I don’t know if Tristan told him to stay silent, but he doesn’t say another word as he pushes inside me. All my alphas are thick, but only one of them smells like leather and amber. Plus, I can feel my bond tingling as Logan nuzzles my neck, pumping into me fast and deep. But I don’t break the illusion, because there’s no teasing now and he’s giving me exactly what I want. As his knot starts to stretch my entrance, I dig my fingers into the chair, pushing back to urge him on. Every nerve ending sings ashe pounds into me, his hips slapping against mine and his sweat peppering my back. It’s hard, and wet, and hot as hell, and I can’t stop a scream tearing from my throat as I come in an explosion of stars.
I drift on his knot, panting into my hands. It’s the perfect mix of fullness and light, that jittery feeling in my belly replaced by a delicious ache. I feel my alpha pant against my spine, his hands now gentle on my hips as he throbs inside me.
Marking me on the inside…
But just as I’m melting back into his embrace, his knot slides free and another alpha takes his place. I reach back, gasping, but all I can feel is warm skin and a broad chest. “Who...?”
“Does it matter?” Tristan asks, closer to my ear than expected. “They're all your mates and they're only here for your pleasure.”
Technically, Otley and I aren’t mated yet, but I’m not about to argue when a hand is reaching under me and pressing against my clit. I’m so sensitive, I cry out, my legs shaking as he toys with the swollen bud. I’m pretty sure it’s Ellis, based on the way he’s nibbling on his bite. But at this moment, I don’t want him to reveal himself. I just want to take everything he’s giving me, clenching around his thick shaft until I’m dripping with another release.
I don’t know if I lose time, or if he does something to smother his knot. One moment I’m stuffed full, and then a body is sliding under me, pulling me down into his lap. I scramble to get my knees up, but he lifts me without a sound. I grip his shoulders, clenching tight as he peels me open and thrusts deep. I groan into his neck, my orgasm still rippling through me as he fills me to the brim.
“Otley…” I murmur, because Rosie once said I could pick a cherry filling from a table full of baked pies. “Alpha…”
“So perfect,” he murmurs, his mouth licking into mine. “Such a good girl taking your pleasure.”
The praise sends a shiver down my spine, and I suddenly need to see his face. Peeling off the blindfold, I realize that we’re alone in the closet, but I breathe a sigh of relief as he pins me with his eyes. Knots are a delicious way to be grounded, but there’s nothing quite like an Otley James stare as he thrusts up into my heat.
“I’m here, Lily,” he says in his quiet way. “Wherever and whenever you want me.”
“Here,” I tell him. “Always.”
He purrs, digging his fingers into my curls and tilting my head. “Can I claim you, omega?”
I can’t nod. He’s holding me too tight, and pleasure is starting to spiral up my spine. But I want it all. His knot, his bite, and his heart… “Please... Make me yours, Alpha.”
I feel his cock swell as his teeth slide into me. My skin is tender, and the flash of pain runs deep, but as he thrusts his knot inside me, we tip over the edge together. I didn’t think I could come again so soon, but as I shudder through another orgasm, I catch a glimpse of my face in the mirror. My eyes are wide with awe, and my mouth is curved into a satisfied smile.
For a moment, as Otley purrs against my throat, I see what they see.
Their mate – perfect for them in every way.
EVER AFTER – LILY
Packing up the farmhouse at Rosie’s Blooms is… bittersweet.
Cathartic, in some ways, but at other times so overwhelming, I have to abandon the boxes and go sit with the flowers. Serenading them, as I like to think of it, although I’ve come to accept that I’m the one in need of musical therapy, and less so the tone-deaf sunflowers.
By the time we’re done, the sun has slipped into the southern pastures, summer fading to fall. Aunt Maggie has visited from New York a few times, but it’s part of the agreement with Rosie that she won’t officially move in until we’ve left. Seeing someone else living on the farm – even if they’re family – still makes me too raw, so Rosie and Doc are staying back to help her settle in. Logan is already in the process of selling his house, but the guys have offered Rosie the use of Willow Manor when we’re not in Knotty Falls. Leo was excited to think his old friend, Joey the Wrench, will have company, but from the flicker of unease on Rosie’s face, I have a feeling they’ll be spending most of their time on the road, or at Doc’s small apartment.
I’m not sure if Maggie’s magic beans will breathe new life into the farm, but she’s not complaining about the publicity Tristan’s ad campaign is already bringing to Rosie’s Blooms. Della got his goddess of the hunt moment, and while I’m not sure my face will ever grace a billboard – or the Super Bowl, for that matter – the money has gone into an account forLily's Horse Rest & Refuge, when I eventually get that off the ground.
My first project, though, has been planting a rose bed with Ellis’ mom. Catherine, it turns out, has quite a green thumb, and while there are more hard days than good ones, she happily splits her time between the stables with Leo and tending the new plants with me. It’s so good for Ellis to see his mom with a sparkle in her eyes, even though we both suspect that Zander might have a bit to do with putting it there. Especially when he bought her a stunning white stallion for her birthday, an almost exact replica of Spirit Shadow, the horse she used to ride onLady Vet.
Our official moving day is coordinated by Otley’s team, although, for the past week he’s been busy with a business deal that kept him in San Francisco. While I can sense him through the bond – and he checks in via video a few times a day - I’m twitching for his scent, for that gaze that never wavers and hasn't mellowed an inch in three months.
To my surprise, Leo also seems on edge as we head to the ranch, his brow furrowed for most of the trip. We’ve put a lot of miles on the new Airstream over the summer, although Leo’s first pick for travel is always the pack’s private jet. Ellis has taken him on a few mini vacations, always in the company of security, and never anywhere that their fame will put Leo in harm’s way. Their last trip was to watch the Giants in San Francisco. Leo came home with stars in his eyes, since Carl Becker was out with an injury and joined them in a private box to watch the game. If I thought he loved baseball before, the only time I can part himfrom his glove is in the bath and that’s only because Carl had it signed by the whole team.
But the sparkle goes out of his eyes as we pull up to the house. Bobby and George are just riding in from a morning of ranch work, and when they wave, Leo slumps down on the bench seat, staring glumly at the table. The other guys are all close by, and we look at Leo in concern.
“What's up, bud?” Tristan asks, always tuned in to Leo's moods. “Have you and Bobby had a falling out?”
I sincerely hope not, since he’s enrolled to start at a private school with Bobby in a couple of weeks. It’s a big change for both of them, given that it’s exclusively for the children of public figures and those with enough influence to sway the selection board. The curriculum is flexible, the teachers first rate, and the campus is in a beautiful canyon only a half hour from the ranch. Up until now, I thought the boys were treating the new school as an adventure they’d get to experience together.
“Not Bobby,” Leo grumbles, gnawing on a nail. “It’sGeorge.”
He spits the name like it tastes sour, and we all exchange bewildered glances. Leo is wearing a cowboy belt buckle George gave him for his birthday, and he’s spent so much time with the ranch manager over the summer, he’s taken to calling him G, much to my exasperation.
