“Argh,” he mouthed, not shouting so he didn’t scare her, but he needn’t have bothered. Finlo bent over and roared laughing. Which made Luisa giggle and try to do it again.
I clicked my tongue. “No, Lulu. Gentle hands.”
Seven was laughing now too. “Telling the toddler to be careful with the Manix Alpha,” he chuckled. “The irony.”
I looked around the room and noticed Raiden was missing. I frowned, and Ellar came over to hug me to his side. “He’s cooking. It’s Raiden’s happy place. Don’t tell him it's because he’s an Omega though, or you will get a knife through the thigh. Ask Seven.”
The man in question scowled. “You’re going to convince her that we are bloodthirsty assholes. We both know it was because Raiden was going through the yearning and I opened my stupid mouth.” He switched his eyes to me. “If you come to live with us, Raiden would never go through the yearning again. He’s much more pleasant when we aren’t flipping off Mother Nature.”
I didn’t say anything, because Mother Nature was flipping me off in return at that moment, making my body cramp. Desperation made me ask, “So how would this work?”
Gatlin was still juggling Luisa, so it was Finlo who answered. “It works however you want, really. You call the shots. From our point of view, just, uh, copulating with Raiden during the heat would be a blessing. Anything more than that would be a miracle we would be completely thankful for.” He rubbed his palms down the front of his jeans, and I ignored the bulge there. Well, kinda. “As for you, we can ease the suffering of the heat, but as you know, it involves a lot of sex. And orgasms. It's basically a week-long orgy.”
As if my body knew what we were talking about, it cramped again, making sweat breaking out across my skin and my fresh underwear grow damp. Gatlin rumbled low in his chest, handing Luisa off to Ellar, and walked out the front door.
I looked at Finlo, who was gritting his teeth. “Don’t worry about him. It’s your need. We can scent it, almost see it. It’s making us a little… distracted.”
I nodded, because it was distracting me too. “What do we do about the other Pack in town while we are having this marathon orgy? Or about Luisa? Toddlers aren’t something you can stick in a room and forget about while you’re having a good time,” I growled, and they all looked horrified. Again.
“Traditionally, the Betas care for the young, as they don’t usually get the option of creating young in a Pack, especially during a heat. But we aren’t a usual Pack, and we believe that all members should be able to express their, uh, desire during the heat. Besides, believe it or not, all six of us will not be creating the world's longest conga line. There will always be someone who is around to care for Luisa. She will not be neglected as we see to your needs.” His body tensed and he stared at the door. “As for Wilkie and his Pack, well, we can fortify this place, always be on guard, and hope that he respects the boundaries.” He didn’t sound convinced though.
This was fucking insane. Absolutely bananas. It was too much and I wanted to run away screaming.
As if he sensed my distress—which hell, maybe he did because I knew nothing about Manix Omegas—Raiden appeared in the doorway to my kitchen. He smiled at me and it made my chest feel weird. Too full, like I was having an anxiety attack, but like, a happy one?
“Dinner’s ready.”
Thank god. I was starving, despite the painful cramps, the multilayered worry, and the gut-clenching anxiety. It was official. The heat was like PMS sent straight from Satan.
11
Ellar
Iwanted to feed Naja by hand. I wanted to lay her across the table and lick the lemon cream pasta sauce from her body. I wanted to crawl under the table, bury my face between her thighs, and ease the ache that I knew was plaguing her right now.
I kept all those thoughts off my face as I ate Raiden’s signature dish. Handmade pasta, a lemon sauce with seared lemon rounds and whatever green stuff he could find for color. In this case, it was asparagus, which tasted amazing. Naja was already on her second bowl and even baby Luisa had spread it right around her face. I knew Naja was carb loading, her body unconsciously preparing her for the gruelling—or amazing—week ahead of her. Only Naja could choose which one it would be.
Goddess, I hoped she chose amazing. Luisa flung a long piece of fettuccine, and I whipped my hand out and caught it before it could hit the wall. Then I put it in my mouth and slurped it down like a worm, making the little girl giggle.
Gah, I was clucky as hell. We all had our biological roles during the heat, and a Beta’s job had always been as a caregiver. We’d take care of the Omegas, of the young. We’d make sure everyone remained fed and hydrated, and be the first line of defense in case of attack. It meant our nurturing instincts went into overdrive, which was why Seven was sitting between Naja and Luisa like he could protect them both from any unseen attack. He’d hate to admit it was his Beta instincts; no one resented their designation like Seven.
Me? I loved it. I loved caring for everyone, giving comfort, without all the posturing of an Alpha or the vulnerability and expectation of an Omega. Sometimes being perfectly ordinary was freeing. Seven didn’t see it that way, but that was okay. There was a place for Seven and his strength in the Pack too.
All that being said, I felt kind of sorry for the Betas in traditional Packs because if I had to resist Naja right now, to leave satisfying her up to the Alphas, I’d go crazy. We weren’t a traditional Pack though.
I snorted. We were anything but a traditional Pack.
Naja was making this happy moaning sound as she ate pasta, like any normal being, but it was making my dick twitch. And by the looks of the strained faces around the tiny kitchen, I wasn’t the only one.
There was no dining room in Naja’s house, and obviously she and Luisa usually ate at the tiny two person table underneath the window. No matter how I searched, there didn’t seem to be the influence of any other males in the house. No male scent lingered on her sheets. I was glad she’d been in the shower and hadn’t seen me sniffing her blankets like a damn weirdo.
We were all squeezed into the kitchen, Raiden sitting on the bench with his bowl of pasta in his lap, Seven at the end of the tiny two person table, with Naja and Luisa on each side. I rested my bowl beside Raiden’s thighs, and Finlo and Gatlin leaned against the wall either side of the door. This house was too tiny for a Pack, and it made me yearn for home. But we couldn’t go back without Naja. I knew it in my bones.
But first, we had to woo her. I broke the strained silence.
“How long have you been in Lolo?”
She swallowed hard. “About a year. We came up from Mexico.”
