Chapter 26
Atlas
Opal came screaming on the bastard’s face with her lips around my cock, and that’s about the time we truly lost her to the heat.
“We need ground rules,” I said, breathless as Opal tore her lips away from mine and let go of my shoulders.
“No rules,” she growled. The wolf flashed in her eyes as she dropped to all fours, presenting herself again for Dorian to take.
It should be us claiming our mate.
We have to share, I argued with my beast for the hundredth time, trying to focus on Dorian’s ugly mug instead of the look of pleasure on Opal’s face as he slid himself into her eager pussy.
She moaned.
My semi-hard cock filled with blood again.
You need to be the one—
Enough. I breathed through my mouth so I wouldn’t be drawn in by her heat, but it was useless. I could taste her on the air. My tongue salivated at the thought of lapping up her sugary sweetness.
“Rules,” I barked, shaking my head.
“We already got her safe word.” Dorian rotated his hips as he thrusted, making Opal moan again. “What other rules do you want?”
“No safe word,” Opal growled through a voice garbled with her wolf as she rocked back against Dorian and her soft hand wrapped around my shaft.
“Yes, safe word.” I gently removed her hand. “No safe word, no sex.”
“No fun.” She pouted, opening her mouth as if I would use it instead. I slid two fingers between her lips and inhaled another sharp breath at the pure ecstasy on her face.
“She’s not in her right mind,” I said.
“You think I don’t know that?” Dorian tried to keep pace, but he was breaking out in a sweat.
Opal rocked herself faster against him, groaning around my fingers and sucking them deep.
I was mesmerized by her for another heartbeat. Her hair loose and curling around her perfect breasts, which bounced with each thrust. The wildness of her eyes framed golden as they shone with the wolf beneath. Not a princess. A queen.
Perfect. Mine.
I tore my gaze away as Dorian chuckled.
“I heard you earlier,” he said. “No double cocking. But we’ll see if you still feel that way in a few days.”
His stamina was slipping and it’d only been a couple of hours. With how eager Opal was, I didn’t know how either of us would keep going another few days, but I’d die trying.
And I wasn’t against doing anything she needed, but I really didn’t feel like having his balls brush against mine.
It was bad enough that his scent was in here, stinking up the place, and that he was touching my mate…
Can’t go there.
Opal grabbed my hand and pressed it against her breast, arching up so she could ride Dorian harder.
Her orgasm was building again. Such a beautiful thing to see. I dropped to my knees before her, teasing her hardened nipples under my rough hands and learning what she liked.
“Rules, you were saying?” Dorian panted as he focused on a spot on the distant wall.
I knew that look.
He was trying hard not to come.
“No one marks her.” My voice was harsh. I stared at the unblemished skin on her chest, fighting the sting of my fangs wanting to descend.
“Tell that to my wolf.” Dorian huffed a laugh.
“I am.” I glowered at him.
“Fine.” He glared back. “No marking. No DP. Anything else or does that make you happy?”
No. Not at all.
This wasn’t how I wanted the first time with my mate to be. But I’d lost control of the situation before we’d stepped foot in her nest. Now I was at the mercy of biology, just trying to stay afloat and make sure we did right by her.
“Slow down, beautiful.” Dorian gritted his teeth as he grabbed her hips, shaking with the art of self-restraint. I could almost commend him for fighting this losing battle.
Then his eyes shot to me. “Lollipop.”
“I’ve got her.” I lifted Opal off Dorian’s lap despite her whines of protests, silencing them as I pinned her against the wall.
“More.” She growled as she clawed at my chest, forcing me to move faster than I wanted as I tried to slowly let her stretch to accommodate the size of me. I grabbed her hands, speaking directly to her wolf as I notched the head of my cock into her slick heat.
“If he knots you, you’re stuck, princess. And I don’t think you’re ready to be still yet.” I eased in another inch, making her gasp with delight. “Let’s see you come for me.”
*
Days later, sunlight scorched my retinas as I staggered outside the nest. Opal was napping on the bed with her long and tangled hair spread over the pillows, and her bare leg thrown over Dorian’s lap.
I’d struggled to escape from under her arms and it was even harder to force myself to leave her side.
Hurry and get back here.
Dorian opened one eye, careful not to move, and gave me a tired nod before closing it again.
As much as I hated to admit it, Dorian could keep her entertained for a few hours while I took care of things. I’d learned a lot about him over the past few days—had seen more of his skin than any other swinging-dick male in my pack.
Begrudgingly, I had to say he cared about Opal as much as I did. It was in the details. The way he anticipated her needs and gave himself to whatever she wanted.
I still didn’t like him all that much.
Outside the nest, I shoved my chafed dick and thighs into a pair of jeans, then pulled on my boots.
Dorian cared for her now, but how much longer could that last? I was still hoping he’d get bored with his decision to set up territory next door, hopefully long before we had any incidents.
And what happens when he leaves her?
I hurried my steps across the barren field, heading toward the fence line in the distance.
I’ll have to be here to take care of things. To pick up the pieces.
It wouldn’t be the first time I’d done that for someone else. That’s what I was doing now.
Taking care of my mate.
I touched the claiming mark she’d given me, wearing it with pride though I hadn’t claimed her in return. When I did, I’d make it special. Give her the moment she deserved. It’d been difficult to deny her begging for my mark during the throes of her heat.
Thinking about her begging had my cock pulsing again.
Hurry…
I set off on a jog.
I’d had her nest dropped off on the border of my territory, as close to my house as I could get it without exposing it to Dorian. The less he knew about my pack, the better.
My ranch house came into view as I crested the next hill.
Sprawling acres under open blue sky with fat white clouds drifted lazily overhead.
Frozen ground still crunched under my boots, but the cattle were out grazing.
Just beyond the cottages that lined the house sat the small town and strip of highway before the mountains provided protection on either side.
I smiled to myself as I always did when seeing my land and pack spread out before me. This may have been my late mother’s dream and my father’s sketch, but it’d been me that made it into what it was today.
I’d cleared the land and built more additions. Cleaned up the town and brought in new business, funding entrepreneurs and investing in other services we couldn’t provide. We were self-sufficient. Safe. The perfect place to heal for any who needed it.
“Alpha Atlas!” The first of the little pups’ squeals came roaring into the yard as I closed the gate to the fence. It must’ve been Sunday, because the parade of pups that came rounding the bend to the ranch house wouldn’t have been here if not.
I watched them, amused, as they tumbled in a mess of fur and flying limbs to greet me, and tried to count if any extra had shown up in my absence.
Though I hadn’t been gone long enough to expect any newcomers to be in this rowdy bunch.
If we did get new pack members, I met them in the quiet places, just sitting beside them until they inched their way into the open like the rest of these wild ones.
“We thought you’d never come back!” a pup yipped.
“What made you think that?” I asked.
Hands grabbed my arms and before I knew it, I was swinging three pups on each bicep as they laughed and kicked their feet in the air.
“You disappeared from the TV.”
“They said you got kicked off the show.”
“Did you go to the city?”
“Did you fly on a plane?”
“Did you get me anything?”
“Whose mama let you all watch the show?” I growled playfully, sending a few of them scurrying back as I set the swingers onto their feet.
Giggles followed.
I wasn’t going to get a straight answer anyway. If one dam allowed her pup to watch the show, then they all would be watching it by default.
“Alpha Atlas is back!” One of the older pups—Wilson—took it upon himself to announce my arrival as he stuck his head inside the back kitchen door. I’d had a talk with him before I left about stepping up while I was gone and it seemed like he’d taken it to heart.
In less than a few years, I’d need to have a proper mating season run in this pack. I’d never had to do one since we didn’t have many wolves of age. But it was coming faster than I knew it.
I ruffled Wilson’s brown hair, smiling when his chest puffed with pride and he shoved me off, then stepped into the chaos of a normal Sunday as I opened the door to the main house.
The rattle of pots and pans came to a standstill as twenty or so female gazes turned to me. Then the chatter resumed and I was swarmed in its embrace.
Hugs and laughter and pinched cheeks. A pup still clung to my back. Everyone had something to say and I listened as best I could, making notes if any real concerns came up. But they mostly just said they’d missed me. I smiled a lot at that.
“And there he is.” Jeannette rose from her rocking chair, grabbing my hand with gnarled fingers that were still as strong as ever and giving me a look that would make a younger wolf cringe as she winked. “Is that your mate I smell on you?”
“Just came to grab supplies and get back to her nest.” I grinned like a love-sick pup as the females in the house who pretended they weren’t eavesdropping set off in a chorus of raucous cheers.
“Why didn’t you send Roger back?” Jeannette frowned. “I told the boys to bring you meat.”
She always tried to act like Alpha in my absence and the pack allowed it. Jeanette had been a part of the Volk Pack when we were much smaller, before my father was even Alpha, and had seen it through all the changes over the years.
“The patrol aren’t my servants. They have another job to do.” I soothed Jeanette’s worries. “Besides, I needed some fresh air.”
Jeanette was old-school and set in her ways in some areas. She still thought the patrol team was made of all males, despite most of them being females that didn’t want to perform domestic duties.
“Walk with me, then.” She nodded, lacing her arm through mine. “We’ll get air together.”
I stayed slow and patient as we got to the wraparound porch, keeping her pace as I headed to the back freezers. During the colder months, we could unplug them. But spring was on its way in earnest now.
Soon the ground would be mud.
Then I’d be able to pick wildflowers for Opal.
“She sure smells pretty,” Jeannette commented.
I wasn’t even embarrassed they could still smell her on my skin. “She is.”
“She looked pretty on TV too. An Omega they say,” Jeannette remarked. “And it seemed like she had no problem claiming you as her mate.”
I smiled as I touched my neck. “She’s a firecracker.”
Jeanette patted my arm as if she understood something I didn’t. “But you didn’t claim her yet.”
I faltered. “How…”
“We would’ve felt if we had a new Luna.” Jeanette let go of my arm and sat on the wooden rocking chair on the back deck.
“I plan to claim her,” I said. “When the time is right.”
“No rush.” Jeannette waved her hand in the air. “So tell me more about our new Luna and her… appetite.”
“That’s not something I want to share.”
“We’re all adults here.” Jeannette smiled as she began to rock. “She prefers more than one penis. Nothing wrong with a girl who knows what she wants and good on her for being able to handle it.”
I wanted to put my fingers in my ears.
“But the real question,” Jeannette kept going, “is are you okay with sharing her?”
I busied myself with digging through the freezer, staring at the meat I’d killed and butchered with my own hands. Cold air filled my lungs as I breathed in and out.
“It’s fine if you aren’t. We’d all understand.” Jeanette rocked, filling in the blanks for herself, which she’d in turn share with the rest of the pack.
I couldn’t let her do that.
“Opal looks at me like I hung the moon,” I finally said.
“We all think you’re great—”
“She looks at him like that too.” I wasn’t sure if they were the right words, but I said them anyway. “In her eyes, everyone she loves is so special that you can’t help but see something good in them.”
“Hmm.” Jeannette rocked. “Is that an Omega trait?”
“Nah.” I smirked. “This one is all Opal. I don’t think she’s quite like anyone else.”
Jeannette was quiet for a moment except for the rocking of the chair on the wood deck, but it didn’t last for long.
“She’s got you spitting poetry, so that’s got to mean something.
I can’t wait to meet her. Make sure you grab some cookies from the kitchen.
After all the energy spent, she’ll need some carbs. ”
“Opal will love that.” I smiled, thinking of the light in her eyes whenever something sweet was involved.
I couldn’t wait to be her hero.
And if I had my way, we’d never spend another heat like this again. She’d be in her own house—mine was hers, or I’d build her another—where I could make sure she was properly hydrated and fed.
But there was still the matter of…
“It does seem cruel that she’d want to pair up with that Dorian Bailey fellow,” Jeanette said as if she could read my mind.
I grabbed some of the biggest steaks from the freezer. “I’m working it out.”
“See that you do.” Jeannette resumed her rocking. “I can’t stand the thought of another incident like the one we had.”
“It wasn’t the Bailey crew Ava ran off with,” I said. I’d followed her lead until it ran cold, but she’d never set foot in the Bailey ring.
Unless Dorian was hiding something.
“Doesn’t matter who she ended up with,” Jeannette lied through her teeth, trying to pretend that old wounds didn’t hurt. But I knew better.
And I also knew you couldn’t save them all.
“Shifters like that ain’t nothing but trouble,” Jeannette continued to say her piece. “We need the whole circus gone from these parts as soon as possible. Preferably before he breaks our new Luna’s heart.”