Chapter 37
brYLEE
Over the next few days, Alpha Team X and I settle into a routine that's annoying but bearable. The guys go about their work while one of them always stays behind to play bodyguard for the "prince."
They do include me in their strategic conversations about troop movements and logistics. And they may have taken my advice a time or two. I'm not sure. But they don't want me out there shooting Noths, and so what I can do on the battlefield is very limited.
It's a good thing they're such uptight fuckers and never allow anyone else into their space because, once the hours start to drag, I can’t allow melancholy to sink me, so I concoct some very creative ways to "play bodyguard" with them.
So far, I've initiated games like steal the bodyguard's gun, escape the bodyguard, and flash the bodyguard—all with very delightful, very destructive results. I'm honestly surprised the tent and my pussy have survived the wreckage.
The furniture in here hasn't fared so well. The guys have gone through two desks and a chair so far. I'm thinking we might round out the week with another chair, at least.
Being with them fills up that desperate, gaping hole they left in my chest when they shipped out.
But there's another need that I'm not quite sure I'm fulfilling.
One that I finally find the courage to bring up one morning after I've successfully stolen my bodyguard's gun and then ridden him into a wild, cursing, grunting, growling frenzy.
The morning light filters through the tan canvas tent and gives the space a warm glow as I straddle Ridge's naked body. He lies on his bed, his gun in my hand as he glides his hands contentedly along my bare thighs, relaxed now that his knot has unlocked and his seed is slowly dripping out of me.
This seems like the perfect time to argue my case.
He's relaxed, not stressed about an upcoming battle at the moment.
And we're alone, which rarely happens. For this particular topic, I think I've got my best chance if we discuss things one on one.
As much as I love my alphas and fall for them more with every passing day, when they're all together, they're an impenetrable wall of male stubbornness.
Slow, Brylee. Nice and slow, I coach myself.
"I know you don't want me to go into any dangerous situation…" I start off slowly as I disarm his weapon and check the chamber because he hadn't given me time to do that before he'd grabbed my ass and pumped up into me as I bounced like a cowgirl on a wild bronco.
"Understatement of the year," he mutters as he leans up to suck one of my nipples into his mouth, laving slowly as though he might want to build up to a second round.
His hands come up to cup and play with my breasts, stroking until my muscles start to tighten. My head starts to fizz and bubble like a soda can that's being shaken, and I'm very nearly distracted from my intentions by his nipping teeth.
Fuck.
I want to…but not until we've had this discussion. It's too important. And I know that the rest of Alpha Team X will follow Ridge's lead.
I toss the gun aside, and it hits the ground with a plonk as I lean down, tracing my fingers lightly through his blond hair and say, "I need to do something. I don't even need to get close—"
His lips unlatch, and cool air ghosts disappointingly over my breast as he glares up at me with angelic eyes that have transformed into ice chips. "No, Brylee."
"You haven't heard—"
"No."
"Ted needs to be seen, Ridge!" I slide back on his legs a tad so that we're no longer on the verge of falling into bliss, because this conversation needs to happen.
"Nobody—"
"He's the future king!" My tone is a sharp reprimand that fills the tent. "I'm not asking you to take me anywhere wild. I can stay in the armored vehicle. That's fine."
"You were in a bus before, and you nearly were fucking—"
"I saved that bus!" I jab my finger into his pec. "If I hadn't taken over driving, we'd have been Swiss cheese."
His hand wraps around my wrist like a cuff, and I go limp beneath his touch.
"I'm not saying you're not brave, love," he intones softly. "You're not just the bravest omega I've ever known, but the most beautiful, selfless soul…"
He plants a gentle kiss on my pulse at my wrist. "You are so selfless sometimes that it's dangerous."
"Well, hello, pot. I'm kettle."
He chuckles, and his thumb glides back and forth over my wrist in the tenderest sort of way imaginable. "You might be right. But my entire life's purpose is to protect and defend you."
My eyes plead my case as I say, "I understand wanting to protect me, and I'll honor the promise I made to you the other day. But I can't just stay in here forever bouncing on your cock…"
Said cock lengthens and taps against the underside of my ass.
"You could."
Pulling my hand out of his grip, I lightly smack his chest before I softly say, "But what about my life's purpose? I need to help. As much as I love taking your cock—that can't be the only thing I do."
"Fuck." He groans. "Don't keep talking about cock when you want to have a serious conversation."
I sigh and scan the tent as if the words I need to convince him are hidden somewhere in here and I just need to spot them. But the meticulously hung uniforms, the beds for the other men, and the trunks full of weapons don't hold any answers.
"I want to do what's best for us, but we also have to do what's best for the kingdom. People need to have faith in their ruler. They need to know Ted cares. And he'd be out here if he could…"
It's Ridge's turn to let out a lengthy breath, and I can see his expression morph into something thoughtful as he mulls over my request instead of just dismissing it.
His gaze is distant as he slowly says, "You mentioned Caran had gotten some medicine that helped…"
I nod. "Yeah. I don't know where. But it was probably smuggled in or something. Nóthos makes it. I never had the courage to ask."
I grind my teeth because it feels almost like a betrayal to admit that Caran might have skirted the law, but I can't lie to my mates.
Ridge's fingers tap the sides of my thighs as he thinks. And then those fingers pause. "What if we could get him some more?"
My intake of breath is sharp as a stab wound and nearly as painful, filled with razor-edged hope that slices deep.
"How?" I barely get the word out.
The morning sun brightens the air around us, as though the sun has finally escaped the tree line in order to fully engulf our camp. Ridge's body is bathed in golden light as his teeth drag across his bottom lip.
Finally, he says, "We've gotten in reports of a huge facility near the border. A lab of some sort. Believed to be abandoned.”
I slide back up his torso and grip his shoulders tight, urgency a sensation I feel throughout my entire body, flickering like a strobe light from the top of my skull to the tips of my toes. "Yes. Fuck. You think we could do that?"
His head wavers side to side. "Maybe. I'll have to do some research—"
I swoop down to kiss him frantically, peppering his face, his neck, his chest. "Yes. Please. Yes."
My tongue traces a hot stripe down his pec and over his nipple. And then I brace myself on my hands and glide my entire body lower, eyes locked on his. The second he realizes what's happening, his pupils dilate.
"I didn't say it's a sure thing, Brylee."
"I know," I whisper as I bring my hand to encircle the base of his cock.
"They might not even have the medicine he needs."
"They will," I reply, because I have to believe it.
I need to believe it more than I've ever needed to believe anything in my entire life.
"If we got him more…maybe he could make his own appearance," Ridge states.
I nod as I stroke him. "Yes."
"I don't know if we'll succeed."
He's hedging. I know he can see in my face how desperately I want this to be true.
My desperation affects my touch, and I squeeze him a bit harder than I intend, eliciting a short, surprised gasp from his lips.
His knot is already swelling at the base, the skin stretching, heating under my touch as I stroke his shaft with one hand and bring the other to tease his knot with light touches that skim over the surface.
"But I know you'll try. And you've never failed at a mission before…" I sink my mouth down on his tip.
He's thick and warm on my tongue, and I'm filled with both a heady sense of power that I can do this to him and this immense, indescribable feeling of gratitude for him. For the fact that he's sought out a happy medium for both of us, one that might just help do the impossible.
He's trying to give me what I want in the best way he can.
This.
This is what I never knew I was missing when I was younger.
The sort of love that rejoices in giving as much as getting.
He groans, and his hips cant beneath me, angling upward, seeking out as much of my mouth as I'll let him get.
Staying shallow, I let him tap the roof of my mouth a few times before pulling back.
I trace my tongue up and down the underside of his cock as I stare up his body, over those well-formed abs, his heaving chest, toward that strained face.
I can see in his eyes that he's seconds away from grabbing me and fucking me into mindless oblivion.
Pulling back, I say, "I know you'll save my brother. And that will save my heart."
With a roar that's loud enough to be heard by the entire encampment, Ridge surges up and clasps my shoulders. He rolls us until I'm lying on the bed and he's poised on top of me, cock in hand. And when he slides into me, I get chills.
Because I can feel more than just our bodies merging.
Our souls fuse together.