Chapter Twenty-Three: ABBIE
My packmates make sure I go to sleep with a smile on my face, but the uneasy feeling in my belly doesn’t quit. I startle awake at midnight, my heart racing as I realize that the only scents I can smell are alpha musk. My hand searches the space beside me, but the bedsheets are cold and empty. “Wings?”
“You okay?” Pitt asks, palming his face. “What’s wrong, butterfly? Is it another nightmare?”
“No, I’m fine,” I whisper, leaning over to kiss his cheek. “Go back to sleep. I’m just going to join Wings for a midnight snack.”
He mumbles something about peach pie, but I slip out of bed before we disturb Bluff. It will be his first time going on a raid with the guys, and the last thing I want is for him to be too tired to focus.
I grab his flannel shirt off the back of a chair and wrap it around me, my toes curling on the wooden floorboards as I head downstairs. The clubhouse is quiet, but I pause on the bottom step, drawn to Ark’s office like a moth to a flame. The door is ajar and I peek inside, my heart fluttering at the sight of him behind his desk. There’s a half-eaten burger at his elbow and his fingersare pressed into his temples as he leans over a stack of papers.
“Hey, it’s late,” I murmur when he looks up. “Are you okay?”
A slow smile spreads across his tense face. “I am now. Come here.”
I go happily, ignoring the visitor chair and sliding onto his lap. He smells like leather and crushed violets, and I nuzzle into his neck. God, his chest feels better than that feather bed upstairs. “Fuck, I needed this,” he growls, making my heart skip another beat. “But why are you awake?”
“I missed you.” I’m not oblivious to Ark’s burdens as president, but it still feels wrong that he’s down here worrying about the world while the rest of us are tucked up in our beds. “You’re working too hard, Alpha.”
“Mmm, but there’s a lot at stake. Not just for the omegas, but because of this new alliance with the Chains. If it works, it means no more Vipers. We can cut ties with them for good.”
I rub my face against his bristly cheek and hum. “That’s music to my ears.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been so wrapped up in it, though.” He runs his hands down my back until he’s cupping my hips. “I should be paying more attention to you.”
“I don’t need my hand held all of the time, but this is nice.” I rock over him gently, enjoying the heat growing between us, but too comfortable to do anything about it. “Maybe I can sneak in here sometimes and we can put that sofa to its intended use.”
He cocks a brow at the messy pile of papers covering its surface. “You mean as an extension of my disorganized desk?”
“The desk works, too,” I quip, leaning back until my spine is pressed against its edge. Caged by his arms and spread across his thick thighs, I’m fairly certain I’ve never felt so safe in my life. “I’m glad we got here, Ark. I never really thought we could bridge the gap between us.”
“I’m glad we got here, too.” He squeezes my hips. “Not sure I deserve it, but I’m too gone on you to let you go.”
I give him a pointed look as I clamp my legs around him. “Letting go is not an option, Alpha. You bite it, you own it.”
His eyes darken with arousal as they settle on my throat. “Can I tend my bite, Omega?”
“Please do,” I purr, pulling my hair aside so he has full access to my neck. “Unless you’re too tired, of course. Patch gave me some hormone wipes…”
“Fuck the wipes,” he growls, pulling me forward until my throat is inches from his mouth. He breathes on the sensitive skin, making my eyelashes flutter. I know exactly what it looks like up close, since I spent most of the morning studying it in his bathroom mirror. “I got you good, didn’t I?”
The satisfaction in his voice makes me smile. “Like you were trying to carve your initials into me with your teeth.”
“No one is ever gonna doubt that you’re mine.”
“And if they do,” I tell him softly, “I won’t hesitate to remind them.”
He hums his approval, wrapping a hand around my nape and finally running his tongue up my throat. It’s slow and delicious, and his scent thickens as he circles my gland. There are properties in a mate’s saliva that aid the healing process, but I hope it stays like this forever. Red, and raw, and so sensitive it makes my toes curl.
“More?” he asks.
“Please.”
He hums again, his lips parting to suck on the gland. A shivery sensation swirls up my spine, ripples of dark bliss radiating from his bite. My toes curl to the point of pain, soft gasps of pleasure leaving my mouth as my thighs shake under his hands.
“Abbie,” he murmurs against my throat, “are you coming?”
I blink at him, my hands gripping his cut so tightly I can feel my knuckles throb. “I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’ll bawl my eyes out if you stop.”
