29. Levi
Levi
Ineed to leave before this gets bad.
The problem?
Every time I make it three steps toward the elevator, I turn around and come right back.
My hand drags through my hair as I pace the hallway outside Nash's apartment for what has to be the hundredth time. The storm still slams against the world outside. Rain pounds the building. Thunder shakes the windows with every flash of lightning. I barely notice any of it.
All I can think about is her.
"Fuck."
The word comes out as a growl.
The scent drifting beneath Nash's apartment door is driving me absolutely insane. Omega. Heat. Claim. Mine. The possessive thoughts slam into me hard enough that I physically stop moving.
"No," I grunt to myself.
I scrub both hands over my face. No matter what I do, I can't give in to my rut. Nelly's my friend. She's scared. She's vulnerable, and the last thing she needs is some Alpha losing his fucking mind because instinct has decided to wake up and ruin everyone's week.
I force myself toward the elevator again.
But after four steps, my feet stop moving.
A frustrated growl rips from my chest. "Jesus Christ."
I just need to go back to my apartment. That's the smart thing to do. I've got everything I need there: a locked door, my rut toys, all the privacy in the world.
Distance from that luscious scent.
But instead, I find myself staring at Nash's apartment door again like an idiot.
Before it whips open.
"Levi," Nash says.
I snarl at him. "How is she?"
He steps into the hallway carrying a mug of coffee. "She's exactly how you'd expect her to be."
My nostrils flare, dragging her scent into my lungs. "That doesn't tell me shit."
He takes one look at me and starts chuckling.
I glare at him. "Don't."
His grin only grows as he looks up and down the hallway. "Any more of that pacing and you'll wear a path into the carpet."
I draw in a shaky breath. "I hate you."
"No, you don't."
I growl again as he takes a sip from his mug, completely relaxed and unaffected. His drink smells like coffee, with syrupy vanilla creamer and a hint of citrus.
"How are you doing that?" I ask.
Nash crooks an eyebrow. "Doing what?"
"Existing."
He shrugs. "That's a pretty broad question."
I point at his closed apartment door. "How are you standing there drinking coffee like everything is normal?"
The asshole chuckles again. "Because I'm not in rut."
I rake my hands through my hair. "Must be nice."
"How long have you known you're her scent match?"
I go back to pacing. "Shut up."
"How long, Levi?"
"I don't know," I snarl as I try to focus on anything other than my struggling Omega. "Days. Weeks. It all kind of blurs."
"That's what's triggered your rut. You know that, right?"
I whip around and glare at him. "I'm not a dumbass. I know she's my scent match. I know why it took so long for us to—" I have to swallow down another growl. "Fuck. This shit sucks."
"Do you want to go back to your place, or do you want to come inside?" Nash asks.
I shake my head. "Can't go inside. Not safe."
Nash nods. "Then I'll take you upstairs to your place."
The Alpha inside of me wants to claw his eyes out for even considering it. And yet, I know he's right. I just nod before he falls in line beside me, guiding me toward the elevator.
Guiding me away from my Omega.
I stop just shy of the open elevator door.
"Levi?" Nash asks.
"I'm working on it."
"You know she's safe, right?"
"I know."
"And you know you've been out here for almost three hours, right?"
I didn't know that. "'Kay."
Nash chuckles. "Then, step into the elevator."
My body won't move. "I can't."
"Why not?"
I snap my head toward him. "Because every instinct I have is telling me not to. You ever battled your instincts like this?"
"Yes."
That makes me turn toward him. "Since when?"
"Since I realized I enjoy the scent of Nelly all over my apartment."
My eyes narrow. "She's mine."
"I actually think she's all of ours, but there hasn't been a right time to bring that up."
The thought slams into me. "You believe we're all pack?"
"I believe Nelly is coming around to the idea that we might be, which is basically the same. And you know Beau won't leave her side. I'm intoxicated with her and her stubborn pride. You're her scent match. Things seem to be headed that way."
I can't be in a pack. I don't understand healthy dynamics. I wasn't raised in one. I have two mothers: an Omega mother who gave birth to me and an Alpha mother my Alpha father first partnered with. And neither of them was good for one another. They're a plague, my family.
I can't bring that plague to a pack.
"I don't know," I grunt as the elevator door dings closed.
Nash chuckles. "And yet, you're still here."
It takes me a while to respond. "I'm not ready, Nash. I can't… lead a pack. I don't know how to take care of an Omega."
He nods as he tips back the rest of the coffee in his mug. "Then I'll help you upstairs."
Neither one of us speaks as he presses the call button for the elevator.
The doors spring back open and he walks inside, waiting for me to follow him like some lovestruck idiot.
I look back down the hallway toward his apartment door.
Toward the scent that keeps dragging me back. Toward the Omega nesting inside.
Then, a sound comes through the apartment door.
I pause as my ears twitch. Nash peeks his head out of the elevator door before it closes. And then, I hear it again. It's muffled, but clear as day to my heightened senses.
Nelly's moaning.
"Levi!" Nash calls out as I storm toward his apartment door.
I rip it open, damn near yanking the fucking thing off its hinges, before her scent barrels over me like an explosion. The air drips with syrupy vanilla and citrus, and the first thing I see is her. Her glorious tits are bouncing against her naked body, and my mouth waters.
"Oh, fuck, Beau. Just like that. Yeah. So good to me. Such a good Beta."
I watch for a split second while Nelly rides Beau's face in her couch nest, her thighs spread wide over his mouth. His hand jerks at his cock, his hips bucking up into nothing as he drinks her down. Her hands tangle in his hair. Her body flushes with need.
What the fuck?
No.
My Omega needs a knot.
My thick knot.
"Come here," I snarl as I step into the room.
"So close," Nelly squeaks.
Beau gurgles for air beneath her as his cock jerks once. Twice. Three times, before it spills all over his thighs. I don't even get a step into the room before something wraps around my chest.
"No interrupting, Levi," Nash murmurs in my ear. "That's the deal Beau and I made. We're helping her through her heat, but we don't interrupt what our Omega wants."
"She's mine."
"She's pack, and so are you. Watch, but you don't get to touch yet."
"Yes!" Nelly cries out as she falls over the edge for her orgasm.
I tug against Nash's hold, but he's got me pretty well locked in his grasp. I shove my feet against the floor, but he leans back, providing a counterweight the Alpha inside of me can't stand. I don't like being held back from my Omega. Not when she needs me. Not when she needs what I can give her.
"Oh, Beau," she sighs as she collapses.
The man is upright within seconds, his chin dripping with her slick as he moves over her.
"Need a knot, Omega?" I growl from the doorway.
Beau and Nelly both look toward me, their eyes glassy with need.
"Levi," Nelly whimpers.
"I've got just what you need, Omega. All you have to do is say it."
Beau looks down at her. "Do you want Levi in here? He's in rut right now."
Nelly licks her lips, and it's almost my undoing. "Beau?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I…?"
Why is she asking him for permission? She's mine!
"Whatever you need, sweetheart," Beau says. "You need a knot?"
"Yes, she does," I growl.
"Easy," Nash mutters as he pushes us inside just enough to get his door closed, still holding me back. "This is her decision. She gets to decide how this goes."
I bare my teeth. I want to mark her. I want to bite her. I want to slam my teeth into her pulse point until I can feel her emotions in my chest like I've been reading online. I wasn't taught any of this shit by my family. They didn't give a fuck about me like that.
"It hurts, Beau," Nelly groans as she curls up. "I need a knot so bad. Please don't leave."
He leans down and kisses her. "Remember what I said?"
Nelly looks up at him like he's hung the stars.
She should be looking at me like that.
"Yeah, I remember. Say it again."
He picks up her hand and kisses the back of it. "No matter what they do, I'm here for your whole heat."
"Get off me," I snarl.
"Not until she consents," Nash growls against my ear. "Now settle the fuck down."
Nelly turns that glassy-eyed stare toward me and holds out her hand. "Levi. Come here."
The instant Nash releases me, it's like a bullet out of a chamber.
I practically rip Beau off her before settling over her body, and my God, no woman has ever looked more beautiful.
Her body is flushed with heat. Her forehead's dripping with sweat.
Slick glistens against her thighs and her scent is a euphoria of its own.
I lean down and kiss her as softly as I can manage. "Turn over for me, Omega. You need my knot, so beg for it."
"Oh, fuck," she whispers as she wiggles about, shimmying until she's on her stomach.
Those hips of hers rise into the air, and I buck my clothed cock against her.
"Levi, please," she mewls. "I need a knot so bad. It hurts. Make the pain go away."
I'm still unsure of how I get out of all my clothes, but somehow, I manage. I settle behind her, my hands falling to her hips, and somewhere deep inside of me I know things are about to change.
Nelly is about to upend my life.
And I'm about to let her.
"That's it," I growl as I slide my leaking cock up and down her wet slit. "Arch that back for me. Such a good girl."
She whines. "Leviiii. No teasing. This isn't fair."
"No teasing?"
She bucks her ass back against me. "I need all of it. Now."
I notch at her entrance and white sizzles through my vision. I bottom out against her and her tight sleeve clamps around me. Already, her slick drips down my balls, as if her body can't wait to mark mine.
I want her bite marks all over me, too.
"Mine," I snarl as I pull out and slam back in.
"Oh, yes!" Nelly cries out.
Beau crouches down at her head and runs his fingers through her hair. "Such a good Omega for us, taking your Alpha like a good little girl."
"Yes, please," she whimpers. "I wanna be good. I wanna be good."
I pull out and thrust home again. "Goddamn it, you feel good, Omega."
She groans as Nash comes over, kneeling down at her side. "You want more?"
Nelly moans and nods.
Before Nash slips his hand beneath her body.
Her body jerks. "Oh my god. Yes! Fuck!"
"There's that little clit," Nash says as his hand starts to move. "Levi, fuck her until she's senseless."
And I sure as fuck don't have to be told twice.
The sounds of wet skin slapping wet skin fill the room.
Her walls squeeze me so tight that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back to just using toys on myself.
Not even my hand gives this kind of grip, and it's not long before my knot is swelling.
How long has it been since I've been in rut like this?
It doesn't matter.
All that matters is that every rut after this is owned by my Omega.
"Give it to me," I snarl as I pound against her body, watching her curves jiggle for me. "Your orgasm is mine. I want it."
"Levi! Oh my god!"
"Come for us," Nash commands. "Let us watch you unravel, Omega."
"Such a good girl," Beau whispers.
"Yes!" Nelly cries out.
My hips jerk and stutter. Her slick sprays against me, marking my abs and thighs.
It's a damn waterpark between her legs and I hunch over her, rutting into her like I'll die without it.
The couch creaks. Her blankets churn around us, soaking up the mess we make.
My hand slides down the arch of her back before tangling in her hair, and I pull her head back before crashing my lips to hers.
Before my orgasm barrels over me, too.
"Yes! Yes! Goddamn it, yes," she moans against my lips.
I lick into her mouth. "Take all of me, Omega. Let me spread you until you're as full as you want."
The kiss is messy, and heated. Our teeth clatter together before I suck on her lower lip. My knot swells, filling her hole and locking us together as her pleasure undulates through her body. It massages my knot, pulling more threads of arousal out of my body as I spill into her.
My Omega.
It's the last thought that rushes through my mind before the darkness of my rut pulls me under.