I ROLLED OVER AGAIN, tucked between Tornado and Books in the nest we would be leaving behind in the morning. It wasn’t a perfect nest, I could admit that now. But it was mine. Mackenzie said that Bullet said the new place had a nest, a real one and not just a room that needed to be turned into a blanket fort, but until I saw it all I could imagine was that basement room under the bar. I would throw everything from this nest—all wonderfully scented with my alphas and myself—into bags last minute before we left, and curl up with it in the backseat of Bullet’s truck on the way to…wherever we were going.
“You can say if you’re nervous,” Mackenzie said, stroking my hair off the back of my neck.
We’d been quiet for ages, the only proof of my being awake was the nearly constant rotation I kept up, rolling and rolling and rolling, hoping at some point I would just slide into sleep.
“I’m nervous,” I whispered. He laughed, or snorted. “There, now we both know what we already knew.”
“Fine,” Mackenzie said, shifting and sliding against my back, his hands molding around my hip and my waist. “Will you tell me what’s making you nervous?”
“Tornado’s sleeping,” I said.
“No, he’s not.”
“No, I’m not.”
They spoke at the same time. I wiggled my way up to see Tornado, his dark eyes opening and finding me immediately.
“I was waiting for you to fall asleep,” he said.
Waiting for me to sleep, and then he would leave so his night terrors didn’t wake me, and his thrashing couldn’t hurt me.
I huffed and fell back into the pillows, wrapping my arm around Tornado and tugging him closer.
He turned to face me, lips pressed to my forehead and one hand landing below Mackenzie’s to pull my thigh over his narrow hips.
“I’m nervous about leaving here and not liking where we’re going. And about whether or not it really will keep the neighborhood safe, or if I’m just taking you with me and leaving others vulnerable,” I admitted.
“Are you scared of the Hangmen?” Tornado asked.
Nervous was not the same as scared. “No. I mean of them, yes. Of them getting ahold of me? No.
I trust all of you.”
Mackenzie purred and Tornado was silent. “Bullet would tell you to be more cautious, but I think you’re right. We won’t let anything happen to you,” Mackenzie said.
I rested my hand over Tornado’s chest and felt more than heard his wavering sigh. “Tell me about your nicknames,” I said to push the topic away.
This next sigh I definitely heard, and it ruffled the hair on my head before Tornado spoke. “Got mine when I had an episode, lost sense of where I was, who I was with. Afterward, the room looked like a tornado had been through it so…”
“And you don’t mind it being your nickname?” I asked, frowning.
“I still feel sometimes like I lost myself while I was serving. Being Tornado now makes me feel…changed rather than lost. I may not be the man I was, but I’m still someone.”
I hummed and kissed his chest before leaning back into Mackenzie. I smiled as I noticed he was slightly hard, cock nudging against me in response to my movement. I focused on Tornado instead. “Is it better now? Your episodes?”
“It’s…controlled,” he said slowly, glancing over my head to Mackenzie.
“I’m not a professional, but I did a lot of research, tried a lot of techniques,” Mackenzie said.
“Is that why you’re called Books?”
“Ehn. Kind of. Brody called me Books ever since I was a kid and I read a lot. And then… I dunno…”
“Books is smart. It’s mostly computer skills and information he hunts down on the internet,”
Tornado offered for his friend. “But aside from Green, he’s probably the smartest of us. The nicknames aren’t always real thought out.”
I smiled at that. Like how Brody was Red because he was the first redhead in the group.
“And… what you did in the bath?” I asked Mackenzie, turning to catch his eye. “That was for Tornado?”
“I was afraid I’d hurt you,” Tornado said softly. “Or wouldn’t stay… present with you. Books’ orders keep me focused, grounded.”
I hummed and nodded. I wondered what they were like separately, as individuals. If Mackenzie would still want that control with me. Or if Tornado would lose his impossible patience if we were alone. For now, there was more I wanted to experience of them together.
“Do either of you know how long we’ll be on the road for?” I asked.
“Bullet said most of the day,” Mackenzie offered.
That was a long trip, a long way out of the city. And there was something I needed to do before we left. I sat up, their hands following me and then helping me up. I rifled through the blankets around us frowning.
“What’re you looking for, love?” Tornado asked.
“My cell phone, I need to call Lola,” I said.
“It might be better if you don’t,” Mackenzie said slowly, and I thought he looked suitably braced for my anger. Except I wasn’t really angry.
I nodded. “I know. I won’t talk about us leaving. I just need to know what kind of situation she’s in. If she’s still with them…”
“You’re right. Phone’s on the charger on this side,” Tornado said, patting the edge of the bed.
He helped me stretch and slide over his lap as I flicked the sheets out of the way and rummaged for my phone, pulling it up by the cord. I winced at the bright glare of the screen and then sucked in a breath. The image on my background was a picture of the Downtown skyline I’d taken by leaning out of my kitchen window and looking north, a version of the view I walked towards while heading to work on the high-train.
My heart gave a weak clench and cry for my old life in that moment. Maybe not every inch of it,
like the directionlessness and the slow waves of loneliness that came on some nights. I did miss the simplicity though.
Tornado shifted behind me, his stomach curling around my back and his finger tracing the wings of my shoulder blades, and the feeling faded. I flipped past the lock screen and pulled up my recent calls, Lola right near the top.
“Heyyy,” she said, sounding as though she was whispering.
The words came out in a rush of high squeaking as my heart hammered in my chest, “Hi! I’m sorry. Sorry for not calling and… where are you? Are you okay?”
Rustling came over the line, followed by Lola’s sigh. “Hey, yes I’m… I’m okay,” she whispered.
“Two secs.”
I held my breath as I waited, listening to a squeak, and then a soft rush of wind and a creak of metal.
“I’m at David’s place in Uptown. Thanks for reaching out to him.”
I could breathe again. David had pulled through. He lived in proper Uptown, well out of the Hangmen’s territory, so Lola was safe.
“Good. How’s David?” Which was a dumb question with an answer I didn’t really care about.
“Fuck, never mind. How are you?”
Lola just sighed. “David is… you know, fabulous as ever. He’s heading to Europe next week for Fashion so I’m… well, I’m gonna be here for a while either way.”
Lola apartment sat for David whenever he needed to jet-set somewhere to write articles on the latest and greatest trends. He’d gotten us into a few upscale parties when Lola first moved to the city and we’d become friends, before realizing we were simply not chic enough for his scene. But he’d been there when Lola needed him. When I couldn’t be.
“I’m okay, Baby,” Lola said. “I mean, I… I’m an idiot. But I’m just gonna lay low for now.”
“You’re not an idiot.”
“And a shitty friend.”
“I’m a shitty friend.”
“Pretty sure I’m over my obsession with alpha dick at least,” she said, and her giggle sounded strange, almost strangled.
I held my tongue. I thought that was pretty unlikely, but Buzzard would’ve put me off for sure too.
“I’m sorry I came to see you with them,” she said. “That I let them make me try to manipulate you…”
“No. it’s…it wasn’t your fault. Anyway, I fell into an omega princess hole and turned into a crap friend so…” Mackenzie rumbled behind me, and I waved my hand to hush him.
“Is it a nice hole though? Like, you’re happy?” Lola asked. “Have they hurt you?”
“What? God, no. No, they’re…” I fought my grin. If I let myself forget about Bullet’s bike, and Buzz and Indy’s visit, the answer was easy. “They’re perfect. For me.”
“…Good. You deserve it, babe.”
“You’re going to find something equally right for you,” I said.
Lola sighed again. “Let’s not… get into all that right now. I’m taking a break. Gonna date myself or whatever they call it.”
“You are a pretty awesome date. Excellent cuddler. Decent cook if the meal is macaroni and cheese from a box.”
I waited for her laugh, for her to tell me to ‘shut up’ and insult my sense of style. Instead, she was quiet for a long time before speaking again. “Okay, it’s late and cold as fuck on this balcony. Be good.
Go… get some of that top shelf dick you should be enjoying.”
“I love you, Lo.”
“I love you too, babe. I’m… I’m happy for you.”
She hung up before I could answer her again. I would not have traded my alphas for anything, but if I could’ve given Lola my designation as an omega, I would’ve. Although given the situation she’d just escaped, maybe it was for the best that she was a beta.
“She’s right, it’s late,” Mackenzie said from the other side of the bed.
I smirked and reached through the sheets to set the phone on the nightstand. “Did you listen to my entire conversation?”
“Yes,” he said easily. I could almost see the smirk on his lips in the dark. “She’s safe?”
I nodded. Something still wasn’t right, she didn’t sound like my Lola, but she was safe.
“Good. Now come back here,” Mackenzie said, holding out a hand.
Tornado’s arm looped around my waist and with a swift roll, threw me gently down to the bed between them. His arm stayed fastened in place and Mackenzie leaned over me, dropping a line of kisses one by one from the top of my forehead to the tip of my nose before hovering over my lips.
“Tired?”
“Not yet,” I said, nudging my nose against his. “You heard Lola. I need my top shelf dick first.”
Tornado buried his laugh against my neck, and the warmth and brushing caress made me shiver.
“If we start now, you’ll be tired tomorrow,” Mackenzie said.
“You’ll be tired tomorrow. I’ll sleep in Bullet’s truck as he drives.”
“Worth a few yawns to keep you awake, love,” Tornado murmured in my ear. He didn’t kiss though. He sat up slightly and waited for Mackenzie to give instructions.
Mackenzie rolled, dug under the pillows, and pulled out his dark glasses, slipping them on and sitting up in the bed to stare at us. He frowned at Tornado.
“I’m not sure I know how to… lead this part,” he said.
Right, because Mackenzie had never knotted anyone. I bit my lip and waited for them to work it out together. I could manage for myself. Taking Jonah’s knot had been easy and instinctual, and I didn’t think Tornado would be any different.
“What do you think, love? Is it time for us to teach Books about how well you take a knot?”
Tornado asked me. I grinned and nodded, looking up at him. “What do you want first, love?”
“Kiss,” I said, lifting my chin.
Tornado grinned and delivered a pecking, delicate kiss before following it with a deeper press. I hummed and relaxed as he took his time, sinking in before drawing away and leaving me chasing him for more.
“Touch her skin,” Mackenzie said, and Tornado and I hid our smiles against each other as his fingers slipped beneath my t-shirt, stroking in feather-light brushes over my ribs.
“More,” I whispered, pulling my mouth away and arching beneath him.
Tornado’s mouth traveled down my throat, rougher now, teeth adding a scratch alongside the scrape of his facial hair.
“Shirt up over her breasts,” Mackenzie said, his hands landing on my knees and spreading them open and holding them there. “You know how rich your perfume gets when we’re touching you like this, angel? So thick I can smell you in a room for days afterward. Never even got this hard as a kid.”
Tornado laughed and nodded, traveling from my neck down to my breasts, gentle and teasing again. “Haven’t thought about sex this much since I was a teenager too,” he said, before licking a circle around one nipple and then the other.
I sucked in a gasp as he blew warm breath over the wet marks, leaving it to cool quickly in the exposed air.
“Top off, Baby,” Mackenzie instructed, and I wiggled my way out immediately.
Tornado mouthed over the newly exposed skin, my shoulders and collarbones. I locked eyes with Mackenzie as I reached down and slid my hands up Tornado’s wiry, muscled arms, waiting for the nod of permission before continuing and slipping my fingers into his hair. Tornado purred, that lovely, uneven crackle of his that he tried to soften and steady.
Mackenzie stayed quiet for a long time, watching us kiss and touch, soft and velvety purr occasionally sounding. The nest filled with their scents and mine, until it almost became colors in the air, a cloudy haze of lust. Tornado’s touches left phantom shadows on my skin as if the places he kissed were begging for him to return.
“Finish undressing her,” Mackenzie rasped.
Tornado was still on his side while I tried to arch into him, and Mackenzie’s hands braced me open to scent the nest. Together they twisted and turned me, shimmying me out of the boxer shorts I’d stolen from Seth.
“You’re wet,” Tornado said, pressing his fingers over my slit, grinding the fabric of my panties into my sensitive skin.
“I’m ready,” I said in a hiccuping, breathless tone, rocking into his touch.
“Did you present for Scorch, Baby? Or Green when he knotted you?” Mackenzie asked.
I swallowed at the memories. Jonah and I had made love on my back, although I’d felt the urge at the time. Ryan on the other hand… I nodded.
“Show us,” Mackenzie said, voice lowering into a growl, his hand reaching down to cup himself and squeeze.
Tornado pulled away, and I scrambled through pillows and the sheets I’d tangled my feet in, to turn myself to my hands and knees. I arched my back, lowering myself to my elbows, and immediately understood the biological craving of this position. I felt hollow like this, needing to be filled and covered and protected by my alphas. Behind me, twin sets of purrs—totally different textures and volumes—sounded and ran a shiver up my spine.
“Tornado, please,” I said, trying to curve my back even further, present more fully.
“Spread your legs,” Mackenzie said.
I did and immediately moaned, that empty feeling increasing. My fingers clutched in pillows and I gasped as the first soft touch skimmed down the back of my thighs, just fingertips leaving a fire bright trail on my skin. The bed dipped between my legs, and I forced myself to hold still, my breaths
noisy and wild as I waited.
“Taste first,” Mackenzie whispered.
I whimpered and then buried my face in a pillow and moaned loud and long as a hot tongue licked from clit to slit to dip inside of me. I leaned back, and Tornado’s scratching purr vibrated through me.
“Please,” I said, the word muffled by the pillow.
“Touch,” Mackenzie instructed, and I whined and rocked as Tornado’s tongue was replaced by his finger repeating the same path. It slid deeper, pumping until I was fucking myself with it as he held it still. A second squeezed in easily, and then the purring grew loud as Tornado fit a third with little resistance, my whines and groans encouraging more.
“Make sure you can watch,” Tornado said, taking the lead back from Mackenzie’s curiosity.
I sobbed as he pulled his fingers free. A moment later the hair of his thighs was tickling the skin
inside of mine, his hot length sliding through my wetness to coat himself. Mackenzie was rocking the bed as he moved up to my hip, and I fumbled in the dark for his hand.
“Love, relax,” Tornado cooed, the sweetness of his voice in perfect contrast to the rough edges of his purr.
He leaned forward over my back, the dark trail of hair on his stomach brushing my skin, his lips pressed to the nape of my neck. He took a deep breath, chest swelling against my back and then exhaled it, breath sliding over my shoulders like water. When he repeated the action, I copied him, body sagging.
He slid in, slow and steady on the third exhale, the breath turning to a moan on my lips as he pressed in and stretched me. Tornado leaned back as he reached nearly the hilt, a soft swell of his
knot resting at my opening.
“Good, love?”
“So good,” I gasped and then added. “More.”
“I will,” Tornado said, a hint of a laugh in his voice. “Just gonna enjoy this with you first.” To Mackenzie, he added, “The knot will set her off. The longer you can tease her with it, the harder she’ll come when she takes it.”
“Promises, promises,” I snarled, and then squeaked as Tornado pulled out and began to thrust.
“I want to touch her,” Mackenzie said.
“Play with her clit. I’ll tell you when it’s too much.”
Mackenzie loosened his fingers from mine, kissing my shoulder and then fumbling beneath me until his fingertips skimmed over my clit and made me gasp. I let them play me between them, Tornado’s steady and deep fucking echoing up from my center, Mackenzie’s teasing touch lighting me up like flickers of fireworks.
“Feels like you’re trying to take me down with you, love,” Tornado groaned. “So good.
Squeezing and pulling me in.”
“Knot,” I growled, trying to push back against him and force him to fill me.
“Soon,” he said. “Harder, Books.”
The teasing became a firm, guided touching, swirling and working me into a senseless frenzy.
“Please. Please. Tornado, Sanjay,” I said his name on a whisper, feeling his fingers tighten around my hips.
He groaned and his hips stuttered closer, edging me open. “Stop. Stop touching her. Fuck. Baby,
love, you ready?”
“Yes, fuck yes, please.”
Jonah had gotten me off before knotting me, and it hadn’t been an immediate explosion when he’d first slid home. This was. Tornado’s knot had swelled fully while he’d fucked me, and the effect was immediate as he pushed in, the knot fitting to all the nerves that’d been begging and waiting to be touched. My hands scrambled into pillows and sheets as my arms gave out beneath me and my legs kicked out in shock at the shattering orgasm.
Tornado was there, arms circling me and catching me as we fell bodily together to the bed. His hips fit perfectly against my ass as he continued to rock and rut inside of me. The pleasure came on in quick waves that stole one breath after the other.
“Holy shit,” Mackenzie breathed as Tornado snarled and purred against my throat, sucking skin between his teeth but resisting the urge to bite. Every flick of his tongue over the pinched skin made me shiver, a little rivulet of pleasure shooting through my muscles until I was a puddle of limbs and sweaty skin.
“How long you want her like this?” Tornado rasped, rolling onto his side and kissing the spot he’d been abusing. He lifted his leg, propping me open, and then rolled slowly against me.
“How long can it last?” Mackenzie asked, voice awed.
I managed to force my eyes open, finding him on his knees in front of us, his hand still covering his erection, squeezing his base.
“Let’s find out,” Tornado mused, and I whined as he reached to my pussy, spreading me open.
Mackenzie’s eyes fixed to the spot and then he slid down the bed, accepting the offering of my sex, his tongue lapping over my clit and making me keen and writhe. Tornado’s hand rose up to my breast, fingers playing, his breath short in my ear.
“We’ve got all night, love,” Tornado said in my ear. “Gonna make the most of every second.”
Mackenzie’s tongue sharpened to a tip and traveled down from my clit to my opening, and then Tornado was groaning with me, cock nudging and thrusting as much as it could with us locked together, catching every sweet spot inside of me. When Mackenzie worked his way back up again, I came with a cry, Tornado finally flooding heat inside of me.
“Pinch her breasts and work her throat,” Mackenzie said, the command returning to his words. “I want to see that again.”
“Wear me out,” I dared them, smiling as sweat dewed on my skin.
Tornado followed my instructions, and then words were lost as I sank into sensation.
