Chapter 54
54
LANDON
Jasper carries a tray of food up the stairs with me and Dash at his back.
It becomes clearer with every step we take that if we closed our eyes, we could still find the nest without struggle.
All we’d need is to follow the toothache-inducing sweet lemon scent drifting through the house, guiding us like a lighthouse in a stormy night at sea.
I’m tense, every inch of me coiled tight with the restraint it’s taking not to plow my way past Jasper and into the nest. Leaving Ronan and Briar alone while I was pulled out of the room wasn’t something I’d ever like to do again.
I need to be with her, but I also know what would have happened if I’d been the one to stay.
As much as I want to mark her, I won’t do it without everyone else around us.
We do it together as a pack or not at all, even if I have to wait months.
Years, even.
As fucking cliché as it is, Briar’s worth it.
“Okay, so we’ve never done this,” Dash blurts out beside me.
I snort. “Spent a heat with an omega?”
“Yeah. We’ve never even shared an omega before Briar came into our lives. How is it supposed to work? Do we take turns? Are you going to be shoving your fingers inside of her alongside my dick again? I didn’t mind that, but I’d like a heads-up next time, you know?”
“If I think about that, I’ll end up smashing through the door to the nest,” Jasper admits tightly.
The time in the gym with Ronan was the first time I’d ever been in a situation like that, and I think it made my arousal stronger.
Ronan’s naturally possessive, and the fact he allowed me to share her with him then was something unexpected.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt the same way I do.
I focus on Jasper. “So, you’re okay with that, then?”
“With us helping each other out? Yeah, I am. I’m sure once we get inside the nest, nothing will matter but Briar and making sure we satiate her. I don’t care how that happens as long as it does.”
“Think Ronan will think the same?” Dash asks.
I inhale, dragging Briar’s sticky scent into my lungs.
“I’m sure we’re about to find out.”
“She should eat before anything else,” Jasper pushes, stopping at the top of the stairs.
He turns to look at us with a serious expression.
“She’ll need the nutrients. More than she’ll get from our cum.”
Dash nods, eyes flashing to the door.
“Has anyone told Coach?”
“I called him,” I say hoarsely.
“Got heat-leave for the four of us.”
Being this close to Briar .
. . I need inside the nest. I’ll lose myself if I don’t get there soon.
Jasper must sense my fading patience.
He steps aside and gives me room to pass.
My shoulders curve inward when I press a hand to the wall to keep myself anchored in place.
“If you think I’ll be able to say no to her once we get in there, you’re going to be disappointed in me, Jas. I’m already hardly holding back right now, and there’s a door between us. I need to know that the both of you are prepared to pull me away from her if necessary.”
“She’ll be safe, Landon. You won’t hurt her,” Dash says.
“I’m not scared that I’ll hurt her. I’m scared I’ll be too much for her. That once I start, I won’t stop until I’ve marked her and we’re bound together for the rest of our lives. What if she says yes in the thralls of heat and then wakes up afterward to regret wearing my bite? Regret being with me at all?” My voice breaks, revealing the depth of my worry.
Dash clasps a hand over my shoulder, offering a silent type of support while Jasper fidgets with the tray in his hands and frowns at me.
“She’s already given us approval for marking her. Now, you have to trust that she meant it. Ask her again before you do, and dig into the bond you’ve formed with her already to find her answer again. It’s there in all of us. We share that with her, and I have no doubt that she’s as ready for the next steps as we are.”
“I haven’t even given her the courting gifts I’ve been storing,” I blurt out.
Dash clears his throat to hide a laugh.
“There’s still time for that after she’s back to herself.”
“You’ll be the first one, Landon,” Jasper says when I take that first step toward the nest door.
“The first what?”
“To mark her. You’re pack leader.”
I scrunch my face, the idea of taking that first spot feeling wrong.
“No. I don’t deserve to be the first one.”
“Me either,” Dash agrees.
“You and Ronan, Jas. It needs to be you two first. You’re the ones who’ve proven yourselves the worthiest of her, fighting for her longer than we have,” I tell him, hating how much it burns to make that statement.
The pain doesn’t negate the truth of it.
I don’t deserve to bite her first. I’ll be last, and I won’t accept any arguments on that.
“We’ll see what Briar thinks about it. It will be her decision who, where, and when any marking happens,” Jasper says stubbornly.
Staring forward at the door, I release a strained breath.
“I know.”
“Are we all good, then? We can go inside now?” Dash asks.
Fuck. We’ve been waiting for this for what feels like ever, and now that it’s here, I’m terrified I’m going to mess it all up.
When was the last time I even had sex?
Years ago, probably.
I don’t remember what it feels like, and even then, if I did, it wouldn’t compare.
That much is already obvious.
The high-pitched whine that blasts through the door is more than enough for us to encourage us to move.
My chest rumbles as I push inside the nest and rock back on my heels, my senses overloaded by the sights and smells around me.
“Shit, Petal. Never gonna get used to this,” Ronan groans.
His hips snap furiously, and I watch the blur of slapping flesh, my clothes becoming too constricting on my body.
Briar’s leg is flung back over Ronan’s hip as he fucks her from behind, both of them lying on their sides on the mattress.
She’s naked, the sheets draped from the bed onto the floor.
Her chest shakes, nipples hard bullets pointed at us as we watch in awe.
The slick glistening on her thighs and dripping down the length of Ronan’s cock as he thrusts into her is fucking intense.
The mix of lemon and caramel in this room is sweet enough to make my teeth hurt.
The pain only turns me on more, my cock a steel bar in my shorts.
“Don’t stop,” Briar mumbles, her lips swollen and a deep pink.
I stand completely still and watch.
Every tiny noise of pleasure that escapes her makes it harder not to immediately join, but I want permission first. There’s a part of me that needs to hear her say that she wants me included in this.
As a member of her pack when there’s no risk of her saying yes only because she’s busy thinking of me and my feelings.
Right now, there’s only one thing on her mind.
Pleasure and a satisfaction strong enough to ease her pain.
Ronan notices us first. His pupils are so large it’s impossible to make out any remaining brown in his eyes.
The subtle curl of his lip is followed by a low snarl, a warning from the animal part of his brain that’s registering that they’re not alone anymore.
It’s gone in a flash, replaced with a heat that smothers me from across the room.
His walls are down, allowing us an inside look at the insatiable craving he has for our omega.
A hand flexes against her stomach when he says, “The rest of your pack is here, baby girl. Look at them. They even brought the food I told you about.”
She forces her eyes open.
They find me first, locking on and holding me captive.
My exhale is shaky when I drop a hand to my crotch and twist the fabric of my shorts in my fingers.
I want to touch myself, to shove down the material keeping my cock locked away and give it a stroke, but I don’t.
Not yet.
“Superman,” she breathes out, rolling her hips back to meet Ronan’s thrusts.
I gulp. “Haven.”
Fingers spreading wide on the sheets, she extends her hand to the side of the bed.
“Come here.”
“Tried to get her to sleep. Our omega’s too fucking needy to keep her eyes closed long,” Ronan spears out, taking the tip of her ear between his teeth.
She gasps, throat fluttering with a wild pulse.
“Yes. I’m so warm. This is the only thing that helps.”
“One of you needs to take my place. If I knot her again, I’ll mark her.”
Again .
I hear it, and the yearning inside of me triples in size.
Briar doesn’t share his hesitation.
“Mark me, Ronan!”
“You need to know what you’re asking me,” he grunts, his movements intensifying, growing louder as she grows slicker.
“Do it. Do it, and then let Jasper,” I direct gruffly.
As if suddenly remembering that he can speak, Jasper says, “I have food for you, Briar.”
She doesn’t respond to that.
Instead, she reaches behind her head to grip Ronan’s hair.
Her hips undulate wildly as she chases her pleasure, cheeks and chest pink.
Ronan sucks in a long breath.
“Leave it on the dresser.”
The tray clatters on the surface before Jasper’s cutting through the room, his clothes dropping to the floor as he goes.
By the time he reaches them, he’s naked, cock hard and gripped in his hand.
Briar pounces forward.
Ronan moves with her, turning her onto her hands and knees while continuing to drive hard and deep into her pussy.
The effort pays off when she reaches for Jasper’s cock but suddenly stops, her arm falling before she falls to her elbows and moans.
The entire length of her body shakes with the strength of her orgasm.
“That’s it, baby. Show them how good it feels with this fat cock in your pussy. You’re so tight I’ll have to work my knot back inside.”
“Please. Give it to me,” she cries out, craning her head back to try and look at him.
Instead, her eyes fall on me.
I wet my lips and keep still, watching her like prey would a predator stalking the ground in front of them.
It’s the opposite of any situation I’ve ever been in before.
I’m not the top of the food chain here.
Briar is.
Jasper stands at the side of the bed with his thighs pressed hard to the mattress and reaches down to stroke her cheeks.
It’s enough to redirect her attention.
He gazes down at her, eyes sizzling.
“Can we come into your nest, love?”
She pauses, surprise knitting her brows before Ronan grinds his hips into her ass, and she moans.
“Yes.”
Ronan stays planted deep and stares at Jasper.
Something passes between them, a recognition, maybe.
Two alphas readying themselves to share their scent-matched omega for the second time.
Only this time around, they’ll be connecting their lives deeper than sharing one roof.
Their souls will be intertwined around hers, their minds and emotions always open to one another until they learn how to build thin walls to keep each other out.
Jasper smooths a hand down Briar’s head before cupping the back of it and using the hold to guide it forward.
She balances on one arm and uses the other to successfully grab his cock without collapsing.
Jasper’s breathing stutters while she slowly works him into her mouth, taking him deep enough that her nose presses into his knot.
As the sound of her choking around his length fills the room, Dash settles at my side.
He has one foot extended in front of the other like he’s actively trying not to join them.
“Go,” I tell him.
“Only if you do.”
“I said I wanted to be last.”
“Last to bite her, not join them in the lead-up. Don’t you want to touch her? She smells delicious, Landon. Tastes even better, or have you forgotten?”
A dark noise shakes its way up my throat.
“I haven’t forgotten.”
“Trust your instincts. We didn’t before, and it nearly cost us everything. Don’t let the doubts or the fear win.”
Briar coughs on a sharp breath when Jasper pulls out of her mouth and gives her a break.
Ronan’s hand has slipped between her legs, plucking furiously at her clit like his release won’t come until she gets hers again.
She whines in response and pushes back into Ronan, her eyes rolling back.
I fall forward a step.
Then another. That bond in my chest screams, yanking ruthlessly.
I can’t hold myself back any longer.
“Take Jasper back into your mouth, Briar. Show him how badly you want his mark,” I murmur, setting one knee on the bed and leaning over her body.
Her eyes flash up at me, and before she can speak, I take her chin between my fingers and tilt it forward.
Jasper’s there waiting.
“Tongue out for him.”
She listens to my command, and he pushes inside her mouth again, dragging the shaft along the length of her flat tongue.
When her lips seal around the base, he groans lowly and takes her hair between his fingers.
Dash stands beside me, staring at Briar like a man struck stupid with his first look at an angel.
He shrugs his pants off and discards his shirt without being prompted.
Briar’s perfume flares out again, drawing pleasured noises from all four of us when she notices that Dash has begun stroking himself.
“Put her on her back,” I tell no one in particular.
“If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it properly. All of us together.”
And that starts in a position that will allow her unrestricted access to all four of us.