“You’re an asshole.” She snorts, still pushing at my chest, “and I wish I didn’t feel like such a jealous bitch when all we’ve done is fuck.”
There’s a sharp pang through my chest then, a squeezing around my heart even as her fingers wrap around my cock and stroke once. I have to remind myself that this is new to her and she doesn’t understand how pack life works yet, what with her rather unusual upbringing between an Alpha and Omega. Maybe if her parents were Betas, I could understand it, but not from that. Brows furrowing, I look down at our little Omega, her hand still cupped around the hard length, her thumb following the veins that pulse with my heartbeat.
“Skye.” Holding back the bark that wants to creep into my words, I draw her hand away, lacing my fingers through hers as I watch the worry ripple through those oceanic eyes. Like a switch has been flipped, her entire body seems to crumple in on itself, her shoulders bowing and a quiet whine leaking through her pressed lips, “Skye, settle. I know you are… New to this, to pack life. But what we did is not ‘just fucking.’ We’ve started the initial step to pack bonding by one of us knotting you, and the more of us that you ‘just fuck’ the more stable and stronger the end result will be if you do want our bites.”
Giving her a little time, I use my other hand to untangle her hair. The deep mahogany catches the light so beautifully, streaks of bright reds dappling the browns and chestnuts, andit pains me for a moment to think that I ever saw her as plain or unworthy. Maybe a return visit to my therapist is in order… I haven’t spoken to Doctor Hessen since we lost Tomas. Being with Skye, re-learning how to have an Omega, and how to love her will be my new mission in life, as well as not getting fired from my job, I suppose, after calling in today.
“Bonding…” It’s whispered on a breath, her own fingers scraping softly down my abs and drawing a full-body shiver, “I’ve never thought about it before. The only pack I knew was my grandmother's, and I had never seen it at the height of their happiness. Seeing those ancient old wolves with their gray muzzles running through the trees for the last time was heartwarming, though.” Smiling softly, her head tips up to look at me, “I think I might want to stay here.”
Swallowing down the lump in my throat and clearing my throat, I grunt an affirmation at the little Omega in my arms, squeezing her tighter with the arm around her before swinging my legs over the side of the bed and making to stand. Arms band around my stomach, and I shake my head as I continue to stand, dumping her unceremoniously on the floor with a loud squeal that has the door flying open. Nosycarzinosstand outside my door, and I narrow my eyes at the fresh hole in the plaster from the force of the doorknob against the wall. Atlas stands there, his eyes wide and lips pursed as he looks from me to Skye, crumpled on the ground, huffing and cursing as she rights herself. Of course, his eyes then drop to my cock, still flying half-mast after having her hands on me for most of the morning.
“What did you do to her?” There’s no accusation in the big Alpha's words, just curiosity. I’m glad to see that at least one of our pack mates realizes that I wouldn’t hurt her, and I reach down to scoop her up and set her back on her feet, watching as she skips and leaps in Atlas’ arms, hugging him around the neckand waist. Now he looks suspicious. “What did you do with our Omega?”
Snorting at the pure seriousness of his expression, I tug on a pair of joggers and make my way to him, the lost expression on his face making me huff in amusement again.
“I did nothing at all, myamorzinhois just in a good mood after getting dicked down last night.” The straight face is becoming remarkably harder to hold around her. Atlas whoops and laughs at last, bear-hugging Skye in return until she coughs a little, then releases her.
“I dunno about dicking down, but I know you got us all up,” Atlas grins brightly, turning to leave the room, and you wouldn’t think that he had a whole other adult attached to him, clinging around him like a koala as he carries her down the stairs and into the kitchen. Sighing, I grab some joggers and a shirt for her from the enormous pile of clothes that Clay picked up over the last few days when he snuck out under the guise of working. I doubt Atlas even cares that she is naked currently, having been the only person other than myself and Clay to be buried between those sweet thighs of hers and feel her suffocate me with…Porro, now I'm hard again, and I’d only just lost the last erection. Knowing my luck, Prue would saunter in the door like she owned the place before I could get clothes on Skye.
Much to my surprise, Atlas dressed her whilst he finished breakfast, using far too many pans as per usual, and leaving it for the rest of us to clean up. Not that I will complain when he is feeding our Omega, but the man is a terrible cleaner. Undoubtedly, Theodore will have something to say later when dinner is cooking and something is out of place, and we’ll all get it in the ear for Atlas’s mess.Never mind.
“So who am I meeting today?” Skye asks around a mouthful of her breakfast roll, licking her lips free of grease in a way that has both of us Alphas drawn to her, but she snaps her fingers,muttering something that sounds like, “fucking Alphas,”before asking again.
Regaining my damn brain cells, I make my own sandwich, leaning back against the countertop to speak to her and eat, “My old pack. Fury mentioned we sometimes have barbecues and invite both Prue and Beckett over to keep in touch. Today is one of those days. By the sounds of it, they have some new members to introduce us to, exciting news given our history.”
“This is the pack that you lost your Omega with?” She reaches for me, a small purring starting up as she instinctively tries to comfort me. The first true smile in some time crosses my face, and I enclose her palm between mine and nod.
“Yes.” My nose is tickling, my eyes sting… Just the onions that Atlas had cut, that’s all. Just the onions. “I lost both my previous Omegas with them. Prue reminds me very much of Fury. Full of nonsense when she thinks she can get away with it. Bex is pretty serious, but he’s a good man and a good friend too. Fury loves him, Bex… Does not return it.”
Our illustrious leader takes that moment to enter, and for the first time in a very long time, my cat doesn’t bristle at him, doesn’t rise in challenge. He lays there, his silken golden fur rising with each breath in the back of my mind. This is a novelty, fighting myself constantly around the presence of our Cardinal is half the reason I’m always so tired and snarky. Interesting that our Omega seems to have settled the men as well as the beasts.
“Did I hear that the wonderful, fantastic Beckett Hawksridge is coming to visitmeeeee?” The last is said with a melodramatic upturn in his voice, splaying his fingers across his chest and sending Skye and Atlas into fits of giggles, “Oh, Lukey, you do just get me the best treats. Think he’ll finally come sit in the pool with the rest of us?”
“Not in your dreams, and stop calling me Lukey.” I snap back, but there’s no heat in it, Fury turning his amused grinon me, blue eyes glittering with mischief as he hugs Skye from the back, planting a kiss in her hair that has her elbowing him away with a growl, “and they’re bringing some new packmates I believe, so make sure there’s plenty of food.”
Fury waves me off, opening the fridge with a flourish, “You think Teddy would let any of us starve? The man’s bought enough food to feed a football team, he’s gonna lose it if we don’t eat it all. Atty, you’re on cleanup, yeah?” There is no waste in this house with the giant wolf around. Between his work at the activity center, helping around the ranch when he can, and spending the most time in fur out of any of us—Atlas could eat for a football team. I turn before I hear Atlas' pouty reply, sliding open the doors at the back of the kitchen, through to the sun room, and then out the back. The pool was dug out and built by us a few summers ago, with some help from a local company, the terracotta tiling giving the water a warm orange glow.
Late in the year like this, the heavy woodland at the back of the barn and paddocks is turning those brilliant shades of umber, the peaks in the far distance looming over us. Humming drifts over from the barbecue off to the side, with Teddy standing there, his cane hooked on the utensil bar of the massive grill and a colorful apron that has some sort of naked woman print on the front of it. That screams a gift from Fury if I’ve ever seen one, but it does make the corner of my lip twitch a little, and I ease myself onto one of the deck chairs next to him. No words pass between us. We’ve always been close, Theo and I. I think he saw another charity case when Fury brought me home for the first time, and he’s been like a mother hen ever since. Can’t say I hate it. My own parents were very much like the cats we are; my father abandoned us when I was young, and my mother never really cared enough to remember her kid for the most part. Prue’s family practically adopted me as a young teenager, and that was that. Another breeze blows, and despite being later inthe year, it’s still surprisingly warm. Theo’s horses plod around the pastures near us, and we watch Bella drift closer to the fence line, knowing that once the food’s going, she’ll be begging for some. Never met a horse that enjoyed sausages like that one, but then, I haven’t been around many horses before I came here.
“You and Skye seem to be getting on better,” Theo’s voice breaks me from watching the mare grazing.
“She’s alright,” I say, turning to watch as Fury lifts her onto a kitchen counter, arguing animatedly with a spoon in his hand whilst Atlas eats through another breakfast roll, “No, that’s unfair… I think she’s pretty perfect for this pack. It’s funny, my cat didn’t even so much as bristle when Fury came into the kitchen; it’s peaceful. I should probably apolo--”
“Don’t you dare, Lucas Carter,” He points the tongs at me, currently holding a sponge that he’s scrubbing the thing with. See, mother hen. “We all know exactly why you acted the way you did, and none of us blames you. Do we wish you had pulled your head out of your ass a little sooner instead of skulking around your own house? Sure.”
“It’s not my--”
The sponge hits me with a wetwhap,and the spattering of grease across my clean shirt makes me wrinkle my nose even as the fucking Beta scolds me some more, “You damn well know that house is yours too. You’ve put in the hard work to it, you’ve got your own bedroom, you’re as much part of the furniture as me and Clay, or the rest of the pack, so stop acting like you ain’t.” His accent thickens like honey when he’s mad, “Mama Amberwood would pitch a fit if she thought a member of my pack felt like a guest in his own damn home. Now, let’s get ready for that old pack of yours to arrive, huh? I need a drink.”
Surprising both of us, I offer him a smile, “Thanks, Theo. I don’t deserve you, none of the pack does.”
Lighting up his face, he hangs up the tongs and grabs his cane, leaning heavily on it and tilting his head, “Too damn right, kitty-cat.”
Whistling catches my attention from the side of the house, and Prue storms around, her grin widening at Theo as she drags him into her, almost suffocating him against her breasts. He has to tap out long before I think she’ll actually let him go. Beckett comes around next, his arm tucked around a much slighter man with hair like spun golden silk and eyes the same shade. Against his pale skin, they’re as stark as mine are against my own tanned face, and we immediately recognize the other beast inside.Cat, lion… Omega.Ah, that would explain the voices in the background of the call, then. The other Alpha follows behind, another serious-looking man with the palest blond curls and blue eyes, his shirt clinging to the thick muscle underneath, and something about him makes my hackles rise as he approaches.
Prue breaks the tension as she always does, spreading her arms wide and giving me the same treatment as Theo. Tucking me under her chin for a hug so fierce that the breath is squeezed from my lungs with a wheeze. Raspberry and vanilla fill my lungs when I finally catch a breath, lifting her around the waist and spinning her in a circle before pulling Beckett in. It’s so easy to forget sometimes, when I’m surrounded by my current pack full of people I love, how much I truly miss my old friends.
“Lukey, you’re looking good, sweetie, that Omega must be doing ya wonders. I know you’re doing wonders for her,” A saucy wink has me shaking my head and peering around Beckett’s broad shoulders to greet the two newcomers, “Ah, this is Oberon, our new Alpha and-”
