19. Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Nineteen
Dominic
Inever knew an Omega could be so fucking insatiable.
I had nothing to compare it to. Lennon’s heat is the first one I have been a part of.
She was unlike the woman I had fallen in love with.
She was animalistic, clawing at us in pure desperation, lost to her need for us to make her feel good.
To take away the madness that threatened to consume her as we took our time exploring her, giving her everything she needed without a second thought.
She might not admit this, but she’s part of our pack.
We’re not perfect, by any means. But there’s no way we’ll ever be complete without her by our side.
Watching Sasha take his time with her, gently owning her body, no… claiming her body in a way I’d never seen him do before. He’s come a long way. I notice. Holden does too. Everything he’d been working on was paying off, and I’m so fucking proud of him.
I know he didn’t just do this for us, or himself. He did this for our girl. So that we’d have a chance at living a fulfilled life. Not the half life we’d been forced to live since we fucked things up and she walked away from us.
That will not happen again.
We are hers. And this heat had her claiming us in ways I’d never imagined possible.
Her nails have drawn red streaks into chest, only serving to mark me up even more.
I want to tattoo them into my flesh. I want my entire body to be covered in the evidence of her.
One mark to my skin will never be enough.
Not until the one that bonds us together for life mar my neck.
Lennon woke up a few hours ago, alertness returning to her wild, tired eyes.
We were finally successful in giving her a proper meal.
We had to force her to eat protein bars specially designed for Omegas during heat.
The protesting she put up had me willing to back down, just to give her my knot like she had begged relentlessly for.
But Holden saw through the haze that clouded our judgements.
Without him, all of us would be exhausted and starving. Lennon more so.
I haven’t been able to pull Sasha away from her.
He’s so tangled up in our Omega that I don’t think things will ever be the same when it comes to the two of them.
They share something magical. I can’t explain it.
I’m in awe of them. The way their bodies light up when they hold each other close.
Lennon’s reaction when she’s knotted with my Alpha…
I could stay here like this forever. Watching the three loves of my life consumed by their instincts, neither one of them willing to call it.
Not wanting this moment to end. I can tell by the way they move that there’s no going back now.
The connection we share, we’ve solidified something.
We all felt it. It was like an invisible string had tied us together in a way we hadn’t been before, and I’m a fucking goner.
So completely lost to her, it isn’t funny.
I have been since I first laid eyes on her.
I roll over onto my side to face a still sleeping Lennon. I find it hard to gather the words to describe not only just how beautiful she is, her soft features so at peace in sleep, but just how far I have fallen for her.
Because fuck, I am in love with Lennon Welsh.
She is everything I didn’t know I needed. She is my calm. My sanctuary. The person that stands against me and my bullshit. Now that I have had her in this way, I refuse to let her go again. Nothing in this world could possibly tear her from me. Not even her.
Lennon groans, bringing her hands up to rub at her tired eyes. “Mmm, I feel like I have been hit by a truck.”
I chuckle, tucking the few strands of hair that have fallen from her braids back behind her ears. It was an ingenious decision on Holden’s part to have suggested doing that before she fell too far under on our rush to get over here. To her.
Apparently, the Beta had been reading up on Omegas and their heats since the first heat spike he was present for. Lucky for Sasha and me, because we hadn’t the slightest clue. We were running on pure fucking instinct, and the need to ensure she was comfortable.
“Want me to run you a bath?” I offer. The groceries we ordered to stock up Lennon's pantry after eating it almost back to bare bones, I ensured that a few other creature comforts were added. Like the new blanket currently wrapped around her body. It is the first thing I have given to her as part of my courting present. Because that is what this is. She’ll get over it in time.
While I know Lennon isn’t the kind of Omega that wants to be showered in materialistic things, I still want to spoil her.
To give her things that she might not have thought to get for herself because this woman is busy.
I don’t know how she does it. Puts all us dickheads to shame, that’s for damn sure.
She works harder than all of us combined, and still manages to run rings around the guys on the ice.
She’s a fucking weapon. And the reaction she had given me when she saw the blood red fluffy blanket? Fucking priceless.
“Please,” she whispers, closing her eyes to take a deep breath. I lean in, closing the distance between us, placing a gentle kiss against her forehead.
“Anything for you, baby.”
It’s such a simple statement, one that to anyone else would just push home the depth of how much the Omega before me means to me, but it is much more loaded than that. It speaks of a deep rooted love, one that I’ve had to fight to keep. One that I will continue to fight for.
I am a lucky fucking bastard for even being back in Lennon’s life. A few months ago, I never thought this moment would ever happen again.
Truth be told, it almost didn’t. But now that I have the chance to make things right, I refuse to fuck it up for any of us.
Not when our Omega deserves the world.
Lennon groans as I lower her down into the bathtub filled with magnesium, epsom salts laced with lavender and essential oils. Her body is tight after days of being bound so tightly under the pressures of the heat.
It took so much out of her.
I hate that I can’t take that bone deep exhaustion from her and wear it myself.
Even though I know it isn’t my fault, a part of me feels as though it is.
Getting to my knees, I position myself so I am facing her back.
With my hands on her shoulders, I begin to work her tight muscles.
She moans, dropping her head to her chest as I work.
“Fuck,” she grunts at a particularly sore spot. I start to release the pressure, but she growls, making me pause. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
“Yes, Omega,” I obey, returning back to the same pressure, even though I hate the thought of my hands being the ones to cause her pain. I won’t do that kind of thing again. Not unless she begs me too. I feel the exact moment the knot in her shoulders loosen, her entire body deflating.
“Fucking hell. You are far too good at that.”
I chuckle, finding the wash cloth to gently wash her back. Things got fairly messy during the heat. I can still see dried streaks of cum covering her sensitive flesh.
Apparently our Omega loves to be covered in our essence. I won’t deny that watching her beg for it won’t go straight to my spank bank for future reference. Along with the collection of panties I now have in my arsenal.
“Having two star hockey players under the same roof who insist on being rough on the ice sees them needing a ridiculous amount of physical therapy to look after their muscles. I took a course a few years ago, so that I could help take care of things at home.”
Lennon turns back to face me, eyes filled with disbelief and something else. Something that makes me blink a few times to make sure I am seeing the right thing. Wonder.
“Under all of that Alpha bravado, you are a pretty good guy. You’d make a good Beta.”
I snort, shaking my head. “I’m gonna let that slide because I know you’re baiting me.
And I know you enjoy my knot too much for it to be a punishment.
” A long silence fills the bathroom, her words washing over me and I can’t shake the heaviness I feel inside my chest at how wrong they are.
“I’m not a good guy, Lennon. You know the things I’ve done—”
She cuts me off, “I do, Dominic. I know better than anyone just the kind of person you are. You are fiercely loyal, sometimes to a fault. You are caring, always making sure every single one of us has everything they need before you see to your own wants. Things may be hazy from my heat, but I knew that you cared for me endlessly, constantly checking my temperature and ensuring I got enough fluids in.”
I look away from Lennon shyly. It's almost hard to hear what she is saying, even though I know she’s just being honest. However misguided she is.
I’ve killed before. I’d do it again. What kind of man does that make me now?
I don’t say that though. She already knows the truth.
But it doesn’t stop me from the shame of not being perfect for her in the ways she deserves.
She deserves someone pure. Someone kind to their very core.
Not someone who has nothing and no one. Yeah, I have my pack.
But I grew up with nothing. No one. She deserves to have a whole ass traditional family, but the cards weren’t dealt that way for me.
They weren’t dealt in her favor either, because everyone she’s ever known has let her down, or died.
One thing I know for absolute certainty though, is we are not going anywhere. She’s stuck with us for life.
“Your morals may be questionable at times,” she says, making me snort in response. Understatement of the century. “But you are worthy, Dominic. Of the care and the love you share with everyone else. Even if you pretend to be a big tough scary Alpha. But you’re kind of a teddy bear. Dommy Dom Dom.”
My head snaps up. There is a soft smile on her face. One that is for me.
“No. That's not a thing. We’re not making that a thing.”
“What’s the matter, Dommy? Does it go against your tough guy Alpha image? Worried it might fuck with your street cred?”
She’s incorrigible.
Her laughter fills the bathroom, echoing like a cardinal’s song before she looks back at me. Fuck, I don’t know if she has ever looked at me like that. It makes me hopeful. Hopeful that one day, I will earn her forgiveness. That I will get to call her our wife.
“I love you, Lennon,” I blurt out, not realizing the words have escaped my mouth until it’s too late. Well shit. I don’t regret them though. Not for a fucking second. Because it's the truth.
There are a million emotions crossing her features, but I don’t stop.
If I don’t get everything out that I want to say, she’ll probably up and leave again before I ever get the chance to say them again.
I’d only drag her ass back here anyway, but she’ll be punished if she tries to pull that shit.
A punishment I know she’ll hate to love.
“From the moment you walked into the locker room, you changed something in me that was so dark, I’d never felt like I would know how to crawl away from it.
It’s like you finally showed me what the meaning of life really was.
Through your resilience. Your triumph. Your power.
You’re incredible. Your heart is pure, Lennon.
I’ll never be worthy of it. But I’m a selfish bastard because I want it anyway. ”
I shake my head, unable to stop myself from going back to my mistakes. The ones that stopped me from having a real shot at having a life with my Omega in the first place. I drop my eyes. I don’t think I can look at her for this next confession.
“I hope that one day I earn your love.”
Lennon doesn’t say anything for a long moment.
I don’t look up, not even as the heaviness of her silence settles on my shoulders like a dead weight.
I’m learning to admit to my faults. Between Sasha and Lennon, I’ve learned that being vulnerable isn’t at all that bad. That there is beauty in the breakdown.
A gentle touch under my chin has my eyes shooting up to meet Lennon’s. She doesn’t convey her feelings with her expression, nor with words. Instead, she leans in, placing a gentle kiss to my lips. One I eagerly return.
And with that one touch, she tells me everything I’ve been dying to hear.
One day.