Me? I had no fucking idea. My sire had been a piece of shit, and still was. I had no good example of parenting to emulate. I could only rely on my Pack to show me what to do.
I walked up the stairs, catching Naja sneaking off with Ellar in the corner of my eye. I decided to pretend I didn’t see it. She needed to confide in someone, and Ellar was the best of us really.
But as much as I tried not to, I couldn’tnothear her words.
“I wanted to ask you something,” she whispered. “If I have to go, will you keep Luisa here with you? I’ll come back for her, I swear.” There was raw anguish beneath the steel of her words. “But she is collateral to him, not the prize.”
“Naja—” Ellar started, but she cut him off.
“Ellar, please. Yes or no?”
I could hear his sigh, the undertone of frustrated helplessness in his voice. “Of course I will. I will take care of her like she’s my own child, but it won’t come to that. You won’t have to run. I swear it.”
Her voice got muffled and I thought maybe she was speaking as she hugged him, so I tuned them out as much as I could. I walked toward Raiden, whose eyes were worried. We’d all heard—there were no secrets in a Pack, mainly because Manix had the best hearing of any supernatural on the planet. Well, maybe not the vamps. Those dead fucks heard everything.
But we all pretended to be oblivious when they reappeared moments later. Raiden was making dough like he’d been at it for hours rather than moments, and I leaned against the countertop sipping a beer that had just appeared in my hand.
She gave us a shaky smile, like she hadn’t just offered Ellar her very heart for safekeeping.
I hated the Legion, but I would supplicate myself at their feet for her. That scared me. She wasn’t meant to mean this much to me this quickly. She was a means to an end—a way to finally fulfil my Pack’s greatest wish. But I wanted her, and not just for the crazy fucking.
Finlo said I had a savior complex, and perhaps I did. Perhaps I needed to be needed, or maybe I was addicted to that look of relief that I saw as they realized the bad times were finally over.
Yeah, okay. Maybe I did have a hero complex, but that wasn’t really a bad thing.
“Can I have the week to decide?” Naja asked quietly, and I nodded.
“Take all the time you need.”
My Beast though? He was glaringly in control right now. I walked over and picked her up, holding her hesitantly until she wrapped her thighs around my hips. It just felt so fucking right. “Pizza first. Then a movie. Then, if you are amiable, I thought I’d eat you out until you can’t feel your thighs.”
She froze in my arms, her eyes wide like prey, but quickly relaxed into my embrace, nuzzling her nose into my neck. “I think I’d find that satisfactory.”
I rumbled low in my chest, spinning her until she was sitting on the bench. She spread her thighs and I leaned over her, my hands either side of her hips. “We could skip the pizza and the movie,” I purred, and she made a low humming noise.
Then something whacked my knuckles. “Ow!”
I looked around Naja’s shoulders at a stern Raiden. “No. First we feed our Omega, then we get to eat. You know this shit. That's a bad Alpha.Bad Alpha!”
I gave him a mock growl and darted around the bench top. Raiden yelped and ran, his grin wide.
The little fucker was fast though, always had been. I chased him around the open plan living room but he was still a step or two ahead of me. He dodged around the couch, and I jumped and cleared it easily. I barrelled into his body, the force of my momentum catching him up in my path until he was slammed between the wall and my body. But I lifted my hand to catch the back of his head so it didn’t hit the wall. I’d never cause him injury.
He was panting hard. My wild Omega loved a bit of primal play. He liked to be chased—liked to be caught even better though. I lifted my other hand and wrapped it around his throat, and his lips parted. I licked over his pulse point and then along the curve of his jaw, a primal claiming. His life was mine right now, and I could take it with a squeeze of my hand. Instead, I nipped his lip and then plunged my tongue into his mouth, making him moan and grip at my shoulders.
Someone moaned behind us. “This is making me so wet. Should this be making me this wet? Fuck, do you think they’ll do it again if I ask nicely?” Naja was asking in a low voice, and whoever she was talking to chuckled low.
“Definitely,” Finlo said. “Now tell me what you want on your pizza.”
“Sausage. A lot of sausage.”
I laughed against Raiden’s lips. “Love you, Omega, even if you don’t know your place.”
He ran a hand up the back of my head, twisting my hair in his fingers and tugging. “Alpha, you love mebecauseI don’t know my place.”
I chuckled low because he was so fucking right.
27
