30
Scarlett
S lowly, my eyelids flutter with the soft brush of warm, calloused fingers against my brow. At first, I didn’t want to wake up. I’m warm, cocooned by the scent of an irresistible alpha. Winter Evergreen and rich, dark chocolate. It’s tantalizing enough that it makes my stomach grumble.
“Open those beautiful eyes, mo chroí . I miss you.” The sexy rumble of his sleep drenched voice is everything I didn’t know I’d been missing. I’ve been waking up alone for longer than I can remember. Even back then… he never let himself or the others stay with me longer than necessary.
Not that I’d wanted them to.
I squeeze my eyes closed tighter against the assault of memories, sucking in sharp breaths of air to help steady my racing pulse.
Caito is patient with me. So damn patient.
He continues to stroke my brow, my cheeks, my jaw, until the grip my anxiety holds on my heart ebbed.
It will never truly vanish. I’ll never really be free.
If, somehow, these alphas do manage to break the bond that’s held me prisoner for longer than I care to admit, I’m not sure that will be the end.
Sometimes, the scars we carry are just far too deep to heal.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to be the omega they all deserve.
“I’m OK.” I assure him, but I say the words for me, too.
Finally, I open my eyes. Dark, raw uncut emeralds glint back at me under the soft light coming in through the window above my nest. We’re wrapped up in each other.
He’s sprawled back comfortably against my mass of Pack Madden gifted stuffed animals, and I am tucked up against his chest on my belly.
“You are perfect.” The manner in which he says those words makes me ache in all the best ways.
“And you are still here.” I can’t help myself.
I press a kiss to his scarred, chiseled chest. A fine dusting of hair a tad bit darker than the strands on his head and beard, tickle my cheeks when I nuzzle against him.
He’s like a work of art, scars and all. My finger tip traces the scar he showed me the day before, but he doesn’t flinch like I’d half expected him to.
So, I move on. I explore, my fingers dancing over every blemish and mark that decorates his body. Some are cleverly hidden by swirls of colorful ink, while others are older and far too faded to make out, unless you’re paying attention.
With every new scar I discover, I feel that all too familiar emotion clogging my throat.
He’s absolutely beautiful. Stunning in every way.
If a man like Caito Archer can withstand the brutality clearly etched across his skin, I feel like I owe it to myself to do the same.
I want to overcome every dark moment that has defined my life up until this point.
“I want to be happy.” I murmur softly, looking back up to find him watching me. He’s so damn relaxed. There isn’t an ounce of shame or hurry in his expression as his gaze holds mine. “I want to be free.”
He doesn’t say anything. Instead, he tangles his fingers in my wild, bed rumpled hair, and pulls me up until our lips collide.
The kiss is everything. He uses his lips and tongue to tell me all the things my heart yearns to hear.
You are free. You are mine. I am yours. Together, we are invincible.
It’s like his soul is chanting those words back to me.
We are dancing together over an open pit of molten lava.
One wrong move, and it could mean the end of us.
This is what freedom feels like. This is what it feels like to be loved. I know it now more than I’ve ever known anything.
We pull apart, and it’s much too soon. The rough pad of his thumb brushes against the corner of my kiss swollen mouth.
I can taste him on my tongue. Like the best damn scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream I’ve ever had.
I wonder if he’ll let me suck his dick dry until I’m full on the flavor of his hot cum.
I start to do just that, reaching for the front of his boxers where he’s already straining for me, but he stops me by wrapping his free hand around my wrist. “As much as I want to keep you in this nest all day, making you scream my name until the entire neighborhood knows who you belong to, we have other plans. The surprise.” I know he’s exercising all of his will power right now to keep me from touching him.
It’s just as much a shock to me as it is to him, I think.
For the first time in my life, I pout. In a decidedly very omega move, I puff out my bottom lip and give him my best puppy dog eyes. Seriously, I probably look deranged, but I damn near died when he tips his head back and laughs.
Fuck, he looks like an angel wreathed in a fiery halo. The sunlight from the window catches in the strands of his hair and highlights the fine dusting of it along his jaw. Ethereal .
I want to spend the rest of my life listening to that laugh.
“Do it again.” I breathe, lifting my hand and brushing it against the hard lines of his face when he looks back down at me. I prop myself up so I can get a better look at him, and those emerald irises darken further when my breasts bounce free from the sheet I have wrapped around me.
Yeah. I’m completely naked. Whoops .
“You are going to be the death of me, omega.” He growls, and then he’s tugging his boxers down, freeing his massive cock from the confines of the tight fabric.
His scent swirls stronger in the nest around us, my perfume exploding out to join in the mix when I get an eyeful of the glorious knot he’s sporting for me already.
I can already feel the burn of the stretch when I slide down his length, and I haven’t even gotten there yet. Before he can grab me to haul me up to his mouth like I know he wants to, I dive for his dick like an omega possessed. “ Fuuuuck .” He hisses out the word right as I latch onto him.
I groan in ecstasy while lapping up the bit of pre-cum that coats the tip of his cock. My tongue swirls and slips between the slit, making sure I get every last drop. There is a frenzy in me now. One that is quickly becoming hard to handle the more I get of him on my tongue.
He doesn’t have time to say or do anything else before I swallow him down, all the way to his knot.
I groan again when my lips touch his pulsing knot, my teeth scraping against the edges of it dangerously.
He curses again, his hips jerking up in shock.
I love the feel of him stretching my throat.
I fucking love the way his hips buck erratically with each glide of tongue and teeth against all the sensitive parts of him.
“ Shit , omega, that’s it. So good for me.
So greedy for my cock, aren’t you? You fucking have it, mo chroí .
You will have it any time you want.” I moan around his cock at all those dirty words he’s spewing.
I forget that Kate is in this apartment with us until I hear her fist bang rapidly on the thin wall that separates our rooms.
“This is not fair, you horny bitch!” She calls out, but I am too far gone to care. Caito chuckles, the sound vibrations carrying through all the way to the back of my throat, and I groan again.
“I think we better make this quick, mo chroí . Before your roommate decides to join us. Plus, I really should be getting ready to take you to the pack house.” He doesn’t give me time to protest before he curls forward, grabbing me and yanking me up his body.
Kate’s fist slams against the wall again as I scream when Caito slams me down on his cock.
The stretch is just as exquisite as I’d imagined it would be.
It burns in the best fucking way, but the new gush of slick that follows the intrusion quickly lubes up the way for him to pick up the pace quickly.
My nails are gouging into his chest so hard I know I’m going to leave at least bruises behind, but he doesn’t seem to care as he thrusts up into me with wild abandon. With each downward spiral, I feel his knot bumping my entrance, and I want it so damn bad I’m nearly sobbing.
“Knot, knot, knot!” I start to chant, drowning out the sound of Kate’s yelling from the other side of the wall.
His grip is punishing on my hips, and I bite my lip at the thought of him leaving fingerprint bruises on my skin.
The idea of him marking me in any way is so damn appealing, I nearly lose my damn mind.
“Fuck, I want to bite you.” I snarl, grinding down into him with each upward thrust.
I’m already so damn close. “Bite me all you want, mo chroí . I will wear your mark with pride.” Fuck .
He really shouldn’t have said that. I am bouncing up and down on my alpha’s cock, knot throbbing and dangerously close to slipping past my entrance to lock us together.
I cannot think about sinking my teeth into the underside of his jaw like I want to.
But I can’t fucking help myself. It’s almost like a haze passes over me.
Without a second thought, I take his words to heart.
I reach out, gripping his hair to yank him upwards until his chest is flush with mine.
He snarls, but then the sound tapers off to a roar of pure alpha pleasure the moment my teeth sink into the underside of his jaw. Right where my inner omega has chosen.
Euphoria bursts through me like a firecracker, blocking out everything for a long few seconds.
His hips stutter, and then I am screaming when that glorious knot of his slips past my natural omega barriers.
Then, we are locked into place. He’s roaring again, spilling himself deep inside of me, and the stretch of the knot is enough to send me over the edge with him.
I shatter apart to the feeling of our partial bond snapping into place. He doesn’t bite me back like I know he wants to. I want to feel sad about that, but I know it’s for the best. There are so many things we need to overcome before we can fully solidify our bonds.
It takes several long minutes for the both of us to come down from our high. He holds me against his chest, hands stroking all over my body with reverence. I feel tears pricking at my eyes when I get the echoes of his emotions down the partial bond between us.
“You shouldn’t have told me to bite you.
” I say it, but I don’t really mean it. He chuckles, pulling back from me so he can look into my eyes.
A solitary tear escapes, and he catches it before it can get very far.
There’s just something about the action that makes the walls around my heart crack even further.
“You are my omega. My pack’s omega. You can bite me whenever, and wherever, the fuck you want.
” Then he shocks the hell out of me when he leans forward and runs his tongue over the unwanted bond mark on my bare shoulder.
“And when the time comes, I’ll end the bastard that put this mark here, then I will replace it with my own. ”
And god fucking damn , I believe him.
“You are so much trouble.”