Page 42 of Pack’s Pledge

The scentof mint and musk was stifling.

I couldn’t think; I never could, during Beau’s heats. Something about him or me or us turned my brain fuzzy, my rational mind slipping just beyond reach. It wasn’t like this for other alphas, or at least, I didn’t think it was.

It didn’t seem to be, for Adrian: I’d always envied the competent way he’d taken care of Beau during these times, the way he seemed able to switch it on and off, rutting into the other man with abandon and then, an hour later, gently feeding him protein bars and fruit. That was what a modern alpha was supposed to be.

Beau moaned beside me, and I fought against the pull that threatened to drag me under–that wanted me to slam him up against the wall and take what I wanted from him, that wanted to stuff him full of my cock and my seed and make him mine, really, truly mine.This was a practical arrangement.

Adrian toppled to the side, dragging Beau with him, locked together as they were. Not long now–Beau had been sleeping more, going longer between rounds, not quite so feverish. I glanced over, and–

AndBritt.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

We were supposed to be dating, Britt and I. We were supposed to be taking it slow. Britt and I were supposed to be falling in love.

Or rather, Britt was supposed to be falling in love.

I always had been.

But now, she was here, laying naked on her stomach, arms up above her head, her long hair messy and tangled on the pillow revealing the long curve of her back, her ass, her legs parted.

Between her legs…

She was glistening and pink, her thighs slippery with Beau’s release, her folds wet and soft and inviting, and I wanted to taste her. I had been so, so good, had been sweet and gentle, slow and careful, letting her take what more she needed from Beau, who was more than willing to give it.

But now, I couldn’t think. I never could, during Beau’s heats, and tonight, something about him or me or us orherhad me crawling over her legs, canting her hips up in the air, drawing a long stripe with my tongue over her upper thigh, the crease of her ass, the round flesh of it that my teeth longed to sink into. She tasted like him, like mint and sugar, like omega, and my cock, already heavy and wanting, grew harder. My balls tightened underneath me in anticipation. She sighed, exhausted and complacent, and I did it again, laving over her skin until I could taste clean beta underneath the honeyed sweetness, the faint tinge of Adrian’s alpha musk. I growled against her inner thigh, and she shivered, tilting her ass up further.

“Conall,” she moaned, but I didn’t listen, I just licked over her folds, feeling her shudder under my tongue as I kissed and teased her sensitive flesh, warm and swollen from the pastthousandrounds with Beau, wet and sweet and tasting of mint andmine. I fucked my tongue down deep into her, and tasted him there too–the scent of omega blossoming on my tongue, my nose buried in her ass, hands spreading her wider for me.

I drank her in, swirling over her and into her with my tongue, licking away all traces of omega there, desperate for the taste of her own clean scent, my fingers delving into her to feel where he’d been. She began rocking against me, pressing back against my tongue as I swiped it from her pulsing clit all the way up over the tight furl of her ass, and she moaned low and husky, so I did it again, and again, until she was fluttering under my tongue, her tight walls squeezing hard around my digits, and then she was moaning under me, her pretty voice saying my name,Conall, Conall, Conall,and all I could taste was her, sweet and clean andmine mine mine mineand–

“Alpha,” she said, and I didn’t think, I couldn’t think, I flipped her over onto her back and looked at her pink, flushed face, her messy hair, her blushing nipples, her deep grey eyes as she nodded to me, lips parted on a moan that turned to a gasping cry as I sank inside.

She was so tight–impossibly tight–and hot, and warm, and soft, and slick, and this–her, shewas what I had craved so desperately. I growled, and sheathed myself in her tight channel in one brutal thrust, holding her hips down even as she squirmed and wriggled and gasped, watching as my cock disappeared into her, then slid slowly back out, coated in glistening fluid. I slammed into her, fucking her hard and fast, not holding back, my hands moving up to her breasts, my thumbs moving over her nipples, watching them tighten under my touch.

“Yes,” I growled, as she arched her back, seeking out more. “Yes, you want it, you want alpha,” I murmured, hips snapping. Her heels dug into my flexing ass. “Want me to fuck you full of my come, want me to mark you with my scent, leave you dripping, so everyone knows you’re mine.”

“Alpha,” she moaned, tightening around me once again, squeezing me, hard, then harder, and I pulled out abruptly, flipping her once again onto her shoulders and knees before slamming into her, one hand gripping her hip, pinning her down, the tight squeeze of her hot channel around me making my balls ache, my knot burn and tingle as I ground the beginnings of the swelling against her opening, two fingers on her clit, rolling them over the swollen bud, easing her open as she tensed and fluttered, panting and gasping and rocking back and pulling away, her breathing shaky as I pushed deeper, deeper, more, tighter, more, more, more, and she came with a scream as I sank inside, my knot stretching her impossibly, her walls flexing and contracting uselessly around it. My cock spilled deep within her body, filling her with my come, my seed, my scent, my mark–I smoothed a hand over her belly to feel myself there, and she shuddered again as my fingers found her dripping entrance, tight around me. I brushed a finger over her oversensitive clit to feel her jerk away and into me with a gasp, then in the opposite direction as my cock twitched, another wave of release spent.My nose was in the crook of her neck, my lips against her shoulder, kissing her pink skin, soft and sweet and tender, and my mouth opened—

“Ah–alpha,” she whined, and then, “Conall,” and a cold chill ran along my spine even as I pulsed and flooded into her again, my shame hot and sticky and wet between us.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREE

Britt

“Conall,”I cried, my back arched away from his firm, wide chest. My tender nipples were sensitive even against the soft hotel linens, and the sensation was just enough to distract me from–

From his knot.

His eyes had been dark and glinting as he’d paused for half a moment at my entrance, waiting for my nod before he’d parted my legs with two strong hands like iron bands, his cock sliding into my body, displacing the breath from my lungs and the thought from my brain as it filled me up so entirely, so completely, that I could do nothing but gasp for breath. And then he moved, leaving me empty, so empty, and his hands gripped my hips, slamming us together in a breath, tears springing to my eyes, blurring my vision. I blinked them away to look at him. Conall,myConall, had fallen away, just as Beau had, and I barely recognized the man above me. His eyes devoured my body, trailing over my lips, lingering on my neck, my breasts, which he cupped, pinching and rolling my nipples, and then his gaze traveled down, down to where I stretched open around him, and a low, rumbling growl boomed from his chest, his eyes flashing, hands squeezing tight on my waist, and I found myself on hands and knees, presenting for him–foralpha,myalpha.

And then the pressure was back, the pain magnifying a hundred times, and I couldn’t move, couldn’t breath, could only whimper as he claimed me, my body hot and tight around his knot, my mind fraying as he took me, my belly taut and warm with his seed, and this wasn’t Conall, not the Conall that I knew, all shy smiles and soft kisses, but this was the man, the alpha he’d become. Pain seared through my spine and up into the base of my skull, and tears fell over my wet cheeks as my heartbeat ran along fast like a rabbit’s, like prey, and when I managed to form the word, his name sounded as scared and desperate as my bursting heart felt. “Conall,” I begged, but I wasn’t sure what I was begging for: relief, ormore, more, forever, again.

I shattered, the pain displaced by white-hot, searing pleasure that made my blood sizzle into vapor in my veins until I felt like I was floating, soaring, falling, cresting again and again, my body split open to reveal the red jewel of my heart.

He cradled me in his arms as he turned us to the side, holding me as I shook, coming down together as his knot went soft, his cock slipping wet and spent from my bruised body and tears slipping from my exhausted eyes.

“Conall,” I whispered into the low light of the room, but he just buried his face in my neck, pulling me in tighter.