Before the jealousy can sink its teeth in, Halley pops her head up and locks eyes with me. There’s a sleepy blink, then a little frown, then that determined set to her jaw that means someone’s about to get bossed around.
“Everyone in the nest,” she says firmly with a short nod.
I blink. “Sorry, what?”
She points at me, dead serious. “The whole Pack in the nest.”
There’s a pause while I try to compute that order. Then I glance at Shade.
He shrugs like it’s obvious. “You heard her, Prime. Get your ass in.”
Right. Of course. My life has flipped upside down and I now take my orders from our tiny, bratty Omega. I’m certainly not complaining. I want to obey her every desire.
I swallow, suddenly aware of how much this moment matters. She still wants me.
My knee hits the mattress, slow and cautious. I half expect her to rescind the offer, to glare or growl or tell me I’ve missed my window when I rejected her earlier.
Instead, she just huffs like I’m being ridiculous, then flops back onto Viper with a gleeful little wriggle.
I don’t join the cuddle pile. Not yet. I settle on the outskirts next to Blaze, our shoulders knocking together. We’re close enough to be included, but far enough not to intrude. Still, there is a warmth in my chest. A rightness of being with the Pack like this. A steady, quiet glow from within.
Viper hauls her up his chest and kisses her deeply. One hand cradles her face, his thumb tracing her cheek while his mouth takes its time on hers. It’s all tongue, but slow. Languid like he’s savoring her taste.
I wait for the envy… but it doesn’t come. No jealousy or compulsion to look away.
Just fascination.
The way his hands trace her curves, palming her ass without rushing. He’s not trying to grind his cock against her, or get his knot wet. He’s just… touching.
Viper’s right.
I need to watch so I can learn how to be with her like that. Not with strategic purpose or domination, but with care and connection.
Because if she reaches out for me to be her comfort again, I want to be ready.
I’ll be the Alpha she needs.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Shade
The sound of their kiss is unhurried, soaked in intimacy. Halley lets out soft little gasps between the wet pulls of her mouth against Viper’s, and I can feel her scent thickening in the air. It’s sweet and heavy, like warm honey laced with lightning. Powerful enough to twist in my lungs.
In the short pauses to breathe, Viper looks dazed. He’s deep under her spell. If the enormous bulge at the front of his trousers is any indication, he’sveryaffected by her touch.
But he doesn’t move to do anything more than kiss and stroke her sides. He just holds her and lets her take her fill.
Halley, however, is done with going slow.
It starts subtle, with barely-there shifts of her body, but frustration builds fast. Soon, her hips are grinding in increasingly desperate rolls against the firm line of Viper’s thigh until she’s humping in earnest, chasing friction like it might grant her peace.
She tears her mouth from Viper’s with a low, needy sound, and fists his shirt with both hands, tugging hard enough that I hear threads rip. Her fingers twist, feral and urgent.
“Alpha,” she breathes, voice high and fraying, a snarl buried beneath the plea.
Viper stiffens, caught off guard, but I’m already moving. I reach out, gentle but firm, wrapping my hands around Halley’s wrists and guiding them down from his chest.
“Hey, hey now,” I murmur. “No mauling the Alpha, alright? That shirt didn’t wrong you.”
