He would have sworn he felt the hot salt of tears run down the clenched muscles of his stomach, but when she pulled back and met his eyes, a smile was there.
She signed, one hand cupping his cheek, the other spelling out her invitation.
When I was sold, the mate who rejected me never allowed me to build him a nest.
It took Toby both time and focus to make out what she tried to communicate; each stumbled-over word dragging him back from that abnormal stillness. When the sentence was strung together, he pressed his forehead to hers and rumbled out a deep, “What was his name?”
The way the female cut her glance to the side and grew withdrawn spoke for her. She even put her fingers to the black tattoo on her cheek and made a noise of remembrance.
Toby liked the mark, he liked the intention behind it, and he especially liked this woman.
That mark had saved her for him.
This female whom he wanted to nest with. This female who had never been given the chance to build one for her mate.
One-hundred percent serious, Toby snarled an offer. “Want me to kill him?”
Eyes the same shade as the violet tea set his mother used to favor, darted back to his. They dilated just a touch, the effect ruined when she… laughed.
A real laugh, from a fear-tightened chest.
Grinning, all teeth and ill intentions, Toby felt the banging clamor revved back to life behind his ribs. He took it a step further, the loudest purr of the pack spinning its way out of his bones and into her very naked and extremely appealing body.
Kieran, ever the unwelcome male, gaped from where he dared watch Toby put his hands on the pretty one. The pretty one who had not so much as spared a glance for the cocky, good-looking jackass.
She had come in here for him.
Which was perfect because he wanted to keep her.
She understood. He knew it.
That was why she smiled and purred and gave him her undivided attention.
But he’d scared her…
“I could find him.” Toby cupped her face and pulled her sweet stare back up to his eyes. “Just give me a name.”
Her head shook, but it was not in defiance. He could tell by the soft dip of her eyebrows, that she didn’t know it.
“Had you been presented in my house, I would have mated you.” Sweeping aside her wet hair, he let his fingers dance on her shoulder. “Marked you here.”
Her sweet purr caught, the female burying her face in his chest where she began to shiver. Bending down, he set his teeth to that spot, gnawing just enough to inspire a yelp.
A stronger tinge of fear wafted from her skin.
He’d hardly broken skin. Lapping at only a single well of blood, Toby fisted the biggest knotted erection he’d ever achieved and rubbed the tender length against her belly. The weeping head caught on the underside of her tits, smearing the woman with the promise of what he could offer.
“Your sweet pussy is going to take it all. You’re going to take it, and you’re going to like it.”
Swollen ridges and throbbing bumps tripped over her soft skin, Toby indulging in the pain, knowing that when release began, it would be hours-long brain-burning pleasure.
He’d get her addicted to him, stretch her in a way no one else could.
Aching bone deep, tied up in the pain of a forced knot, Toby began to make a myriad of promises if she’d just lay back and let him fuck her in a pretty nest she made just for him.
He promised her a fortune if she’d be the first to take it without crying.
But she’d already lost that bet. Tears marked her cheeks, fell from eyes red with apprehension. Though she did still smile.
He could cheer her up.
The female locked in his arms needed care. She needed food, more water, dedicated attention.
He needed to reassure her.
Hitching his arm under her delicious ass, he lifted her off the debris strewn floor. Spread her wide against his stomach, her pussy cupping a quantity of his pulsating shaft in sweet, slippery petals. He almost dropped and mounted her right there when a trickle of warmth escaped from her cunt to burn his over-ripe dick. Instead, he held her all the tighter and began to march out of the bathroom and back into his First-Alpha’s den.
He dumped her on the bed that smelled of other males, snaking his tongue into her mouth to twist and taste before he threw himself back and barked, “Build it. I need to fuck.”
***
With three spectators, Wren arranged, fluffed, and layered bedding already wet in places with her spent fluids and the enticing smell of three males’ cum. She did everything properly, almost forgetting why the abundance of fabric and soft things was not hers to keep. This nest, her first nest built from scratch for a breeding male, she was proud of it.