AFTER SENDING David a series of urgent texts—because he never answered his phone and kept his voicemail intentionally full—I fell asleep before the tub was full, after a toke of some of Ryan’s gentlest ‘lady’ as he called his plants. When I woke I was groggy and disoriented and snappish.
Annoyed to find only Books next to me, and somehow also annoyed to not be alone.
“It’s normal before a bout of heat works up for you to be easily irritated,” Mackenzie said, stretching in the bed and groping for his glasses in the dark.
“I am not an online article about omega’s heats,” I answered.
“Umm…no, I know that. Do you want that bath?”
I did want the bath. I still smelled like Bullet, but Bullet wasn’t at hand, and I was aware again of how large and open the bedroom I slept in was. Mackenzie made a quick trip to the living room and then Tornado reappeared, rumpled but more alert than me, and a moment later I heard the water start up again.
“It’ll take a minute to fill,” Mackenzie warned as I headed for the bathroom.
“I dun wanna be in here anymore,” I muttered, annoyed with myself now for matching
Mackenzie’s researched symptoms.
“Do you want us to go?”
“You better fuckin’ not.”
He laughed and followed me into the bathroom. “You okay in here, Tornado?”
I yanked my dress off over my head, now annoyed that they’d let me fall asleep in it. Actually, I had a whole catalog of things I was finding myself annoyed with, and at the very top of it was how unreasonable I was feeling without being able to shake the irritation. There were moments where being an omega felt as though I was rediscovering myself with clearer vision. And then there were moments where I just thought I was going fucking crazy.
“‘M fine,” Tornado said, and when I looked at him I found him staring with interest at my recently revealed skin. I let him stare as I shimmied out of my panties too.
I’d been modest most of my life, not super shy, but not usually the first one to strip naked.
Around my pack though, I didn’t care. And in this mood? I was gonna do whatever the hell I wanted.
“I don’t know if I want to share the tub yet,” I said, possibly in warning. Since neither Tornado or Mackenzie were undressing, it wasn’t really an issue.
“You just let us know, Baby,” Mackenzie said.
I did my best impression of an alpha’s growl, and his eyebrows jumped up. “I don’t want to make decisions either,” I said, irrationally. My skin was tight and prickled with pins and needles, and there was a tight line of tension running through my shoulders.
“Fine,” Mackenzie said mildly. “Go to Tornado.”
It was an order, but one without growl or bark. It might as well have been a suggestion, except that I craved to obey, the scratch of temper fading in the back of my head. I joined Tornado on the bath mat and he glanced between Mackenzie and I, face smooth and watchful.
“Check her hair, does it need washed?” Mackenzie asked.
I leaned in and smiled as Tornado placed his hands softly on my bare shoulders before taking a sniff. “Kinda smells like the bar.”
“Leave it down then and we’ll wash it. Help her in the tub.”
Tornado’s hand held mine firmly, and he sat on the ledge of the tub as I lowered myself into the water. It was cooler than I usually liked it and I leaned forward to change the temperature.
“No, lay back,” Books murmured, heading for the knobs. I fought a brief war with myself, the omega instinct to do as I was told versus the grouch who’d just woken up and hadn’t decided how in the mood to ‘people’ she was. “Relax, Baby,” he said, glancing at me, amber eyes kissing my skin.
His hand reached in to swirl the warmer water in, and I lifted my knee to butt against his palm.
“Let me guess. Grouchy omegas like to be told what to do?” I asked, but I was leaning back in the tub, keeping hold of Tornado’s hand in mine and resting it against my shoulder.
Books smiled and pulled his wet hand up, nudging his glasses up with his knuckle. “Your fever is coming back up, which is normal when we haven’t…you haven’t…”
“Been knotted?” I said, lips quirking.
He swallowed, glancing down into the clear, churning water, and then back up again. “Yeah. It’s like a… biological reminder. And yes, when an omega is feeling unsettled it helps for their alpha to take over. The size of this room helps too, doesn’t it?”
I nodded. “Feels more like a nest.”
I hadn’t wanted to bring it up with Jonah and Seth, but the apartment was too big, especially when I was alone. The rooms smelled better now that I had my alphas coming and going in the space, but the whole place was far too open and bare to feel comfy like a nest. Yvonne was right and it irritated me. Even more frustrating for me, being able to hear the city outside and waking up to the sun glaring in my eyes was uncomfortable and loud now, although I’d loved using the city as my alarm clock previously.
“Candles and something for the bath,” Mackenzie said to Tornado.
“Are you a grouchy omega too?” I asked Tornado.
He broke out into a sudden, unexpected grin. “I’m an unruly alpha, love. Books keeps my head on straight.” He lifted my hand up to his lips and skimmed a kiss on my knuckles before releasing me and rummaging through the cupboards, lighting candles by the sink until the room glowed.
Mackenzie reached behind him, finding the light switch and turning the overhead fluorescents off. “Better?”
I nodded and sat up, folding my arms on my bent knees and resting my chin there. “I made up my mind. This tub is big enough for two.”
The two men exchanged a brief look, and Mackenzie nodded Tornado toward the water. I curled up against the side of the tub to look up at Tornado. He hesitated, staring at Mackenzie and then at me.
I wasn’t sure if he really needed my confirmation, the two of them almost acted as one unit, Mackenzie making the decisions and Tornado acting them out. If my opinion did make any difference to Tornado, then he ought to know I was fully on board with the plan.
I held my hand up out of the water, droplets falling to the bathmat. His eyes tracked my skin from my head, where the ends of my hair stuck to droplets of water on shoulders, down over my breasts
and into the rippling, clear water. “Please,” I said.
He handed a wrapped bath bomb to Mackenzie and then pulled his soft gray shirt off over the back of his head. Tornado was tall, with wide shoulders and narrow hips. He wasn’t as built up as most of the pack, but getting a good look at his shirtless body, it was clear that what bulk he had was pure muscle. A thin dusting of black hair covered his chest, trailing down to the jeans he was opening and shoving down lithe thighs.
Damn. My mouth was watering. Tornado was pretty to look at. He was slightly hard, hanging from a nest of dark curls, the flesh of his cock a deeper and rosy shade of brown. He kicked off his socks and pant legs in one go, nudging them toward the door, and then joined me in the water without another look, sliding in behind my back, his legs tucked to the far wall.
I waited for Mackenzie’s next orders. If he had a lid on whatever made Sanjay ‘Tornado,’ I didn’t want to interrupt their dynamic.
“Go on,” Mackenzie said to his friend, grinning. “Cuddle her up like you want to.”
Just like that, Tornado’s arms wrapped around my waist and shoulders, hauling me back to his warm chest. He may not have had Bullet’s padding, but I fit nicely against him and it was easy to melt into his arms.
“Where is everyone?” I asked. “What happened after the Hangmen left?”
Tornado was cupping handfuls of water and running them over my chest and the bathroom heater was running, keeping the space humid and warm. In my head, Yvonne raised an obnoxious eyebrow.
Maybe a jacuzzi tub would be nice. Mackenzie dropped the bath bomb in and watched it fizz for a moment before answering.
“Most of them are here, holding down the fort. Coal, Bullet, Bomber, and Scorch will be back soon. They went to make sure the neighborhood was safe,” he explained. “It’s been a long time since we had to really worry about it but…”
“Bullet told me about Nine,” I said, and when Tornado tensed behind me, I found his hands and smoothed my fingers over his fists until they loosened.
Mackenzie nodded. “He started the Howlers. Took some fractured clubs in the neighborhood, brought them together. That’s where Chef, Flea, and Dusty come in.”
My nose wrinkled. “Flea?”
“Roger,” Tornado said. “He likes you calling him by his real name.” Then my shy, ‘unruly’ alpha turned his head just enough to press a kiss to my temple, and I realized Mackenzie was right about my fever. I wanted to twist in the water and start demanding full kisses from Tornado.
Mackenzie was smiling at the pair of us, eyes watching every movement with careful observation. “Hangmen had kind of just started up in Old Downtown, and they were trying to spread.
But they were dealing drugs, holding up local businesses, that kind of thing. So Nine and the others held ground. Brody joined up and I followed. Jonah appeared out of nowhere.”
“Bullet and I met in the army. Not the same unit. He looked me up when he got back and brought me in. I… needed something to focus on,” Tornado said.
I curled onto my side, sliding my left leg over his and reaching out to trace a jagged scar on the right side of his chest.
“It’s not a story that’s much different than most ex-army,” he said quietly, throat bobbing with a deep swallow.
“I’ll still hear it if you’re ever in the mood to tell it,” I said.
He nodded but he was growing tight beneath me, and I wondered if the small size of the room, and the warmth that helped me settle, was making him equally uncomfortable.
“Do you want to touch her?” Mackenzie asked.
Tornado swallowed again, glancing at him and then back at me, and the tight clamp of his arm around my waist loosened slightly, Mackenzie distracting his thoughts from wherever they’d been headed. Tornado nodded, caramel brown eyes meeting mine. I was loose and soft in his hold, smiling faintly, and I certainly didn’t mind the direction the mood was taking.
“Put yourself between his legs, Baby. Facing me so I can watch,” Mackenzie said.
It occurred to me that of all my alphas, Mackenzie was the one who hadn’t given me a pet name yet. I wondered if he was too grounded for it, or if my name was sweet enough already. I slid forward as Tornado made room for me, adjusting himself so his cock was pressed to my back. He twisted my hair into a bundle at the base of my neck and then rested his arms on either ledge, waiting for
instructions.
“Spread your legs.”
I did, my breath hitching in my chest at the gentle order and the thrill of exposing myself.
“Can you see her?”
“A bit,” Tornado said, dark beard soft against my temple, nuzzling enough to scent mark me. I shivered and sucked in lungfuls of leather and tart, sweet cherries, the combination strange and dangerous and earthy.
“Kiss everything you can reach,” Mackenzie said, answering my grin with a wink.
Tornado kissed my hair, brought his fingers to my chin to tilt my head so he could kiss my temple again, cheek, jaw. I turned my face as much as I could and his nose nudged against mine, lips on the corner of my mouth, tongue flicking out for a taste. He huffed and laughed. “Still got a bit of Bullet on you, love.”
I craned my neck and Tornado purred, the sound rattling and uneven and making my thighs clench and my nipples tighten. He sucked soft kisses along my throat until I was whimpering and squirming, and then tilted my head in the opposite direction and repeated every touch.
I tried to twist to face him, and Mackenzie was quick. “No, Baby. Stay as you are.”
I whined and settled and Tornado lifted my right arm, torturing me one kiss at a time, finding new places that made me flush and pant. Places that I never would have expected to feel so thrilling. By the time he was pressing kisses to my palm, I was shifting my hips under the water for a silky kind of friction and gripping tight to the ledge.
“Suck her fingers,” Mackenzie said, a soft rasp in his words. I looked at him, eyes full of need, and his hand covered the tented crotch of his jeans, cupping and rubbing himself slightly.
Then Tornado pulled my index and middle finger into his warm mouth and my eyes fell shut, a noisy moan escaping and my toes curling against the porcelain bed of the tub.
“Oh, please. Please,” I hissed as Tornado’s tongue slid between my digits. Who the hell knew the soft skin at the base of your fingers was so fucking sensitive? One more rustle of the water I was in and I was sure I’d be coming. “Please let me come,” I whimpered.
“Other arm,” Mackenzie said.
“Fuck you,” I said without much heat as Tornado kissed my fingertips and laughed behind me. I glared at the alpha giving orders and he grinned in response, reaching into the water and pulling my ankle up and onto his lap, ignoring the water shedding off my skin.
“Other arm,” he repeated to Tornado.
I thought at first Mackenzie was trying to get me so riled up that I’d be begging like wild. His fingers were working magic on my foot, thumbs digging through aches I hadn’t even realized I had.
Tornado was moving more slowly down the length of my arm, or at least it felt like it, using his tongue
and teeth more than before. He looked up as he reached my elbow, and Mackenzie nodded. Before I could ask why, Mackenzie’s fingers twisted on the sole of my foot and Tornado sucked hard on the inside of my elbow.
I gasped as a sudden wave of pleasure swept through me, my back arching, fully expecting it to subside at any second. Instead, it continued, an orgasm rushing over me as I cried out in surprise and delight, body shaking and trembling in the water. I must’ve kicked or tried to escape because Tornado dragged me back to his chest, my arm abandoned in favor of him growling and nipping at my throat.
Mackenzie held my ankle firmly in his lap, and Tornado hooked my other ankle under the water so I was open to them.
“Go on,” Mackenzie said, and before I could catch my breath, Tornado was touching me everywhere, hands caressing and pinching at my breasts and the insides of my thighs until they narrowed their focus on my clit. He held me open, fingers spreading me in a V, and then rubbed roughly over my clit and lips and opening.
I was making animal sounds, rocking frantically in Tornado’s hold, and my arms flew back to grip onto him, hair or neck or shoulders, I didn’t care as long as I could anchor myself.
“No, Baby,” Mackenzie said sharply, still without bark but a clear order.
I almost ignored him, until I remembered that Tornado might react poorly to sudden touches if he had PTSD symptoms from his time in the army. Mackenzie slid forward on the ledge and I took his hands instead, locking eyes with him as Tornado pushed me up another steep climb of arousal without letting me fall from the first.
“Beautiful, the pair of you,” Mackenzie murmured.
I tugged him closer and he resisted, offering us space but holding tight to my hands. Tornado’s beard continuously scraped against my throat, his purr aggressive and steady, vibrating against my back.
“Fuck her a bit with your fingers,” Mackenzie said, and I threw my head back onto Tornado’s shoulder as he filled me up with two fingers, stretching and pumping. Water splashed against the walls of the tub, and the scent of the alphas and my own perfume mingled into a thick cloud. Coffee, leather, cherries, and my own dense and syrupy sweetness.
Tornado was hard against my back, but completely still, his knot an unspoken possibility pressing between us.
“Come, Baby,” Mackenzie said as Tornado brushed my clit with his thumb.
Mackenzie didn’t need the damn alpha bark. I came, strangling my shout in my throat, eyes locked with his while Tornado kissed my neck where my pulse hammered in my veins. Heat flooded through me, loosening the tight coils of forced pleasure until I was too weak, sinking slightly in the water, my hands falling from Mackenzie’s. Tornado rubbed firm but gentle circles over my pussy, his fingers slipping free from me as I stopped clutching.
“Good girl,” Mackenzie said. And then for the first time, he purred, a silky smooth sound.
I sagged, limp as Tornado kissed my cheek. “She’s perfect,” Tornado murmured. “You’re perfect, love.”
“She is. Let’s wash her up and get her tucked in again before the water gets cold.”
I felt like a doll between them, only more cherished. Mackenzie kept the water and shampoo out of my eyes as he washed my hair, those wicked fingers of his leaving me sighing as he massaged my hair. Tornado touched every inch of me as he washed my skin, and I whimpered slightly as I realized I was clean again, and without a scent mark.
“We’ll fix you up for bed, don’t worry,” Tornado said, and Mackenzie rewarded him with a
warm smile.
They toweled me off between them, my whole body weak with release and exhaustion. Tornado pulled me to his bare skin, his crackling purr sounding as his cheek pressed to my throat, shoulders, and wrists, leaving lighter marks as he stroked up my back. He passed me to Mackenzie and then re- dressed. “I’ll be in the living room.”
I watched him leave the bedroom as Mackenzie led me back to the bed. “He won’t stay?” I
asked.
“No. Night terrors.”
And I was distracted from his answer as I watched him strip. He was thicker than Tornado, the muscular planes of his stomach slightly softer and more rounded, but still undoubtedly built with strength. Every inch of skin was coated in dense brown freckles, thicker than my own and on slightly tanner skin. His cock was thicker too, although not quite as long. It was also still hard. His knot hadn’t swelled yet, but I knew how to help with that. I wanted to trace those scattered freckles like constellations…with my tongue.
“You’re exhausted,” he said, and I looked up to catch him grinning as he guided me out of the bathroom and back to the bed.
“I can wake up,” I said, although the declaration was undermined with a long yawn. I slid under the sheets of the bed and waited for him to join me.
He snorted and shook his head, pulling his glasses from his nose. “I’ll be honest with you. I’m hoping the first time I come with you, it’s with my knot buried as deep as it can go. Never knotted anyone before and I’m feeling giddy as a virgin about it, Baby.” I licked my lips at the thought. “Settle down. It can wait. I want it to be a nice long first time, and I’m pretty sure if we went for it right now, you’d be out like a light, satisfied or not.”
“Definitely satisfied,” I said. He’d gotten me off by massaging my damn foot and Tornado kissing my arm, for goodness sake. I’m sure he’d already researched how to leave my brain mush with a good knotting. “But alright. You’re still not out of cuddling me.”
He relaxed and joined me, climbing into the bed and scooping me up in his arms, settling me against his side. “The others will be back soon. Want me to stay or give someone else a turn when they get here?”
“I want you to stay,” I said, surprised he would ask.
He purred again, pleased with my decision, and turned his head. His forehead nudged mine and I tilted my head back, lips ready and waiting for his in a soft, slow kiss. Coffee flavored or not, the kiss was lulling, going on and on. We were trading breaths and slow, pulling exchanges, right up until I fell asleep.
