106. Chapter One-Hundred-Five
Chapter One-Hundred-Five
Scarlett
Running through the woods in this stupid skirt is a pain in the ass. I end up pulling it up in frustration and ignoring the tear I hear happening. I can buy Saph a new skirt. I can buy her a whole new wardrobe if I need to.
Fuck trying to live like a Beta. I’ll just come out as an Omega and tell Kendra to get me a record deal. If she almost got me a quarter million for one song, I’m sure she can get way more than that for a whole album from a new Omega artist.
It pisses me off that that’s how the industry is, but I might as well use it to my advantage.
Maybe once I’m on the other side of things, I’ll be able to help Beta talent get seen.
All I know is, I can’t run from myself anymore.
I’m not a Beta. I never have been, and I never could have been.
I’m an Omega, and I’m not going to feel ashamed for that, not for one more second.
So what if it’ll give me a leg up in my career? I’ve worked damn hard to get to this point.
I deserve the chance to show the world what I’m made of.
Just like I deserve the chance to tell Pack Orion’s Alpha what I think of him.
My opinion has gone downhill since we spent time together, and his opinion of me has been fucked up since he found out I’m an Omega.
It’s probably worse now that I’m mated to two of his band mates.
I don’t care. His opinion doesn’t matter to me.
His pack deserve better than pack leader who doesn’t take their feelings into account.
I run up a slope that’s a little muddier than I expect, and I have to grab a branch to avoid sliding near the top. The white sneakers are ruined, for sure. I’m definitely gonna owe Sapphire a whole new wardrobe by the time I get home.
I pull myself up to the top of the slope, and when I look ahead, I can see him.
He’s straight ahead, chopping some branches down.
“Xane!” I yell, at the top of my lungs.
He goes still while I march toward him, pulling down the now torn up skirt to cover myself up.
He sets the machete down next to him, slips his backpack off, and turns to look at me.
The instant I see his face, I know what he needs, and it’s completely at odds with how I’m feeling. Reading his emotions, I can see he’s deeply wounded and he has nothing left to hold onto. Yelling at him would only push him harder and farther away from his pack.
My hands bunch into fists by my side, and I frown at him as I stop right in front of him.
“Are you fucking crazy?” I ask, so mad I can barely raise my voice above a whisper.
“I could ask you that same question. My note was explicit. I didn’t want to be followed. And yet, here you are. Alone, too, for some damn reason.” His gaze moves past me as if he needs to double check none of his pack are about to come rushing into sight.
“I came alone, because I’m trying to stop you from making another stupid mistake.”
I drop the crushed up note to the ground and fold my arms under my chest.
He laughs, a bitter sound that tells me he’s still mad about the first mistake.
“This isn’t a mistake. I’m fixing my mistake doing this alone. I caused us to get stuck here, so I’ll get us to safety. Just as soon as I’ve walked you back to the jet.”
He takes me by the arm, and I laugh in surprise.
“Are you serious?” I blurt as I yank my arm out of his grasp. “Do you even know what you made me do? I took too many suppressants because you made me feel shitty about being an Omega. That’s something I can’t help, by the way, any more than you can help being an Alpha asshole!”
“I know,” he mutters. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention.”
His words are dead. He feels guilty, sure, but it’s behind a wall, like the rest of his emotions.
He’s basically one big brick wall with everything that makes him human hidden behind it.
“I don’t know what happened to make you like this,” I start, feeling a cold drip on my arm.
Glancing down, I see its water. Another drop hits my head.
Great, it’s actually raining.
Could this day get any worse?
“Fuck,” he mutters tonelessly. “There must be a storm coming in. It doesn’t rain out here unless the weather’s about to get really bad.”
I reach out and take his hand, placing it on one of my new marks while he’s distracted.
He blinks at me, his gaze moving to the mark he’s touching.
“Kian and Trick made sure they left space above their marks, because they still think you’re going to come back and be the leader of Pack Orion. They believe in you. Riley does, too. I think you’re the only one who doesn’t, and it’s long past time you did.”
I push past my anger and the embarrassment of imminent rejection to drag his stupid face closer to mine and kiss his vicious lips.
The spark I expect to feel is more like an explosion.
His arms tug me closer.
I start to feel all the right things.
My anger melts into passion.
And his own emotions start to stir.
He breaks the kiss with a gasp.
“Kian was right,” he whispers as he gazes back at me.
When I look back at him, he’s bathed in golden light, and I realize I am, too.
“Did lightning strike or something?” I ask.
“No. This isn’t weather. This is a sign from the Fates,” he tells me, hands moving to my face. “I’m so fucking sorry I pushed you away. I was too caught up in shit from the past. I didn’t know what I was doing. I know now. You’re our true mate.”
He actually sounds like he means every word.
The glow around us doesn’t fade, and it feels good, I have to admit.
I can still feel rain falling from the sky, but it doesn’t seem so bad.
It’s cooling in this heat.
I smile. “So does this mean you’re ready to claim me, or are you still gonna try to be the lonely hero and charge off into the woods without me?”
His midnight blue eyes fix on mine, and I know he’s not gonna try to run.
“We should probably head back to the jet if a storm is coming.”
It doesn’t sound like that’s what he wants to do, but all he can seem to do is stare at me like he’s seeing me for the first time. I’m pretty sure he likes what he sees, don’t get me wrong, but a girl needs more than slack-jawed stares, especially when the guy is gonna be her lead Alpha.
“You’re not on autopilot anymore, Xane,” I remind him. “You’ve gotta start admitting what you want, and if you’re gonna be my lead Alpha, you’re gonna have to make a move …”
“You,” he says. “You’re what I want.”
He leans in and kisses me, his arms wrapping around me.
I push onto my tiptoes to make it easier to kiss him back, and I wrap my arms around his neck.
He’s so damn tall. He lifts me off my feet a second later, and I instantly wrap my legs around him, securing myself tightly.
The rain gets harder above us.
I run my fingers through his thick, dark hair while he staggers forward a step or two.
This is way more like my fantasy version of Xane Orion.
It’s only a million times better because he’s real.
It’s really his tongue in my mouth, and his hand on my ass.
And it’s really about to be his knot inside me.
He breaks the kiss, and I realize he already has his cock out of his pants.
The tip is rubbing against my inner thighs.
There’s a sudden crack of thunder above us, but the golden light bathing our entwined bodies doesn’t fade one little bit. The Fates are smiling on us, I guess.
“Mark before, or after?” he asks in a low growl.
“You’re giving me a choice?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
He grins, showing his fangs. When he leans in and kisses my throat, I bite down on my lip.
It’s a tease. He doesn’t mark me. I’m left wanting and wondering if he’ll let me mark him.
“After,” he says, decision locked in. “I’ve wanted this for too long.”
“You have?” I ask, heart starting to race as his left hand moves under my skirt.
He could have fooled me. There were a few seconds in the cockpit that let me know he was into me, but he fought those lusty feelings off pretty hard.
“Don’t act like you don’t know how sexy you are,” he murmurs, as he pushes his hand into my panties, fingers quick to explore. “You’re so ready.”
I got wet the second he kissed me, but he doesn’t need to know that.
My clit is still a little tender from all the orgasms his pack brothers gave me last night.
Yet his rougher touch only makes me want more.
He’s not gonna ease me into this.
That wild look in his eyes tells me it’s been a long time, and he’s desperately trying to control himself. It makes me even wetter knowing I’m the one he’s desperate to knot.
His fingers push my panties to the side, and he presses the tip of his cock at my slit.
I groan as he sinks inside, his cock swelling before he’s all the way in.
The light ache the stretch gives me is definitely gonna make me more sensitive when he’s knotting me. I can take a little pain with my pleasure, especially when it’s because my mate is so desperate to claim me.
He keeps his right hand under my ass while his cock finishes swelling into a knot.
With his left hand, he rips my cami open, making me gasp.
I shrug the remnants of the material off my shoulders, letting it fall away.
The fingers of his left hand squeeze my nipples into hard points before he puts that hand on my ass, next to his right hand.
I run my hands under his shirt. He’s been wearing the same clothes since we got here yesterday, and we’ve all been sweating our asses off in this heat, but somehow it’s made him smell so damn good. That musky man smell fills my lungs when I take a breath, and to me it’s like oysters on steroids.
His breathing is labored as he starts to pound into me, body tight against mine as he makes his knot rub me hard and fast. I kiss his chest and rake my nails into his back when he starts to spark an orgasm that builds from the furious friction between our bodies.
My body trembles all over as I get closer to climax.
The desire inside him is like nothing I’ve felt before.
He needs this more than he’s ever needed anything.
I cry out as I come all over his knot, nails digging into his back while he continues to fuck me hard and fast and like he’s never gonna stop.
My breath catches as I ride out wave after wave of intense pleasure.
I don’t know how long I come for, but I know if it happens again, I might have trouble walking.
My body feels boneless. I cling to him while he pounds into me, harder and faster than ever.
I can feel him coming, the warmth of his spend filling me.
He slows down for a few seconds, catching his breath.
“I’m sorry I was an asshole,” he apologizes. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” I tell him. “Just make it up to me.”
“How?” he asks, his expression lost.
I squeeze his knot. “How do you think?”
He looks back at me. “I wish I could kiss you right now.”
“I guess you’ll just have to finish claiming me if you want a kiss.”
He starts to rock into me, slowly.
The rain is falling faster now, but he’s taking his sweet time.
“I don’t want to rush this,” he admits, as he moves his left arm between my back and the tree’s trunk, like he wants to make sure I don’t get all scratched up.
It’s a stark contrast to how wild he was minutes ago, pounding into me so hard I could barely breathe. I kinda liked that, not gonna lie, but this is nice, too.
It feels like I unlocked something in him with that kiss.
Like I freed the real Xane Orion, who was being held captive by a watered-down version of himself.
Now that he’s out, I want to make sure he never slips back into that cage.
The rain is coming down so hard his shirt is sticking to his body, and I’m starting to shiver at the icy cold drops that are running down my legs.
But I don’t care how cold it is, or how comfortable I am.
I want him. I need him to claim me.
If he wants to go slow, I’ll enjoy the ache until I’m finally sated.
This man is my lead Alpha. I’m his to command.
I think he realizes this is how it should be.
Taking what he wants is giving me exactly what I need.
We’re still bathed in that golden glow that marks us out as fated mates.
He needed an extra push from the Fates, and I’m grateful they gave it.
I have a feeling that glow isn’t gonna fade until we belong to each other completely.