Pack of Lies, page 40
“Marlowe, I love you.”
My breath hitched and I choked on a hysterical laugh. “Well, I know that. You’re my friend and packmate.”
“I don’t love you as a friend.”
His tone was husky, and my heightened scent? He definitely smelled it. Wheat and hazelnuts threatened to drown me.
“Oh,” I whispered, wide-eyed.
“I always worried you’d feel obligated to be with me because you brought me into the pack, and I guess I’m more like Denzel than I’d like to believe. I never told you and let you make your own choice about whether you wanted me like that. After today, I can’t live without you not knowing anymore.”
I was on him in seconds. Seconds. My lips smashed to his, the kiss messy and sloppy and desperate. I ended up straddling his hips, one hand running through the hair on his chest while the other tightly gripped his hair.
My cock was painfully hard, and I wasn’t wearing anything beneath my loose sleep shorts.
Reese took a few shocked moments to respond and then his hands were on me, touching me in the way I’d been desperate for him to touch me for years. His callouses were different, rougher than my other mates. His skin was rougher too — my fingers traced over raised, bumpy scars on his torso.
“You never seemed interested in me,” I panted when I pulled back.
His pupils were blown out. His aura trembled the way it sometimes did when he got angry, but this time he wasn’t angry. Reese was aroused. By me. Was this a fucking dream?
“Didn’t want to pressure you,” he grunted.
The man’s focus was on my lips, which felt slightly swollen from the intensity of the kiss.
“I was waiting for you to ask, if you wanted me,” I said. “We freed you from Soren, and I didn’t want to take your freedom by making you feel obligated to be with me. I love you too.”
Reese grabbed my hips and pressed up against me, his cock about as hard as mine was. “We’re both idiots, I guess. Thorn already figured it out. Think the others knew about this?”
Whimpering, I nodded. “Absolutely. Can we be dumb and naked now? I need you.”
His chuckle rumbled his chest, and he lifted me until I had easy access to shove my sleep shorts down my legs. He didn’t put me down then. Instead, he shifted his grip on me, maneuvering so he could swallow down my cock.
Which he did.
Without warning.
I choked on a cry, trying to keep it quiet for the sake of the others in the room beside us. Reese had me suspended in midair, my hands braced on the bedframe so I could curl over his head with a whimper.
“Fuck, Reese, I’m going to come like that.”
He sucked harder, ripping the orgasm from me. It was never difficult for me to come, but there was something about this one that hit different. All those years of desperation and ignoring my attraction to him were culminating into this one moment. An experience we could have had way sooner if we’d trusted each other to think independently.
Not that I could be sad about Thorn being the one to bring us together. She connected the pack in ways we only could have dreamed of before. None of us had been able to shake Denzel up enough to force him into seeing his flaws, but she had.
“How do you know Thorn figured it out?” I gasped the question as he lowered me down again, licking my cum off his lips. Reese looked dazed.
“She mentioned what you two did in that fitting room. There was this little smirk on her face, like she knew how often I thought about you while getting off.”
If possible, I went pinker. “You think of me?”
“Until Thorn, you were the only person I could think of.”
“We’re so fucking dumb,” I mumbled, groaning. “I need you to fuck me. We have to make up for lost time.”
I scooted back down his legs, and he released his grip on me. My fingers caught on his pajama pants, and he lifted his hips so I could yank them down. When his cock bobbed free, my eyes might have glazed over.
My heat might end up coming early, with these new mates. Not yet, but soon. I’d had some cramping while we’d been with the Centre, but I’d put it down to anxiety at the time.
“You look so cock hungry,” Reese murmured.
He wound his hand through my hair and gently brought me up so I was straddling his hips again, his cock rubbing against me. My hole was slick already, an omega feature I was more than grateful for in this moment. However, Reese didn’t let me sink myself onto his cock right away. He slid his fingers between my cheeks and pressed one into my hole.
“I am cock hungry, so you should give me yours,” I whined.
His only response was a sly grin and another finger inside me. “I’ve been waiting so long to touch you, I’m not going to rush it, love.”
My heart lived for sweet pet names. Reese calling me love fit so perfectly with him calling Thorn precious, and I couldn’t even be pouty about him taking his time anymore. I let him do it, leaning in to kiss him.
He scissored me open, my slick getting all over both of us. My cock was throbbing with my desperation for another orgasm by the time it was the head of his cock pressing against my hole, fingers removed.
Breath hitching, I sank down until his knot was rubbing against my entrance. Teasing and tempting me, but not enough I was going to end this early.
“I love you,” I mumbled against his lips.
I was greedy for him to say it back, and he wasn’t stingy.
“Love you too, Marlowe.”
His big hands held my ass, helping me ride him. It wasn’t long before I was spilling my release across his stomach, his mouth swallowing my moans.
“You have no idea how long I’ve been dreaming about how you sound when you come,” Reese said.
His hands squeezed my ass. Mine were wrapped in his dark hair, making sure his mouth stayed close to mine so I could kiss him at will. This was the kind of lovemaking I sometimes found boring, but occasionally was desperate for. I bet I would love it like this every time with Reese.
“Me too,” I mumbled dazedly. “You, I mean. Not me. I know what I sound like.”
It was a bit of a ramble, but he smiled affectionately at me and I didn’t have even a single moment to be embarrassed by it.
“You want me to come in you, then?”
I groaned. “Yes, please. Then knot me and come in me again.”
His hips moved to slam up into me and I cried out loud enough to wake the dead, and most certainly my two mates in the next room. Fuck it. Denzel deserved to be taunted with what he couldn’t have at the moment, and Thorn would be pleased to know she didn’t have to do any more work to shove Reese and I together.
“Fuck, love, I love how loud you are,” Reese grunted. He’d taken the reins, bucking up into me. The first time he’d let me set the pace and use him to get myself off. “It always had me rock hard in here, hearing them make you come in the nest. Over and over again. And your heats? Fuck.”
“I asked for you when I was in heat a couple of times,” I panted with a flush. One hand went down to grab my cock, knowing my next orgasm wouldn’t come hands free. “I tried to play it off with the others, but they knew how I felt.”
“I wish I’d been there for you,” he said.
“You’ll be there next time. It’s coming soon. You’re fine with it, right? Being in the nest with the whole pack?”
I bit my lip. My thoughts were jumbled, and I was unfocused on the conversation with his cock steadily pounding into me. Not the time to ask that, but fuck it. I wanted promises from him.
“Love, I’ve never wanted anything more in my entire goddamn life.”
That was all I needed. My lips pressed to his again and a minute later his cock pulsed, heat filling me. I didn’t wait for his orgasm to finish, grinding myself down against his knot so I took it inside me. We locked together and Reese was caught between kissing me and cursing, alternating both. I desperately held back my orgasm, wanting my last one to be monumental, like our confessions had been.
“Tell me you love me again?” I begged.
“I’ll tell you I love you a thousand times over. Every fucking day until the end of time. Every time we walk into the same room. I love you so fucking much.”
He kept whispering all those sweet nothings to me. We could barely move like this, our foreheads pressed together and lips joining in the occasional sweet kiss, but he was grinding right against the best spot in me.
When my vision went spotty with a mind-bending orgasm, he held me tight as my body arched and trembled. His release came a second later, cum leaving me feeling full as his knot forced it to stay in me.
I collapsed down onto his sweaty chest, nuzzling against him and scent marking him in any way I could. He did the same, his hands trailing down my spine and stroking my ass until his knot eventually went down enough that his cock slipped from me. We let out matching groans.
I was still collecting myself when he moved me gently to the bed and wandered into the bathroom to grab a cloth. The soft fabric swiped across my sensitive skin, making sure the mess wouldn’t dry on me. I gave him a sleepy smile from the bed.
“Thanks, pudding,” I murmured, grabbing his pillow and tucking it under my head.
A bunch of emotions played out over his face. Surprise, awe, and then joy. He’d been missing out on human connection for so long, and I felt horrible for having not acted on my affection. Not that he’d acted, but the number of times I’d been tempted to calling him ‘pudding’… if I had, he might have felt more like a part of the pack, even if we hadn’t moved our relationship to that stage.
He put away the cloth and came back to me. “Shouldn’t you go back to Denzel and Thorn?” he asked.
It didn’t stop him from tucking me into bed while he waited for my answer.
“Thorn will live, and Denzel doesn’t deserve cuddles tonight. You do.”
“Has Denzel not apologized yet?”
“Not to me.”
Reese snorted, crawling into bed behind me and holding me tight to his chest. “If he tries to revel in the glory of his grand rescue, I’m going to punch him in the face.”
I laughed. “Same. I don’t think he will, though. He seems different now.”
It was a moment before Reese answered, his breath ruffling my hair. “I agree. Hopefully, we can fix the pack up now that everything is aired out.”
“We will.”
My eyelids were dropping, the stress of the day weighing my body down. There was hope in the air, tickling my senses and leaving me grinning into the pillow as I fell asleep.
FIFTY-SEVEN
JUBILEE
I could officially tick ‘be in police custody’ off my bucket list.
The GPRE had shoved me in this empty interrogation room hours ago with nothing but a bottle of water to entertain me. It left my mind the space to run through every possibility for how this could turn out.
Had I done anything illegal?
I’d taken a couple of law classes as electives, and as I ran through my memory of those boring lecture hall events, I was convinced I hadn’t.
Yet I was here. For hours.
Had they gotten Thorn? Marlowe? There hadn’t been anything fracturing in the weak bond, so no one had died, but that was all I could know from that.
“Jubilee Balch.”
When the door opened my water bottle was empty, I had to pee like crazy, and I was past due for a dose of my anxiety medication.
“Perfect. I was wondering when someone would come take my statement.”
I’d checked the door when I got in here. Locked from the outside to keep me in.
The GPRE agent was dressed in a pressed suit, the black fabric more high-end than I would have expected from someone like an agent. She had her brown hair up in a slicked-back high ponytail that was one big curl, and her posture was immaculate. Nothing like the slouching I did on a daily basis. I stood up to shake her hand because it felt like the polite thing to do, but she looked at it and moved around the table to sit down.
“Mr. Balch, we’re not here to be friends. You’ve committed a serious crime.”
“It’s actually Dr. Balch.” I couldn’t stop myself from correcting her. “And according to the criminal code, I’ve done nothing wrong.”
She arched one perfectly plucked eyebrow. “The criminal code?”
“Correct. If I could know what crime you’re charging me with, I can tell you why it’s an invalid charge.”
“You’ve been arrested for selling a weapon to a domestic terrorist.”
“While I can’t disagree with the Centre for Omega Enhancement being a domestic terrorist group in their own way, they are in fact registered as a charity. Their registration number leads to a listing on the government website that was completely valid at the time I sold them the formula. I believe it’s still valid to this day.”
A small voice in the back of my head told me that I should, maybe, shut up and wait until I could get a lawyer. It wasn’t like they’d offered me a phone call, though. My brain couldn’t handle just sitting here and listening to this agent throw inaccurate charges at me.
“But you did later discover that the Centre for Omega Enhancement was committing crimes?”
“Yes, but I couldn’t have done anything about it at that point. It’s not like I could take the formula back. Dr. Hellwood likely had it memorized by the time I discovered their nefarious intent.”
“The problem, Mr. Balch—”
“It really is actually Dr. Balch. I have two PhDs.”
“Mr. Balch, the problem is that you found this information and subsequently did not come to the GPRE with it. That’s considered interfering with an investigation, which is a crime all on its own.”
“I’m confused,” I said, pushing my glasses up my nose. “Are you charging me with selling a weapon to a domestic terrorist, or interfering with an investigation? Those are very different charges, and it’s illegal for me to have been placed under arrest and not given accurate information as to why. I can both sue you for misrepresenting facts and suggest that you be charged with a crime or put under employment review.”
For the first time, the GPRE agent cracked, her impassive expression dropping into a frown. “Mr. Balch--”
“Once again, it is Dr. Balch, and I would appreciate the proper respect to my title. I’d also like to remind you that you are not wearing a name tag, nor have you identified yourself verbally or by showing your badge. That in itself is also a minor crime that is punishable by a fine of $1000 and immediate termination from the GPRE forces, because it’s a sign of corrupt practices for agents to want to hide their identity from the people they’re interviewing. I’d like to request an Internal Affairs officer be brought in immediately to assess you.”
Her frown became worried and she pushed to stand up from the chair. My hands were trembling as I waited for what she was going to say. I probably should have listened to the ‘shut up’ voice, because now all I had was a pissed off GPRE agent. Every word out of my mouth was true — thank fuck for that law class and the extra studying I’d done for it — but maybe that didn’t matter to her.
Before I discovered what she was going to say, the door swung open.
Leighton leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed, frowning into the interrogation room. Her aura filled the space immediately, seeping into my consciousness and making me cower a bit. She was intimidating and displeased at the moment. I knew that quiet fury wasn’t aimed at me, but knowing didn’t make it any less terrifying.
The agent spun in her direction, but I saw the goosebumps on her arms. She was a beta, so she didn’t have an aura to go to bat with Leighton.
“I’m going to need you to exit this room immediately,” she barked. “This is a private interrogation.”
Leighton rolled her eyes, the colour so similar to Marlowe’s. “Lay off, Jennika. You don’t have a leg to stand on, and you know it. The man you’re interrogating just gave you the rundown on the law, for fuck’s sake. We’ll be telling your superiors about your neglectfulness when it came to identifying yourself, and if you don’t want us to go all the way to suing you for the misrepresentation of facts, you need to release Jubilee within the next ten seconds.”
“This is my—”
“One. Two...” Leighton began to count over the agent’s protests. She casually examined her manicured nails as she did.
There was only another second of hesitation from Jennika before she cursed. “Fine. You’re free to go.”
“Was that so hard? File the paperwork and make sure he doesn’t have an arrest on his record. Remember, I have these tapes, and my lawyer could make a good case for emotional distress and suppression of free speech in addition to the other charges.”
The agent huffed and left the room, but she had to walk past Leighton to do so. Leighton placed a hand on Jennika’s shoulder and gave her a sickeningly sweet smile. “Maybe if you had learned how to do your job properly, you wouldn’t be on the verge of being demoted. I wish you the best for next time.”
Jennika muttered a quiet ‘fuck you’ under her breath as she shook off Leighton’s grip. Marlowe’s sister turned to look at me, and I hurried to stand up from my chair and walk over to her.
“You’re lucky she’s an idiot,” Leighton said, placing a hand on my back and propelling me down the hallway. “Next time, just shut up until I realize you’ve been arrested. Please. For my brother’s sake.”
“I can’t guarantee that, but I can guarantee I’m going out of my way to avoid getting arrested again. I really have to use the washroom.”
She snorted and pointed in the direction of the nearest one. I practically ran, garnering a few looks from the GPRE agents sitting at their desks on this floor. All of them looked away quickly, likely cowed by Leighton. She wasn’t someone to mess with.
When I came out, feeling much better, I spotted a group of people standing just outside the glass doors separating the agent area from the reception and elevator banks. Leighton was scowling fiercely at Dash Loranger, who had a balding lawyer standing beside him. Mercury was staring disinterested out the nearest window. And then... there was Quentin.
