Chapter 33
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Eli
The warehouse smells of sex, sweat, and sweet, slick musk. It clings to the walls, the rugs, the very fabric of our clothes. It’s a scent so thick I feel like I’m breathing underwater.
I sit on the floor behind Amber, her back pressed tight against my chest, my legs bracketing hers. Knox is locked inside her.
His head is buried in her neck, his breathing ragged and harsh. His knot is fully tied, a thick swell at the base of his cock that keeps them irrevocably joined.
He’s been like this for nearly twenty minutes, pumping her full of his seed while she shakes and sobs in my arms.
“?a va aller, ma chère,” Knox rasps against her skin, his voice wrecked. “It will be okay. Just breathe.”
“Eli,” she whimpers, her head lolling back against my shoulder. Her eyes are glazed over, the pupils blown so wide the iris is just a thin ring of chocolate.
She’s not here with us entirely; she’s flying high on the hormones, lost in a biological haze that terrifies me as much as it arouses me.
“I’m here,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to her sweaty temple. I brush the damp hair away from her face. “I’ve got you. You’re doing so well.”
“She’s burning up,” Fallon says from where he kneels beside us. He has a bowl of cool water and a washcloth.
He’s been the grounding force, the one who brings her back when she gets too hot. He gently wipes her face, the cold water making her gasp.
“Cold,” she shivers.
“I know, Sunshine,” Fallon murmurs, his eyes dark with an intense mixture of lust and tenderness. “Just cooling you down.”
We stay like this until Knox’s knot goes down. When he finally pulls out, the sound is wet and obscene.
A rush of fluid follows, coating her thighs and the rug beneath us. She whines at the loss, a hollow sound that makes my chest ache.
“Shh,” I soothe, wrapping my arms tighter around her waist. “You’re okay. We’re right here.”
Knox shifts back, looking wrecked. His chest is heaving, his eyes wild. He looks at the mess between her legs, at the mark of his possession.
“She needs more,” Knox growls, his Alpha instinct refusing to let her rest even though she’s exhausted. “She’s still in pain. The cramps will come back.”
“Let her breathe for a minute,” I say, though my own cock is throbbing in my pants, demanding its turn. The scent of her heat is a drug, overriding all logic.
“No,” Amber whines, twisting in my lap. She reaches back, her nails digging into my thighs. “No... Eli. Please. I need... I need you.”
The sound of my name on her lips breaks my resolve.
“Okay,” I breathe out. “Okay.”
I lift her slightly, sliding my pants down just enough to free myself.
I’m harder than I’ve ever been in my life. I enter her from behind, lifting her hips to meet mine.
She’s so wet, so open from Knox, that I slide in effortlessly. But she’s still tight, her internal walls rippling and clamping down on me the moment I’m seated.
“Oh god,” she gasps. “Yes. Eli, yes.”
“Prends-le,” Knox commands from the side, his eyes locked on where we are joined. “Take all of him, Amber.”
I set a rhythm, slower than Knox’s brutal pace. I want to savor her, but the heat won’t let me. She feels too good. She feels like molten silk.
I rock into her, grinding deep, hitting the spot that makes her cry out.
“Look at me,” I whisper against her ear, turning her face toward mine.
She struggles to focus, her eyes rolling back. “Eli...”
“I love you,” I say, the words tearing out of me. I say them over and over like a prayer. “I love you so much. You’re so beautiful. You’re ours.”
Fallon moves in front of her, distracting her from the intensity. He offers her water from a bottle, holding it to her lips. “Drink, Amber. Small sips.”
She drinks greedily, water spilling down her chin. I reach around to wipe it away, my hand tangling with Fallon’s.
We move like this for what feels like hours. A blur of skin and friction and desperate whispers.
The fever spikes and dips, driving her to heights of desperation that leave her sobbing, then crashes into moments of exhaustion where she curls into a ball and trembles.
During one of the lulls, while she dozes fitfully against my chest, my phone buzzes on the floor.
I grab it, my eyes scanning the screen. It’s a text from Dorian.
Status?
She’s resting, I type back one-handed, keeping my other arm wrapped protectively around Amber. Fever is high but stable. You guys?
Dorian: Ryker is at the house with Jude, Norah, and Rosie. Maisie is asleep. They’re safe. I’m doing a perimeter check of the warehouse now.
Me: Thanks.
I set the phone down. The tension in my chest eases slightly, but not by much. The world outside feels distant, a threat that can’t penetrate the bubble of scent and sex we’ve created, but the Alpha in me remains hyper-vigilant.
Every time the wind rattles the steel siding of the warehouse, my head snaps up.
“Is she okay?” Knox asks. He’s pacing near the fireplace, naked, his body tense.
“She will be,” I say. “Her biology is just... resetting. It’s violent because she suppressed it for so long.”
“We need a plan,” Knox says, stopping his pacing. He looks at us with a lethal focus. “We can’t just react. If she’s going to be like this for three days, we need structure.”
“Food,” Fallon says, dipping the cloth back in the water. “High energy. Protein. She’s burning through calories. We need to feed her.”
“Water,” I add. “Gallons of it. And electrolytes.”
“Security,” Knox says, his jaw tight. “We rotate. One on her, one sleeping, one watching the perimeter. Luke is out there. I can feel it.”
Amber stirs in my arms, a low whine building in her throat. Her scent spikes, fresh and sudden.
“It’s starting again,” Fallon says, smelling it a second before I do.
“Take her to the bed,” Knox commands. “We need to get her comfortable.”
Eli lifts her, carrying her to his bedroom. We strip the sheets, replacing them with every soft blanket we can find—thick comforters, faux fur throws, pillows.
She burrows into the mound, her hands clutching the fabric. “Nest,” she whispers.
“Yes, baby,” I say, crawling in beside her. “We’re nesting.”
The next few hours are a feral blur.
We lose track of time.
We take her on the rug, on the sofa, in our bed. We become a single, breathing entity.
When Knox takes her again, he is relentless.
He dominates her completely, flipping her onto her hands and knees. He drives into her with a ferocity that shakes the floorboards.
“Look at her,” he grunts, his hand fisting in her hair. “Such a good girl. Taking it all.”
“Knox!” she screams, her fingers scrabbling for purchase on the rug.
“Put a baby in her,” Fallon growls from the sidelines, where he’s watching, stroking himself. He’s joined in twice already, but he’s insatiable. The heat affects us all, driving us to breed, to mark, to claim. “Breed her, Knox.”
“Oui,” Knox snarls. “I’m going to fill you up, chérie. Gonna make you round with our child.”
The breeding talk drives her wild. She pushes back into him, meeting his thrusts, screaming for more.
I’m there, holding her face, kissing her mouth, whispering how much I love her while Knox fucks her through the mattress. I anchor her emotionally while he wrecks her physically.
“Fallon,” I manage to grind out. “Taste her. She needs your mouth.”
Fallon doesn’t hesitate. He slides underneath her, positioning his face between her legs while Knox takes her from behind. The angle is obscene.
Fallon feasts on her clit, his tongue flicking rapidly.
“Oh fuck! Oh fuck!” Amber screams, her whole body seizing. “Fallon!”
He doesn’t stop. He grips her thighs, his fingers digging into her soft flesh, and bites her. He sinks his teeth into the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, marking her.
She convulses, the pain mixing with the pleasure until she’s incoherent.
“Give it to me,” Fallon mutters against her skin. “Give me everything.”
I can’t take it anymore. I need her mouth.
I crawl in front of her, gripping her jaw. She looks up at me, her eyes swimming with tears, her mouth open.
“Suck me, Amber,” I command, my voice shaking. “Take my cock.”
She leans forward, swallowing me down. The wet heat of her mouth is a relief. I thread my fingers into her hair, holding her steady while I thrust gently, not wanting to choke her, but unable to stop myself.
She moans around my length, the vibration driving me crazy.
“Look at you,” Knox pants behind her. “Full of us. Taking all of us.”
We move as a unit now. A machine of flesh and need. Knox pumping into her, Fallon eating her and marking her thighs with bruises, fucking her with his mouth, and her taking me deep into her throat.
It’s filthy. It’s debauched. And it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
Knox roars, his knot swelling. “I’m coming! Zut!”
He slams into her one last time, locking himself inside.
The visual of him filling her, combined with Fallon sucking on her clit and the feeling of her mouth on me, is too much.
I pull out just in time, spilling myself over her chest and stomach. It coats her skin, white and hot.
A second later, Fallon groans against her leg, his own release pulsing against the sheets.
We collapse together, a heap of tangled limbs and sweat and fluids. We’re panting, the air smelling of come and slick and us.
Amber is shaking uncontrollably, her skin flushed a dark pink, covered in us.
“I’ve got you,” I whisper, pulling a blanket up to cover her. “You did so good.”
Knox stays tied to her, his face buried in her neck. He’s purring, a low rumble that vibrates through her bones.
We care for her in the intervals.
We wash her with warm cloths, gently wiping the come and sweat from her skin so she doesn’t get a chill.
We feed her pieces of fruit and granola bars when she’s too shaky to hold a fork. We make her drink electrolytes until she feels like she’s drowning in it.
She’ll be okay.
On the second day, the fever spikes so high she begins to hallucinate.
“I don’t want to go back,” she cries, clinging to me, her tears soaking my chest. “Please don’t make me go back to the dark.”
“You’re not going back,” I tell her, my voice breaking. “You’re here. You’re home with us.”
“Luke is there,” she whimpers, her eyes squeezed shut. “He’s waiting in the van.”
“He can’t touch you,” Knox says, his voice lethal. He stands by the window, naked and terrifying, watching the snow fall like a hawk. “He will never touch you again. I swear it, chérie.”
Fallon lies down in front of her, wrapping his arms around her waist, sandwiching her between us. “We’re your wall, Sunshine. Nothing gets through us.”
She cries herself to sleep, exhausted by the fever and the memories it drags up. We don’t sleep. We doze in shifts, always keeping a hand on her, always keeping a watch on the doors.
My phone buzzes constantly. Updates from Dorian. All clear. Updates from Jude. Maisie asked for her mom. I text back simple reassurances, my thumb shaking.
By the third day, the urgency in her scent begins to change. It softens. The copper tang fades, replaced by a sweeter, deeper musk. It smells like home.
She’s exhausted, lying limp in the center of the bed, her skin glowing with a healthy sheen rather than a feverish flush.
“How are you feeling?” I ask, brushing her hair back from her face.
She looks at me, her eyes finally clear. The amber flecks in her irises are visible again. She’s really here.
“Tired,” she whispers. Her voice is hoarse from screaming. “But... the fire is gone. I think... I think it’s breaking.”
Knox comes in from the living room, carrying a tray with toast and eggs. He sets it down on the nightstand and crawls onto the bed. He presses his forehead against hers, breathing her in deeply.
“You smell like us,” Knox rumbles, satisfaction rolling off him in waves. “You smell like pack.”
Fallon climbs in on her other side. “Thank god. I don’t think my dick could take another round.”
She lets out a weak, breathless laugh. “I’m sorry I broke you guys.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I say, kissing her lips softly. “You’re alive. You’re safe.”
“Maisie?” she asks, her anxiety spiking slightly. “Is she okay?”
“She’s perfect,” I reassure her quickly. “Jude says she’s having the time of her life. She made a card for Rosie.”
Amber relaxes. “Good.”
She tries to sit up to eat, but she’s too sore. Knox and I feed her, breaking off pieces of toast and pressing them to her lips.
“I feel like a baby,” she murmurs, accepting a piece of egg from Fallon’s fingers.
“You’re our baby,” Fallon says without hesitation. He wipes a crumb from her lip with his thumb. “Our Omega. Our mate.”
The word “mate” hangs in the air. It feels heavy. Permanent.
“Am I?” she asks softly. “Is that what this is?”
Knox catches her hand, bringing it to his mouth to kiss her knuckles. “You were always ours, Amber. But now... the bond is sealed. The biology doesn’t lie.”
“The marks,” I say, gently turning her head to the side. Her neck is bruised with bites, marks left by all three of us. Her thighs are purple with Fallon’s love bites. “We claimed you.”
She touches her neck, her fingers tracing the wounds Knox left. She doesn’t look scared. She looks peaceful.
“I love you,” she says, looking at each of us in turn. “All three of you. I was so scared to tell you. I thought you’d run.”
“I’m never running,” I vow.
“I’m right here,” Knox says.
“We’re your pack,” Fallon adds.
She eats a little more, then snuggles down into the blankets, pulling us with her. We curl around her, sharing our warmth.
“Sleep,” I tell her. “Just sleep.”
I watch her face relax, the lines of pain and fear smoothing out. I hold her hand, feeling her pulse slow and steady under my fingers.
Knox meets my eyes over her head. He looks as wrecked as I feel—exhausted, hollowed out, but fiercely possessive.
Fallon presses a kiss to her shoulder and closes his eyes.
We did it. We brought her through the fire.
My phone buzzes on the nightstand again.
Another check-in, this time from Jude. I reassure him that we’re okay and that his sister is well taken care of.
I set the phone down and wrap my arm tighter around Amber’s waist.
Luke is out there, somewhere. But right now, in this bed, with the smell of our claim saturating the air, we are invincible.
She’s ours. We are hers.
And nothing is ever breaking that bond again.