"Tell her we love her," Silas mutters and trails after Kade. Their whiskey and green tea scents cling to my clothes. I almost beg Jarek to come kiss me.
Jarek chuckles as if he read my mind. Running his hand through his beard, he hums with appreciation while staring at my soaked pants. "I'd lick you clean if there wasn't a beautiful omega waiting for you."
His words almost make me pant, but I hold it together. Barely.
"Bring her to the pack nest when she's ready. Vivie doesn't sleep well unless she's in it," Jarek advises before following his male mates.
Mates.
I suppose I need to get used to that...
Twenty-One
Vivian
We can't handle Vivian on our own this time.
That was the final blow to my heart. For a moment I really believed Kade fractured my mind, unleashing all the demons.
TOLD YOU SO!the mean voices shouted over and over again. All I could do was run. Run to the only other person I trusted in the whole world. Riot was my safe space when my other three broke my heart.
They could have said anything else and it wouldn't have hurt so viscerally. I should have left when I heard them diagnosing me, but I had to know what they were thinking.
It's better this way. Now I have confirmation they really do believe I'm a burden. Of course I should have known that everything would only get worse after being beaten and held captive for almost a week.
I just thought they'd still accept me. Hoping they would understand my new differences was too much pressure to put on them to begin with. Now I've pushed them over the edge into doing the one thing they swore they'd never do. Label me. Judge me.
The door to Riot's bedroom opens after a long five minutes, but I'm too tired to lift my head. It's a battleground in there.
"I see your mind twisting you inside out, Firefly. Let's say we go have a shower and I'll braid your hair, huh?"
What's that smell?My back spasms with the force of my head whipping up to stare at his crotch. Smelling the scent of his cum for the first time makes my brain stop.
"Alpha..." I breathe, ready to drop to my knees and clean him up.
"Don't," he growls and angles away from me with a hand outstretched to stop me. His face is lined in sexy shadows, courteous of the low, intimate lighting of his room. "Between you and Jarek looking like you're going to suck the cum from my pants, I'm in serious danger of making the mess twice as large."
"Pretty please?" I tease, batting my lashes at his crotch.
Groaning, he adjusts himself and backs away. "Fuck. No dirty talk right now, Vivian. I promised your alpha I'd get us cleaned up and brush your hair. Don't make me a liar."
Grumbling, I shift off the bed. Cursing under his breath as he shuffles to the bathroom, I snicker. Riot glares at me over his shoulder.
"You could have warned me about Kade's sexual magnetism."
An unlady-like burst of laughter escapes me. "Sexual magnetism," I wheeze under my breath.Shit, that's a good one.
"Don't you dare tell him I said that," he warns, flipping on the light in the bathroom.
My laughter dries up at the reminder that I'll need to talk to my pack at some point. It was a nice reprieve from the mean thoughts beating me down, but reality hits hard sometimes.
As much as my omega wants to whimper and present for Riot when the bathroom boxes in his pheromones, I also need to see how well he can control himself. Can he put aside his owndesires to take care of me when I feel like I'm about to shatter at something so small as a side eye?
Yes. The answer is fuck yes.
"Right there," I moan, head tilted back to give him better access.
After he showered and I washed my face, we migrated back to his bedroom. He offered to brush my hair, but the moment his fingers dug into my scalp to braid my hair over the side of the bed, I absolutelymelted.
