Maybe I shouldn’t be so forward with them, but after orgasming across one man's lap, whilst the rest either helped or watched, had broken down some of the barriers. Not to mention how flimsy the voice in my head still telling me to leave has become. Their offering to help me burn everything down is just the little cherry on top of the precariously balanced cake.
“Oh no, you don’t.” A pair of strong hands catches me around the shoulders, and in the same breath, I’m pressed back against the counter, and lips are mashed against mine. Teddy tastes like the coffee of his scent, bitter but delicious. A moan slips free with the first touch of his tongue to mine, my mouth opening and arms slipping up around his neck to bury themselves in the longer hair at the back of his shaggy wolf cut. Resting at the dip of my waist, his thumbs trace circles around the curve of my belly as he groans, “Have I told you how fucking good you look in my packmate’s shirt?”
Clay’s massive band t-shirt hangs off me like a dress. I look like a slob with my hair up in a messy bun and this massive sheet of a shirt on me. They’d been out buying me clothes, from sundresses to shirts and jeans, but it made my little Omega heart melt when they left their shirts over the wicked chair in my bedroom so I could smell like them all day. Made everything feel a little more…Real.
“Sweetheart? Where did you go? You were a million miles away there,” Teddy’s scent sours a little with worry, lifting his hand to brush his knuckles across my cheek and dropping his forehead to mine. Rubbing the tip of my nose against his, I let myself dream for a little while that all this will work out the way they promised, and push my negativity back. Someone’s throat clears behind us, and I spin, jerking away like I had been doing something I shouldn’t have.
There stands Lucas, his deliciously long lines looking filthy in basketball shorts and an old gray shirt with grass stains on it. He looks as though he’s been outside all day, but he doesn’t smell like it, and I unconsciously step towards him, trying to catch his seaside scent. Teddy clatters pots as he returns to cooking, the angry set of his jaw clear. He still doesn’t appreciate how Lucas has been treating me, especially when he used Teddy likea weapon, trying to convince him that I wouldn’t want the Beta. Joke’s on him, my Beta is my favorite so far.
“I hope I am not… Interrupting,” He mumbles, face set in hard lines.
“Uhhh, no, not at all, it’s your house,” I dip my head submissively, tracing patterns on the red tiled flooring. Socked feet appear in my vision, his calves firm muscle. There’s a flicker in my perfume as I imagine him using those legs to kick mine apart and push between them.No. Bad Omega.Flinching away, I await the coldness that usually accompanies the jaguar. All I hear is a long sigh and fingertips pressing beneath my chin and lifting my face to his. Flicking between my eyes, drawn brows shadow his own golden irises, his face softening the longer we stare.
Dropping his hand again, he straightens and steps back out of my space, and I lean towards him. Goddess, this back and forth is going to kill me. I feel like he’s got me leashed to him, and I have to gravitate into his orbit when he’s in a room. No, all of them do, and I can’t even fucking stop it.
“Tomorrow, after dinner,” He nods as if it explains everything, and I can see him recalculate when I pull a face, “After… After we eat, I want to talk, take you out for the night, and explain some things, if you’ll let me.”
And then he just walks right out, leaving me reeling.
The spoon clatters in the pot, and Teddy’s spinning back to me, wrapping me in his strong arms, “Damn, I thought it would take him way longer to get his head out of his ass.”
Laughter echoes in the room before we move back to the stove top as I sprinkle some extra herbs in the mixing pot, “So is Lucas usually so… Stubborn?”
“Skye, sweetie, you don’t know the half of it,” He jerks his chin to the chair, telling me to sit, “Lucas is… Well, Lucas. I love the big pussycat as dearly as Fury or Atty, but I do know hisheart is in the right place. He’s a cat through and through, likes his independence, and can struggle in the pack sometimes. His old pack was the same; it doesn’t help that he’s not the dominant Alpha here.”
“You know his old pack?” The tidbit catches me by surprise, and a lot falls into place. Of course, he was a Cardinal in a previous life. Of course… That’s why it hit him so much harder.
Teddy finishes up and leaves the pot to cool, taking me out to the stables for our evening chore list before he continues, leaning over Melody’s door, the big gray mare lipping at his coat for treats.
“Lucas’ old pack, you’ll like them, I think. We do a big barbecue once a month,” I think I vaguely remember them talking about it. It’s Tuesday just now, and they are having it on Saturday when everyone has the matching days off for it. “You’ll like Prue definitely, she is the other Alpha with Beckett. Prue’s been with Lucas since they were kids, and they’ve been through a lot together.” Teddy frowns for a moment, thinking too hard, and I reach up to soothe the creases between his brows, “I don’t get on all that well with Beckett. He’s ex-military and was pretty pushy when I had my accident. Same as Lucas, his heart is in the right place, but it’s either his way or no way. You want to ride tonight?”
His question startles me. Whenever anyone mentions horses and riding, Teddy jams right up, a sheen of sweat beading along his head. I’ve been pushing for ages to get up on one of them, to see if it’s actually any good or not. This time, I can see the subtle tremor, can smell the stress, “Will you be joining me?” I try.
Sighing, Teddy looks at me, all the mountains of pain in his eyes, “I want to. I desperately want to, but it just… All gets a bit much.”
“Come on, I’ll even purr for you. Though don’t tell the others, they’ll pester the fuck out of me for it.”
Defeat is clear in his eyes as he grabs Melody's tack, and I try to pick up any idea of what he’s doing, but there are enough straps that I’ve been vaguely concerned about BDSM habits if I didn’t know he kept horses.
Leading the old mare out, I watch with no small interest as he takes her to some sort of step made from wood and gestures me over, “Foot in the stirrup, then you’re going to swing your leg over, okay? Shuffle as far forward as you can. I’ll ride bitch for you this once.” Excitement streams through me, and I squeal, grabbing my Beta and hugging him so tight I swear his eyes bulge for a second. Doing as I am told, I end up sitting atop Melody, staring out over the ranch, over the landscape, over the…
“Oh, maybe not.”Fuck, has she always been this tall?She didn’t seem it from the ground when I was looking into her sweet brown eyes. Teddy just laughs, then climbs the block, throwing his leg over easily, like it is as easy as breathing for him. It’s only when his body slides tightly against mine that I can feel how terrified he is, how his thighs clamp behind me. One arm reaching around, he holds onto the front of the saddle and takes the reins in the other, “Do you want me to give you the foot things?”
“No, no, it’s alright.” It’s not alright, I can feel how not alright it is. My purr rumbles through my chest, squeaky but there, and Teddy breathes out. It’s like I can feel his anxiety lowering with every breath, his head resting on my shoulder as he embraces me, and my own hands drop to his thighs, a little unsure where to hold on. Minutes pass, settling between us comfortably until Melody snorts. Teddy picks up the reins, his other hand wrapping around my waist more firmly and giving me the front of the saddle to hold.
“That’s the pommel, keep your hands there, okay?”
“Will it hold me?”
“Baby, that’s where I attach the rope for the steers, it’ll hold you just fine.”
Gripping like my life depends on it, my purr steps up nervously, and Teddy urges her on with his heels. I don’t expect her to be so bumpy, but it doesn’t take long before I settle into the rocking sway, just enjoying the quiet with my Beta as he takes me up into the woodlands behind the house. There are trails out here, softened with pine needles and cleared of branches, and I wonder if one of the guys from the pack is out here making sure we have a nice, easy ride. Relaxing into the saddle, I peer around, noticing how much of the wildlife seems unbothered by the horse. Birds chirp away, a couple of rabbits watch us, noses twitching from the undergrowth, and my wolf seems content to just watch the world around us pass by. We stop after a bit, and Teddy leans over my shoulder, breath hot against my ear. It’s harder to listen to him than I’d like when my Omega instinctively wants to bare her neck for him… But he’s serious, intent, and I don’t think he even knows how on edge he has me right now.
“There,” pointing between the trees, I’m squinting and struggling until something moves. A flash of white, and I lock on; it’s a deer of some kind, maybe two. A big buck with a crown of horns, his glossy coat shining and dark muzzle pointed right at us, “White-tails, pretty common around here. It’s what the shifters mainly hunt when they go out.” Melody is watching too, her dark ears pricked in their direction, and we all hold our breath until the deer seem to think better of us and bound off.
“I see why you love this place so much,” I murmur to him, leaning back and letting his heat engulf me. Energy fizzes through him, humming like a plucked guitar, and Teddy seems…Happy.Happy like he’s found a piece of himself that he lost along with his leg.
Glancing down at me, he kisses my temple and turns us out of the trees. We’ve traveled a little way uphill, and we’re looking out over the ranch now, further in the distance than I expected. The other horses are grazing in the paddocks, and I can see one of the others sitting out on the swing in the garden, though I can't tell which big blond it is between Atlas and Clay. Braving letting go, I wave and giggle as they wave back at me. It hits me now how much I’m enjoying myself around here. How strictly they’ve stuck to their rules and been patient with me. Every day that passes here shrinks the voice in my head telling me to run, and I sleep a little easier each night. Maybe I’m thinking too hard and need to just let my instincts guide me; they’re rarely wrong. Sliding my hand back, I hit the metal of Teddy’s knee, feeling him stiffen before I wrap my fingers around his thigh instead, clinging with my other hand to the saddle.
