Chapter Thirty-Four
Halley
The mess hall is loud in that echoing, steel-cutlery-clanging kind of way. Laughter bounces off the stone walls, half-suppressed arguments about rations or assignments rising above the low hum of military efficiency.
Everlyn ignores it all.
She grins at me across her chipped food tray, her chin perched on her knuckles.
Jason sits beside her, quietly chewing through his breakfast and doing a remarkable job of pretending he’s not watching me with that same anticipation.
“You smell like sex,” she finally announces, loud enough that the soldier at the end of the table splutters into his morning coffee.
I glare at her, willing my cheeks not to heat. “It’s just my perfume.”
She leans in with a wicked gleam in her eyes. “That’s not your usual pheromones or perfume, Sparks. That’s you marinated in post-coital musk.”
I stare back at her, not wanting to break and give into her teasing. If I can just hold the line long enough, she’ll get distracted and—
“But I showered after!” I blurt, and cringe at my own weakness. I’m awful at keeping anything from her, and she knows it.
After my second ground-shaking orgasm courtesy of the combined efforts of three of my Pack mates, Viper whisked me away for a shower. He joined me under the guise of helping, but I’d ended up with another load of come in my well-used pussy and stuck on his knot.
Everlyn's eyes go wide and she cackles in victory.
“I knew it, you little hussy.”
I shove a spoonful of oatmeal into my mouth to stop myself from laughing or planting my face in my hands in embarrassment.
Jason lets out a soft snort and nudges his mate. “Be nice.”
“I am being nice,” she argues. “If I wasn’t, I’d be asking which one made you scream loud enough to wake the Beta barracks.”
I choke on my oatmeal.
Still coughing, my eyes watering, I babble. “There’s no way they heard me. It’s too far away, and I was loud, but not that loud, I think…” Everlyn’s grin broadens even wider. “Oh. You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”
“Guilty as charged.”
“I hate you.”
“You really don’t.”
Before I can retaliate, trays clatter down on the table.
The Pack settles around us and Shade slides in at my right while placing an overly full tray in front of me.
Blaze swings onto the bench beside Everlyn with a flourish.
Viper sits down on my other side and nudges a mug of tea toward me. I cast him a shy smile in thank you.
Knox sits last. Next to Blaze with his tray balanced with perfect portions of breakfast foods. His posture is military-straight.
His eyes skim my face, not in a hungry way that the others seem to have adopted since last night, but like he’s a sniper set up on overwatch, studying me from a distance. Analytical. Calculating.
I glance down at my tea and wrap my hands around the cup.
I’m used to Knox being intimidating and intense, but he’s taking it to a whole new level. I wish he’d talk to me. Tell me what’s going on in his head.
Instead, he says nothing. Doesn’t smile and doesn’t look away.
Shade’s knee presses against mine, and I shift toward the contact without thinking.
Everlyn raises one brow, watching the table like a cat with an intriguing toy, loving every second of this awkwardness.
“Morning, boys,” she says sweetly, kicking me under the table. “Halley was just telling me how well she slept.”
“Sleep? Don’t remember much of that happening,” Blaze laughs, and when I snap a glare at him, he winks like the smug bastard he is.
It’s not that I regret what we did.
Frack, it was the hottest thing I’ve ever done in my life, no question, but now that my O-space has faded and my inhibitions are back, I can’t meet their eyes without blushing.
We’re sitting here in the mess hall like we didn’t just fundamentally alter the fabric of our Pack.
Sex has always been a complicated issue between me and Scorch Squad.
We all wanted it. Badly.
That line between military discipline and the raw, biological desire wired into our designations was never supposed to be crossed. We danced around it. Indulged and then darted away like scared little bunnies.
But now we’ve crossed that line. More than that, we erased the line altogether. And the sky didn’t fall. The ground didn’t shatter.
Still, we’re in unfamiliar territory now, and I have no idea where it leads.
Everlyn’s cackle slices through my thoughts. “I thought you’d make them work for it a little longer. Jason just won a bet he’ll definitely be cashing in tonight.”
Jason doesn’t look up from his eggs, but the tips of his ears go red, and there’s a smug little smirk curling at the corner of his mouth.
I hope Everlyn knows I’m going to tease her without mercy if she comes to breakfast tomorrow with a limp.
We walk back from the mess hall as a Pack, and I smile to myself.
“Was it just me,” Viper says, cocking an eyebrow, “or did breakfast taste better today?”
I know what he means. Everything feels more this morning, the bitterness of my coffee, the brush of leather against my gland, the way Viper’s shoulder keeps bumping mine like we’re magnetized.
Shade hums low, amused. “You mean because it wasn’t served with a side of repressed desire and tactical denial?”
“I meant the eggs,” Viper says innocently, but his grin ruins the act. “But sure, we can talk about that too.”
Blaze stretches both arms behind his head, flexing on purpose. “Personally, I think our girl’s slick tastes better than anything else. I’d rather eat her slick every day than ever have another meal.”
“You’re disgusting,” I mutter, but I can’t stop smiling.
“Careful,” Shade murmurs at my other side. “He might start composing a poem about your pussy again.”
“A poem? And wait, what do you mean again?”
It’s too late, Blaze has launched into a recitation of a truly terrible and unsurprisingly explicit poem.
“A is for the Alpha who made you moan last night. B is for the bite mark I want to put on your tit. C is for—”
“C is for can it,” Viper interrupts, jabbing him in the ribs.
He yelps, laughs, then spins around to walk backward in front of us, grinning lazily, his eyes glinting.
“And D is for—”
“Dangerously close to losing nest privileges,” I cut in, but the warmth in my voice betrays me.
Blaze whistles low. “Ruthless. I like it.”
Behind us, a boot scuffs quietly against stone. Knox. I don’t turn, but I feel him trailing the group steadily.
The boys keep the conversation moving, and I let them. Let them banter back and forth and argue about what ‘E’ is for, while I pretend not to notice that one voice is missing.
Shade falls into step beside me again, close enough that his knuckles graze mine. I lick my lips. Will I always feel a bolt of desire run through me at his touch, or is it because our bond is so new?
‘Think you’re up for another training session today?
’ he asks through our new connection with genuine concern in his tone.
I know if I told him I needed more time to rest, he’d give it to me.
But I can’t sit still and hope the approaching army will go away.
I have to use every moment we have left to train.
“Yeah,” I say, but it comes out thinner than I meant.
“General Stone has put us on the guard duty roster, so we’ll take turns training with you.”
Viper cuts in. “Some bullshit about us earning our keep. Fucker.”
“I can’t wait for some one-on-one training with Sparkles,” Blaze says, waggling his eyebrows. “Getting ordered around by our tiny tyrant? I’m veeery into that.”
I roll my eyes and shove his shoulder, but I can’t stop the laugh that slips out.
Seeing him like this is a relief. His dangerous edge can make my pulse race, but this version of him is easier to be around. Easier to trust.
The way the Pack moves around me, all casual touches and easy teasing, feels natural in a way nothing else ever has.
It feels like belonging.
Behind us, Knox’s footsteps remain steady and distant.
I think about looking back. Maybe asking him something. Anything at all.
But the words stay lodged in my throat.
So I keep walking and pretend it doesn’t hurt.