Chapter 14 Mack
Mack
Ilet out a shout as I fall through the air and then crash into the ocean.
The water is cold, but it feels so damn good to be alive right now.
I kick to the surface in a slow, controlled glide up.
I swim out of the way as Devon takes a running leap, soaring through the air before he plunges down and hits the water with a splash.
“Go, Grandpa!”
I look up at the kids watching us.
“Hey!”
They laugh, and a couple of girls wave.
“Hi, Alpha Hart!”
“I didn’t know old people could still jump!” A boy teases.
“You say that to Grandma Sol! And at least I can legally drink, you little so and so’s.”
Everyone laughs, and the kids wander off, resuming their adventure and leaving us to ours.
Elijah sits on the rocks with no shirt on, sunning himself, like a carved statue you might find in Felix and Asher’s art gallery.
“Come on, Elijah!” I shout and splash the water.
“Nope. I’m good here.”
Sofia takes a running leap and flings herself into space. I let out a wild whoop and duck under the water to watch her sink down and rise to the surface.
She kicks up, those long legs bringing back the dream I had last night where she had them wrapped around my hips, riding my cock. She was beautiful when she was younger, but she’s incredible now. Maturity suits her.
The waves push us closer to the rocks. I kick over to them and pull myself out of the water, turning to hoist her and Devon out.
“All right. We’ve done cliff diving. What else is on the list?” I ask.
Devon grins. “Once upon a time, when Sebastian and I were young and fun, we used to have this shadow that would follow us around.”
“No!” she says.
“Oh, yes.”
“No!”
“We’re going sledding,” Devon announces with a wicked gleam in his eye.
She huffs a laugh and grabs a towel, drying herself, completely unaware that the three of us have stopped being able to think coherently. Does she even know how beautiful she is or the effect she has on us?
She gets dressed and sighs. “All right, sledding it is.”
I dry off, pull on my clothes, and follow them to the car. Devon drives us out to the very other end of the cove and inland where the shape of the land leaves one very tall hill that is always covered in yellow-green grass.
“Why are we here?” Elijah asks.
“Oh, you’re actually going to love this one. Everyone grab a piece of cardboard,” I purr and grab his ass, squeezing a cheek hard enough to get a warning glare from him.
“What?” Elijah looks confused as he shoves off my hand. “Cardboard, what for?”
I grab him a piece of cardboard and hold it out. He takes it from me with a confused frown. I lead the way up the hill.
“Right. Sit on your cardboard, hold the front back like it’s a sled, and off you go.”
Elijah huffs, but he starts smiling. “Okay, this looks fun. I can be in this.”
He gets all set up, and before I can warn him, he takes off. I stand there watching as he picks up speed, whooping and howling with laughter the whole way down.
“Jeez, he’s going fast,” Devon murmurs.
He gets to the bottom and rolls.
“That was amazing,” Sofia says and punches me lightly in the arm. “You should have warned him to stay away from that section, it’s steeper.”
“He can handle it,” I say with a wink.
Sofia gets on her cardboard, and, within seconds, she’s halfway down the hill. I grab mine and sit down. It’s not as easy as it was when I was a kid, but I shift my weight forward, and I start to rock my way into motion.
By the time I reach the bottom, I want to turn around and go right back up to the top and do it again. Why did we stop doing things like this? When did we stop having fun?
Sofia’s face is glowing, her eyes shiny; she flops back in the grass laughing. “I forgot how much fun it was.”
Devon arrives, almost taking out Elijah’s legs.
“Ow, I’m going to have bruises on my ass.”
“Aw, you have such a pretty ass, it will be a shame to mar it,” I purr at him.
I realise the others have gone silent and swing around. Sofia is watching me with her mouth parted, a glazed look in her eyes.
“You guys have, um, relationships with each other?” she asks. “Just to clarify, in case someone asks.”
“We do. Is that a problem?” I ask her. I’m really hoping it’s not.
The wind blows her very potent and hot scent right at me. Well, that answers that question.
She shakes her head. “Nope!” she squeaks. “No problem.”
“You look a bit flushed,” Devon teases. “Are you feeling over excited?”
“It’s a bit hot,” she admits and looks away.
Elijah licks his lips. Her eyes follow the movement of his tongue.
“Nope,” I say, interrupting. “Today is about Sofia, finding Sofia. We’re not going to go down that route today,” I say to Elijah.
He moans and turns away. “All right, what’s up next?”
I grin. “Follow me.”
I drive us out to the edge of town and pull out a marker from the glove box, which I keep in the car for reasons I have never fully examined.
Sofia will not stop laughing. “How did you know it was me?”
“You had a phase where you drew mustaches on everything. And I was always watching. Go on, get it over with.”
She gets out of the car and races to the sign, standing up on her tiptoes to draw two thick curly lines above the sun’s smiling lips.
“Hurry up!” Devon shouts as we exchange seats. “Company’s coming.”
She lets out a laugh and races back for the car. I grab her, tug her in, pull the door shut, and Devon takes off.
Elijah is sitting in the passenger seat, shaking. He splutters and chokes on a laugh.
“This day is insane; I love it. What’s next?”
“Little Bootie,” Devon and I say together.
Her eyes gleam. “Okay. I’ve got this. I’ve been preparing all my life. But if something does happen to me, I name you three my successors.”
We go back into town and then head inland to Patrick Balderson’s farm. Little Bootie’s son looks up when he sees us. His massive jowls wobbling. He’s big and black with a red sheen, and his eyes are bloodshot.
“He is big.”
“He’s bigger than his dad and meaner, too,” Devon says.
“We’ll be here to distract him if he gets too close,” I say.
“Ready?” Devon asks.
She looks at him. “I’m not going to think about this; I’m just going to act.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
Devon takes her hand, and they run. Elijah stays with me as they make it to the halfway point, slam a hand down on a metal trough, and then turn and run back.
Little Bootie charges them; his aggressive and mad mooing gets louder and louder. I swear, his hooves hitting the dirt is the sound of thunder.
“Hurry up!” I shout.
Devon puts on a burst of speed, dragging her with him, then they are climbing over the fence, falling on their asses on the other side.
I look up into the eyes of Little Bootie Jr, who lets out a furious moo.
“Better luck next time.”
He lows again, paws the ground, and then turns and ambles back the way he came, shaking his massive rear at us.
“Elijah, are you all right?” Sofia asks.
“Look at the size of the balls on that bull,” Elijah whispers. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
I double over, laughing so hard I can't breathe.
“Jealous?” Devon asks.
“Where would I put them?” Elijah asks with a straight face.
Devon has to hold Sofia up; she’s laughing so hard.
Elijah hums, then he holds out his hand. “My turn.”
Sofia puts her hand in his. “Where are we going?”
“The river.”
Her eyes gleam.
The river is moving slowly. The water is low at the moment, though it’s still deep in some places, but Elijah leads us straight to a massive and ancient tree that has fallen over the river.
The kids who came here on holiday used to spend a lot of their time here. We locals never had much to do with it.
I shake my head. “I’m going to get wet.”
“Come on, Mack,” Sofia shouts as she strips out of her clothes and down to that absolutely adorable bikini that is covering not enough of her.
She climbs onto the log and starts attempting to walk across it. The problem is it gets slippery, so it’s harder than it looks.
She wobbles and windmills her arms, but Elijah gets up and walks out to meet her. They make it across with laughs and a couple of near misses and disappear into the massive willow tree on the other side.
Devon goes next, and I take up the rear. I slip and go down on one knee halfway across, but then we’re all on the other side, feeling proud of ourselves.
Sofia and Elijah disappear into the massive tree, climbing until they are almost out of view.
Devon sighs. “I’m not a fan of trees.”
I stare at him. “Really? Trees?”
He glares at me defensively. “You’re afraid of spiders, Mr. I-Squeal-Like-A-Teenage-Girl.”
“I wasn’t having a dig,” I mutter. “Sofia,” I call.
She’s up the top of the tree, laughing with Elijah, when I get to the bottom.
“Come down,” I say, peering up at her.
“No way. I’m going to stay up here forever,” she throws back.
“Fine, then I’m keeping Danger.”
She pauses and then scurries down the tree. She stops in front of me. I grab her wrists and pull them up over her head, holding them there. I lean down and kiss her.
“Do you remember who you are yet or do we need to go to more places?”
“What other places are there?”
I raise an eyebrow. “You tell me.”
“Well, there’s eating ice cream. The bookshop. The secret beach. There’s…um…” She stops talking, but that’s because she’s so focused on me and the way I’m edging closer to her that she’s not actually able to think anymore.
“I've been thinking about things.”
“You have?”
“Yes. Tomorrow, I have to go to work, and then I think we’re going to catch up after. I’d like to show you what I do, bring you into my world a little. I’ll let you see my action figures.” I waggle my eyebrows at her.
“Really?”
“Oh, yes, absolutely.”
There is something very vulnerable in her scent, something that has me wanting to draw her closer and tell her I’ll protect her and make it all go away.
“Secret?”
She huffs and tries to look away, but I duck so she has to look at me.
“Don’t hide from me, Omega.”
She groans, it’s almost instant, her scent getting stronger in the air.
“Don’t call me that,” she moans and leans into me, licking her lips until they are glossy.
“What? Omega?”
She moans again and presses herself against my leg.
“Feels so good,” she murmurs.
“See now this; this is my Achilles heel. You could ask me anything right now, and because you are moaning like that and smelling the way you do, I don’t think I could say no.”
“Don’t say no. Just make me yours.”
“You are not yourself, Elijah told us about your suppressants. Why aren’t you on them?”
“Why?” She arches her back, a perfectly slutty move that makes me want to drop to my knees and worship every curve on her body.
“Focus on me, Sofia. Breathe through this. It’s not your heat; you just need to inhale and exhale.”
“I want you, Mack,” she says earnestly.
“I want you, too, but not like this. There’s a place I want to take you where I can give you everything you deserve.”
“What place?”
“You’ll see in a few days.”
She leans in and buries her face in my chest, inhaling deeply and exhaling just as roughly.
“I’m sorry; I didn’t expect that it would come on this strong. I’m going to need to find some help for my heat.”
“If you even think about letting someone else take you through your heat, I am going to be so offended.”
“What? You want to do it?” she asks, shocked.
“Why is this so surprising?” I say, completely astounded by her shock.
“Because, I mean, my heat is…”
I laugh softly, and she looks up at me, her eyes wide. The brown seems depthless.
“There’s no one I’d offer this to but you.”
“Why?”
My amusement vanishes. “What happened in the city, Secret? Where is your confidence? What happened to the sexy omega who asked me out?”
She flinches and steps back, but I grab her, pulling her close.
“They didn’t want me.”
My brain shorts out as rage floods my bloodstream. They? Other alphas?
“Then they are idiots,” I say as soon as my brain starts functioning. “Absolute morons and not the right ones for you. But I’m here, and I would like to go through your heat with you. It would be my absolute pleasure.”
“You would keep me safe?” she murmurs. “Stop anyone who came for me?”
What does that mean? I make a note to delve into that later.
“I would go out swinging. I wouldn’t even ask questions.”
She groans. “How are you so perfect?”
“I’m not perfect, I’m-”
“Mack, you’ve always been perfect.”
My chest fills with a liquid warmth that spreads through me. “You’re perfect, too, Sofia.”
She tilts her head up. She’s not smiling, but, then again, neither am I. This moment is charged; it’s heavy. I can feel her and our future stretching out in front of us, so full of light and love.
She steps back, breaking it. “I need to go get Danger from Mum.”
“Okay, let’s go together.”
“Sure,” she says, but she can’t meet my eyes, and I wonder if she felt the same thing, and if she did, did she even want it?