Chapter 28
28
Jude
“It’s been three hours,” Kellan snarled, pacing in front of the windows overlooking the back deck.
We’d settled in the family room when Hazel had asked for some space, but with each minute that crawled by, we knew our omega was burying herself deeper and deeper into guilt. And if that wasn’t bad enough, she’d shut off her emotions to the pack bond over an hour earlier.
Crew rubbed a hand over his jaw, staring out the window as the sun blazed high in a brilliant blue sky, like nothing was wrong. Like our omega hadn’t just watched her uncle kill himself after telling her she was the reason her parents had been killed.
No, not killed.
Murdered.
“Do we know anything about her parents’ deaths?” I asked softly.
Crew’s gaze hardened. “They were hit by a drunk driver on a narrow road. Their car went over a cliff. They died on impact.”
“No foul play was suspected?” Rhett pressed.
Crew shot him a disbelieving look. “The other driver’s blood alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit. It was a fucking tragedy, but everyone assumed it was an accident.”
“What happened to the other driver?” Rhett folded his arms over his chest, brows pulled down low in thought.
“Went to prison for vehicular manslaughter, but I have no idea what happened after that.” Crew frowned.
Rhett made a humming sound. “Let me make some calls and see what I can find out.”
“Is there any chance Reed was lying?” Kellan spoke up, running a hand through his long hair. “I mean, maybe he was just fucking with Hazel.”
Crew slowly shook his head. “No, I think he was telling the truth.”
“Me, too,” I added. “All of the other beta born omegas came from families where their parents were gone. That can’t be a coincidence.”
Crew paled a little. “We need more information about how these other omegas became orphans.”
Kellan rubbed the back of his neck, his scent souring with distress and frustration. “How fucking involved is this whole changing omegas thing?”
Rhett rolled his shoulders back. “Considering most of the omegas went to families in the upper echelons of society, I don’t think it’s much of a leap to assume Infinity Solutions found a way to create omegas to fill a void left by the population deficit.”
Kellan stared at him. “That was the most British sounding excuse I’ve ever heard, dude. Do you get paid by the fucking syllable?”
Rhett smirked. “Sometimes.”
Crew stood, and with that simple motion, the energy in the room shifted from worried to determined. “Rhett, make your calls. Kellan, why don’t you reach out to Bowen and see if this is something his hacker friend can delve deeper into? I’m going to discuss the Joneses’ deaths with my parents and see what they might know.”
“And me?” I asked.
“Three hours is long enough,” he announced. “Check on Hazel and remind her she isn’t alone.”
Kellan let out a rumbling noise of dissent. “I could check on her.”
“You could, but the three of us,” Crew pointed to himself, Kellan, and Rhett, “might be too much right now. All of our emotions are all over the place, and Hazel doesn’t need that. Jude is the most level headed, and his scent will calm her down.”
Rhett shot me a look full of love. “He’s right, pup. You’re the best one to comfort her in this moment.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. Getting up from my chair, I paused to kiss Rhett before leaving the room. I took the stairs two at a time before stalking down the hallway to the master suite, already knowing Hazel would be in her nest.
Not bothering to knock and give her the chance to tell me to stay away, I pushed the door open and was immediately assaulted by the acrid stench of distressed omega. My stomach twisted as I realized we’d waited too long.
The door to the nest was partially cracked, and I nudged it open. The space was dark except for the strings of twinkle lights, giving the room a soft glow. It took a second to spot her in the messy pile of blankets. She’d managed to bury herself completely.
I crawled into the nest until I was able to crowd in beside her. I dragged a soft flannel blanket over our heads, shutting us off from the world.
With a soft sniffle, she turned her head. Those bright green and gold eyes were red-rimmed and swollen. My heart fucking broke for her.
Any worries I’d had about her asking me to leave vanished when her face crumpled and she buried her head against my chest. Her sobs were like an acid-tipped dagger carving into my skin.
Holding her to my chest, I wrapped my arms around her and let her cry it out until her tears turned to hiccups. Her breath caught in little hitches as she struggled to get control.
“It’s my fault.” Her voice cracked as she forced the lie through her chattering teeth.
“No,” I denied as emphatically as I could. “Haze, none of this is your fault.”
“But my parents?—”
“Your parents loved you,” I asserted. I’d always regret never being able to meet the incredible people who’d raised the woman I loved, but I knew enough from the way Crew and Hazel spoke about them to know they were remarkable and their love for Hazel was almost unmatched.
Smoothing her hair back, I feathered a kiss over her brow. “You didn’t do a damn thing, baby. Do you honestly think your parents would blame you?”
She took a second to think it through before shaking her head slightly. “No. I just feel like we can’t catch a break.”
“I hate to say it, but I don’t see a break in our near future,” I admitted, wishing I could tell her the opposite. All I wanted to do was protect her and see her happy.
“I hate this,” she hissed, her small fists bunching around my shirt as she clung to me.
“Me, too,” I murmured, reveling in the way she fit against me like we’d been made for each other.
Truth be told, I’d always dismissed the idea of scent matches and fated matches to shit romance authors created. Perfection didn’t exist in the real world; it was why people turned to fiction for their happily ever afters. And while we were further from our own HEA than I wanted to admit, maybe all those authors and artists and musicians were really onto something. Because the way I felt now that Hazel was part of our pack was transcendent.
“Are you hungry?” I asked.
She frowned up at me. “You guys are always trying to feed me.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Because you’re so tiny. We need to fatten you up.” I cupped her ass and squeezed.
Hazel huffed and shoved the blanket off our heads. I sucked in a lungful of cooler air.
“I’m not that tiny. Compared to most omegas, I’m on the bigger side,” she pointed out.
I wouldn’t necessarily say she was bigger , but omegas tended to be petite and curvy. Hazel’s curves were still filling out from her time with the APA, but she was taller than most omegas I’d met. That being said, she was still small compared to the rest of the pack. None of us were under six feet, so we had several inches on her.
Hazel fell silent, and I thought she might’ve fallen asleep until she asked a new question. “Do you think they’ll like me?”
“Huh?”
Pushing herself up onto one elbow, she looked at me with vulnerability in her eyes. “I’m supposed to meet Rhett’s family tomorrow.”
I inwardly winced because—fuck me—I’d forgotten that was happening. “I’m sure they’ll love you.” I tucked a lock of red hair behind her ear. “How could they not?”
Her mouth flattened. “Rhett said they didn’t approve of you.”
She was wrong; didn’t approve of me meant that in the past they hadn’t approved but now did.
They absolutely didn’t, and probably never would.
Rhett had committed two unforgivable sins in the eyes of his parents: not being a pack leader and being bisexual. The fact that Rhett had committed to me instead of searching for an omega was a major source of discord in the Coulson family.
“That was different,” I hedged.
Hazel’s scowl was ferocious and adorable. “No, it isn’t. If they can’t accept you , then they can’t accept me .”
“Maybe don’t tell them that,” I muttered, staring up at the ceiling.
Her fingers trailed over my jaw and turned my head to look at her again. “Rhett’s family is stupid if they can’t see how important you are. To me, to Rhett, to this whole pack.”
The laugh that slid from me was full of self-deprecation.
Hazel popped up, sitting now so she could glare down at me. “I mean it, Jude. His parents can fuck a cactus.”
The idea of Rhett’s rigid as fuck parents fucking a prickly plant made me chuckle. “I’d pay to see that.”
Hazel rolled her eyes, her loose hair hanging in waves that tumbled around her shoulders. Her slight frame was swimming in one of Crew’s hoodies and a pair of Rhett’s workout pants. She’d clearly changed after her meeting with her uncle into something that made her feel safer. She fiddled with an elastic on her wrist, and I recognized it as one of Kellan’s.
I sat up and faced her, touching the clothes and then the hair tie. “You have something from everyone except me.”
She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth as her cheeks turned a mottled shade of pink, cluing me into the fact that my little omega was keeping a secret.
I lifted my brows. “What’s that look for?”
“No look,” she managed in a strangled rasp before ducking her head and pulling her fingers into the sleeves of the hoodie.
Grabbing her by the waist, I picked her up and settled her on my lap so she straddled me. Fuck, even with my sweat pants and Rhett’s shorts, I could feel the heat of her pussy warming my dick.
“Do my clothes not make the cut?” I teased, pushing her hair back so I could see her perfect face.
The tips of her ears were crimson. “No… You did.”
Smirking, I pushed my hands under the hoodie and felt bare skin. “Huh. Well, you’re not wearing a shirt under here. At least, I don’t think so. I should probably check to be sure.”
Her scent swirled around us, rich cocoa and a hint of sweet vanilla. It made me want to bury my face between her thighs because I knew her slick would taste just as heavenly.
I worked the hoodie up and over her head before tossing it aside and staring at her tits. Damn, they were perfect. More than a handful with pretty pink tips that were pebbled and begging for my attention.
My thumb caressed the underside of one breast while I dipped my head to suck the other into my mouth.
The throaty moan Hazel let out had my cock straining against the cotton of my pants, and I grunted as she rolled her hips a little to create friction between our bodies.
Taking my time, I alternated between sucking on her nipples and rolling them between my fingers.
I loved being in a pack, but having time with Hazel one-on-one was fucking incredible. Being able to soak up her undivided attention was addictive.
Her fingers speared through my hair as she arched her back, presenting her tits like a sacrifice for me. “Jude,” she whimpered, tugging on my hair until I lifted my head and she could crush her mouth to mine.
I lost myself to the softness of her kiss. The way she let me plunder her mouth and stroke her tongue into submission. When I kissed Rhett, his alpha nature pushed him to dominate the action most of the time, but Hazel was the direct opposite, and I loved that I could have both.
I turned and rolled us so Hazel was on her back under me, her legs hooked around my waist as her hips thrust and grinded in frenzied jerks as she tried to get herself off by dry humping me like we were a couple of teenagers. Why was that so fucking hot?
Breaking the kiss, I pulled back and stared down at her. The pretty flush on her cheeks now stained her chest. Her nipples were hard little points, swollen and red from my attention. Dragging a hand down the valley between them, I watched her stomach dip as I headed farther south.
I brushed the waistband on the shorts I’d peeled off Rhett more times than I could count. Arching a brow, I waited for her to nod before tugging them down. My jaw ached, saliva flooding my mouth as I imagined her taste on my tongue.
Moving out of the way, I pulled the shorts free, but paused when I realized she was also wearing a loose pair of white boxer briefs that looked really familiar. The front was soaked with her slick, the fabric clinging to the plump lips of her pussy.
My gaze shot to hers as a grin spread across my face. “You took my underwear?”
Her nod was bashful and sweet as her fingers twitched at her sides, like she was about to hide herself from my gaze.
I traced the edge of the elastic band. “Are these the ones that were in my hamper?”
“Yes,” she admitted. “They smelled like you, and I know it’s a creepy omega thing but I needed them.”
I flattened my hand over her pussy, cupping her through the fabric. “Fuck, that’s kinda hot, baby.”
“Not weird?”
I grinned. “A little weird.” I covered her body with mine so I could kiss her. “But I love you and all your weirdness.”
Hazel’s giggle turned into a groan as I moved my hands inside the boxers and stroked her wet folds. I teased her opening before sinking two fingers into her heat and curling them to rub her G-spot.
“Oh, fuck,” she cried out, arching off the mattress as her nails dug into my back.
I pumped my fingers into her, curling and scissoring them as I alternated the speed so she couldn’t anticipate what I planned. She writhed under me, making frantic little whimpers and whines that would’ve had her alphas buckling under the need to ease her frustration.
But I wasn’t an alpha. And while I never wanted my girl to suffer, I’d happily torture her tight little body until she was begging for me.
Kissing my way down her body, I shoved the boxers down her legs before pressing her thighs open once more and exposing her glistening pussy. I peppered kisses over her hip bones and across her skin until my mouth hovered above her mound.
Her breaths came in ragged pants as she stared down at me, those golden irises nearly eclipsed by her pupils. “Please, Jude. I need you.”
I nuzzled my nose against her pussy, inhaling her scent. “You have me, baby,” I assured her before swiping my tongue through her folds. My eyes rolled back in my head as her flavor filled my mouth.
I ground my hips against the mattress as I ate her like a man starved, loving all of her gasps and moans, the way she pulled my hair as her pussy convulsed around my tongue when I speared it deep into her while stroking her clit.
I chased her from one orgasm to the next, never giving her a chance to recover. I didn’t relent, even as my cock hardened to the point of pain. Not until Hazel tugged at my hair and begged for mercy.
Licking her taste from my lips, I crawled up her body while shedding my clothes. I fit the wide, pierced head of my cock at her opening as she trembled. Kissing her slowly, gently, I sank into her an inch at a time. When I was fully sheathed inside her soaked heat, I stayed still and felt her walls ripple around me.
Lashes fluttering, her gaze was unfocused as she whimpered and pulled me so my chest was flush to her. I wrapped my arms under her as I rocked my hips against her in shallow thrusts. Hooking an arm under one thigh, I pulled her leg higher and sank in deeper.
“Oh, god,” she breathed, head thrown back in ecstasy as she clenched around me, her body desperately seeking an alpha knot to lock onto.
I didn’t have a knot, but I had a larger than average cock with an array of piercings that I took my time dragging through her soaked center.
“I feel you everywhere.” Her gaze was glassy and unfocused as I changed the angle of my thrust. “Fuck, Jude. I can’t… I don’t even know…” Her pussy gushed around me, her slick making my cock slippery as I pounded into her.
“Love you, baby,” I told her, reaching between us to find her clit. All it took was rubbing on the hard little bundles of nerves, and she was shattering around me. Her walls clamped clamped down on my cock hard enough that I saw stars, but without a knot, I could keep fucking her through her orgasm and into one more.
She screamed my name as I felt lightning rip down my spine. My balls drew up tight, and then I was coming inside her, filling her with deep pulses of my release as she shuddered and whimpered.
I braced my weight on my forearms so I didn’t crush her, wishing like hell I had a knot so I could lock us together for longer. I wanted that intimacy with her.
When I went to pull out of her, her sudden whine caught me by surprise. Shit, had I hurt her?
“Don’t go,” she pleaded, awkwardly wrapping a shaking leg around my hip in an attempt to keep my cock buried inside her pussy.
I kissed the side of her throat and carefully rolled us so I was on my back and she was sprawled across my chest, my dick never leaving her tight cunt. She let out a sleepy yawn and pressed a kiss to my chest before snuggling up and falling asleep.
I watched her sleep as my cock softened, but her pussy kept a tight grip around it, refusing to let me slide free. Running my fingers through her hair and up and down her spine, I marveled at the beauty who had become the focal point of our world.
Sensing movement at the door to the nest, I glanced up to see Kellan sticking his head in. He scowled at me. “Lucky fucker,” he grumbled.
I smirked back because he was right, and we both knew it.