I saw it then, that summer night, the concrete of the carpark illuminated by headlights. And them, I saw them pouring out from between the cars, pushing past the omegas, their parents, coming for me. I wanted to deny this, like everyone had always denied everything. Like Kat denied Patrick on the TV behind us. But just like Kat, I totally hated how much I didn’t hate him.
“So that’s what it was?” I asked, never really having been given the chance to process that night. “After Fen beat up Clayton and the Mitchells took fur, you walked away from all of that, and what, came to me?”
“Always.” His arms tightened around my waist when I went to pull away. “As soon as I found my wolf, all the human bullshit fell away. He knew what he wanted, and it was you.” He let out a little sigh, his eyes dropping down. “I wish the bond went both ways, that you felt what I fucking feel, because there’d be no need for any of this if you did.”
“Well, I am only a beta,” I said stiffly.
“That’s not it and you know it. Omegas don’t feel what their mates feel until they formalise the bond, so it would make no difference at this point.” His grip tightened, forcing me to lie flat against his chest, and I had to admit, I hated that I didn’t hate this either. “What you don’t seem to get is this, right now, kinda like what we used to have when we were kids, if that’s all I can have, it’s a million times better than what I did have. If you decide you want more, want to try taking my knot—”
“Th-That’s not possible!” I spluttered.
“Yeah? You need to look at porn, love, for science, obviously. There’s some enterprising betas taking fists in every hole, and that’s a whole lot bigger than me.”
“I’ll tell Candy she needs to start watching porn for the study. She’ll be freaking stoked,” I said, but I snuggled down against his chest, and he seemed to relax at that.
“If you want to have sex, if you want to try taking a knot, if you want me just to sleep beside you, curled around your body, I’m yours, love. You seem to think you can protect someone—protect me, protect us guys…protect yourself. But Colt and me, we aren’t moving, not while you’re here. The others had it their way, but it’s our time now.” He buried his nose in my hair. “My time with my girl. Now can we stop talking about my damn dick and just watch the movie?”
And just like that, there was something completely familiar and unfamiliar about this. I ended up lying sprawled across the couch while Blake took care of the dishes. If I wasn’t half in love with him before, that sealed the deal. When he returned, he lifted my head and placed it back on his lap, his hands stroking through my hair as the movie finished out.
I didn’t mean to, but the combination of alcohol, good food, and a glorious head massage had me nodding off.
At some point, I was vaguely conscious of the fact he picked me up like a doll, carrying me through my house and setting me down on the bed. But when he went to pull away after drawing the covers over me, my hands reached out blindly for him. I felt the prick of something, a pain I’d shoved deep down, but my conscious mind wasn’t online to stop me from responding now, and my inarticulate little cry stopped him in his tracks. I started to rouse, wake up, deal with whatever this was, when a heavy weight settled down beside me, a limb slung across my waist. I let out a satisfied little sigh, then fell back into darkness.
Chapter 17
So despite whatever unconscious Riley thought was a good sleeping arrangement, I woke up in the wee hours of the morning, even before my alarm went off, and found myself pinned to the mattress by a man. The heavy weight of his arm across my waist was enough to have my eyes jerking open, but that was quickly followed with a blind nuzzling, then that hand swept down, running down my entire torso to settle on holding my hips still as someone ground their very large dick into my arse.
“Oh fuck…” I whispered, quickly putting two and two together—Blake, dinner, movie, bed, me whining like a little bitch when he tried to leave. I tried to pull free of his grip, but he had biceps the size of my head and a sleeping need to rut against me, so I wasn’t going anywhere.
“Ah, Blake…” I said tentatively. A low grunt, followed by a growl, then another thrust of those hips. Jesus, was he gonna…? “Blake? Dude, I totally appreciate dinner but—”
I let out a little yip as I was rolled under him, that massive body pinning mine to the bed as his eyes flicked open, eyes of pure silver staring down at me.
“Hey, big guy,” I said, pretty sure it was his wolf I was talking to right now, not Blake. “You in there? Riley really needs Blake to come out and play right now. Oh!”
When he smiled, I noticed briefly that his incisors had gotten longer, but that was shoved rudely to the side by a flush of pleasure. Damn, this boy knew what the fuck he was doing, grinding against my pants covered groin with just the right pressure and at the perfect angle.
“Fuck, Blake…” I slapped at his shoulder, but my voice sounded all breathy, any attempt to get his attention quickly abandoned.
My body was liking what was happening right now a real lot. Getting myself off, even with my dream helpers, wasn’t the same as this. An actual person, real and in the flesh, with a body so much bigger and heavier than mine, making me feel helpless and needy, was next level. His wolf eyes caught my every response, changing the angle of his thrusts, then rocking against me with tiny little movements when he felt me squirm.
“Blake…” I gasped out. Was that a last-ditch effort to bring the man back online or a plea for more? I didn’t know, but it achieved one of those possible goals. I was in the perfect position to see the man get back in the driver’s seat, his eyes blinking madly, then taking in everything that was going on as they returned to a reassuring dark brown.
“Shit, Riley, I…”
His nostrils flared, taking in my scent and his, and whatever he caught, it made him happy. His face flushed as he smiled, slow and sexy, another little gasp escaping me as he shifted his hips.
“Fuck, Blake, I’m sorry but I—”
Any explanation was cut off as I was rolled over again, this time with him at my back, his hands sliding all over my now overheated body.
“What happened?” he asked in an urgent growl. “What did I do?”
“Um, so you were… Oh!” His fingers made short work of my pants, undoing the button, the zipper parting easily. But what ground my clothes gave, Blake claimed as his, that broad palm sliding to cup my pubic mound possessively. “Fuck, what’re you doing?”
“Nothing, not unless you tell me otherwise. Now, what happened?”
There wasn’t much of a story to tell, but I told him how we’d woken up.