Page 29 of Pack’s Prize

“I want you all to know that isn’t because of the presents,” I murmured to the room at large, feeling self-conscious.

A low rumble of laughter resonated through my body. Elias pulled me even tighter to him. “Of course not, omega.”

“No, really,” I said, squirming away a fraction of an inch. “I–I appreciate them. Of course. But…” I didn’t know how to explain. How to put into words that the lavish gifts… I sighed. It wasn’t that the piles of gifts were unwanted, or that I didn’t appreciate being spoiled. It was just… “I spent a lot of time trying to force my last pack to appreciate me. To see me.” Elias’s hand was smoothing over my hair in just the way I liked. “I felt appreciated today–tonight–andnotjust because of the presents. Thank you.”

“That’s great, but who’s going to appreciateme,” came Michael’s teasing whine as he came back to sit on the bed, his back propped against the pillow. His legs stuck out on top of the bedding, and I realized that–fuck–he was still hard.I squirmed to sit upright, but Elias held me down easily with one large hand.

“Wait,” he said. “Watch.”

“Me, of course, you bastard,” said Theo, crawling over to sit in his lap so that the two men faced each other, leaning forward, and then–

The two men were kissing, with the practiced ease of two people who had kissed before, many times, and my eyes no longer hung half-closed with sleep. Theo reached down between them, taking both of them in one hand, fingers curling around the both of them, pumping them together. It was obvious that they were close–the thick knots at the bases of their shafts were half-swollen as Theo ground his hips down against Michael’s. Theo was murmuring something in French into Michael’s ear, and I longed to know what it was that he was saying.

It wasn’t long before Michael swore, pulling Theo’s mouth down to crash into his own as his cock shot its load of sticky white fluid over his abs. Theo swiped a hand through it, coating his own shaft in it, his hand fast and purposeful now. He too shuddered, hips jerking as come spilled in ropes over his hand. I rubbed my thighs together, trying not to grind back against Elias.

I wasn’t as subtle as I thought, apparently: Elias chuckled, pulling my ass tight against his hips again from where I had scooted away. He wasn’t unaffected himself: his cock was half-hard once more, poking between my thighs.

“You like it, that we’re together like this,” Elias whispered into my hair. “Why?”

He sounded… disbelieving. Was it really so surprising? It seemed so obvious: “It’s just… it’s sohot,” I said, not knowing how to explain myself.

Elias’s large hand found my hip, stroking my skin, up to the curve of my waist, down to my thigh, and back up again. “But…why?”

“The way you trust each other,” I said, only half paying attention to what I was saying. I was understandably distracted by the visual of Michael and Theo together, Elias’s hand teasing shivers from my skin.

As soon as I said it, though, I knew thatthat was exactly it.My trust in Roman’s pack had been misplaced, but these men trusted each other, and even if I didn’t know them that well…

Elias’s hand stilled on my hip. “You can trust us, too, Ava,” he said, anticipating my train of thought. “We’ll take care of you.”

I rolled over to face him, his blue, blue eyes shining into mine. I brought my lips to his softly, and we kissed for a long moment, until my breathing had evened and my heartbeat slowed.

“I know.”

CHAPTERTHIRTY

Michael

“You look good, Theo, stop fussing,”I snapped, watching as he tugged on his cuffs once again. He was scowling, the pout on his face incongruous alongside his scruffy stubble,

I wasn’t sure what had gotten into him, but it was affecting me, too: I had been irritable all day. I shook my head and concentrated on releasing the tension in my jaw. The gallery opening was tonight, and I was probably just anxious about seeing a bunch of acquaintances of my grandfather’s for the first time since his death.

Then there was Ava. This would mark her official debut as our omega, as well.

Ourfakeomega.

I had to keep reminding myself of that. Over the past week, she’d slipped right into our routines, our home, and–although we still hadn’t progressed past what we’d shared those first few times–our bedroom. It had become routine to find her making coffee in the morning, wearing my pajama set.

Thosegod damn pajamas.

I couldn’t even turn to Theo and Elias for help: it had felt too weird, the one time I had tried to initiate something without Ava there, and my cock had gone flaccid before we’d even gotten started. I needed her there; her sweet voice and even sweeter scent had gotten under my skin. We were waiting for her to be one hundred percent ready, butfuck.

I hoped it wouldn’t be much longer.

Now that I knew what her body looked like (fucking incredible) and felt like against my own (even better) and how she tasted (impossiblygood) it was as if her sole purpose in life was to make me as horny as possible from before my first coffee in the morning, to the moment I fell asleep at night, and the fooling around we’d been enjoying wasn’t going to cut it.

I’d gotten home late last night, stressed after a long day preparing for the opening, and she’d plopped herself in my lap, kissed the breath from my lungs, then pulled my pants around my thighs, and given me the world’s best blow job where I sat on the couch. I’d watched her ass as it swayed forward and back, and wanted to plunge into her, to push her down on the floor and take her right then and there.

Not since my grandfather had, for all intents and purposes, disinherited me, and I’d spitefully vowed to never mate an omega, had I ever been so tempted. My very teeth had itched at the thought of biting down onto supple skin, my mouth filling with her honey sweetness, making her mine–