Why do I want to cry?
“Are you okay?” Knox stops what he’s doing, staring intensely at my face. “Am I hurting you?”
“I—I’m okay.” I swallow thickly, trying to keep my emotions in check.
Relief flashes in Knox’s eyes, but it doesn’t last as his attention drifts back to my neck. His brows knit again, his jaw tight. He looks like a man carrying the weight of a decision.
“Enough of this,” he says to the washcloth. “It’ll probably hurt less if I clean it properly.”
Properly? My chest pinches. I don’t know what that means.
But before I can ask, Knox tosses his washcloth into the sink with a sharp flick. He rises up on his knee, so close to the tub his thigh brushes the porcelain. His big hand slides under my chin, tilting my head until my throat is bared to him. The ragged wound pulses at the angle, making me frown.
Then his mouth covers it.
A gasp breaks from me, my nails digging into the rim of the tub. “Knox—no, you don’t have to do that.” Panic and shame shoot through me like lightning. “I know how disgusting it is for alphas to touch a mark that?—”
Knox growls low, the sound vibrating against my skin, silencing me. “You belong to me. To us. Every fucking inch of you, omega. Including this mark.” His tongue drags hot over the ruined bite before his lips seal around it, pulling hard.
It burns.Hot.
My whole body convulses, a helpless whimper tearing out of my throat.
“Hey, hey, I’ve got you.” Dakota’s voice steadies me ashis hand finds mine under the water, fingers squeezing firm. “Almost over, sweetheart. Just breathe.”
The sting sharpens until I think I might scream, and then it breaks. The fire starts to ebb, drawn out of me with each pull of Knox’s mouth. A tremor of relief ripples through my body, loosening the knot at the base of my skull, melting the locked muscles in my neck. Even the deep, gnawing ache in my joints—something I hadn’t realized was there until now—fades with each lap of his tongue.
My breathing stutters then evens out.
I’m floating, loose and heavy, while Dakota keeps me anchored. He presses the puff to my skin again, only now his touch is firmer, confident. He massages down my shoulders, kneading the soreness from my muscles before sliding over my arms, between my breast, and down to my thighs.
“That’s it,” Dakota murmurs, voice thick with warmth. “Such a good omega.”
“Does it feel better?” Knox rumbles, as he kisses my sensitive skin.
“Yes,” I mumble, every inch of me limp like jelly.
I see Dakota glance at Knox, then smile like they’re sharing a look. But I don’t care what they do, as long as they don’t stop. And Knox doesn’t.
His mouth keeps pulling at my mark, slow and relentless, each drag of his tongue easing the burn, until relief coils through me so hard it makes me dizzy. His breath is hot against my throat, his teeth grazing the edge of the wound, and then his hands start to move.
One slides down the length of my back, steady, grounding, while the other drifts away from my neck. His fingertips slip over my collarbone, down, down, down until his palm settles heavy and warm over my breast. I can’t hold back thesmall moan that spills from me. My nipples pebble under the water, aching for more.
Sensing what I want, Knox’s thumb rolls over the peak before he insistently plucks at it. My breath tears from me in a gasp, my head tipping all the way back to give him more room to consume me.
Dakota keeps moving the puff over my skin, but I feel the change in him. The puff drifts higher on my thighs, skimming places that make me twitch. But his eyes aren’t on my legs anymore—they’re locked on Knox’s hands. On the way, the pack alpha is touching me.
It’s like he’s caught in a current he can’t fight.
Slowly, Knox’s lips peel from my throat just enough to whisper against my ear, voice husky and low. “Spread your legs, omega. Let our beta take care of you.”
Heat flashes between my thighs so fast it’s almost humiliating in its intensity. My legs tremble as I part my knees under the water.
Dakota hesitates only a second before tossing the puff somewhere behind him. Then his bare hand slides up the inside of my thigh. I can feel the slight tremor in his fingers as he moves closer to my pussy. But then he stops only a few inches from my hot center, uncertain.
“Is this okay?” Dakota asks.
I can’t nod with Knox latched to my throat, and even though some shameful part of me wants to beg the beta to keep touching me, I bite my tongue, afraid of saying the wrong thing.
