Page 37 of For What It's Worth
“How about here, Koda? Should I bite you here?”
My hands moved of their own volition, holding the alpha where he’d promised a bite. “Claim me, alpha.”
There was no hesitation. Jenson bit down around my collarbone painfully, making me cry out, my body tensing. I tried shoving him off, but his teeth clamped down and too many sets of arms were holding me. My entire body went into overdrive. There was nothing small about the orgasm that made its way through me. My core tightened, and I was sure Enzo couldn’t have pulled his fingers out if he tried. Muscles shook from the exertion, toes curled, and my mouth fell open like I wanted to scream but couldn’t find the volume.
And then the world went blissfully dark.
Chapter Nineteen
I dreamt of a beautiful nest. One large enough for all my alphas, filled with their different but delicious scents, and decorated to perfection, exactly how I liked. Nests were the ultimate symbol of control. I chose who went in, where things went, what it smelled like. And my dream nest had three alphas in it, filling it with their scents and wrapping me up in their limbs so if anyone peered in, they wouldn’t know whose arms were whose and whose legs were whose. I dreamt of a perfect morning in my perfect nest.
The gentle rise and fall of my mattress was nice at first, but the out of sync rhythm with my own breathing quickly became annoying. I tried cracking an eye open but immediately realized it was too bright and shut it again.
When I tried to roll off, I extended my leg, which had apparently been bent all night, and it didn’t take too kindly to the quick movement. A cramp in my thigh all the way to my right ass cheek woke me up, however. I tried rolling over onto my opposite side to rub my ass, but something stopped me. No. Someone.
“Koda, what’s wrong?” Jenson’s voice finally resonated with my sleep-filled and pain induced mind.
“Cramp. Cramp. Ow.” I tried massaging the ass cheek, but Jenson’s fingers moved mine out of the way and dug in deeper. It hurt more at first and I tried to move away from his prying fingers, but Jenson didn’t relent. Finally, the knot seemed to work its way out until I could bend and straighten my leg without pain.
But just as soon as the pain disappeared, the memories came back from last night. The club. The drinks. The car ride with the subsequent tacos. My orgasm. Being claimed.
I covered my breasts, but Jen pulled my arms away, dragging me toward his chest. His purr was immediate, loud, and strong, pulling all of my attention and washing away my worry.
We sat there for a few minutes, my head pressed against his chest, and his hands rubbing up and down my spine. When his hands rubbed along my shoulders and down toward my collarbone, a dull prickling sensation spread from his fingers, feeling like the spot on my collarbone had been rubbed raw. I definitely needed a bandage to cover the bite wound.
And then the realization really hit me. I remember being claimed, remember Jenson demanding I ask for it, and then begging for his bite. More than just facts—I was bound to this alpha, to this pack. As a half-beta, half-omega, I had an alpha mate. When Monday came around, I’d be a mated half-beta, half-omega student.
Jen inhaled deeply, as if he was enjoying my plain beta scent. “Don’t be scared, little bear. Everything will work out just fine.”
“You can hear my thoughts?” I squeaked. I wasn’t aware the bond was that … intrusive.
“Not exactly. But the bond lets me feel every emotion you have, and I can piece the puzzle together. For instance,” he said, lowering his voice and trailing his lips in an up and down pattern along my neck, “I can feel how happy you are. Your excitement over being pack. But that’s mainly overshadowed by your fear. I can feel your anxiety about the future and your doubt that your scent calls to me even if you aren’t perfuming.”
At least I knew he couldn’t read my thoughts, because that was way more eloquent than what I was actually thinking. But completely true.
“And what are you thinking now?” I discreetly scented my alpha—my official alpha—but didn’t pick up any anger or jealousy or anything setting off my omega’s instincts.
“I’m thinking I need to feed you. I can also feel your hunger.”
A warning growl started in my throat before I could cut it off. Jen knew exactly what I meant, and the unusual smirk on his lips was proof. It seemed bonding with my usually serious alpha turned him into quite the jokester. And it was way too early for jokes.
“No, Omega, I’m not upset about what we did last night. And I like your scent whether it denotes you as a beta or an omega.”
“It’s more than how my perfume presents. I like the privileges that come with being a beta.”
“So be one. Claim that designation. It doesn’t matter to me or my pack.”
My eyes widened to an almost comical amount at Jen’s inclusion of his packmates. The stereotype surrounding alphas—especially newly bonded alphas—wasn’t one of sharing. Plenty of horror movies had centered around a possessive alpha who could only be controlled through his kidnapped bonded omega. Usually, the villain needs the alpha to steal something of importance or else the omega would be killed. But my alpha was already including me with his packmates less than twelve hours after bonding me. Did it have to do with my natural beta scent making him less possessive? Maybe it didn’t pull at an alpha’s protective heartstrings like an omega?
“Come on, it’ll all make more sense once we find the others.” The calm tone of Jen’s voice, and his comforting scent, temporarily soothed my nerves. I might have been confused, but I knew one fact: I was now a part of the pack. It was a hard concept to accept when I’d convinced myself it was impossible. I needed time to get my thoughts under control, but it seemed impossible without my morning coffee. What I really wanted was some space from the distracting scents and the delicious alpha who knew how intimately I was feeling in order to rebuild my emotional walls, but the mere thought of being outside of Jen’s line of view made me panic. And it would forever be impossible to hide how I felt from my alpha. I’d barely acknowledged the bond between us, but it already felt like an intrinsic part of who I was.
“Need coffee.” My sleepy voice was nowhere near as sexy as Jen’s considering he sounded like a gruff male, and I sounded like a toad who’d smoked a pack a day for the last twenty years.
“You’re in luck. Enzo and Aidan have been awake for some time so there’s at least a cup ready for you.”
I felt bad admitting—even to myself—that I hadn’t noticed the other two alphas weren’t present. Yep, I definitely needed coffee if I was going to start thinking clearly. I was pretty sure Jen mentioned the other alphas weren’t even in the room earlier, but my mind didn’t seem capable of grasping facts.
“And which one turned all the lights on?”