Chapter Thirteen
Why was it that every damn time Alison let those alphas get the upper hand, she paid dearly for it?
She groaned softly as she woke, wishing she’d at least gotten those thirty seconds or so to lie there in bed and not realize exactly what had happened. Some ignorance would be amazing right about then.
Instead, she’d remembered it all, every filthy detail, every spilled secret.
Why the hell did I do that?
“Come here,” Kyle grumbled and tugged her against his chest. He rubbed his chin on the top of her head as he trapped her against him. “It’s too early.”
“You’re the one who likes to get up early,” she pointed out.
“Sure, when I don’t have a warm, temping omega in the bed. Turns out that changes everything.” His arm was heavy yet reassuring in a way she wasn’t comfortable with—especially after last night.
She squirmed, unable to relax again.
He let out a long-suffering sigh, as though they’d had this fight a million times and he was used to losing. “All right, let’s get up.”
Alison slid from the bed, nearly regretting the choice when the blanket stopped keeping the chill away. The bed was warm, and Kyle’s masculine scent wasn’t the worst thing to spend another hour or two cuddled up to.
She winced, memories of the night before coming back. Nope. Not a chance.
Kyle, despite agreeing, didn’t actually get out of bed. He shifted to sit up, the blanket pulling off him.
Which left him naked. How had she not noticed that before? It wasn’t like ignoring his hard cock was all that easy, and it had been pressed against her all morning.
“So, are you over your mood yet? Because if not, I wouldn’t mind trying to treat it again.”
Alison crossed her arms, ignoring the way it teased her nipples. “You’re just looking for another reason to tie me up.”
“I don’t need a reason.”
That got her going, especially when he set his hands behind his head.
It stretched him out, reminded her that the man had very little fat on his body.
He really was stunning, especially as his nose healed.
In fact, he distracted her so well that she forgot all about their bickering, or about the fact she probably didn’t want to let him know how much he affected her.
He had to suspect—he could smell her, after all—but letting him know it or have any proof was too far.
Yet…she struggled to draw her focus away. He didn’t have the dark hair on his chest that Daniel did, at least not so thick. His was lighter, but it still had that mesmerizing trail down to his groin.
He brought his hand to his cock. “Come on, sugar. Only us up so far. No reason to rush out of bed just yet, is there?”
Alison pressed her lips together, the temptation strong.
She’d never really wanted to do something like that before, and yet suddenly she could think of nothing else.
Before she even realized it, she’d started to move toward the bed.
Her knee pressed into the mattress, beside his foot, and, as she crawled up his body, she felt primal in a strange way.
It reminded her of how she felt when she stalked her prey, when she closed in on someone who had been stupid enough to get on her radar.
She felt predatory and powerful and now it mixed with her desire.
Her gaze remained locked on Kyle’s cock, on the way his hand moved over it, stroking in slow, long motions from base to tip.
When she got close enough, he slid his fingers into her hair. The tug against her scalp drew a noisy moan from her as she dragged her tongue up the underside of his cock, then took him past her lips.
Kyle controlled the movement, shifting her forward and backward as though she were a toy.
He didn’t press in deep and didn’t go fast. Instead, it was leisurely, almost relaxing.
Alison used her tongue, wrapping it around the thick head of his cock, tasting the pre-cum that escaped and only whetted her appetite for more.
“You’re such a good girl,” Kyle praised. “You take my cock so well.”
His words washed over her, the praise strange yet welcome. She liked being called good, which was a damn odd thing.
She’d lived her life doing what she wanted rather than what she was supposed to do.
She’d fought against the stereotypes, against the expectations laid on her, and accepted that she would never live up to what anyone wanted.
If she couldn’t be what she was supposed to be, then she would be the opposite.
It was easier—and safer—to not care what people wanted.
So why was it that when Kyle looked at her with that pride, when he called her good, when he made it clear she wasn’t falling short, it heated up parts of her that had been ignored for her entire life?
Alison gave in to it instead of fighting it. She hollowed her cheeks, tightening her lips around his thick shaft. His groan said he liked the action, and he sped up the rhythm.
“Fuck.” His voice dropped lower, into something almost a growl. “I can’t wait to knot your sweet cunt, sugar. I bet you’re going to feel amazing, all stretched tight around me.”
Yes. Alison couldn’t even pretend to not want that, all her resistance and worries gone.
Kyle pulled her back so his cock rested just beyond her lips. He let out a deep rumble, his fingers clutching her hair tighter just as his hot cum landed on her tongue.
“Hold it,” Kyle snarled, voice rough. His dick jerked as each spurt left him, and after a moment, he withdrew from her mouth.
He tugged her up his body by her hair, then pressed his thumb against her lips. He hooked his finger down when she parted for him and opened her mouth.
His lip curled up even while he panted, breathless. “Look at how well you listen, sugar.” He dipped into his pooled cum before pulling away. “Go on, swallow me down.”
Alison obeyed as he took her lips in a kiss that stole her breath.
If this was what she’d resisted for so long…
Maybe it wasn’t as bad as she’d thought it would be.
* * * *
Trent smiled at Alison. He had to admit, she looked better. She was flushed, but she seemed as though their lesson the day before had worked. Some of those defenses of hers hadn’t come up again yet.
That and her morning with Kyle. In fact, both she and Kyle had seemed all together better.
They sat at the table, finally ready to address the reality of what Alison hadn’t told them before.
Watching how she melted against Daniel, the way she eased when he set his hand on her nape, a mindless touch that soothed them both, made Trent tighten his lips.
He wanted that…
He craved the closeness, the sense of belonging again. Daniel and Kyle had it, had kept their bond after the fallout, and now? Now Alison was settling right into it.
It was petty of him to envy them that, but that didn’t stop him from feeling it. What would happen? Would Trent go back to his life while Alison, Kyle and Daniel went off to live some happily ever after?
“Explain, girl,” Daniel said.
Alison turned to glare, but Daniel only lifted an eyebrow.
She sighed and leaned forward, setting her forearms on the table. “Her name is Anne.”
“How do you know she’ll be at the auction? Not to be unkind, but omegas disappear all the time,” Trent pointed out.
“Because I know her. She wasn’t the type to run off. She mentioned someone was following her just before, and when I looked into it, I found out there’s a scouting group that works in her area. I checked hospitals, friends, everything. There just isn’t another option.”
Trent heard the fear beneath her steady voice. He knew that unease, the worry when someone couldn’t do anything but wait.
How many women had gone missing, ones who had just stopped coming into his gym, when he’d had to just wait and see if they ever showed up again?
Most didn’t.
“So you dangled yourself as bait so you could find Anne?” Kyle reiterated.
She nodded. “This is the last auction. She has to be here, and I’m not going to let her disappear without doing whatever I can.”
“And you didn’t tell us this because?” Daniel asked.
“Because I thought you might have thought it wasn’t a good reason, maybe thought I was too close to the case and, frankly, because it wasn’t your business.”
Ouch. So it seemed her temper wasn’t entirely doused. Then again, Trent doubted it would ever be fully gone. Not that he minded. A wilting flower wouldn’t last long in this world.
Kyle didn’t look nearly as willing to accept her sharp answer, though. “You need to make sure you stop keeping secrets, sugar. I trust this is the last one?”
She waited a moment too long to nod. Still, Trent knew they only had so far to push.
Besides, no doubt she had secrets of her own, ones she didn’t owe them.
“I want you to write down everything you can recall about Anne. Description, history, all the facts. They need to be added to the case files so we can hopefully identify her during the auction raid. We’ll find her, pet.”
A slow breath blew through Alison’s full pink lips. She twisted her hand and squeezed back—an unexpected reaction. “I’m not used to this.”
“To what?”
“To having someone on my side.”
That got him. He knew exactly how that felt, to always feel as though he had to shoulder everything on his own. Hadn’t he just been thinking it? It got old, fast, and Alison had done it her entire life, it sounded like.
“It’s new, sure, but new isn’t bad. Hell, you might just be surprised by how much you like new,” Kyle said.
She pressed her lips together, as if she couldn’t quite fathom such a thing, before she nodded.
Trent realized why exactly it bothered him so much to see Kyle and Daniel grow closer to her. She seemed like a stand-in for him, someone getting what he craved, gaining back that sense of family and connection.
He couldn’t fault her for it, but damn, he wished he could see a way where he could get that, too.
* * * *
Daniel hated being the one to back down, yet something had nagged him for days.