Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
Corbin
I sigh.
Guilt gnaws at me. I should throw in the towel for now.
I need to help my pack. Sighing again, I consider how much I really don’t want to fucking deal with this.
Alphas this, alphas that. Responsibility non-fucking-stop. It’s bullshit.
Grabbing a rag, I wipe my hands. Partially my fault, binding myself to Maddox, a motivated wolf who had big dreams. I smile thinking of my packmates.
Snagging my stuff, I head for the house.
I slip up the stairs and into my room, the nearest to the stairs.
I’m easily the fastest to rip a throat out first and ask questions later, so I function well as a guard dog.
A quick shower, and I’ll go meet this damn, reckless omega.
When I swing open the door to the omega’s suite, I’m hit with utter chaos.
My wolf growls, the damp hair on my back suddenly overwhelming as I take in the scene. A crying omega, wearing a big tee shirt that smells of Maddox, sitting in the nest while Gael stands, pacing the edge, holding a purple comb, of all fucking things.
The omega’s hair is damp, a dark color, and starting to form ringlets as it dries.
Her scent hits me hard. I had been expecting it, of an omega almost in heat.
Apple blossoms. Red wine. The scent of sex.
Unexpectedly, something in my soul shifts. My omega. Mine. My mate. Just as when Mads had walked into our dorm room all those years ago. A perfect scent match.
Gael blurts, voice worried, “I helped her shower. I got her in dry clothes and started to brush her hair and her heat hit full.” He doesn’t look at me, just continues pacing, probably to calm his wolf. “She kissed me, and then, bam, slapped me and cursed me.”
My head swivels to where she sobs in the bed, forlorn and curled in on herself, surrounded by the pillows we had slowly, meticulously chosen for an omega I never thought we’d meet.
But she’s here. She’s here, and she’s ours.
Another inhale. I, indeed, scent her that heat has started. Behind that is the smell of her wet pussy, of the way she aches to be touched. A need so intense it’s painful.
But over it all is fear. Fear and disbelief.
I blink frantically, annoyed with myself for my reaction of wanting to rut her into the ground. She’s afraid. Poor omega. Poor baby.
Crossing the room, I grab Gael’s shoulders, stopping his pacing. He snarls at me.
“Quit,” I bark. “Where is everyone?”
He shakes his head, red hair flying. “Sorry, Corbin. I think Eli is in his room.”
“Text him,” I snap, as I turn off the lights in the room, and spin up the AC dial. I let go of my packmate, giving his arm a squeeze as I cross the room, yanking the heavy velvet curtains shut over the two double windows.
As the room dims to a very low, calming light, the little omega’s whines take on a higher pitch.
My purr rumbles up as I tug my belt off.
The door opens; it’s Elias.
I turn back to the nest, dropping my pants, already shirtless. I climb onto the end of the nest.
I can almost feel my packmates’ concern.
They’ve been treating her with kid gloves. Which… I don’t really argue with that approach. A witch. Not raised to expect this. Not an omega with an understanding of our biology, and an expectation of what will happen.
The problem is, now she’s in heat, witch or not. Knowledge or not. We can’t ease her into this any more. No way out but through.
Her wet green eyes rise cautiously as her sobs slow. She locks onto me, and her eyes fall to my cock. I’m achingly hard, knot half-swollen by the scent of not just any omega in heat, but my omega in heat.
“Easy, omega,” I say sternly as I crawl towards her. As I close in on her, she lays back, tugging the blankets up over her chest. I straddle her silently, studying her, learning my newest mate’s face.
Her dark eyebrows furrow, and I scent the fresh slick between her legs. Concern and confusion is clear on her face.
“That’s normal, baby,” I blurt, as I realize she may have never experienced this before. My voice is low in the shadowy room.
“You need to be knotted, omega,” I take a deep breath and before I can continue, her pretty face shakes in denial.
“You do,” I insist, voice low and growly.
Her eyes fill with tears.
Fuck.
I force myself to be gentle, and I continue, “I understand this is hard for you. I…” I pause, unsure of how to say what I think I might need to. I stop and back up a bit. “Are you… a virgin?”
I cringe at the mere thought. Luna, please do not let her be a virgin. In addition to her first heat and learning she’s an omega.
She shakes her head, eyes still locked on mine as her cheeks pink.
“Good. Good,” I respond, blowing out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
“Listen, baby, we have to do this. Even if you think you could white-knuckle through the pain your little body is going to be wracked in, if you don’t get a knot, your temperature will climb.
Without a knot, the heat-fever will get high enough to cause brain damage. ”
Her eyes widen minutely, but I’m so focused on my little omega that I see it. She shakes her head again, and I raise my hand, cupping her cheek. Her eyes flutter closed for a moment before they snap open and she glares at me.
I’m frustrated with her for being so obstinate.
But she wasn’t raised for this. Doesn’t have the knowledge a shifter would. I growl without intending to. She shrinks back from me, and that only angers my wolf further.
I shake my head, though I still straddle over her. “My name is Corbin. I’m an alpha of pack Silverthorn. I’m sorry, baby, but this is not negotiable. I won’t have you permanently harmed due to your lack of preparation or understanding.”
My wolf whines, afraid my omega will reject me for what I am about to do.
Better rejected than her being irreparably harmed though.
She stares at me, face apprehensive. Her gaze softens though, and goosebumps raise on her hot flesh. She’s hurting and I hate it.
I cup her face again and dip my head in, intending to kiss her, to warm her up.
Her head jerks back, fire in her eyes.
“Don’t…don’t…” her voice trails off as she studies my face, and I smell her cunt get wetter. I swallow tightly, sure her slick has saturated the sheets. She wants this, even if her sensibilities aren’t letting her admit that.
The solution hits me in the gut. She might hate me after though.
Is it worth it? To keep my omega sane? Is her hatred worth keeping her mind intact?
My wolf howls protectively. Absolutely.
I force a deep breath, prepared to do what I must. “Do you… want me to force you? It… might be easier for you?”
Her eyes snap up as tears drip down her cheeks. “I… I don’t know.” Her damp head shakes. “I don’t want this.” She wipes at her face, looking down. “But... I hear you. That it needs to happen.”
“Okay, okay, baby,” I answer quietly, my heart breaking. But at that moment, I realize that if she knows it needs to happen, we can work through this. Hopefully without any long-lasting revulsion of me.
I think back to when I was obsessed with those human fanfics. Safe words. That’s what they were called.
“Stoplight time. Yellow for slow down, red for pause. There’s no stop though, little witch, we can’t let you risk permanent harm. But I’ll take control. Just feel.”
Hesitation swoops through me, but I cannot allow her heat to go unchecked. I know this. I wasn’t going to allow her, a random omega, to be harmed by heat fever. I’m sure as fuck not going to let my omega risk brain damage.
I grab the shirt that is surely driving her mad and tug it up over her head. She yelps, and covers her heavy breasts.
My wolf snarls. Make her present, he says. I shake my head hard. Poor baby isn’t ready for that, for fuck’s sake.
I tip her chin up as I use my other hand to yank the covers down. “You’re gonna be fine, omega. Everything is gonna be fine,” I whisper. Her rich gaze seems to steady, and she nods a tiny bit. But her gaze goes fuzzy as a needy whine slips from her pretty lips.
My hands land beside her head as I kiss her, pressing her slowly back to the pillows.
“I got you, baby,” I murmur as I drink my fill of her mouth. Mine. My omega.
Her kiss is magnetic. Her lips and tongue meet mine with equal fervor. She wants this as badly as I do, even if her witch-human side is struggling with it.
Her scent increases, and I’d bet my pack her slick is spreading down the sheets.
But unexpectedly, she pulls away, face turning to the pillow. My heart drops.
“Elias,” I growl over my shoulder, “put on something loud. Wordless. Intense,” I direct my pack mate. He nods silently, phone out as he connects to the room’s speakers.
The omega jumps as some loud electronic dance music blasts out of the speakers.
But the dim room, the loud music, does what I had hoped. Her eyes narrow, as her body starts to give in to her omega biology. She arches, breasts raised, and I cup one in my hand in response to her need.
She makes that low, pleased omega noise, and I dip my head to suckle her nipple.
“Atta girl,” I praise as I pop off her breast. “Just feel, baby.”
Her scent is overpowering, and I want to lose myself in her. I spare a moment to wish that our first time together wasn’t her heat, that she’d be fully here with me, that we could take our time and learn each other’s bodies.
There will be time for that later, I promise myself. For now, I need to keep my wolf on a short leash, and give my omega what she needs.
As I lower my head to kiss her, she whines in need, hips rocking as she searches for contact.
I drop my cock to line up to her cunt over her panties.
She purrs, humping up against me, trying to ease the ache in her clit, I imagine.
She offers her mouth hungrily, and I kiss her, deep, forceful, owning. Mine. My omega.
As I pull back and reach up to cup her cheek gently, acutely aware of how small she is, like all omegas, her hand connects with my face, hard. I blink, shocked that she slapped me.
I hear Gael mutter about how that was pretty much what happened to him. I growl and shift my weight, grabbing her hands.