“Do you want to kiss him, Tris?”
My voice was small, gentle, not willing to push him, because I could see I didn’t need to.
“Kit…”
My name came out as a strangled sound, a plea, but then I realised what I needed to do.
“Together, Tris.”
I didn’t wait for him to respond, moving closer to Len, seeing those heavily hooded eyes filled with fire, smelling that sandalwood scent of his.
“You gonna kiss me, princess? I’ve been thinking about that since that night. We did everything else but.”
His arm snaked around me, pulling me up against the rock-hard wall of his chest, a little squeak escaping me in response. I stroked the side of his face, and it felt insanely personal, which, considering what we’d gone through together, seemed ridiculous, but here we were. Once I felt that, I felt it all—the rasp of his stubble under my fingertips, the shape of his face. Why the hell did this feel like the first time?
Because before, he wasn’t Len, he was just an alpha, an extension of Tris’ will. Now, he wasn’t just that, he was more. I had his entire focus, Tris’ too, as I stroked my thumb across Len’s bottom lip, and it parted automatically. A big, strong alpha hand covered mine, holding it still as he sucked my fingertip in, tracing the end of it with his tongue, and the other hand? It slid up the back of my neck, the fingers tightening slightly, and then he pulled me closer, closer, until my finger was dragged free and replaced with my lips.
My breath sucked in hard through my nose, the feel of him explosive. His lips were soft, but his grip was firm, and his taste… Something wild, something unknown, earthy, grounded…him. I moaned into his mouth, our lips parting as his tongue snaked in.
I don’t know how long it took for us to pull back, need a breath, but Len pressed his forehead to mine, smiling, seeming to like how much he’d been able to ruffle my feathers. Then we turned to him.
“Kit.”
That was all the warning I got before Tris launched himself at me, kissing me hard, deep, taking me back, if only for a moment, before I pulled away and directed his focus to Len. We stared at him together, before Tris reached out with a stiff hand. I watched him frown at the feel of Len’s face, so different to mine, but as I looked down, I saw the slick oozing freely from his cock.
“It’s OK, Tristan,” Len said. “We don’t have to do this until you’re—”
I sucked a breath in so hard, my chest ached, or at least that was what I told myself it was from. I stared, unable to blink, as Tristan took Len’s mouth with a kind of brutality he’d never shown
with me. There was no gentleness in either of them, making them alien, brutal, and hot, really fucking hot. That was what I clung to as Len’s hand buried itself in Tristan’s messy fall of hair, scoring his scalp, holding him close, just as he’d endured for me.
Watching them brought about a special kind of pain that helped me understand just what Tristan had done for me. He’d been just mine, all fucking mine, and now he wasn’t. He was going to be ours. Feeling a hand on my back, that warm weight, I turned to see James move closer, to crouch down beside me, and when I smiled at him, he drew me into the safe harbour of his arms. I rested my head on his shoulder, those heady alpha pheromones making this much easier to bear.
“Ah fuck…” Tris hissed, pulling back for a second, staring down at Len. Then he went back again, kissing Len, raking his fingers along the other man’s flesh like he couldn’t get enough. It was like an avalanche had been unleashed, and there was no holding it back.
This is what you want, I thought furiously. It’s what we need.
And it was, but it was hard, really, really fucking hard. I’d selfishly kept Tristan all to myself for so bloody long, and it was difficult to stop.
“Come here, omega,” James said. His voice was quiet, calm, the thread of command wafer thin, but I went willingly to him. “I’m not going to do anything else, just hold you.”
All my decadent CEO billionaire fantasies were coming true as I perched myself on his knee, the denim of his jeans very soft against my bare skin, but it was his arms I felt the most. They went around me, caging me, settling me, as I watched Len and Tris kiss. I let out a long sigh, feeling my body relax, and James chuckled a little, but what he said next kinda disrupted that peace.
“Your relationship is one based on pain.”
“What?”
“You and Tristan hurt because you’re apart. You hurt because of what you have and what you don’t, and even when you get it…” Our eyes shifted to the two men. “That hurts too.” A hand carefully stroked up and down my arm, growing bolder when I relaxed into it. “All the most beautiful things seem to be based on pain. We artists like to glamourise that.” His hand slid down my forearm, just a butterfly kiss of a caress. “We’re drawn to it. As much as I’ve stared at your portrait on my wall and tried to satisfy myself with that, to feel the exquisiteness of that pain, I couldn’t just leave things alone. Just as you can’t leave them alone.”
A hand rubbed a large slow circle on my back before he released me from the cage he’d created.
“If you’re going to do this, include us in your relationship, you’ll need to be able to reach for us when you need. You’re omegas. I don’t know if it’s healthy to hold yourself back, as it appears you’ve found out with Tristan.”
I looked over my shoulder, feeling those warm brown eyes on me.
“He can’t hold back anymore, and neither can you. Why would we want you to? Any alpha worth his or her salt sees and feels your needs, then rushes to fulfil them.”
“And what do I need?”