Chapter 26

They let me out of the brig, and I return to our quarters, which are basic, at best, with three beds, a communal bathroom, and a central lounge area. They placed me under Ash from the start, Noah completed our triad shortly later, and we’ve been based here for most of that time.

On this base, doors are closed. Well, the door leading to the corridor is closed, everything else is open plan except for the bathroom.

Noah lounges in the chair, slugging back beer. It’s fair to say he has got a bit of a buzz going by now. At least one of us has. I haven’t touched a drop.

I can’t.

I know my constant pacing is setting Noah on edge—and it takes a lot to set Noah on edge—but I can’t fucking stop. I’ve no idea where Ash is. He sent a message to say he was checking in on Isla’s tests several hours ago.

Tests. I never thought much about them before, how they pertain to alphas, omegas, or anyone else. Today, the word makes my skin crawl.

She is here somewhere, locked up, and in heat without me.

The thought of somebody else touching her, fucking… just, no. Not that her being medicated makes me feel a whole lot better, although the selfish prick in me prefers that over the alternative. If they’ve dared to let someone touch her, the fucker is going to die, along with whoever the fuck was responsible.

The door glides open, and Ash steps in.

He looks like trash. The battle with the Uncorrupted, on top of the one before that, with me… I bring my pacing to an abrupt stop. “What’s the deal?”

He nods toward the door. “You can go to her. Nesting room 2H. You’re approved for entry.”

I’m already moving to the door when he puts his hand on my shoulder and stops me. “They’ve medicated her. From what I understand, she’s pretty out of it.”

My gut clenches. “Are they monitoring it?”

He shrugs. “Probably. They’re always fucking monitoring it.”

“I need you to lock that down.”

“Yeah, no problem. I figured you’d ask.”

A thunk sounds on the other side of the room as Noah puts his beer down. “I’m up for knocking heads together if that needs to be done.”

He’s annoyingly perky since he was treated by a healer.

“Fine. Go to her,” Ash says to me. “We’ll sort the monitoring out.”

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, one tension easing and a different kind taking its place. I’ve got permission to go to her. I don’t know what strings Ash just pulled to make that happen, but I’m grateful, so fucking grateful. “Thanks.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” he says. “We have each other’s back. That’s what we do, what we always do. Go. Tend to your mate. We’ll take care of the rest.”

A week ago, I lived a voracious life, feeling very little beyond the loyalty of the bond that had grown between Noah, Ash, and me in increments over the last five years. I wasn’t a man bogged by emotion before the virus, save for my family. There were certainly no thoughts to settle down, and after, even less.

Mate. I feel a strange sting at the back of my eyes, but I bring the shutter down before I turn away and stalk out of the room.

The way there passes in a blur and then I’m at the nesting quarters. I’m waved past the checkpoint to enter the long corridor with doors leading off on either side. The lighting is subdued, and I feel a trickle of sweat run down my spine. I’ve only been here a few times, but they were intense experiences.

This one is all that, times a thousand.

I stop at 2H. She’s in there. Alone. Other than some bastards monitoring it. But I trust Ash to sort that out.

I press my palm to the plate, and the door swishes open to reveal a small entryway. To the left is a shower room and a kitchen area with water, food if you want it, and basic medical supplies that an omega might need, post-heat. On the right is a place to stow clothing, and, directly ahead of me is the door that opens into the nest.

I don’t trust myself to be totally naked around Isla—not until I know how she is—so I strip everything off except my pants and push through the door.

Small, square—just enough height and room to play. This one is pale green, and the soft lighting is blue. The thick, soft mattress fills the room, and there are nooks built into the walls full of nesting material. But her bed is empty of any comfort. She’s lying in the middle, working a massive dildo into her cunt.

Rage and sorrow rip through me. The air is saturated with the sickly scent of medication mixed up with her slick. She doesn’t even notice me. Her eyes are completely glazed as she writhes on the bed, pumping that thick dildo in and out.

My poor baby.

I’m shaking. I’m fucking furious. I’m also aroused and broken as I stare at what she does.

As I purr and wade into the cold nest, she pauses her manic pumping, and the dildo pops out, dripping slick onto the bed.

“Seb?” She blinks, seeming to stare right through me.

“Yeah, princess, I’m here.” As I sink to my knees, she throws her arms around me and, with surprising aggression, pushes me onto my back. She makes a grab for my dick, hissing when she discovers it’s behind my zipper.

“Not a chance, Isla.” I pull her fingers off.

She screeches and rakes my chest with her nails.

If this is her with drugs, I can’t imagine what she would be like with none.

“You’re high as a kite on the shit they gave you. No way I’m fucking you while you’re on that. Use your toy. Get yourself off if you need to.”

She sinks her teeth into my throat and, fuck, if that doesn’t make me want to plow her hard, how she needs.

I’m conflicted. I want to rut her through her heat more than I want to take my next breath. But she’s medicated. I don’t know why the fuck that matters to me. It’s not like I’ve ever asked her permission for anything. I’ve used her, that’s for sure. And yet, in this, I just can’t. She is mine now, my mate. I pick up the slick phallus and slide the tip against her hot core. “Take the toy, Isla. Use it how you need. You’re not getting my dick, so let’s just take that off the table.”

Her instincts take over, and she pushes it deep with a moan. Her back arches. Her cry is visceral as she pumps furiously, trembling with need.

I hold her, even though it fucking breaks me not to give her more.

My eyes shift up to the camera. Monitoring. It’s not supposed to be manned. But you’ve only got to be around these places for a certain amount of time to know some sick asshole is always watching, unless you know somebody who can get it covered for you. A lot of alphas do. I’m not the first person to ask a friend to handle that problem, just in case.

I know Ash and Noah are up there. Watching. Maybe that ought to piss me off.

It doesn’t. Not at all. I like that they’re watching and that they’ve got my back. It makes me feel safe.

I don’t know when I fell asleep, but when I wake up, I know something has changed.

The scent. The smell of drugs has gone from her system. She looks peaceful. Leaning up on one elbow for a better view, I slide my hand down her body until I reach the disgusting blue phallus still half buried into her cunt and, easing her legs apart, grasp the slick handle and gently pull.

She whimpers, her hips moving a little until it pops out and I can toss it to the edges of the nest.

Not that I can call this bare mattress a nest. The bare sheet is smothered in her slick. The whole room smells of it. Of her. But my dick is still trying to bust a hole through my zipper and doesn’t care for the specifics.

I wonder if Ash and Noah are still up there, watching.

Ash said he’d take care of it, and I believe him. He wouldn’t leave until I’m done. The hairs on the back of my neck prickle. I think about him up there, watching, perhaps becoming aroused himself as he sees what I do.

As I spread her legs wider, she whimpers but doesn’t wake. And then, carefully ensuring my body is not blocking the view, I spread the lips of her cunt open.

She’s all pink and beaten up where she’s been fucking herself into a frenzy with that toy. I kept myself in check while the drugs were inside her. They are gone now, and her scent is clean.

Mate.

Ash acknowledged her as my mate, and I know what she needs.

She doesn’t even wake up as I draw down my zipper, shuck out of my pants, and position myself between her spread thighs. I smear the leaking pre-cum down the shaft and begin to jack over her.

I need to get my cum inside her. I need to stake my claim. I don’t know what the fuck is going to happen next. But I need to make sure that this bonding locks in. Her. Me. I don’t want to take any chances.

As I stroke my dick, it feels so fucking good. I’m close; it’s not going to take long, just staring at her—all spread out beneath me, sleeping peacefully—is getting me there.

“Such a pretty omega,” I croon softly. “I’m going to give you what you need now, baby.”

My hips jerk with every jack of my fist. The leaking pre-cum drips and splatters against her vulnerable pussy, and that takes me to the edge. I plant my fist next to her face, lean right over, with my eyes on her cunt, and release.

I growl, my head tipped back, as splashes of my cum paint her pussy—an image that wakes up the primitive in me, as more and more ropey cum covers her. My knot aches. I want to get inside her. I will get to that, but, first, I need to scent her thoroughly.

I’m breathing heavy as I squeeze the last drops out, running my fingers from root to tip. The last, long sticky thread connects with her pussy and then finally snaps.

I lift my eyes to find she’s still sleeping, although her chest rises and falls unsteadily like her subconscious is telling her what I’ve just done. I scoop up a generous portion in my fingers and lift it to her lips, spreading it over them. Her tongue darts out, her lips part, and I push my fingers into her mouth.

She sucks dutifully.

“Such a good girl,” I say. “We’ll both feel better now.” I feed her some more. She’s still sleeping. “Such a sweet omega, and all mine.”

My fingers swirl through the mess I’ve created before I push my two fingers right up inside her cunt, forcing my cum as deep as I can. Her spent pussy flutters around me, her legs spreading a little wider in a subconscious tell.

“I know, baby, I know. You’ll feel better when I get this all up inside.” Only, I’m not satisfied even with this because there is somewhere else it needs to be. I need to fill her thoroughly with my cum. Slathering two fingers in a generous amount of my spend I slide them around the tight entrance of her ass and then force them in deep.

She comes to with a jolt. I close my fingers around her throat and kiss up her cries as I pump my fingers into her ass. Her cries are both confusion and pleasure and have my cock jerking again.

“There we go, princess,” I say. “That feels better, doesn’t it?”

Her moan is deep. I can feel her ass fluttering, all slick with our combined cum as my fingers slide in and out easily, despite how tight she is.

“Come if you need to.”

It’s like my words of permission push her over. Her hips jerk, and I feel her ass clenching over my fingers.

The vision she presents is deeply compelling, with frothy cum all over her cunt.

My cock is stone hard. I want to fuck her.

The realization that I can, that she is mine, and that no one can stop me, finally settles in.