“But Clay…” whining as she buries her head beneath the pillows, I can only hear muffled complaints and the chuckles from my Beta as he pokes her side, both of them erupting in giggles. Watching the two of them together eases something in my heart and lightens the awful anxiety I never realized was gripping me. Decision made, I grab her ankle where it’s popped from the protection of the sheets and yank her out with a squeal, lifting her easily to toss her over one shoulder.
Protests begin shortly after, “No! Put me down, I’m way too heavy for this! You can’t carry me like…”
My palm lands on her ass with a dull clap, echoed by her yell before she hisses and smacks mine in return, though her tiny hands barely sting through the jeans and tight muscle there. I turn a mischievous grin to Teddy, who’s sitting on the side of the mattress now, still chuckling, though his face morphs as I step closer with my free arm towards him, “Here, little Beta,pspspsps,”I purr at him.
“Don’t you fucking dare, Clay, I am too old for that bullshit and you know it.” He makes an attempt to scramble away, but he doesn’t have his leg, and his crutches are on the floor out of the way. Out of luck.
I toss him over the other shoulder with a token grunt of exertion and receive another wicked ass slap from him this time, “Oh, you big beefcake bastard. I swear to fuck…”
“Watch the next words out of that mouth, Theodore, or I’ll fuck that ass of yours till you can’t sit down for a week,” I growl at him, shifting to open the door and stepping down the hall, only for a sweet wave of perfume to blast me. Skye’s scent hits just like a shot of rum, burning hotly down my throat and making my head spin pleasantly, “Fuck Omega,” I groanat her, taking a moment to breathe her in and shuffling as my dick redoubles its efforts in the fight against thoughts of Mama Moore's underwear drawer.
“What?” She asks innocently, snickering as she and Teddy exchange some sort of communication behind my back, “You two are hot as fuck, and honestly, I thought you were way too sweet to top.”
“You gotta lot to learn, Skye darlin’,” I whistle softly, “ain’t nothing sweet about me in bed, ask your fellow passenger there.”
“Truth,” Teddy laughs, grabbing a handful of my ass as I walk, “Quiet in the streets, beast in the sheets.”
That sets us all off as I reach the bottom of the stairs, meeting Fury in the kitchen as he grabs a crate of beers, the glass bottles rattling as he gives me a tense smile, “Who needs the gym, huh? Benching pack members seems way more fun.”
Settling both of my mates—well, one mate, and one mate-to-be—down, I let Teddy lean on me whilst Fury returns with his cane that he’d left at the back door, and move to untuck the tied leg of his joggers, rolling them up past the end of his limb. There’s a soft gasp from our Omega as she finally sees the extent of the damage there. Most of the scar tissue is still in shades of pinks and purples, a few nasty keloids stretching up his thigh where the wire was looped deep, ragged, and ripping his tan flesh, as she reaches out to trace gently across the lines.
“It doesn’t really hurt anymore,” he tells her quietly, though I know it’s a lie. The nerve damage means that lighter touches feel like electricity on his skin. He needs the firm touch to get through the upper layers so his brain isn’t getting any mixed signals. “Mostly itches now, and the prosthetic is a pain.”
Skye watches almost unblinking as we roll on the silicone liner, then a couple of socks, before sliding the leg onto the liner pin with a click. Settling his leg, Teddy rocks for a second, double-checking that it’s as comfortable as it’s gonna be, thentakes his cane and gives it a twirl, tipping an imaginary hat at her, “M’lady, shall we grace the peasants with our queen's presence?” Offering his arm, she takes it with a snort and an eye-roll, and I watch the pieces of my heart stroll arm-in-arm out into the autumn sunshine.
“She’s everything we could have ever hoped for,” I say to our Cardinal as he leans on the door frame, watching them meet with the rest of our pack and guests, “she’s halfway to stealing my heart, and Teddy's so loved up already he’d have probably bonded her if he could.”
“Yeah, she’s incredible now that she’s stopped running from us. She still needs some TLC half the time, and a good spanking the other half, I swear,” we both chuckle at that, ignoring the rising scents of horny Alpha, “but she’s good for this pack. Lucas is already happier.”
“That’s because he got laid, can’t rail your Omega with a stick up your ass.”
Fury shakes his head, lips tugging at the corners some more, “It’s like a weight is off him and he’s letting loose a little. Something I thought only Prue could help with, but our little firecracker seems to push all the right buttons with him.”
As if on cue, Luc lights up at something she’s told him, dragging the Omega into his lap and rubbing his cheek across her hair, possessively scent-marking her. Pure happiness radiates from them, and it warms me right to the core. “Well, I never… look at them. Like two peas in a cozy little pod.”
Fury nods, then turns grim, his face darkening even as he watches through the big bright windows, “The auctions have been on the phone. They want her back. Keep telling me some shit about her not meaning to be on the slip that night, and she was already sold to someone else.”
Coldness cuts through me, icing through my heart, “They sent her out looking like the goddess-damned Omega queenherself, and ‘she wasn’t meant to be on the slip,’ so they think we were born yesterday?” I let loose a snarl that probably would have impressed my shifter Alpha if he hadn’t looked so concerned. Then it dawns on me, little niggling details all falling into place like the perfect puzzle, and I exhale heavily, “‘Sold’ not ‘accepted bids,’ she was meant to go to that Butcher fella, as part of one of them underground sales, wasn’t she?”
The auctions were originally set up as a meeting ground, offering both packs and Omegas a better chance to meet scent matches, or even just scents that appealed and attracted. If you are lucky, maybe a soul mate. Unfortunately, it became apparent pretty quickly that the whole system had enough loopholes to hang itself and offered lucrative business to the Alphas in charge of the facilities. Just like the one in Citrine.
“I’ve held them off so far,” Fury continues, scratching a hand across his bristly beard. It isn’t as neatly trimmed as usual, scruffy in a way I’ve never seen him before, “but we might need to see if she’ll take a bond to keep her safe. She has a little extra protection as a scent match, but something tells me they won’t hold back forever.”
“What about the contract?” I ask, “We can’t bond her before the month is up, right?”
“Heh, there’s a loophole for scent matches. If they challenge us on it, they can do blood samples and see the compatibility. So we’re safe on that front. They can’t do shit to us. We just have to make sure it’s what she wants.”
We stand for a little longer, silent in the kitchen, until my belly starts to rumble at the influx of scents and the barbecue still smoking away. I take another glance at my Cardinal as he stands there, arms crossed, blue eyes stormy even as he gives me a half-grin, revealing shifted fangs.
“Prue’s pack is gonna stick around a while. Brynn is pissed, too, and there’s been a bear sighted in the woods, not just leaving trails.”
Butcher.I remember them telling me he is a bear of some kind, which can only mean he’s sniffing around after our girl. “Fuck, I’m definitely gonna need a beer or two for this shit show.”
Fury winks, “I’m thinking of a big shot of rum.”
Skye
My Alphas are on edge, something is seriously wrong, and nobody is telling me shit.
