Page 31 of The Omega’s Nest

“Twenty,” Leo says. He’s furious, but I hear his resolve too. It makes me slick up more even though I’m aghast.

The second voice laughs. “Baby alphas. Have at it.”

And then Benji’s callin it and the gavel strikes the sound block and oh my God, Leo just paid twenty thousand dollars for me. He’s crazy. I’m going to tell him not to do this, to save his money. I’ve got all the right arguments forming in my head, but when he appears out of the darkness, his face is a thundercloud, and yet his eyes are so full of concern, it’s all I can do not to launch myself into his arms.

He’s waylaid by Benji before he reaches me. Rules, Benji will be explaining the rules. Settling payment. Tristan is beside me again, murmuring for me to follow.

“But Leo …”

“He’ll be right up,” Tristan says, and there’s a tightness to his tone I don’t understand. I’m sinking. Sweat coating my skin, slick sliding down my thighs. I need Leo now. I need him inside me. I need him to claim me.

“Leo,” I whine.

“Keep your voice down,” Tristan hisses against my ear.

I don’t understand what he’s pissed about, but he smells of fear. I need to comfort him. I can’t. All I can do is let myself be dragged back up the stairs, lowered onto the couch.

“Oh boy,” Tristan says with feeling.

I blink and try to focus on him. It’s impossible—my hole is aching painfully, my rational mind floating away on the haze of need.

“You’re lucky Benji didn’t remember him,” Tristan is saying.

And then the smell of the ocean crashes into the room. I look up. Leo is in the doorway, chest heaving, eyes wild.

“Addie,” he says on a rush of air, the deepness of his voice skating all over my body.

I try to form his name with my mouth, but what comes out is a high-pitched moan as my hole slicks up more and my mating gland throbs under the collar.

I think Tristan leaves. All I can see is Leo. He crosses the room in two quick steps, and he hauls me up and against his chest. I shove my nose against his throat and inhale the ocean, the rolling waves of lust-desire-anger pummelling me.

My scent spikes at the anger—have I upset him? Does he not want me?

Leo pulls back, nips my ear, and speaks against it, wetting the lobe. “You have nothing to fear, baby. I’m here, I’m here. I’m going to mate you, get you out of here. I’m here.”

I whine and press myself as close as I can. He’s going to claim me. My alpha is going to mate me. I want to say, “Now? Please, now. Inside me, then bite me,” but my voice isn’t working.

He doesn’t need me to speak, he knows what I need—my feet are going out from under me before I can force my words to work, to beg, and I’m in Leo’s arms, moving toward my nest.

He lowers me down so gently, but I don’t need gentle. I reach for his pants, try to get my fingers to work, to get him out, get him inside me. I’m dripping, I’m empty, I’m aching—can’t he smell it? Why isn’t he helping me? I don’t think I’ve ever been this forward in heat, but Leo’s scent, Leo’s body bracketed above me, is driving me crazy.

Leo huffs a laugh—it’s a kind sound. I blink and try to focus on his face. He’s smiling. And his hand, when it strokes down the side of my face, is so reverent I feel my eyes well with tears. He’s here, Leo’s here. He bought me. He’s here.

“No, baby, no,” Leo says, his smile slipping. “I’ll take care of you, I promise. I’ll be so good to you. I wanted to court you first, but if this is the only way, then I’ll claim you, get you out of here, and then … then I’ll make it up to you.”

His words are like foam on top of a wave, drifting by but impossible to pin down. I don’t know what he’s talking about, but I know I need him.

My hand trails down and I grip his throbbing cock over the material. Leo bucks forward with a gasp.

“Okay, talk later,” Leo says and chuckles.

He sits back and I whimper at the loss. Leo yanks his shirt over his head, smile heated when he emerges. He’s undoing his pants. I reach down for my own and try to wriggle them off. Leo stops me with a hand on my wrist.

“Let me,” he says shakily. “Just give me one second.”

I think I nod, and bite my lip to stop myself from screaming. I don’t have one second. Leo reaches down and gets his boots off, then pants, before he moves back over me. Something glints in his hand, but he’s placing it under the pillows of my nest before I can be sure I saw anything. His hands run up my chest, under the material of my shirt.

I throw my head back and whimper, squirming under his touch. Those hands, so big, so warm, envelope my bare skin. He pulls the shirt up and over my head. His hands run back down my chest, my stomach, teasing the dip above my waistband.