I think.
Dominic slowly rolls us over until I’m straddling his thighs, the new angle sending a surge of need through me. I brace my hands on his chest, rocking forward once only to find that I’m already at the edge with his knot deep inside of me. Crying out, I come on his stomach, whimpering with an apology.
He throws me a sultry grin as he wipes his hand through the mess and offers it to Amos who obediently sucks those digits into his mouth. Dominic chuckles, the sound morphing into his Alpha purr, “You need more, don’t you firefly? You greedy little Omega, where have you been hiding?” He drops his hand to my hip and thrusts upward, that pesky ball of need surging again.
It wouldn’t be so fucking embarrassing about how much my body likes these Alphas if they didn’t look so fucking smug about it.
Amos
Mattaniahtalksinhissleep, small half-formed words murmured into the pillow with his brow furrowed and his lips shaping sounds that might be names or might be pleas. His curls have dried into a wild halo against the white sheets. The blanket has slipped to his waist, exposing the long line of his back and the fading marks where Dominic's hands gripped his hips.
Dominic is awake on Mattaniah's other side, propped on one elbow, watching the Omega with an expression he'd deny under oath. His hand rests on Mattaniah's lower back, his thumb tracing the same absent circles he draws on my hip when he thinks I'm sleeping. He hasn't looked at me yet, and I don't force it because I'm not ready for the conversation that eye contact would start.
Mattaniah's scent fills the space around us, richer than I've ever smelled it because the blockers have worn off entirely during the night. What's coming through is the unfiltered version of him, and it's sweet enough to make me press my nose closer to his hair without meaning to.
Dominic catches the movement. His eyes meet mine across the pillow, and whatever he sees on my face makes him look away first.
Mattaniah stirs, the transition from sleep to waking almost violent. His body goes rigid in a single heartbeat, his eyes flying open, his breath catching in a sharp inhale. His scent spikes with that sour edge of someone surfacing into consciousness without knowing where they are or whose hands are on them.
He starts to sit up. Then his nostrils flare.
The fear scent wavers as he pulls in the air around him. The rigid line of his spine softens and he sinks back down between us with a shaky exhale, his body processing the scent information faster than his brain can catch up.
"Morning," I say.
He turns his head toward me. His eyes are dark and still clouded with sleep, and it takes him a few seconds to focus on my face. When he does, his gaze drifts down to where his fingers are tangled in my shirt. He stares at them like they belong to someone else and lets go slowly.
"Morning." He swallows. "That was the best I've slept in a long time."
He's still under. Not fully, but the softness in his voice and the way his pupils are blown wide and the fact that he just volunteered something vulnerable without flinching tells me he hasn't completely surfaced from whatever headspace Dominic put him in last night.
I file that away because an Omega who drops that deep and stays down that long has been starved for this in ways that go beyond what the blockers have been suppressing.
"How do you feel?"
His lips part, close, and part again. "Different." His brow furrows like the word isn't quite right but he can't find a better one. "Like something reset."
"Something did." Dominic's voice is rough with sleep behind him, his hand still on Mattaniah's back. The Omega twitches at the sound but doesn't pull away. "You stopped fighting your own body for a few hours."
Mattaniah's gaze moves between my face and Dominic's arm and the tangled sheets. I can see him trying to engage the part of his brain that assesses what happened, but it keeps sliding out of focus. The subspace has a hold on him that his usual defenses can't quite punch through yet.
My hand moves toward his face, my fingers tracing the line of his jaw. His eyes flutter closed as his chin tilts toward my touch, and I watch the moment his brain catches up with what his body is doing. His eyes snap open and he pulls back an inch.
"Sorry, I don't know why I..." He blinks hard, like he's trying to clear fog. "I'm not usually like this. I don't know what's wrong with me this morning."
"Nothing is wrong with you." I keep my hand where it is, close to his face but not touching. "You went deep last night. It takes time to come all the way back."
"Went deep." He repeats it flatly, testing the words. "Is that what you call what happened?"
Dominic shifts closer behind him, his chest pressing against Mattaniah's back, the Omega's breath stuttering as a low hum starts in his ribcage. His eyes go wide at the sound.
"Am I... is that me?" He presses a hand to his own chest. "What is that?"
"You're purring, Niah."
"I don't purr." But the vibration gets stronger when Dominic's arm settles across his waist, melting with Dominic’s purr and Mattaniah's face flushes. "Fuck, that sound…It’s so humiliating."
I won’t explain that Omegas only purr when they feel safe or that it’s usually only for their mates. That would have Mattaniah pulling from this completely and it wouldn’t serve our purposes.
