24. Twenty-Three
Twenty-Three
Jeremiah
My phone rings as I’m climbing out of the shower, and when I look, a smile pulls at my lips when I see it’s my girl calling. I quickly wrap a towel around my hips and answer before it can go to voicemail, not wanting to miss her call.
“This is a treat, Dove. You don’t usually call me first. Ready for me to come sneak back into your nest already?” I murmur into the speaker with a grin, memories of our night together flooding my mind.
“Well, nice to know you already know where we live, young man,” a woman says, the laughter in her voice clear.
I freeze when I hear the voice on the other line, not recognizing it but knowing it’s not Cozette’s. With a slight clearing of my throat, I take a seat on the edge of my bed, feeling the familiar tension in my neck and instinctively rubbing it. As soon as I realize who this must be, my eyes immediately close, overwhelmed by a surge of concern.
“What’s wrong? Where’s Cozette?”
“Calm down. She’s right here, but she can’t talk right now. Well, not coherently anyway. I’m calling because she asked.”
“Is she okay?” I whisper, my voice thick.
“She’s fine, but she needs you. She keeps asking for you,” Valley murmurs softly, and I can imagine her looking at my omega with a tender look on her face.
Without hesitation, I spring to my feet, urgency coursing through my veins. Hearing her say that my omega needs me lights a fire under my ass, the details of why unimportant. In a rush, I grab my sweatpants and a t-shirt and hurriedly put them on, letting Valley know that I’ll be there soon. Before I can hang up, her voice stops me, and her next words only serve to baffle me.
“Might be a good idea to bring some of your worn clothes if you have any… and any blankets and pillows that are on your bed,” she mutters, hanging up before I can respond.
Standing there, my brows shoot up in bewilderment. With a quick shake to clear my mind, I gather up some of my clothes from the last few days. Then I strip the sheets and comforter off my bed before locking everything up and throwing it all in my truck.
My palms sweat as I ring the doorbell of the Jacobs’ home, my arms loaded down with everything I brought with me. When the door swings open, a sprite of an omega answers the door with a small smile just as I hear another vehicle pull down the driveway. I want to turn around and see who just pulled up, but the woman in front of me speaks, grabbing my attention.
“You must be Jeremiah.”
I watch as her brows raise, and in that moment, an unsettling feeling of doubt washes over me, something I haven’t felt in years. Valley’s daughter looks a lot like her, and looking at her now has guilt swimming in my gut at what I almost did. Especially with how open and welcoming she’s been with Cozette.
“Yes ma’am,” I finally choke out, clearing my throat.
Her features soften almost immediately as she stares up at me. She surprises me when she reaches out and pats my arm, giving it a soft squeeze.
“I’m Valley. It’s nice to finally meet you. Come on, follow me. You too, Micah,” she calls out, craning her neck to look behind me as footsteps reach my ears.
As I turn around, my heart skips a beat and my body jolts with a sudden shock when I notice the man approaching from behind, his questioning eyes locked onto me. Not only am I puzzled, but my confusion intensifies as I realize that his arms are just as weighed down as mine, carrying identical items. I can’t help but give him a suspicious glare.
He looks away from me when he gets closer, smiling over at Valley once she’s in his line of sight.
“How is she?” he asks, and my shoulders tense.
“She’s… you know. Just come on. I don’t like that she’s up there alone right now and she’s been asking for you both.”
Valley turns around and heads back inside, leaving both me and the unfamiliar alpha to follow behind her. After a few awkward seconds of us trying to figure out who should go first, he steps back and waves me to go ahead. Anxiously, I step in and follow behind Valley, fighting the urge driving me to rush past her and up to Cozette’s room so I can find out what the hell is going on.
When we make it upstairs to Cozy’s room, Valley knocks on the door before pushing it open and stepping back. Nothing could prepare me for what I walk into, and when I glance back at her with wide eyes, I notice she hasn’t followed us inside.
“Good luck, boys.”
She laughs, then shuts the door, and when I turn back around, all I see is a mass of wild red hair before my omega collides with my stomach, frantically clawing at the bags in my hands. My lips part as everything I’m holding falls to the floor, and she scrambles down there, grabbing everything up and bringing every item up to her nose before jumping up with her arms full and running into her closet. I watch, bewildered as she does this several times until she’s moved every item I brought with me into her nest, never once uttering a word to me. Although I do catch her mumbling to herself a few times.
When she comes back out and attacks the man at my side, making him chuckle as she rips the bags from his hands and dives in, I blink. She pulls item after item out of his bags, sniffing them wildly until she has an armful once more before disappearing back in the closet.
“What the fuck is happening?” I mutter out, more to myself than anything, not expecting a response.
“She’s nesting.”
I turn slowly to look at the alpha beside me, unsure of how to feel about him being in here with my girl. He smiles at me, holding his hand out, and I must stare at him like he’s got the plague because he quickly drops his hand and laughs awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Ah, I’m Micah. I take it you’re Jeremiah, the alpha that took care of her when she was with Victor.”
Facing him squarely, my brow raises, and I instinctively cross my arms, desperate to unravel the mystery of who he is and how he’s privy to that information. I don’t like that he seems to know me when I don’t have a clue who he is. When I don’t respond, he lets out a sigh. He looks down as Cozy returns and starts rummaging through his belongings before disappearing once more.
“I’m Cozette’s therapist.”
His eyes shut tight, and he vigorously shakes his head, exhaling sharply and tousling his hair with his fingers.
“Was. I was her therapist. She uh,” he pauses, clearing his throat. “Valley brought her to the hospital earlier, and she barreled into my office like a freight train. She’s in heat, but she isn’t ready to go through it with the other guys.”
With his revelation of her being in heat, I finally notice just how potent Cozy’s scent is in here. I was so preoccupied with trying to figure out who the hell the strange alpha is that I failed to notice the overwhelming presence of her lemon tart fragrance, which permeates every corner of her room, demanding attention with its pungent and assertive aroma.
I should have known.
All that research I did, everything I learned so I could be the best alpha possible for her, and it all went out of my mind with the shock of everything. From Valley’s call, seeing an unfamiliar alpha that I know nothing about in my omega’s space, and then Valley throwing us in here and shutting the door in our faces.
When she returns to the room to continue digging, I crouch down to lift her, paying no mind to her struggles as I straighten up. I pull her close to my chest, feeling the weight of her body against mine as she wraps her legs tightly around my waist. Her desperate whine pierces through the silence, echoing in the depths of my being. Her face buries into the crook of my neck, and I can feel her whimpering breaths as she nuzzles her nose against my skin. My face falls to her throat, and I nearly lose my shit at how easily she cranes her neck to the side to give me access. As soon as I take a deep breath, a surge of desire shoots through my body, and an uncontrollable growl escapes from my throat.
Cozy trembles in my hold at the sound, her fingers gripping my shoulders tightly, rubbing herself against my stomach mindlessly without even realizing it.
“Oh, Dove,” I purr against her throat, licking up her neck to her ear until I can nip it between my teeth.
“My Ghost,” she sighs out, rubbing her nose up and down the column of my throat before tugging on my shirt with a growl.
“Need this, Alpha. Now. Gimme!”
I chuckle, finding her demanding attitude adorable as shit because she’s usually so timid. Without putting her down, I rip my shirt over my head with a bit of maneuvering and hand it to her with a grin. She tries to squirm out of my hold, but I give her a swat to her ass that has her gasping as her perfume clouds around us. She pulls back to look at my face, eyes struggling to focus as she pouts at me. A purr rattles in my chest, and she relaxes against me, patting my chest.
“Nest, please.”
Not wasting another second, I move towards her closet, but before I can get us completely through the door, she makes a distressed sound in the back of her throat and reaches behind me. I pause, glancing over my shoulder and huff when I spot the other alpha just standing there like a dipshit.
“Are you fucking coming or not?” I grunt, rolling my eyes when he gives me a wide-eyed look before jumping into action when Cozy whines again.
She settles in my arms and I keep going, kicking my shoes off at the entrance to her nest.
“This should be interesting,” I mutter to myself, climbing inside and looking at the impressive nest she’s built with everything we brought.
It’s even bigger than it was the night I stayed with her.
When Cozy squirms in my hold again, I let her down, and she dashes over to the miniature fort she’s built for us, crawling inside, tidying it up.
“Clothes,” she mutters, reaching a delicate hand out and making grabby hands at us without even looking at us, too focused on her need to have the perfect space for this.
I let out a snort of amusement as I confidently remove my sweatpants, a smirk playing on my lips as Micah makes a sound of surprise at my lack of underwear. Cozy snatches the pants out of my hand before I can blink and starts shoving them in with everything else. When she notices Micah still hasn’t started undressing, she looks at him with narrowed eyes.
He raises a brow but slowly starts undressing and I shake my head, looking back at my girl. She’s demanding we take our clothes off, meanwhile she’s still entirely too clothed. I crouch down, gripping her chin between my fingers and making her look at me.
“Can I come in, Omega?”
Cozy licks her lips, nodding and holding her arms out for me. I get in and wrap her up in my hold, my cock already hard and aching. I rub my cheek against hers, marking her with my scent as she watches Micah undress, but I try to focus on her.
“You gonna take these off, sweet girl? Feels a little unfair that we’re taking everything off when you’re still covered,” I murmur against her cheek, tugging on her oversized t-shirt.
She nibbles on her bottom lip as she anxiously glances over at Micah before turning to look at me with a pout and wide, fearful eyes.
“What if he doesn’t want me when he sees them all? What if— what if he finds me hideous?” she whispers, tears glistening in her hazy eyes, making me frown.
I look over at Micah with a glare that has him jolting as he’s pulling his pants off, and he tumbles to the floor when his foot gets caught in the leg. I have to close my eyes so I don’t bite his head off prematurely, reminding myself that she chose him for a reason. She didn’t want the other three around, but she felt comfortable enough with him to ask him to be here for her heat. So that means I need to play nice. After all, as time goes on, we’ll find ourselves spending more and more time together.
After Micah has steadied himself, he directs his gaze towards Cozy, his eyes gleaming with an unmistakable devotion and affection that I am all too familiar with. He moves to reach forward, but stops, giving me a questioning look. I simply lower my face and run my nose up Cozy’s throat, feeling her shiver against me as he presses his forehead to hers, cupping her cheek.
“Every day since I walked into your hospital room has been a battle of wills for me to hold myself back. You have triggered every alpha instinct in me from the very first time you looked at me from the head of your hospital bed with terrified eyes. You’re the most beautiful woman with the purest soul, and nothing could ever change how I see you. No matter what, I’m always going to want you, Firefly. You chose me, so now I’m choosing you. Scars and all. Understood?”
Maybe he and I will get along just fine after all.
I groan when her overpowering scent spikes as I’m breathing her in, my cock hardening even more against her backside.
“Okay,” she whispers, her breath hitching.
“May I?” Micah asks her, his hands on the bottom of her shirt, and when she nods, he gently drags it up.
Cozy shifts her position, sitting slightly forward and extending her arms upwards, keeping her gaze locked on Micah until her shirt is fully removed. A rush of desire courses through me when I see she doesn’t have a bra on, causing my fingers to twitch to reach around and pluck at her pretty pink nipples as I glide them up her sides and explore the curves of her back, delicately tracing the jagged lines on her skin. When Micah traces the scars along her arms and across her chest and belly, she trembles in my hold, the memories of pain etched into her skin. As he leans forward, his gaze never leaving her, he tenderly kisses each mark, causing her nails to dig into my leg and a gasp to escape her.
“ Mine ,” he growls as he breathes in her scent while he aims to kiss every single scar marring her creamy skin.
“Oh,” Cozy gasps, her hand coming up to slot through Micah’s hair, clenching the strands in her fist as her chest rises and falls quickly, her breaths panting out of her with every kiss.
One of my arms bands around her chest and I run my free hand down her belly, tugging on the band of her shorts when I reach them. Looking over her shoulder, I notice how soaked the center is when Micah moves to kiss the scars on her side, and I can’t resist cupping her and rubbing my finger over the middle of the wet fabric. The tip of my finger presses against her clit, rubbing in circles, and she arches into me with a moan that has my cock twitching.
Micah helps to shed her shorts, dragging them down over her hips and legs before tossing them behind him, and a groan leaves us both when we realize she didn’t have any panties on either, and now her scent only seems to get even stronger with the soaked fabric gone. Her pussy shines with slick in the low light as it drips out of her, and all I want is to lie back and make her sit on my face.
She tries to close her legs in embarrassment, her skin flushing even more as she nibbles on her bottom lip nervously. Before I can push them back apart and tell her not to hide from us, Micah takes the initiative, surprising me and earning a bit of my respect. He gently pries her legs apart, looking directly into her eyes as he does.
“Don’t hide yourself from us, Pretty Girl. There’s nothing here to feel self-conscious about.”
His words are gentle, but firm, and the minute she relaxes back into my hold, giving him the access he’s aiming for, he slots himself between her legs. Throwing her legs over his shoulders, he keeps his eyes on hers as he leans his face down and swipes his tongue through her glistening lips, making her tremble and cry out. My nostrils flare as I watch him lick her pretty pussy like it’s his last meal, any jealousy or lingering doubts I may have had when we first got here evaporating. The sounds she makes as he feasts on her have my cock throbbing against her, pre-cum leaking from the tip and smearing against her ass, which only seems to drive me even more out of my mind.
“Micah,” she moans, fisting his hair in her hands, and he growls against her.
She jolts at the sensation before another long, breathy moan escapes her as her head falls back against my chest. Her eyes are glazed over as she stares up at me, lips parted while little whimpers and her heavy breathing escalates. I pinch her nipple between my fingers, giving it a gentle tug, and her back arches, legs squeezing Micah’s head tight. He doesn’t complain though, and when she comes, her eyes are wide and unseeing, her body shaking as he sucks on her clit to extend her release. Her legs fall open after he’s wrung out every drop from her, releasing Micah, and he licks his lips and stares with eyes full of desire before he tenderly kisses her thigh.
“Delicious. Just like I knew you’d be,” he murmurs against her before sitting up and she bites her lip to hide an embarrassed smile.
I recline and twist my body until I’m wrapped around her, leaving room for him to snuggle up against her chest. As a gesture of peace, he joins us, and I can feel the tension dissipate as she becomes more at ease in his presence. I lock eyes with him over her head, exchanging a respectful nod, and he reciprocates.
After several minutes of cuddling and Micah kissing her until she’s breathless, Cozy becomes restless between us.
“I need… I need…” Cozy whines, the sound screaming at my baser instincts to fix whatever’s wrong as she claws at Micah’s arms, rubbing back against my rigid length unconsciously.
“Tell us what you need, baby. We’ve got you,” I murmur in her ear, nipping the lobe and watching her eyes close as she shudders in my hold.
“I need you,” she cries, tears filling her eyes as she leans back against my chest and looks up at me. “Please, Alpha. Hurts.”
The pout on her lips makes me want to bite them, but instead, a pleased purr rattles in my chest at her vocally telling me what she needs, even if she wasn’t specific. I want nothing more than to hear her say it, though, to hear her use those dirty words that I know will make her flush, so I push a little.
“Where do you need me? I want to hear you say it. Wanna see those pretty lips tell me exactly what you want and where you want it. Talk dirty to me, baby,” I purr out, rubbing my lips against hers with a smirk.
She makes a sound in the back of her throat, her eyes flashing back at me. Her skin flushes a deep shade of red and her pretty pink nipples tighten into needy little points that make my mouth water as I turn her on her back and bend down to suck one between my teeth. She cries out, her hands coming up to clutch my head as I run my tongue over the puckered tip before rolling it between my teeth gently.
“I need…” she trails off, looking at me with unsure eyes, and I gaze back at her encouragingly as I wrap my lips around her nipple and suck hard, making her gasp.
She glances over at Micah shyly, and he grins at her, leaning forward and sucking her other nipple between his lips with a wink at me.
Seems we both want to hear her talk dirty.
She groans, both from exasperation and pleasure as we continue to lick and suck on her nipples, and my heavy sac tightens, my cockhead leaking pre-cum in anticipation of being wrapped up in her slick, tight cunt. When she looks back at me, determination shines in her cornflower blue eyes, and I wait with bated breath to see if she’ll do it.
“I need your c-cock in my-in my p-pussy, Jeremiah. P-please,” she finally stutters out, and I groan, letting go of her nipple with an audible pop.
Micah gives her one last lick before moving back slightly, and my eyes become hooded as I stare down at the woman of my dreams.
“I can never say no to you, Dove. Especially when you ask so nicely.”
Leaning back into the mound of pillows behind me, I put my hands behind my head and raise a brow at her when she sits up and whirls around to look back at me with hazy eyes. Her scent swirls around the nest, making it near impossible to think clearly as her body pushes out pheromones meant to entice us to rut her into complacency, to breed.
“You want my cock, Omega? Then take it.”
In a blink, she pounces, climbing her way up my body with an almost primal look blazing in her blue eyes as her instincts completely take over, pushing aside any fear or insecurities that might have been lingering. She circles her hips against me, her slick dripping out of her as she rubs against my cock and making me shudder. Her hands rest on my chest, whimpers escaping her as her hips pick up speed until she grows frustrated because it’s not what she wants.
Surprising me, her hand reaches between us, her slender fingers wrapping around my length as she lifts her hips so she can rub my leaking tip through the glistening lips of her pussy. Her scent gets even stronger, and I grow dizzy with desire when I slip inside her just the smallest amount. Her breaths pant out of her as she slowly slides herself down, her mouth falling open as her body sucks me deeper inside of her until her pelvis finally rests against mine. She moans, head dropping back until I can feel the ends of her hair tickling my thighs, and my hands clench her trembling thighs.
When she looks back at me, bending so she can look into my eyes, I see a bit of clarity come back into them for just a moment.
“I did it,” she breathes out with tears shining in those pretty blues. “I did it, and I don’t want to stop. I need you, my Ghost. My Alpha. Please make me feel good. Help me erase the rest of his marks on my soul.”
I surge up, carding my fingers through her hair at the base of her skull and pull her lips to mine, devouring her as I push my hips up, swallowing the gasp she lets out when it has her clit rubbing against me. I press my forehead against hers when I pull away and she sucks in a breath, her cheeks flushed that beautiful rosy red that I love so much.
“I fucking love you with everything I am, Omega. Now hold on, because I’m about to fuck every memory of his touch out of you until the feel of me is imprinted inside of you.”