Madison needed her pack. Betas weren’t meant to take on a heat, especially not alone.
“I’m sorry,” she gasped out. “I’m a mess and selfish and I want you. I’ve always wanted you. Don’t leave me, I’m sorry.”
“Hey, hey.” I shushed her gently, lowering us down and turning so she could sit on my lap. “Maddie, I’m not going anywhere, and you have nothing to apologize for. You’re overwhelmed, and that’s okay, but I promise we’re here when you need us.”
She clung to me, shaking, and even with the scent neutralizer coating her, her raspberry sweetness was sneaking through the particles to hang like syrup in the air.
Little whimpers tumbled past her lips, her hips rocking as the heat flare settled in. “Jude, please. I won’t ask for anything else, I?—”
“You will, and I want you to. Ask for everything you never got, everything you want, for the rest of our lives, because I’m going to do the same. We’ll all ask for things in this pack—sometimes you’re struggling and have to ask for more, and sometimes one of us will be struggling, and you can give more. The scales don’t have to balance, Maddie. We give out of love, not because someone is demanding we do.”
“But—”
“I love you, and I want you to have the best life possible.”
She brushed her mouth against mine, her fingers lacing behind my head. “I love you, too.”
Sweat beaded on her brow and her breath shifted to sharp panting followed by a moan that had every hair on my body raising.
“Maddie, what do you want me to do?”
“Fuck me.”
“You’re sure?”
“Jude,please. I need you, right here, right now. I’m asking for what I want. I wantyou.”
What my omega wanted, my omega got, not that a hallway was the most ideal spot. It was no easy task wrestling her out of her panties, but we managed. Thankfully, she was wearing a dress and not leggings today, or we would’ve had to become acrobats to get her out of them while she was clinging to me.
“Let me keep you.” Her words were hushed and breathy in my ear, sending goosebumps down my arms. “Bond me.”
“That should probably be a decision for another day. I need it to be on purpose and not driven by a flare.”
“It’s not.” She kissed me, pouring her desperation into the action while her fingers got my dick free from my pants so she could sink onto it. “At the cookout, I said it would only take until the next heat flare to make you mine. I already decided before this.”
Madison groaned, flexing her hips, riding me with shallow, frantic strokes that had my brain slowing down with each descent. At the time, I thought she had only said it to please my family so they wouldn’t feel like I was being left out when she had two bonds already.
She was serious?
She really wanted me forever?
I cupped her hips, helping her move while I processed, not that I was doing myself any favors in that department. Her slick heat swallowing me up was what fantasies were made of.
My dream girl was asking to bond me.
I’d imagined this day a thousand times over, probably more. Was the setting perfect? No, butshewas.
“You’re sure you want to keep me?”
She looked at me with shiny eyes, flushed cheeks, and a sweaty brow, strands of hair plastered to it. “I’ve always wanted to keep you.”
“Do it, then.” I tilted my head to the side, giving her full access to my throat. “I’ve always been yours, and I want the world to know it, too.”
Isank my teeth into Jude’s skin. Pomegranate and cranberry bathed my tongue, all tart sweetness and perfectly him.
Belatedly, I remembered I was coated in scent-neutralizing spray. I swiped the hem of my dress through my slick and scrubbed a space on my throat for him.
He chuckled softly. “Putting icing on the cake for me?”
