Chapter 19
nineteen
Come here, honey.
The sweet words echo through me as I shudder. Another charge zips down my spine, landing between my clamped thighs with a splat. My core contracts, gelling and heating as more wetness glides out of me.
It’s a nonsensical reaction. This alpha—despite being so beautiful it hurts—is a stranger. And he isn’t being sexual at all. In fact, I suspect he’s going out of his way not to flirt.
It seems like he’s trying to be… kind. Reassuring.
When he senses my confusion, a crease appears between his flawless mahogany brows. He gazes into my eyes and hums, the sound low and ponderous. His thumb slowly sweeps over my cheek again.
“What do you need?” he asks, a pinch of chagrin marring his concerned frown. “Do you want a bath? I could help you wash your hair or… I thought I could just… hold you. Give you a place to hide for a while.”
Finn leans back and opens his arms, offering me a hug.
A place to hide, like he said.
And, Lord, what a spot. His entire frame is covered in finely honed muscles, molded with the smoothest skin I’ve ever seen.
His tan is flawless, and the shadows create perfectly uniform lines under each of his abdominals.
There’s even a well-groomed line of dark hair leading from his navel down to his—
I need it, I think frantically, locking myself in place. Worried that if I move even a little, I will melt down completely.
Finn misreads my hesitation. The side of his chiseled lips pulls up in a rueful smirk. “I won’t tell anyone,” he promises, then offers a more genuine smile. “Maximus might blab, though.”
He’s funny. Gorgeous, with the kind of sharp tongue and silliness I would have found hilarious, years ago.
That’s the saddest part about this man being my mate.
Everything about him would have been perfect for me, before.
Physically, he is exactly the type of man I would have found irresistible.
And it’s only been a few minutes—I barely even remember his name—but I can sense how we could have been soulmates in half a dozen other ways, too.
In another world. One where I wasn’t shattered into a million pieces… and accidentally slicing his pack apart with all my sharp edges.
Really, I’d be doing this handsome, fun-loving alpha a favor by running for the hills. He shouldn’t have to spend his life picking splinters of me off the floor.
My instinct to run and hide rears up again, layered over a much more distracting set of urges from my Omega. That’s a problem, especially if I’m going to stay in control long enough to—to—
What was I doing?
Going… somewhere?
Here, I think, running my eyes over Finn’s bare skin. Right here.
Fresh slick glides between my thighs. A new tremor shakes my legs, and I let it.
Something shifts. My brain is too bleary to think of what he’s called, but their dog slips out of the room, as if he senses what’s happening and knows better than to stick around.
Which makes him a heck of a lot smarter than me, apparently.
Collapsing with a sobbed exhale, I fall into the new, strange alpha’s embrace. His purr stammers, then deepens as his arms snap around my body. Holding me with the perfect blend of strength and tenderness.
It isn’t fair how right he feels. Which, I suppose, is the whole point of having a—a—
Mate.
Suddenly, it hardly matters that I don’t know him—because my soul knows his. It sees someone who’s kinder than they think—and much braver than they believe.
His breathing turns ragged as I melt in his embrace, roughening his voice. “That’s right, honey. I’ve got you.”
He must be calling me that because of my scent. Which is currently soaring.
I still can’t tell whether I’m hyperaware of it because it’s so new, or if it’s actually this strong. Either way, my perfume fills every air particle between us, and the alpha groans under his breath.
His cock jerks in his silky boxers, pressing into the tender juncture of my thighs and my backside. An entire day of raging, blood-boiling need returns in an all-consuming wave.
And this time? The haze effortlessly drags me under.
I don’t know anything, except how scary this would be…
If he wasn’t here.
The alpha in front of me smells expensive and bright, all citrus sharpness and herbaceous undertones. The best notes in his musk strengthen when I whimper, my fingers automatically clinging to him tighter. Digging into his back.
A distant, sane part of me braces for him to react: Freeze up, push me away, fight me off.
Instead, he hugs me closer.
“Yes, honey, that’s right,” he husks. “Come to me.”
His reassurances aren’t enough, though. I need him inside me. Tied to me. I need him to fill me and stretch me and mark me where no one will see. Meld our scents and our—
A desperate whine flies out of me as I scrabble closer, hooking one leg over his carved hip. Bucking to rub my pussy against his solid length.
The alpha releases another masculine moan, lined with the faintest hint of a growl. “What do you need, huh? Tell me, and it’s yours.”
I can’t form a coherent answer, but that doesn’t matter. The hands cradling my back slide lower, easily lifting me. Granting me leverage to loop my limbs around his torso. When I grind my soaked center onto his silk-covered cock, a true alpha growl rumbles out of him.
“Easy, baby,” he warns, his teeth gritting. I whine, moving against him with more insistence. He grunts, “Fuck, Violet. My Alpha is telling me you need easing. Is that right?”
When I can’t form words, he skims his lips over my brow and curses. “You’re warm.”
It makes sense, since I feel like I’m melting.
Cold sweat breaks across my skin as thick, scalding wetness squelches from my pussy. It instantly douses the fabric covering the alpha. He inhales sharply as I keen.
The soaked fabric separating us hurts, rubbing my exposed flesh with uncomfortable friction. The alpha seems to read my distress, reaching down to roughly grip the outline of his arousal.
“Is this what you need?”
There’s a reason I should say no. Perhaps even more than one. I remember that, but can’t remember why. And right now? With this all-consuming ache yawning wider and wider in my core…
“Please,” I manage, my Omega sharing control with me long enough to get the plea out. “Please, alpha.”
Instead of springing into action like I want—need—him to, he pauses. His features fold into an intense frown. He swallows hard.
“Okay, firefly,” he whispers. “I’ve got you.”
The words barely make sense. Firefly? And if he’s agreeing, why is he lying me on the bed instead of pushing his pants down and shoving into me?
My haze swirls, tangling any semi-logical train of thought. The alpha senses my distress and purrs louder. “I know,” he hums. “I know, honey. I’m gonna fix it.”
Another jagged sound snags in my throat. Dazed, I have just enough mental capacity to realize I have no idea what I’m doing. My voice quivers, betraying the anxiety that swarms my lungs.
“D-do I—make noise? Or stay quiet?”
The alpha gazes down at me for a long, breathless moment, then bends and places a soft, slow kiss on my lips. He rears up before I can return in kind, but looms over my face, sinking his ocean eyes into mine. “You do whatever you want,” he barks, gentle but firm. “Anything that feels good.”
His command sinks into my center, releasing my blocked whine. My hips buck, and he growls. Approval glows in his gaze, turning his irises to blue coals.
“That’s my girl,” he praises, finally pushing the sodden fabric of his pants out of the way. His cock bobs into view, revealing many inches of rich, tan skin, wrapped around the smoothest hardness. My eyes land on the knot swelling at his base, and everything between my thighs flutters.
Does he know I can’t take a—
Oh. Wait.
I can, now.
He doesn’t push his thickness into my slit, though. Instead, the alpha aligns his length with my slippery lower lips. The contact sends waves of tingles breaking over my torso.
Another whine streaks out of me, rending the air as the scent of honeysuckle melds with citrusy musk. He rumbles, slowly canting his hips back… and snapping them forward.
Oh God—
The slick friction from the underside of his cock starts a chain reaction.
My nipples pucker to the point of pain as my mouth falls open, moans sawing out of my heaving chest. He answers each one with another thrust, gliding his cock along my spread pussy until the opening begins to clench in rhythmic pulses.
He feels it and curses, “Fuck, Violet. You’re going to kill me.”
I whimper, wishing I had enough control to stop. Or beg for more. Something.
The alpha flashes his teeth on the world’s smoothest snarl. “You look like a goddamn dream. Spread out like this for me to grind my big cock all over this sweet little cunt. You want my knot against your clit, too? It’s so fucking full for you.”
A serrated whine shatters the quiet night pressing in around us. The alpha takes that as a yes, tilting his next thrust higher. Firm, tight skin kisses the underside of my buzzing bundle of nerves, grazing the swollen bud.
Glorious citrus musk rolls over my tongue as I gasp, rearing up. He growls again, circling his hips to rub his knot right where I need it most. Molten heat bursts from my pussy as it tightens on air, desperate to clamp on the heavy swell.
The tension that’s been pulling at my inner muscles all day finally snaps. Instant relief floods my limbs; cool, sharp pleasure douses the smoldering flames engulfing my lungs.
More slick erupts from my quivering entrance, spraying the alpha’s balls as he falls forward, bracing himself on one arm while warm cum jets from the head of his cock. Marking my lower belly in a fierce flood.
He keeps his head bowed over our mess, panting as if he’s just run a sprint. My brain whirs off, then slowly blinks back to life. It’s still laggy, though, dizzy from the perfection of his scent, melded with mine.
I want to stay awake—I know I need to, for some reason. But those concerns seem very far away as he slowly lifts his head and finds my eyes, his gaze searching.
Finn. Our other mate.
My Omega hears his name as I fade toward sleep. I barely stay alert long enough for her to correct, One of our other mates.