PROLOGUE
PT. 1: LIV
Songbird - Fleetwood Mac
Two years ago
“Ihope we fucking knocked you up this time.”
I snort into the pillow my face is currently buried in, giggling as I try—and nearly fail—to push myself up on shaking arms.
Shaking arms, wobbly legs. Other parts that tingle with every movement because I’m sensitive, sweaty and sticky.
My entire body is still twitching and spasming, it’s struggling to regain an ounce of composure, all thanks to my mates’ quarterly attempt to do exactly what Dante said.
Not that any of us have a choice when the time comes, nor would we change that, but still. They no longer refer to any part of my cycle as my heat. Not the beginning when I get hormonal, emotional, and add to my nest like a crazy person. Not whenI’m coming out of it like now, still kind of hazy, lazy, and totally covered in cum. And they definitely don’t refer to the in between as being in heat. Nope, not these three. Instead, it’s baby-making week from start to finish, and I’m not sure if I love the new title or hate it.
Truth be told, it’s beginning to grow on me.
The fact that they’re so ready, so excited and determined to start our family makes it really hard not to get on board with the stupid title because the more they use it, the more open I am to the idea.
Yes, I was the one who needed convincing.
Not while in the throes, but before and after.
I wasn’t really sure I wanted to have kids at all, not after the way I grew up, and I wanted time with my mates; time to have them all to myself before we even decided to discuss the possibility. We seem so young. Too young to start a family now. Especially since we fought so damn hard to get here, and we’ve barely had a chance to enjoy our freedom. Not that thirty isn’t old enough to be a parent, I’m sure it’s prime for most, but I don’t feel likemeat thirty is old enough to entertain the idea, let alone act on it.
Those are the thoughts that always bring me back down to earth after my heat, and they generally start a fight with one, if not all three of the men I love.
“I think this was it,” Emery says, his smile audible as I feel his hands move down over my ass until he’s popping it in the air. He grunts as he drags his fingers through multiple layers of cum, easily sliding across my skin until he uses them to spread my pussy wide. “Oh yeah, this has to be the one.”
I bite my lip as his breath fans across my buttcheek, his lips ghosting over my flesh before his tongue darts out to lick my core from front to back.
“Give her a minute, man.” Jay kneels in front of me, taking my chin between his forefinger and thumb, pulling my lip free from my teeth as he dons his sweet, lopsided grin. “You need water, bug.”
Emery’s hands move to my waist, pulling me upright and back against his chest while Jay lifts a straw to my lips. I watch the way he watches me, making sure I get through at least half of the bottle before he even thinks about letting me take a break. Which he only does because Dante is sitting next to him with a protein bar at the ready, the two of them staring at me while he feeds it to me in little baby bird bites until it’s almost gone.
I shake my head and smile as I finish the last of it, lifting my hand to keep the straw out of my mouth for a few more seconds. “You know I can do all of this myself, right?”
They both nod as Emery pulls me closer. “And you know you’re never going to have to as long as you have us, right?”
“Yes.” I sigh and roll my eyes even though I secretly love the way they dote on me. “I’m not to lift a finger for at least a week after baby making.”
“It’s better that way.”
“Is that so?” I ask as Emery holds me tighter, and Dante and Jay both nod their agreement,again.
We have this conversation all the time, not only in the afterglow of my heat.
These three men wouldn’t let me feed, dress or bathe myself if they could get me to agree. Hell, they’d probably come with me to the bathroom if I let them, and god only knows what they’d offer to do in there. I’m almost positive they’d stick me in some sort of carrier if they could, an adult size baby carrier just so I didn’t have to walk. Something they could take turns strapping to themselves in order to keep me close, and from doing anything on my own.
I know it’s the dynamic; adoring alphas spoiling their omega, but I think it goes beyond that for them.
We all came from the same hellhole, and all four of us were living separately in our own individual ones before that.
I had no one until I had them, not really.
When I ran away from the prison I was born into, the one I was forced to call my home, I left the only person I truly loved behind. And since there was no one who could have saved me from what happened next, I’m glad they didn’t run away with me.
