Quentin grinned, stepping over to us to ruffle our omega’s hair and give him a kiss on the forehead. “Kidding, Marlie. I might be fresh out of cum, but my dick is always very happy to be inside you. If you let Denny wear you out tonight, I’ll be good to go again in the morning.”

  I scowled, releasing one hand from my clinging koala bear to punch my brother in the arm. “Don’t call me Denny.”

  “I’ve been calling you that for all twenty-five years of my life and I’m not going to stop now. Dinner is almost ready. I’ll bring up a couple plates and leave it outside the door of the nest when I don’t hear Marlie screaming anymore.”

  He turned on his heel and strolled back to the kitchen. It smelled like chili. Vegetarian chili, because Marlowe couldn’t stomach the idea of eating meat, but I’d gotten used to only tofu and meat replacements in our meals.

  Marlowe was grinding his cock against my stomach, but the thought of fucking him made my stomach curdle. It would be taking advantage of him, while all these lies were hanging over our heads.

  I shouldn’t have even fucking come here, but I hadn’t known where else to go. Sleeping in the SUV hadn’t given me the ability to think like I’d hoped it would, but I couldn’t bring myself to go back to Thorn. She’d told me to leave.

  She’d told me she’d never want me, which stung.

  This whole situation wasn’t just about Marlowe. Despite what the others thought about my choices so far, I wanted to protect Thorn just as much.

  I’d known that the moment I’d seen the pain on her face when I’d said what I had.

  I was a fucking mess, and it made me twice as desperate for my omegas purr. The comfort it brought was unmatched.

  Spending all that time alone, I’d been drowning in thoughts of Ava. What happened to her wasn’t going to happen again, and this was what I needed to do to ensure that.

  “Let me help Quentin cook,” I said, trying to stall.

  He laughed against my neck, licking a path up my jawline. “Are you scared I’m going to be too much for you?” he asked.

  “No, sugar, but⁠—”

  He cut me off with a kiss, his lips parting for my tongue. Kissing him was pure instinct at this point. I’d done it a thousand times. His little moans had my length painfully hard, especially as his body rubbed it.

  How was I supposed to say no?

  I never said no to him. He might not purr if we weren’t up in his nest, skin to skin, and if I didn’t have that right now…

  I might fall apart.

  “Bring me to bed, Denzel,” he murmured. “I missed you. Please?”

  I gave in to the urge to take him up to bed as if this was any other time I’d returned home. It was selfish of me to want him close and to pretend, for the moment, that he wouldn’t hate me when he discovered my deceit.

  Marlowe grinned as I took the stairs two at a time, pushing open the door to the nest. His and Quentin’s scents were heavy in here, the rest of ours faded with the time we’d spent away. When we’d taken Marlowe on as our omega, we’d followed his instructions to the letter in how he wanted his nest set up.

  Everything was floor level and soft. There were no bedframes, the entire floor of the room covered in mattresses and pillows except a small alcove where the door swung inward. That was where I kicked off my shoes before tossing my mate down onto the bed of pastels.

  His colour scheme was light, all the sheets and comforters white and baby pink and pale yellow. A giant window took up the far wall, with a bench seat in front of it. Blackout curtains bracketed it on both sides, the interior-facing side white to match the walls, but he only used them when he was actively in heat and sensitive to the light.

  Around the edges, cushions were attached to the walls, creating a soft bumper so we could throw Marlowe around without threat of him hitting his head on something hard. That was where my mate scrambled to as I stripped off all my clothes, not wanting even a tiny hint of Thorn’s scent in the nest.

  It wouldn’t do for Marlowe to get addicted to it when we didn’t know if she was remotely interested in staying with us.

  I growled as Marlowe took off his clothes, removing the casual t-shirt and sweatpants he’d been wearing while lounging around with Quentin. When he bent over to brace his hands on the cushioned wall, presenting his ass, his hole glistened.

  “Quentin was right,” I said, my voice husky. “You are desperate for attention. How long ago did my brother fuck you, sugar?”

  He looked over his shoulder and whimpered as he watched me get closer until my hands were spreading his cheeks. “Two hours,” he admitted quietly.

  “And your hole is needy for me already,” I murmured, spitting on it. “Do you want my knot to split you in two?”

  Marlowe’s cheeks flushed bright red and he nodded rapidly. “Yes. Please.”

  “Not yet.”

  The sound he let out was desperate already, and I lost myself in his sugary scent for a while. My fingers plunged into his hole, relentlessly abusing his prostate and stroking his cock until he was making a mess all over my hand.

  I licked his release off and then kissed him, murmuring sweet nothings about how good he tasted. His cock didn’t go soft — it rarely did. Before we’d found our omega, I’d known from a scientific standpoint how desperate they could be. In practice, it was more intense.

  I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

  Guilt sliced through me again, turning the moment sour. Marlowe noticed, moving back from the kiss with a cute frown. “Denzel, are you OK?”

  “I’m fine, sugar. Get on your back.”

  He flipped and I drowned my guilt again by swallowing his cock. I made him come down my throat by a combination of my fingers in his hole and my mouth, and then kept sucking his sensitive length until he was spilling again.

  His cum was an aphrodisiac, almost triggering my orgasm every time I tasted it, but I was able to hold off. With my cock leaking, I flipped him to his side and settled to spoon him, sliding my hard cock into his ass.

  Marlowe squirmed and tried to get me to fuck him, but I held still and rained kisses on his neck and shoulders. I was careful to avoid our claiming marks on him.

  His orgasm-induced exhaustion began to overwhelm his need to be fucked and claimed, and eventually he was yawning and lax in my arms, my cock in his hole. There was a purr rumbling his chest, exactly what I’d been desperate for.

  “Take a nap, Marlowe,” I murmured in his ear. “I’ll wake you up when I think you’ve had enough of a break. You can warm my cock in the meantime.”

  His whimper was sleepy, but he pressed himself tighter against me, desperate to make sure I didn’t fall out. I wouldn’t. There was no fucking way I could go soft before I’d claimed him with my seed. My fingers and lips stroked his skin until his breathing evened out, and then I sighed.

  I felt fucking dirty.

  Like the lies had covered my skin in a thick layer of grime

  And by being here, in this nest, I was rubbing it all over my sweet, innocent mate.

  This was a man who baked for the neighbour’s dog and brought a cake to the homeless shelter once a week in case there were any birthdays. A man who had never said a bad word to anybody, even his parents who’d treated him like a commodity to be used for greater influence.

  A man who would fall in love with Thorn the second he met her.

  And a man who would shatter if she was hurt or left.

  I couldn’t let that happen.

  Would he understand that? Would she? No. Neither of them were omegas who wanted to be sheltered and controlled, but I couldn’t help myself. I was the pack lead. Therefore, it was my job to protect our pack and our omega.

  Even if I was protecting him from his mate.

  I heard Quentin outside the door with the food a while later, but I didn’t get up to grab it. My cock stayed hard in Marlowe’s ass and I didn’t know how long I remained like that, letting him sleep and contemplating my choices.

  His purr soothed my soul and made it easier to think. When I could no longer exist alone in my own thoughts, I gently rolled my sleeping mate over onto his stomach, making sure his face was turned so he could breathe.

  Withdrawing from his ass, I began to fuck him slowly.

  He made little noises in his sleep but didn’t move.

  My thrusts got steadily faster and harder until Marlowe woke up with a jolt and wide eyes glanced back at me. “Denzel,” he whimpered. “Oh, fuck.”

  “Welcome back, sugar,” I murmured, ramming my cock into his ass hard enough to shove him forward on the pile of blankets.

  Marlowe’s hands scrabbled for purchase, grabbing at one of the sheets that was tucked under the mattress and holding tight. He got louder as I did, his desperation obvious. “Tell me what you want,” I grunted.

  I grabbed his ass cheeks and spread them, watching as his hole sucked my cock in. His slick dripped from around my length, his perfume heavy in the air.

  “Knot!” he gasped, trying to shove his hips back to forcibly take it. He was easy to restrain, considering he was about half my size. “Please knot me, please. Denzel, I need it. I’ve missed it so much. Need, please.”

  An increasingly incoherent string of pleas came from him as I ground my knot against his hole, teasing him. I waited until tears of desperation were wetting the blankets before working my knot into him.

  His body relaxed from the relief of getting what he desired, only to immediately tense again from the force of his orgasm. His ass clenching down on me dragged my release from me, the ridiculously tight hole milking me.

  I didn’t stop with those orgasms. Pressing him down between the shoulder blades, I hoisted his hips up so they were raised and I could curl over him. The way I rutted him was rough, only shallow thrusts possible with me locked inside, but I slammed my hips against his ass all the same. My grip held him in place, forcing him to take what I gave him.

  It was no hardship for my omega.

  He screamed with how deep every thrust hit, his short arms trying to reach back and drag me closer. I grabbed his wrist instead and wrapped his tiny, delicate hand around his cock.

  “You come two more times before I stop,” I said.

  The first one didn’t take long with his hand frantically stroking himself. He shouted my name and his hole clenched so tight I almost orgasmed again.

  “One more,” I ordered.

  This one took longer, my deep, rough grinding overstimulating him in a way he loved, but made it hard for him to find release. When it became too much for him to bear he begged me to stroke him until he came. “Please, please. You do it just right. If it’s your hand I’ll come,” he said.

  His teeth dug into his bottom lip, and he stared up at me desperately from where I pressed him to the mattress, so it was impossible for me to not give him what he wanted. I removed the hand on his back and brought it to his cock. I wasn’t sure what I did right that he couldn’t do to himself, but it was an ego boost for my omega to need me, and he did.

  Within three strokes he was coming with a scream the neighbours probably heard, and Quentin definitely did downstairs.

  This time his ass pulsed around me and I groaned as I let myself come again, loving how full it made him. My knot kept most of the cum inside, the seal too tight around me to let it spill.

  When I collapsed beside him, our bodies locked together, I curled my sweaty body around his. He was trembling from the intensity of his pleasure, something that often happened when I made him come so many times like that.

  “Will you and Jubilee and Reese be home soon?” he asked in a small voice.

  My eyes shut.

  More fucking guilt.

  This couldn’t continue. We needed to prove to Thorn that we were her scent match pack and see if she left or stayed, once and for all. If she stayed, we could introduce her to Marlowe. Keep her safe as our omega. If she left, I could explain to our mate what happened, and he wouldn’t have to go through the trauma of loving and losing her.

  “I’m working really hard to make sure we are, sugar.”

  He hummed and cuddled against me, trusting me implicitly like he had since the moment we first met.

  I was a piece of fucking shit.

  For the first time, I wondered if Reese was right to disapprove of this plan.

  THIRTEEN

  THORN

  “I’ve got the perfect date planned,” Jubilee said suddenly from his seat at the dining room table.

  Looking up from my colouring book, I took in the mess of paperwork surrounding him and his laptop. “Date… of an experiment?” I asked.

  His eyebrows scrunched together and he shook his head, like it should be obvious what he was talking about. “Date. For us. You and me.”

  “When are we going on a date? And when did you plan this?”

  “Tonight, and just now.”

  By the time Reese and I had gotten back from the bookshop, Jubilee had been yawning at the dining table with a cup of coffee, surrounded by the same papers he was looking at right now. They all appeared to be mathematical equations, and he was scribbling on them sporadically.

  “You had time to plan a date between doing your math?”

  “The math was planning the date,” Jubilee said, matter of fact.

  Reese chuckled from beside me, putting another receipt in to hold his place in the book. I hadn’t ended up getting a bookmark. “You were calculating the ideal first date locations, weren’t you?”

  “I based the math off readily available survey numbers from online lifestyle magazines.” Jubilee’s tone was defensive. “This is a delicate situation, and I didn’t want to pick a location that was anything other than the best.”

  “Where did you settle on, then?” Reese asked.

  “A high-end restaurant, followed by an evening having drinks at a bar.”

  “There are two problems with your plan, unfortunately.” Reese drew me against him, rubbing his scent all over me. “One, Thorn only has our clothes to wear. Unless you’re going shopping first, she’s not getting seated at any high-end restaurant. Two, Thorn doesn’t have a piece of ID, and without that no one is going to serve her alcohol.”

  Jubilee’s cheeks heated and he didn’t say anything, frantically typing on his laptop keyboard. “In that case… a movie?”

  “I don’t see how you’re planning on convincing her to stay with us by sitting side-by-side in a movie theatre.”

  The nerdy alpha was visibly short-circuiting, watching his calculations fail as they were brought into practice. As amusing as it was to watch him falter, I saved him. “I’d like to go try a few different types of food. Maybe downtown? At the Centre they only had the same five meals, and they were all bland.”

  His gaze snapped to mine, guilt flitting across his face as it always did when I mentioned the Centre. “That doesn’t sound too boring and unplanned? All the articles said omegas like things being planned for them.”

  “My entire life has been planned down to the minute for the past five years,” I said. “Spontaneity sounds fun.”

  He bit his lip, unsure for a second before he glanced down at his notes. “I suppose it could be classified as a ‘night on the town’ which came in quite high on the rankings of best dates.”

  “See? It’s perfect.”

  Jubilee met my grin with one of his own, standing up from the table. “I’m going to get changed. I wish I had my normal clothes with me. Denzel didn’t let me pack everything I wanted to bring. Of course, he thought we were only going to be gone for three days so I suppose I can’t entirely blame him.”

  “It would be nice if I had some normal clothes too,” I said, absently patting Reese’s thigh as I stood up from his embrace. “For now, I’ll go put on some fresh clothes that belong to you.”

  We had laundry in this unit, luckily, so at least we weren’t cycling through dirty clothes. There was a lot of black and brown, however. I might enjoy the colours, if the cut of the clothing was even the slightest bit flattering on me.

  Raiding the laundry room, we were both dressed and ready within half an hour, and Jubilee was nervously eying the door.

  “Does Denzel know about this?” I asked.

  Reese, still sitting on the couch but significantly farther along in his book, snorted. “He wouldn’t allow this to happen. If he knew, he’d be back here playing fun police.”

  “Is he going to be mad at you guys when he finds out?”

  They exchanged a look, their annoyance at their pack lead clear in their expressions. “D can be mad all he wants,” Jubilee said. “Us having to go behind his back is his fault.”

  I hated that they had to, knowing how much packs respected the lead position. It wasn’t my fault, though.

  Since the moment he found out I couldn’t scent him properly, Denzel had been nothing but cold and clipped. For all I’d heard of alpha protective instincts, his didn’t fit what I’d imagined. He was protective to the point of controlling but didn’t care one iota about my feelings. Weren’t alphas supposed to thrive on giving their omegas all the good feelings?

  Reese rose from the couch, stretching his arms over his head. “If we’re doing this, we’d better go before the crowds get rowdy.”

  The kitchen clock glowed with a seven, and it was dark outside. Everything in my hometown had been closed by now. There was only one place with a rowdy crowd, and it was the one bar in town. Part of me wanted to see rowdy.

  “You’re coming too?” I asked.

  Jubilee had spoken like it was a date for the two of us. I wouldn’t turn down time with both of them. Time without Denzel was a blessing.

  “Precious, I’m not allowing my unclaimed gold pack omega to wander around downtown without at least a two-person entourage,” he said.

  He came over to me, grabbing my chin and tilting it up. I thought he was going to kiss me for a second, my breath catching and my heart racing. Reese only stroked along my jaw before he let me go, though.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll stay a good fifty metres behind you two, like a proper stalker.”

  Jubilee grabbed my hand, bringing it to his lips. “Being stalked on our first date isn’t ideal, but I’ll take it.”

 

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