10. Kato
KATO
We get a breather for all of five minutes before the next wave hits.
Which is good, because I need it. I manage to leave Cas alone long enough to crack open a window and gulp in some fresh air, calm myself down.
Not a lot, but better than nothing. I come back to myself just enough to remind myself that I won’t die if I don’t mate Cas—as long as I’m not in rut—and he will if I do. This is gonna pass.
Right? Right.
I don’t linger too long at the window, lest the wind change and lead the wolves straight here.
I shut it reluctantly after a few minutes.
Even so, it’s not long before I can smell Nathan approaching from outside, and as I move toward the door Cas crawls back over, that heavy scent of his sticking in my throat again, and catches my hand.
“Don’t,” he mewls, and then, “please, Kato. I need…”
Clinging onto me for dear life, his dark gaze glittering beneath its lacy veil of lashes as he begins to rub his face against the inside of my wrist. His lips drag along my skin and it’s very, very hard to keep myself from reacting.
He’s an absolute mess—I don’t think he’s totally aware of what he’s doing, really—and it’s making me a mess too, breath catching in my throat and insides seizing up, hot and tight and wanting.
An omega’s heat is a heady thing, yeah—but not like this. Nothing like this.
I have to get away from him. His scent and nearness will likely drive me into the same frenzy we just rescued him from.
My self-control is paper-thin, easily punched through.
“Let go of me, Cas,” I say, putting all the authority I can muster into the command, and his damp grip loosens just enough.
“Just—I don’t know. Stay put for a minute. ”
Like there’s anywhere else for him to go. Then again, if given the opportunity, I’m not sure I can trust him not to run right back and offer himself up to the circle of wolves that would kill each other just to claim him.
No. I growl almost involuntarily, deep in my throat. Don’t like that at all.
“Please.” The soft begging again. “Kato, please, I need it. You have to.”
Quickly I back away from him. He’s still watching me, lower lip between his canines and eyes gleaming with frustrated tears. When Nathan knocks, I have to consciously tear my gaze away so I can go to the door and undo the heavy deadbolt with hands that are now shaking.
He staggers inside, battered, blood-spattered—his?
someone else’s? both, I think—a colorful riot of smells, metallic on my tongue.
A deep, nasty scratch across his cheekbone and the bridge of his nose, a scrape across his throat where someone must’ve gone for his jugular.
Jesus, he could’ve fucking died. That close.
“Nate,” I breathe. “Are you—”
“Should see the other guys.” It’s a weak joke, offered with little humor. He kicks the door shut behind him. “I’m fine. Bought us some time, anyway.”
Time for what is the question, and I don’t think either of us has the answer. Not the right one, anyway. Not for the omega I left in the bedroom who is keening like he’ll die if he’s not mated, when in fact the opposite is true.
The sheer depth of that desire is fucking staggering.
My thoughts are dilating rapidly, spiraling out.
My awareness of the alpha in front of me is so terribly heightened, the weight of his dominance making my legs weak, and something in me capitulates.
I think—no, I know I’m not thinking straight, cognizant of that much, and I know it’s because of Cas, and I know I should back away from him too, but I don’t.
I have spent so much time resisting when I just want. So. Bad.
So I reach for Nate. Don’t stop myself from leaning in—or maybe I simply can’t at this point, all my fragile control going to pieces at last before him.
My face rubs against his chin, his jaw, my submissive wolf coming out to play and oh, I hate that in me but right now it feels so good and right.
His scruff scrapes my cheek as he goes utterly rigid.
I butt my head gently against his, appeasing, nosing his neck and breathing him in—the blood, the sweaty musk and beneath that, unmistakable arousal.
My tongue rasps the wound there, once, twice, tasting his blood, and that gets a reaction at last, a sharp inhale that only urges me to continue.
I can taste his pulse racing just beneath his skin; it’s like candy on my tongue and I want more.
I want to lick all of his wounds clean, careful and methodical.
I want to go to my knees. When his big hand covers the back of my neck I almost do.
His fingertips dig into my skin and he pulls me back. His face is close enough to kiss, mere inches between us. I glimpse fang between his parted lips. “Kato.” His voice is strained. “What the fuck are you doing?”
I don’t have an answer for him. All Cas’s hot and desperate need is bleeding into me and I can’t differentiate between it and my own.
Am I defaulting to Nathan because I can’t have Cas?
Except I do want to fuck Nathan, and maybe I’ve been wanting to fuck him this whole time, or be fucked by him.
Like how I’ve been wanting to breed Cas.
And it’s so much worse, whatever these fucked-up omega pheromones are doing, now we’re out of imminent danger and it’s just the three of us here alone.
All of that raw, throbbing energy is thrumming through both of us with exponentially more pull than before.
I’m pushing myself against Nathan without realizing it, and he nudges his erection against my hip in a movement that is at least halfway involuntary.
I rub my cheek against his and my tongue drags the scrape.
His face turns, his lips brushing the corner of mine. “There’s no time for this,” he whispers, low and urgent. “The others will track us here before long. The way Cas smells—”
I find words at last, somehow. “What the fuck can we do, Nate? We can’t breed him. You heard what he said.”
“Maybe we can—shit, I can’t even think anymore.” His eyes slip shut. “If we can sate him somehow. Without breeding him.”
“I’ve been trying,” I protest. “Nothing’s working. He was sated for a little while, and now…”
There’s a thud from behind me and we both turn to look. Cas has wriggled his way off the bed and made it to the floor on all fours, staring at us both with those giant sable eyes of his.
“Please,” he says again, softly, his gaze darting between us.
“Nathan. Kato—” He’s weeping in his desperation to be fucked and it’s such a sorry sight.
There’s nothing I want more right now than to go to him and give him exactly what he wants, cannot think past that urge.
Not sure I will be able to stop myself from doing that, his pull clouding any ounce of good judgment I once possessed.
“We have to try,” Nathan whispers roughly, as if sensing my thoughts. “Don’t have a choice.”
Suppose not. We certainly can’t sit there and stare at him and wait for the others to close in. Because if there’s anything worse than either of us losing control, it’s the others getting to him. Though the end result might as well be the same—Cas dead—my wolf doesn’t seem to think so.
Don’t leave your fingerprints on him. Don’t fuck this up like you do everything. Somehow.
So we go to him, both of us. We kneel and kiss his face, lap the tears from his cheeks as we scoop him up and bring him back to the bed.
His soft mouth quests for mine and this time I don’t rebuff him.
I kiss him with all that open, fierce hunger that he’s given me and he folds between us with a soft, sweet moan, his tongue brushing against mine and I’m dying, I think, fucking drowning in his scent.
Nothing and no one has ever smelled so good and enticing and I have never, ever wanted anyone so bad—no, not want, need.
My fingers sink into his curls as I kiss him and that power of his seems to envelop me and drag me in.
Nathan’s arms go around us, pulling us close, and then Cas is turning to him, lips nuzzling against his, and he resists for all of five seconds before they’re kissing too.
My lips part and my breathing shallows as their tongues tangle.
It’s an incredible sight—I fucking love it, actually—my excitement ratcheting up another impossible notch and ballooning in my chest. I don’t think I’ve ever been harder as I move closer to them, wanting to involve myself too, rubbing my face on Cas’s pale shoulder as he makes soft sounds in his throat.
Nathan’s gaze flicks up to mine, locking ever so briefly as they kiss, the bright green of his wolf’s peeking out before he breaks away.
Cas tries to follow him, but he’s cruelly held at arm’s length, and when he turns to seek me again Nathan tugs him close once more, letting him nestle beneath his chin.
“Hurry,” he rumbles to me. His voice is painfully deep now, more of a growl than anything else. “I’ll take his mouth.” He jerks his chin at me. “You take that end.”
My hand skims the omega’s hip and he shudders, pushing up against it. “And do what?”
“Fucking hell, Kato. Use fingers, mouth, whatever. Do something.” He’s already unsnapping his jeans. “I trust you’ve done this before?”
I want to tell him to fuck off. But I don’t actually want him to fuck off—I want to see exactly what he’s about to reveal, just as much as Cas seems to, for he’s rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in Nathan’s crotch, obscuring my view.
His lower half has found its way into my lap and now I’m distracted by the sight of his ass.