Page 50 of For All My Effort

“Are you able to tattoo yourself?”

“Kinda. But this spot is too hard for me to reach.”

I looked over at the other artists. None of them looked ready to stop what they were doing to help Zeke. Maybe the one doing the bellybutton piece, although my guess was that the others in the lobby were waiting. The idea that came to mind seemed ridiculous, yet I couldn’t help asking, “Am I going to do it?”

“Yep. Here, take this and place it where you think looks good. Then just peel back the paper and the outline should still be there. Don’t worry if you don’t like the positioning, we can clean the area and try again.”

This was an absolutely crazy, and potentially terrible idea. I refused to say either of that out loud though because I didn’t want him to change his mind.

I did as I was told, setting up the paper so the image was placed in the perfect spot and then slowly revealing it. For now, it was all one color, but it should be easy enough to trace over with the proper needle. At least, I was giddy enough to think it would be easy.

“The reference is on the tablet if you want to take a look,” Zeke said.

It was beautiful. And familiar. We’d just seen one of these flowers in the garden, admired its dangerous, threatening colors.

A buzzing sound demanded I pay attention as Zeke went through the process of explaining how to tattoo. It was probably the world’s quickest explanation for what I needed to do and then the buzzing sound was in my hand, vibrating against my fingers.

As much as I was worried that I would hurt him, I was also excited. Not only was this going to be fun, but the amount of trust my mate had in me was like an aphrodisiac.

I took my time. The piece itself was probably just as big as my palm, with a lot of lines that were definitely not as straight as they could be. Still, I put all of my concentration into it.

By the time I finished, my hand was cramping from how hard I was holding the needle, my neck ached from my dramatic lean to make sure I was doing it right, but I was in love with my artwork. And maybe even a little with my alpha too.

Zeke walked me through cleaning it and putting a clear bandage on it then cleaned up his station. The moment he finished, and he was about to tell me he was ready to go, I jumped on him. I didn’t care that we were in public, I needed to show him how much I appreciated him, how much fun I’d had, how happy I was with him.

My hands came to the back of his head, keeping him close as I kissed him. His hands wrapped around my thighs, holding me up, and probably helped to keep my bare ass from showing considering the split in my skirt was raised dangerously high.

“Zeke, man,” someone called out.

My alpha pulled his mouth away from mine, earning a whimper that made him growl, baring his teeth at the other alphas in the space. Then he was carrying me out, my face nuzzling into his neck as I inhaled his scent. I couldn’t help myself, licking up the column of his throat, tasting the mix of sweat and berries together, humming at the taste.

“Fuck, Hannah. Do that again, please.”

Begging from my alpha had slick leaking from my core, no doubt creating a wet spot from where I was pressed tightly against him.

I licked his throat again, before gently biting down, maybe even squeezing a little too hard and leaving a slight red mark from my teeth. Both of our perfumes bloomed, mixing together in a scent of lavender-berries that I was desperate for more of.

I bit down harder, sucking along my mate’s skin and leaving a bruise that felt like a claim.

It was already dark out, but the occasional passing lamp allowed me to see my work as I continued to mark my mate’s skin. My hips had started to move, grinding against him as I worked for my own pleasure.

My back made contact with something cold and hard, making me gasp at the shock. Zeke used the moment to take charge, readjusting his grip so his hands were under each cheek, the tips of his fingers incredibly close to my core. His mouth found mine, his tongue immediately meeting mine, tasting my gasp.

I needed more than kissing and my hands seemed to work of their own accord, trailing down his neck and chest and reaching between our bodies until I found the top of his sweats, trying to push them down.

“Shit, Hannah.” He tried to pull away, but I clung tighter to him, squeezing my thighs around him and wrapping my arms around his neck again.

Then I found myself in the back of the car, still straddling Zeke as he sat down and worked to get his sweats low enough to expose his gorgeous cock.

I didn’t need any more incentive, I dropped down his entire length in one stroke, groaning at the way he filled me up so completely. Hands came around on my hips to help me move up and down on him and we were already so close to the edge that my mate was telling me to come, demanding it.

“You better come, Hannah, or I’m going to knot your mouth next time,” he told me, continuing to thrust into me at the same time. “You won’t get to feel my cum inside you, I’ll knot so far inside your mouth that you won’t get to taste me either.”

I whimpered, my arousal somehow increasing with his dirty words.

“You were desperate for me. Jumping on me at my place of work so that all those other alphas got a tease of what they could never have. Why’s that? Huh, Hannah? Why can’t they have you?”

“Because I’m yours.”