When even warm water would not stop her shaking, Kieran made assurances, “You need to eat something, sweet thing. That’s all this is.”
No, it wasn’t all this was.
“I’ll give you a hit of the good stuff for the pain. It will make the rest of the night…” Even Kieran couldn’t tell that lie.
She shook her head. She’d seen firsthand what the Syndicate’s drugs could do.
The other males invaded Caspian’s bathroom, watching from the door, though they might as well have been skin to skin with her. She could feel them real enough, smell their various scent-markers, hear their purrs or lack thereof.
Her break was over.
After swallowing all the water she could hold, rinsed of foulness, Wren pulled her arms from the thing that had been holding her up. She stepped away from the purring Alpha and did not meet his eyes as she signed. “Let’s get this over with.”
Ever interested, Toby asked, “What does that mean?”
It meant that she wanted to see Mikael and that she still had to let Toby put his very swollen organ into her body. Fighting the shakes, she used the alphabet she’d taught him earlier, slowly spelling out. “Your turn.”
He sounded it out, letter by letter, grinning from ear to ear when understanding struck home. “Step away from Kieran and come to me. Come be all mine, sunshine.”
Naked, wet, bruised, and sore, Wren forced a smile and put on the show Kieran had demanded in exchange to see her boy. She abandoned the suddenly grumbling Alpha in the shower. Ignored the looming largeness of their spying leader, and padded across the floor to present herself to Toby.
The air grew ripe with the musk of thrilled male.
Purring, projecting soothing vibration both raw and rich, Toby pulled off his shirt.
It was the first time he’d disrobed before her.
The Third was just as well-muscled as the other males, but covered in dye saturated flesh common on gangsters. Tattoos, some well-drawn, some old, faded, and from another era marked his chest and arms. When her attention ran over his art, he displayed, posturing with a great deal of enthusiasm.
Scars, there were so many scars under the ink: bullet wounds, gashes, tallies.
This freakish man had saved her special dress… twice.
He had also shoved a fist into her body only this morning.
Eyes caught on the throbbing monstrosity hanging like a gnarled tree branch between his legs, Wren bit her lip. It twitched under her gaze, jumping as if already seeking out the sleeve that would end its pain.
She should not have thought of it as something that was alive, but it looked alive with all those pulsating veins and a drip, drip, dripping head—a salivating alien slug ready to burrow and eat her from the inside out.
“I want you to scent me.” He trailed his fingers from a ripped chest to a meaty neck. “Here. Take all the time you need. When you’re ready, take my hand. Together we’ll build a nest and share it properly. I won’t force you against the wall or on an unprepared bed. Give me a chance to respect the communion.” Reaching out, fingers carded through her dripping hair. “I know something special when I see it.”
Everything he said seemed like the perfect speech an Alpha might make when presented with a bride, but Wren had heard enough in simple banter between these males to know that Toby had no idea how to respect the communion.
If he did, he would not have done that to his genitals, or been eager to inflict it on her.
“You want her to build a nest on my bed to fuck you in it?” Caspian was not at all pleased, rumbling a warning as he staunchly refused to purr.
“You said anything.” Brows dropping over her ice-cold eyes, Toby turned, put himself between Wren and the First. “I want to nest with her.”
“You know what happens when you nest.”
Reaching back to nudge his knuckles under Wren’s chin, Toby smirked as if thrilled by the idea. “I get attached.”
That was far more terrifying than his raging, deformed hard-on.
Scowl becoming a frown, Toby sniffed the air over Wren’s head before snarling at Caspian. “You frightened her! Boss, we had an agreement.”
Unmoved, like a fucking wall of stone, Caspian, the male who publicly wore a coat made out of people stated, “She should be frightened. You’re a fucking mental case who gets his kicks in interrogation and torture. I saw you cum cutting off Gizzard’s feet a week ago. Play house, but don’t mislead the mouse. You’re no prince charming, and the Warrens rat isn’t going to turn into a queen.”
Red anger burned, turning eyes that had been ice to fire. “Nellie had a good life with me!”
“Fuck with all the Betas you want. Omegas…” Eyes catching on the only Omega in the room, Caspian caught himself, snapping his teeth audibly and thinning his lips.