Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
LARK
I can’t stop shaking.
It’s like my limbs are electrified, my body vibrating with an intensity that feels unending. Like I’m still coming despite my orgasm igniting several minutes ago.
The sensation isn’t exactly new. But it’s something I typically only experience during my heat. And with a very special toy, I think, shuddering as I clamp my legs together.
I’m covered in slick.
Down my legs.
Again, just like during an estrous cycle.
But my heat isn’t due for a couple more weeks.
This can’t be happening. I can’t be going into heat now. I… I can’t handle it.
God, I could barely handle Johan kissing me.
I knew their scents might trigger me to go into heat early. I hoped I might be able to avoid it. However, now, I don’t think I can.
I feel like I’m on the verge of exploding.
All I want to do is crawl back into that nest of masculine limbs, strip myself bare, and beg them to knot me. Everywhere.
Which is asinine.
I’ve never been with an alpha. Only ever a few beta males I’ve dated throughout the years.
And my toys… the ones I use during my heats… are nowhere near as large as the real deal.
Noah’s cock is huge. I can’t believe Johan took him up the ass.
Johan is well endowed, too. Not as long as Noah, but still thick and intimidating.
Then there’s Laz and his monster dick, the one Johan somehow managed to swallow partly down his throat on the plane.
Maybe Johan is a magical alpha, I think dizzily. He’s just predisposed and capable of taking anything and everything.
Part of me is jealous.
Part of me is in awe.
I… I don’t know what to do with this information.
I need to take a shower, I think, pulling my silky top off. I try to yank the shorts off, too, but the fabric sticks to my skin. Growling, I bend to try to force it off and hear someone clear a throat behind me.
Oh God.
It’s Lazarus.
I can tell by the scent alone. Dark chocolate–covered cherries.
I want to lick him all over. Memorize his muscles with my tongue. Climb him like a damn tree.
Because of the heat.
Or… or something.
I’m too coherent to be truly in estrus. Yet I’ve never been more turned on in my life. I’m losing my mind.
“Aurora?” he says, his low baritone causing goose bumps to dance along my arms. “Johan was worried you might be hurt. Are you?”
He’s close.
I can sense him maybe a foot behind me now.
All I have to do is turn around and jump on him.
He’ll help me figure this out.
Except…. except I ran out of the room because I didn’t want to do something I might regret. I just can’t remember what that was now.
My mind is clouded with Lazarus’s presence. His dominance. His… his purr.
It’s subtle, radiating from his chest like a damn beacon of power.
I turn, not caring about my strange state of dress, and basically collapse into the tower of protective muscle.
Lazarus catches me with ease, his palms on my bare waist as he pulls me into his vibrating chest. “Talk to me, princess,” he whispers. “Did we push you too far?”
I snort. I don’t think there is such a thing as too far when it comes to these men. Maybe not far enough is a thing, though?
I don’t know.
I just feel… overwhelmed. Not like myself. A little lost to whatever this is that’s brewing in my belly.
A heat, I think again, blinking in and out of cognizant thought. God, it really is happening, isn’t it?
“Estrus,” I whisper. “Maybe. Yes.” It’s an incoherent explanation. One I’m not even sure is right. This isn’t how my heat usually starts. It’s gradual, like a wave of warmth that spreads from between my legs to all my nerve endings.
This is all-encompassing instead.
Sudden.
Insane.
“Estrus?” he repeats, frowning down at me. “You’re going into heat?”
I nod.
Then shake my head.
Tears pool in my eyes, confusion flooding my mind. “I don’t… I don’t know.” And I hate it. I hate this. I hate feeling helpless. Hot. Out of my mind.
That’s what reminds me of my estrus—the lack of control. It’s always like this, causing me to lose sight of who I am deep inside. Temporarily, yes. But I loathe the vulnerability associated with losing my self-restraint.
“Help me,” I beg Lazarus, aware deep within how dangerous it is to ask this of him. But I don’t know what else to do.
I ran.
He followed.
And now I just… I just want to feel normal again. Like me.
“I don’t think you’re going into heat,” Lazarus murmurs, one of his hands lifting to cup my cheek. “But I’ll help you.” He leans down to brush his nose against mine. “We’re going to take a shower, okay? Together. And I promise not to hurt you or take advantage of you.”
I nod, accepting whatever he wants to do to me so long as it helps. “Anything.”
“Not anything,” he corrects me, a note of sternness underlying his tone. “I’m just going to take care of you, Aurora. Nothing more. Tell me you understand.”
“I understand,” I repeat immediately. Not because I really do, but because I want to obey him. To submit. To do whatever he desires.
For whatever reason, that makes him frown at me.
I don’t like that.
I want to please him.
To make him want me.
Which, of course, inspires more stupid tears. Ugh, I hate this!
“Shh,” he hushes, gathering me into his arms and carrying me. “I’ve got you, omega. You’re safe with me.”
I’m not.
I know I’m not.
But I don’t have the energy to say so. Instead, I just bury my face in his neck, inhaling his decadent scent. “You smell so good,” I tell him, my tongue sneaking out to lick his skin. It’s not as sweet as his aroma suggests, the slightly salty flavor surprising me.
He tastes like a man.
An alpha.
My alpha.
I nuzzle him again, laving him once more and groaning as slick pools between my thighs.
Lazarus rumbles in response, his chest vibrating with a purr that’s highlighted by his growl.
Yes, yes, I think, wanting more of that. “I want to feel you do that between my legs,” I admit, feeling strangely bold. “Please.”
He makes a noise, one I’m not sure means agreement.
Which has me pouting in response.
He shushes me again and sets me on a counter. The cool marble does little to dispel the warmth blasting through me—a warmth that actually burns hotter as he kneels to finish removing my shorts.
Lazarus is on his knees for me, I think, a fluttering sensation stirring in my lower belly.
He leans in to press a kiss to my thigh before standing once more, the light brush of lips not nearly enough. I reach for him, but he takes a step back.
A growl escapes me, one that turns into a moan as he begins to disrobe.
Because yes. Yes, this is what I want. A naked Lazarus. An alpha in his prime. A male who can help quell this ache simmering inside me.
I lick my lips, admiring the abs now on display, as well as the hard chest and impressive shoulders. He’s like a work of art.
Something I think I must admit out loud because his lips twitch.
Or maybe it’s just my open appreciation that amuses him.
Whatever.
He’s fucking hot and he knows it.
All perfect arms. Strong. Lined with delicious veins along his forearms.
But his thighs… Wow. Solid muscle. He wasn’t naked on the plane, just… mostly. Where it counted, anyway. However, his athletic legs are long and prove that he doesn’t miss workout days. All parts of his body are honed to perfection.
Just like Johan and Noah.
I shudder, thinking about them. Are they still playing in the other room? I wonder, imagining Noah fucking Johan. Oh, that was hot… Feeling all that strength on top of me propelled me into a new territory of arousal, taking me higher than I’ve ever gone before.
I could almost feel Noah driving into me, his forceful thrusts pushing through Johan and directly into my center.
Insanity.
Amazing.
Bliss.
But it’s Lazarus who picks me up now, his strength washing over me and lighting me on fire from within.
He’s going to be even more powerful than Noah, I realize, shivering with the thought.
All three of them are alphas. However, Lazarus takes dominance to a new level of existence.
I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss his throat again, tasting him as my legs tighten around his waist.
It’s then that I realize his boxers are still on.
My lips curl down, and a whimper escapes me. I want to be skin to skin.
“You’re safe,” Lazarus tells me.
Any other moment in time, that would appease me. But not right now. Because I don’t want to be safe. I want to be unsafe. I want him to lose control. To fuck me into oblivion. No holding back. No control. Just an alpha claiming an omega.
Oh God, claiming… Yes. Yes, that. Teeth in flesh. Biting.
I nearly follow through with the desire, but water springs to life overhead, drowning me in a cold sea of reality.
I blink.
Then pull back to gape at Lazarus. “A cold shower?”
He smiles. “It’s not just for you, princess.” He walks until my back is pressed to the chilled wall, the temperature at odds with the heat blossoming between my thighs.
His dick is hard and throbbing against my center. The thin boxer shorts do nothing to keep his size contained, his shape perfect and pronounced as he rocks into me. “You were about to claim me,” he murmurs, his lips ghosting along my cheek. “Do you know how difficult it was to stop you?”
My brow furrows. “You don’t want me to claim you?”
He chuckles. “Ah, Aurora, I will boldly and happily wear your claim mark. But I want you to bite me in a willing state, not in a lust-drunk one.” His lips meet my ear. “There will be no regrets between us. Ever. When we claim one another, it’ll be for the right reasons.”
His mouth travels down to my thundering pulse, his trimmed beard soft against my skin.
“Finding a place to mark you is going to be exceptionally enjoyable, Ms. Bianchi.” He nibbles my throat, then begins a path down to my breasts.
His dark eyes seek out mine as he takes my beaded nipple between his teeth, then rolls it with his tongue.
My lips part, the image of him kneeling before me again so fucking erotic that renewed need shoots through me, causing my thighs to clamp together. “Lazarus,” I whisper.