flecked with shadows of pain.
I curl around the lights of my pack's bonds, holding them safe, pulling them together so they can share their glow.
My mates lay me down in our nest that smells like pack.
Sated, sleep takes me.
Cool, rough strokes down my thighs.
Empty again. Aching. It hurts.
Tangy lemony herbs and petrichor pull me awake. Cool hands on my forehead.
Come on, Balga. You need to drink.
Something cold in my mouth. Not pack. Wrong. I hiss. Scramble back.
Her fever's been high for three hours. She's getting dehydrated, Allen.
My mate's voice. His bond pulses.
I'm empty. Too empty. I whimper. I need my mates. My pack alpha.
I'll try.
My pack alpha. Holding me. I purr. Wriggle against him.
He puts me down in the nest. It smells like him, but not enough.
Open your mouth, Omega. Drink this, and you can take what you want.
Not a bark. Not a command. An offer.
He holds out a bottle. It smells wrong. I huff, and open my mouth.
I swallow what I'm given. Too cold. Too sweet. It makes my skin crawl. But it makes pack alpha happy.
Tangy herby lemon. Pack alpha strokes my hair. Pulls me to him. I nuzzle into his chest.
His scent soothes.
Good girl. Take what you want, little star.
I chirp and push him down into the nest. I crawl on top. Wriggle until he's filling me.
A groan. My alpha's voice.
Little sparks zip across my skin, following the trail left by his hands.
I lean over his face. My lips brush his. "Mine?"
Mine.
He's filling me. Soothing the ache. His lips across mine, over my cheek, down my shoulder. They graze, but do not bite. I mewl. Why hasn't he claimed me? I thought…
Take what's yours, Omega.
My teeth sink into his neck. My alpha moans.
His knot swells. His teeth sink into me. Lemony stinging bursts into popping peaks of pleasure.
And there. In my chest. The new bond. The one I'd been missing. It's there.
I gather it up as I crest between waves of pleasure. I bring it in with the others. I seal them in my heart. They're mine. All of them.
The light of the bonds merge into one. Still themselves, still distinct, but also a greater whole. My pack. My mates.
Mine.
My mate draws me close, soothing my bondmark with his tongue as I nurse his. He pulls me into his purr, into our nest, onto his chest, into the sleep of the safe and satisfied.