I released her, ready to ask what had happened, but Bridget leaned up on her toes to kiss me before I could form the words.
My breath stopped. The kiss was soft and I held her carefully, keeping myself still in case I scared her away. But her lips moved against mine, tentative at first, then more confident. Her cool breath was like the breeze through a spring garden. When her tongue darted out to meet mine, I couldn’t suppress a groan at her taste, an echo of the flavor of her slick that I’d licked from my fingers what seemed a lifetime ago.
Bridget’s arms looped around my neck as I pulled her closer, nuzzled the spot just under her ear, and brushed my fingers down the knobs of her spine. I was purring, a full-throated sound to which Bridget couldn’t help but respond. She relaxed in my arms, becoming boneless, and I kissed her more deeply.
I wanted more, of course, wanted to strip her down and kiss every square inch of her body, taste her sweet slick from the source, sink my teeth into the delicate skin covering her pounding pulse. But I needed answers first.
I pulled away reluctantly and her injuries reasserted themselves. I growled at the marks on her neck. Someone had put their hands around her throat. “Are you alright? Do you need a doctor?”
“I’m okay,” she said, but her voice was hoarse.
Then I saw Gabriel behind her.
My first reaction was fury. He’d put himself in danger, had kept me waiting here all fucking night, and then he shows up without calling, without letting me know he was alive?
I stepped around Bridget and pressed him roughly against the back of the door. The fucker wasn’t even sorry; I could feel his triumph in the bond at bringing Bridget back safely, and something else under the surface. Some kind of disappointment. But nothing like guilt.
“I’m never going to forgive you for this,” I growled and I let him feel my anger and my gut-wrenching fear that I’d lose him. I poured the muted terror of every minute waiting for him to call into the bond. He held me fiercely and took it all, and I could feel his remorse for having hurt me, but there was still no guilt for what he’d done.
“I would do it again, amore,” he whispered and drew me closer. When his arms wrapped around my neck, I let my growldissolve into a purr. His scent was stronger than usual, from pride probably, and it calmed my inner Alpha.
“You could have at least called,” I grumbled, then kissed him.
He kissed me greedily, licking at my mouth with indecent enthusiasm for someone who’d been running around the city all night. My purr deepened to a growl again as I felt him harden against my thigh. I pressed my leg against him and he groaned.
I could have gotten on my knees right there and then if one of them wasn’t in agony. But I also remembered we had an audience.
Bridget and Nathan had retreated to the living room, and he was holding her tightly, swaying back and forth with an expression closer to pain than happiness.
“I’m sorry for worrying you,” she was saying, and he shushed her gently, kissing the top of her head.
I expected jealousy at watching the two of them together. But my inner Alpha didn’t rear back in envy. There was no urge to slit anyone’s throat. Instead, all I felt was approval. Nathan was comforting our Omega as he should. Gabriel squeezed my hand gently, and even if I hadn’t felt his pride for me in the bond, I would have seen it in his smile.
“As much as I would love to hear exactly what happened tonight, I think we all need some rest,” I said. Bridget turned to face us. Her eyes flicked to where Gabriel’s hand was intertwined with mine and I couldn’t read her expression. I hoped that soon I’d be able to fix that problem. “Come on, I wanna show you something.”
The mattresses on the floor looked more inviting with the prospect of sharing it with Bridget and Gabriel rather than a sleepover with just Nathan. She inhaled softly when she saw it.
“A nest?” she asked.
“A shitty one. But it’ll work for tonight. I’ve got some improvements planned for tomorrow—”
“No, it’s great,” Bridget interrupted with a quick smile. Her eyes found Nathan. “And you’ll… You’ll stay, too?”
Nathan inclined his head. We really needed to have a chat about his resting bitch face.
Bridget disappeared for a few minutes and returned with damp hair, wearing the same shorts she’d been wearing when I—
Nope. Not the time to remember that. I reminded myself it was almost four in the morning.
“Come here,” I said, patting the mattress. I was glad she hadn’t seen my undignified collapse into the nest. Gabriel was already shirtless on my other side. We’d agreed that I would get to cuddle with Bridget as his punishment.
Bridget hesitated for just a second before crawling in beside me. She settled with a sigh that brought a gust of her scent. I grabbed her hand and kissed her palm. That was the only part of her I trusted myself to touch.
Nathan arrived, wearing another one of my t-shirts and basketball shorts. They were both slightly too small on him. He looked more severe than ever, but I knew now that was just discomfort at the thought of doing something wrong. And maybe a bit of fear.
“Come on, man. We saved you a spot,” I said, and he looked at me gratefully.
He lay on Bridget’s other side, and Gabriel switched off the lamp.
