The sound of my name on her lips breaks my resolve.
“Okay,” I breathe out. “Okay.”
I lift her slightly, sliding my pants down just enough to free myself.
I’m harder than I’ve ever been in my life. I enter her from behind, lifting her hips to meet mine.
She’s so wet, so open from Knox, that I slide in effortlessly. But she’s still tight, her internal walls rippling and clamping down on me the moment I’m seated.
“Oh god,” she gasps. “Yes. Eli, yes.”
“Prends-le,”Knox commands from the side, his eyes locked on where we are joined. “Take all of him, Amber.”
I set a rhythm, slower than Knox’s brutal pace. I want to savor her, but the heat won’t let me. She feels too good. She feels like molten silk.
I rock into her, grinding deep, hitting the spot that makes her cry out.
“Look at me,” I whisper against her ear, turning her face toward mine.
She struggles to focus, her eyes rolling back. “Eli...”
“I love you,” I say, the words tearing out of me. I say them over and over like a prayer. “I love you so much. You’re so beautiful. You’re ours.”
Fallon moves in front of her, distracting her from the intensity. He offers her water from a bottle, holding it to her lips. “Drink, Amber. Small sips.”
She drinks greedily, water spilling down her chin. I reach around to wipe it away, my hand tangling with Fallon’s.
We move like this for what feels like hours. A blur of skin and friction and desperate whispers.
The fever spikes and dips, driving her to heights of desperation that leave her sobbing, then crashes into moments of exhaustion where she curls into a ball and trembles.
During one of the lulls, while she dozes fitfully against my chest, my phone buzzes on the floor.
I grab it, my eyes scanning the screen. It’s a text from Dorian.
Status?
She’s resting,I type back one-handed, keeping my other arm wrapped protectively around Amber.Fever is high but stable. You guys?
Dorian: Ryker is at the house with Jude, Norah, and Rosie. Maisie is asleep. They’re safe. I’m doing a perimeter check of the warehouse now.
Me: Thanks.
I set the phone down. The tension in my chest eases slightly, but not by much. The world outside feels distant, a threat that can’t penetrate the bubble of scent and sex we’ve created, but the Alpha in me remains hyper-vigilant.
Every time the wind rattles the steel siding of the warehouse, my head snaps up.
“Is she okay?” Knox asks. He’s pacing near the fireplace, naked, his body tense.
“She will be,” I say. “Her biology is just... resetting. It’s violent because she suppressed it for so long.”
“We need a plan,” Knox says, stopping his pacing. He looks at us with a lethal focus. “We can’t just react. If she’s going to be like this for three days, we need structure.”
“Food,” Fallon says, dipping the cloth back in the water. “High energy. Protein. She’s burning through calories. We need to feed her.”
“Water,” I add. “Gallons of it. And electrolytes.”
“Security,” Knox says, his jaw tight. “We rotate. One on her, one sleeping, one watching the perimeter. Luke is out there. I can feel it.”
