“Suppressants,” he said.
Beckett grimaced. Suppressants were expensive, hard to get, and illegal for a reason. Beckett would know what they were doing to Jack.
With any luck, this was the first and last time he had to take them. He didn’t regret it.
It was worth it, for Arden.
And, he thought as he got comfortable on the bed, it was worth it to see Beckett like this.
The first few times he and Beckett had come together, Beckett had rolled off Jack or slid out from under him the very moment they’d both spent, and reached for his clothes. Jack had to wrestle him back into bed and pin him to the pillows if he wanted anything more. Like, say, a conversation. Or any closeness at all.
Back then, Beckett had been a wary and guarded young man.
Here, now, as he tended to an omega in need, he was as open and vulnerable as Arden.
He was much taller than Arden, and he’d arranged himself in such a way that he wasn’t just making a cage out of his body; he wasstrokingArden with it, in long, supple rolls that pushed out a softahhhhfrom Arden’s open mouth before he did it again, and again, and again.
As for Arden, he was slowly and quite surely unravelling.
His hands had moved from tentative strokes to greedy grabs. Beckett’s glittering skin dimpled beneath the press of Arden’s fingertips, and any minute—ah. There it was. Arden dug in and clawed at Beckett’s buttocks.
Jack was impressed he’d held back for so long. The moment that Jack got his hands on Beckett’s arse, he went crazy for it.
Beckett grunted, and Arden did it again. Beckett stared down at Arden and grinned, his smile flashing. He pushed back to sit on his calves, scooping Arden up as he did with an arm around his waist, and suddenly Arden was sitting up on his lap, looking startled.
Jack groaned at the sight of his two loves twined together. Beckett rocked his hips up into Arden, who was clutching Beckett’s shoulders, wide-eyed.
“Touch him,” Beckett said between rough moans, arse and thighs working. Arden’s soft littleahhhhsturned into quiet sobs of pleasure. Beckett hunched down and pressed his forehead to Arden’s shoulder, tilting his face to tuck it into Arden’s neck.
Jack didn’t hesitate. He knelt up behind Arden, slipping a hand around his throat and easing his head back. Beckett’s mouth was pressed against the pale skin of Arden’s throat; Jack pressed a soft kiss to the corner of Arden’s lips.
Beckett growled.
He wanted Jack to participate, but the alpha in him would only allow so much.
Arden’s skin was like damp satin, and Jack couldn’t get enough of it. He palmed Arden’s buttocks, one fitting perfectly in each hand, and absorbed the drive and power of Beckett’s thrusts.
Arden dropped one of the arms he’d had locked around Beckett and reached behind to flail at Jack.
Jack withdrew, thinking that Arden was trying to get him to move, to give them space. Arden made a worried sound when he shifted back, and Jack realised with a rush of relief that he wanted him closer.
He pushed up behind Arden. “You want me to hold you?”
“Please,” Arden said. “Please, please.”
Jack snugged himself close to Arden, keeping a wary eye on Beckett. He didn’t want the lad to suddenly fight him. It would upset Beckett, and scare Arden horribly.
He was surprised that the pair of them had been coherent for so long. Jack wondered if it had something to do with him being there, keeping their minds focused, keeping them from falling completely into the daze that a mating always brought.
Always, in the end.
Arden turned wild in Beckett’s arms, meeting his thrusts with whining demand. Oh, he’d hate it if he could see himself. He’d hate it if he knew he was acting this way. Jack vowed that he’d teach Arden to revel in it. Therewasn’tanything wrong with him being an omega, despite what he’d learned in his parents’ house.
Despite that awful thing he’d once overheard Jack saying.
It was a delight to see him working with Beckett as they sought their peak. In the past, Jack had witnessed Arden hold himself back, push himself down, visibly restrain himself from wanting, or asking, or taking. Anything. Affection, attention, an extra slice of cake for godssake.
He and Beckett between them would teach Arden to want, to ask, to take. They’d uncover his desires, and give them to him.
