22. Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Two
Viper
It's my turn on watch.
The others are sleeping, snores rattling through our den as they recuperate from the cyclone that is our Omega in heat. Days of endless fucking, chasing her unending need for a knot, an orgasm, or simply a comforting, reassuring hold.
Saying she's needy is an understatement. I have no idea how one Alpha is supposed to satiate an Omega in heat, because she would have drained me dry if I were on my own.
Perhaps it's because our girl is different. She's a Pack Omega, and therefore her appetite has grown to suit.
The bank of screens set up in front of the nest casts a green glow over our tangled naked bodies.
Around day two of her heat, Halley had a full-blown meltdown when Blaze left the nest to patrol. She screamed, cried, and clawed at him until he was bloody. She couldn't handle any of us being out of sight for longer than it takes to go to the bathroom.
We couldn't compromise on security. We'd already fucked up when we first arrived at the nest, assuming the myriad of Blaze's very deadly traps would deter intruders.
Unfortunately, seeing one of their comrades step on a landmine wasn't enough to turn away some particularly determined Alphas.
They wanted the Omega in heat, no matter the cost.
Knox set them straight by beating one of them until his head caved in.
It was Shade, our ever brilliant ass-saving Beta, who came up with a clever solution. He rigged up a series of cameras to allow us to keep watch from within the den.
Knox also put down his pride and asked Jason for assistance.
It's become clear to us that the Beta soldier cares deeply for our Omega, and any possessive issues we had toward him are long gone.
He leaped at the chance to keep Halley safe while she's in heat, creating a roster of his most trusted soldiers to patrol outside.
All mated Betas who are immune to Halley's scent, of course.
Halley stirs beside me, blearily batting her eyelashes as she rouses from sleep. The waves of her heat are slowing, and the breaks between growing long enough for her to get restful sleep.
She grumbles and presses her warm face into my arm.
She's heating up again, sweat starting to form on her brow. It'll be a while until she's desperate for a knot, but it's enough to wake her.
"S'time?" she asks with an adorable frown of confusion, and I huff in amusement. There is no way she even knows what day it is, let alone needs to know the time.
"Late," I answer lowly, not wanting to wake the others. They need their rest.
"Go back to sleep, pretty girl."
She rolls onto her side and pouts at me. "Can't."
Ah, when she's like this, it reminds me of the first time she went into O-space. All sleepy, and trusting, and sweet.
I sit upright, splay my legs out, and drag her into my lap. Her back rests against my front, and I band my arm around her waist to hold her close. I lean down and plant a wet kiss against her cheek.
"Mmm," she hums happily, a small smile slipping over her sleepy expression.
Fuck, she's so precious.
"What are you in the mood for, love?" I ask softly in her ear. It's been a chore getting her to eat or drink, but when she's between waves like this, it's easier.
"Water, please," she replies.
I sit her up straighter and bring my canteen to her lips. She takes delicate little sips until she's had her fill and gently pushes it away. I screw the cap back on and swipe at the bead of water escaping down her chin, licking it from my finger. "There we go, good girl."
Her breath hitches, and I catch my mistake. Calling her a good girl is a sure-fire way to make our Omega gush slick.
Thankfully, she giggles, amused by my held breath.
She settles against my chest, and I hug her tightly to me. We sit in the darkness of our den, with the low fire crackling softly behind us, and it feels almost like a sleepover. Not that I had any growing up, unless you count sleeping in bunkhouses with twenty other hot-blooded Alphas.
Like this, it's easy to forget the mess that is just outside our door. The war. The mess I made by killing General Stone.
I regret the poor timing and the chaos that ensued. I still don't regret killing the bastard.
Being like this with Halley and our Pack, it's made me want to embrace my hedonistic side and be indulgent for the first time in my life. I want to laze around fucking and eating and sleeping with nowhere to be and no one to fight.
We watch the screens, each one showing a different camera angle around our den: the path leading to the door, a bird’s-eye view pointed at the fortress, and the cliff’s edge.
That last one might be a bit of paranoia on our part, but all of us could understand scaling a cliff wall to get to Halley in heat.
There is nothing I can compare to fucking our Omega in heat.
Nothing comes close. It's sexy as hell. She leaks slick constantly, making it so easy to slip into her cunt, gliding in and out of her like a dream.
She's desperate for it, so enthusiastic it makes me feel like I'm on top of the world.
And when I knot her, she comes so beautifully with her whole body.
But it's also more. I think it's the closest I've come to feeling part of a family.
All of us here, naked and vulnerable in this nest, working together to sate our shared soulmate.
Our bonds are strengthening with every passing day.
We're healing from all the shit we've endured in our lives.
I can feel the jaded hard shell around my heart melting.
This is what it means to love and be loved.
One of the Beta guards passes a camera, his dark shadow gliding from one screen to the next. I lean down to whisper in her ear. "You like this movie, pretty girl?"
She tilts her head back and giggles quietly at me, her eyes crinkling.
I like that I can make her laugh. Truthfully, though, I haven't seen a movie in years. They used to play old black and white ones for us during downtime between deployments, but after a while there was no more downtime, just one battle after the next. No more movies.
The guard passes the last camera and makes his way back toward the fortress, probably for shift change. And... Yep, there's the handover. A new Beta trudges down the hill toward our den, taking over for the next two hours of watch. Thrilling stuff.
"You think he knows what's happening in here?" I ask her teasingly.
She squirms and shrugs, a wicked glint in her eye. "I don't know what you're referring to, Lieutenant Viper. This is completely platonic cuddling."
It doesn't take much longer for Halley to start stroking my arm and hand, rubbing her fingers through the thick hair on my skin, tracing an old scar a drill instructor carved out to teach me a lesson about something I don't remember.
I kiss the tops of her ears, not looking to start something or take her attention away from the screens, but because I just want to kiss her, comforted by the smell of her skin. She smells like all of us. Like slick, sweat, and Omega in heat. It's mouth-watering.
She's beginning to sweat, and she squirms as her heat rises. I wonder if I can give her just enough to ease her into her next wave slowly.
My hand slips down between her legs, seeking out the sleek wetness. She spreads them wordlessly.
"Atta, girl," I growl in approval.
I pet her gently, experimentally, and not for any true aim, then slip two fingers inside her channel.
I'm not trying to turn her on, but soothe the throb I know she feels there.
I also just want to touch her, as if I'm checking the magazine in my gun, an idle comforting movement.
It's languid, and it makes Halley relax into my body.
I carefully lean over and grab a dish of grapes waiting beside the nest. Everlyn has been a lifesaver, delivering fresh food to our door daily.
I pluck a grape and carefully press it to Halley's lips.
She takes my offering, chewing slowly as I run my lips up the side of her neck, nosing at the hair behind her ear, and breathing her in.
The intimacy of it all makes my belly swoop. A gorgeous Omega in heat is sitting in my lap, eating from my fingers, while I'm knuckle-deep in her hot pussy.
The guard makes one lap around the cabin, and Halley's legs widen and her hips start rocking.
I find the spot to press that makes her spill her stickiness down my hand, making small circles against her O-spot to ease the rising need with steady movements.
"There?" I ask, and she nods, clutching at my arm, mouth gaping open as little panting puffs of air fan across her belly and my arm.
I keep my pace slow and constant, feeding her grapes, reading her body so I can take her right up to the line of too much pleasure, hold her there, and not push her into overdrive. A sweet but torturous limbo.
"That feel good, sweet girl? Hm?" I ask, more a rumble than words.
"Mm hm…" she moans deeply in response, trembling in my arms.
I feel myself grow fully hard. I understand Knox's desire to dominate Halley in firm ways. I think I just prefer gently showing her who her body belongs to.
Her scent takes on that sweet, caramelized tang that means the next wave of her heat is taking her. Our soft, slow time has come to an end, and she needs more from me now. I'm very happy to provide.
There is rustling in the nest as the others wake to her signs of discomfort. I lock eyes with Knox, and he nods approvingly. I've already got it handled. Literally.
"Does this pretty little pussy want to come?" I ask, using my thumb to flick over her engorged clit twice before removing my fingers from her clenching channel.
"Yes, yes. Please, Alpha, please—" she gasps, mumbling around her moans.
"Put me inside of you, baby," I order, my tone sterner now that it's heat-drunk Halley I'm talking to. She needs a firmer hand; otherwise, she gets bratty real fast.