6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

BLAKE

I stripped off as fast as I could remove my clothes without tearing them, and climbed onto the bed, grabbing Inika the moment I was lying down and lifting her on top of me.

She sucked in a breath as her palms landed on my chest to steady herself, looking down at me through hazy eyes.

"You're so strong," she whispered, as though there was anything impressive about me lifting her up. In reality, I had so many alpha hormones coursing through my body right now that I could probably lift a lorry.

Inika's gaze was wide and trusting, and it was too intimate, too intense. The level of attraction I felt for her bordered on too much—I had to channel it into fucking her before I said or did something stupid.

"Get on my cock, omega. Are you going to take this knot?"

Inika's elegant, cream-coloured nails dug into my chest as she nodded, lifting herself up on her knees so I could line myself up with her dripping entrance.

"We'll see," I replied dismissively, knowing how hot it made her. "Ride me well enough to earn it first."

I grabbed her hips, yanking her down roughly and filling her in one thrust. Inika's eyes rolled back, her lips parted on a silent moan. As desperate as I was to see her without that soft, expensive shirt on, I couldn't deny that the fact she was almost fully clothed held its own appeal.

She looked so elegant from the outside. Until you flipped up that little skirt and saw the desperate, needy mess she was underneath.

"Fuck," I rasped as she clenched around me. Hot, wet, perfect .

"You feel so good," she slurred, tipping her head back and rolling her hips. Her long dark hair had come loose at some point, and it fell down her back and over her shoulders in silky waves.

"So do you," I replied hoarsely, tightening my hold on her hips so I could bounce her on my cock, and get out of my goddamn feelings.

Why was she having this effect on me?

Had it been so long that I just didn't know how to act around an omega anymore?

Inika scratched fine lines into my skin as I moved her, careful not to draw blood. It was a good thing she was being cautious, because I sure as shit wasn't. I'd never been more at risk of being poisoned by omega blood than I was in this moment because I couldn't drag myself away from this omega if I tried.

I adjusted my hold, sliding my hands under her skirt to grip her pert ass cheeks, kneading them roughly with my fingers. For now, I wanted to see her face, but I fully intended to flip her over at some point and see what that ass looked like with my hand prints on them.

"Blake," Inika whined, grinding her clit against my pelvis with each desperate movement, fighting to get closer, chasing her pleasure.

She was so beautiful it was almost painful to look at her. So put-together in public, so abandoned in private.

Everything I would have wanted in a mate back in the brief window of time when having one of my own seemed like a possibility.

If I could have dreamed up my perfect omega, it would have been Inika.

She let out the tiniest growl of frustration, a demand that spoke directly to instincts that had been dormant for years. Deeper. Harder. More. She didn't need to articulate the words for me to understand the demand.

I grabbed the back of Inika's knee, rolling us while we were still joined and pushing one leg up towards her shoulder, bracing my body over hers. We were skin to skin, our breath mingling with each exhale.

Inika slid one hand between us, fingers circling her clit as her walls started to flutter around me. But it was the placement of her other hand that made me lose my hold on the orgasm I'd been trying to hold back.

She clasped the back of my neck .

While there was no denying who was the dominant one between us, it was still a shockingly dominant hold for an omega to initiate. Especially on an alpha that wasn't hers .

And yet I wasn't growling. I wasn't throwing her off. For whatever reason, my alpha instincts had decided that it was completely fine for this omega to handle me like this.

More than fine. Fucking attractive, even.

I came harder than I'd ever come in my life, pushing forwards to lodge my swelling knot inside her. Inika let out a breathy moan, her fingers tightening on my nape.

"Want me to stop?" I asked, forcing myself to still before we were properly locked together.

"No!" Inika dug her heel into the base of my spine, and that was more than enough encouragement for me. We both groaned as I settled into place, the swell of my knot on her hypersensitive inner walls immediately setting off a chain reaction of orgasms that we were both simply along for the ride for.

It wasn't until we were both lying still and panting, with Inika's body draped over me like a blanket, that I remembered just how quiet and intimate the act of knotting an omega was. It had been at least a decade since I'd done it. Neither of us could physically leave—we were bound for however long it would take for my knot to go down, with Inika's heart beating against my chest and her breath tickling my jaw.

Suddenly, I didn't know where to put my hands.

Inika's eyes were closed, but perhaps she could just sense my struggle. She reached out sleepily, grabbing my wrists, encouraging me to rest my hands on her bare ass, beneath where her skirt had ridden up.

I wasn't going to object to that idea.

"Are you freaking out?" she asked, peering up at me through one eye.

"No," I lied.

She patted me on the chest. "I think you're freaking out a little. Don't worry, I'm freaking out a little too. I haven't been knotted in a long time."

"Are you trying to make me feel better?"

"… yes?"

I grunted, fingers flexing against her skin. "I don't want to think about anyone else knotting you."

Inika was quiet for a moment before letting out a bright, sparkling laugh that seemed to travel right through my body. "That's fair enough. I don't want to think about you knotting someone else. Let's just pretend we were both virgins until an hour ago."

I snorted, still absently kneading her flesh. "That was quite the bold introduction to the world of sex, then."

She hummed in agreement. "I mean, if you aren't begging to have your champagne pussy ruined, have you really even lost your virginity?"

I choked on my own saliva, awkwardly coughing for a moment while Inika smiled coyly up at me, dark eyes sparkling with amusement beneath thick, curled lashes.

"Yes, well, we don't do anything by halves," I managed to rasp out eventually. "Was that what you hoped it would be? You didn't use your safe word."

"It was better. What about you? Are you happy—freak-out aside?"

"Yes," I replied gruffly. How could I not be after sex that phenomenal with an omega that beautiful? And she had a sense of humour.

Inika was… likeable in a way I'd never expected her to be.

"Good, because I'd really like to do that again." She paused for a moment, looking up at me with a wicked smirk playing around her lips. "Of course, you can say no and I'll just resume riding my toys in my nest each morning—"

I cut her off with a growl, thrusting just enough to set off another orgasm. "You can fuck the toys if you like, but you're fucking me too, omega."

Obviously, it was only temporary. I was an unmated alpha, and I was convenient, and once the project was done and I wasn't in her space anymore, this would end. But that was fine. I'd enjoy this arrangement for as long as Inika was offering it.

"Not to get super deep and personal," Inika began, panting slightly as she came down from her orgasm. "But why aren't you mated already? It seems crazy to me that you're single."

I frowned down at her guileless face. Was she being serious? "It seems crazy that I'm single? You're a wealthy, beautiful, and presumably very in-demand heiress. Where's your mate?"

If Inika was the least bit bothered by the question, she didn't show it. "I haven't found anyone I liked enough to commit to yet. I am a very in-demand heiress in some respects, but it's not me they want. Anyone born into my situation would receive the same treatment."

I made a vague sound of agreement, feeling oddly disturbed by the idea of Inika being replaceable in her own life. There were plenty of things money could solve in mine, but that wasn't a particular problem I'd ever encountered before.

"So, you're not opposed to the idea of finding a mate? You just haven't found one yet?" I asked.

She shrugged against my chest. "It's complicated, and everyone has so many opinions on it that sometimes I think I'd be better off just opting out of it altogether. What about you?"

"Taking a mate isn't a possibility for me." I didn't want to go into the details of Leo's situation, but I felt like I had to give Inika a little more to go on considering how much she'd shared with me. "My family needs my full attention. It wouldn't be fair on an omega to deal with… all of that."

Inika hummed, looking thoughtful, but I was glad she didn't speak those thoughts out loud. I wasn't sure that I wanted to hear them. Not when the afternoon had been so unusually perfect. I didn't want anything to ruin it now.

"There's a fight tonight," Leo whispered the moment I walked through the door. I tensed, waiting for him to scent Inika on me even though I'd scrubbed myself clean with an indulgent amount of Om-Guard body wash before I'd left. She had Om-Guard to spare. I didn't feel bad about it.

I'd even changed into the spare clothes I kept in the van, which didn't have a trace of omega perfume on them. But the phantom scent of her still followed me around, and I was slightly irrational at the thought of Leo picking up even the vaguest hint of it.

"What did you say?" I asked, realising I hadn't responded to his question. I couldn't even remember what it was.

"There's a fight tonight," Leo repeated, giving me a sideways look.

"Oh, right." I sighed heavily, kicking off my boots before their presence beyond the entry mat summoned Freya. "Your left eye is still swollen shut."

"I could beat those motherfuckers with both eyes closed."

"Don't swear, Daddy," Freya said serenely, skipping out of her bedroom and into the living room opposite. I gave Leo a filthy look, and he grimaced.

"She needs new ballet shoes," he murmured, leaning in close so he wouldn't be overheard. "I don't know what the fuck they make them out of, but they're expensive, Blake. She's outgrown her whole kit. That stretchy thing she wears and the skirt bit. I don't know. I need to win some fights."

I closed my eyes, exhaling heavily. Managing alpha pride was a fine line to walk. I paid all the bills and bought all the groceries, and that was fine with Leo and Dad, so long as no one ever mentioned it. But if I ever offered either of them cash directly, they'd kick off about it.

"You need to get a proper job, Leo. Come back and work with me. I could take on double the amount of work if I had a reliable second pair of hands."

The business had always been more my baby than his, but the plan right from the start had been for Leo to be part of it.

"Because you're doing so well," he scoffed, already stomping away. "No thanks. I'd rather fight a couple of nights a week and get to spend the daytime with my daughter."

A vein in my forehead throbbed. I had a specialised skill, and I charged market-appropriate rates. If I wasn't supporting a kid and two grown alphas, I'd be doing just fine. But Dad couldn't work any longer—and I'd never expect him to—and Freya was a kid. I didn't begrudge her upkeep, even if she wasn't my child.

Leo was the fucking problem. He was absolutely delusional if he thought that this system he had going on now benefitted Freya. He didn't spend the daytime with her. He spent it in bed recovering. And he wasn't making anywhere near enough to actually support the two of them.

Maybe I'd been coddling him too much by never asking anything of him. I couldn't even fathom how difficult it must have been for him to lose Ella—the few years after they were mated and before she'd died had been the only few years I'd genuinely liked my brother. She'd made him tolerable with her infectious calm and positivity.

But it had been two years since she'd passed now, and while I understood that he'd carry that grief forever, I couldn't accept how that grief was destroying both his and Freya's futures.

Dad leaned against the doorjamb, a cup of tea in one hand, a chocolate biscuit in the other. "No point arguing with Leo. You know what he's like."

"So we all just have to be held hostage to his whims forever?"

Dad winced. "Not forever. Maybe just a little while longer, son. I know it's hard on you. Losing a mate… it's not easy to come back from."

And I could hardly argue with that, could I? Mum had died a few months after Ella's accident, after a protracted illness. Dad had been closer to Leo even before their mates had died, and they'd bonded again through their grief.

I was the one who didn't get it. Who would never understand. Who had no idea what they were going through.

"Fine, I'll go with him to Leviathan . You've got Freya?"

Dad nodded. "Perhaps you could take her to dance class tomorrow. You know Leo won't be in any shape to do it, and she much prefers when you take her out than her slow, old grandad."

"Sure," I sighed, silently farewelling the sleep-in I'd been contemplating having. "I'll take her."

"There's a good lad. Give me a hand with tea, will you? I want to hear all about this new job you've started on this week. Mayfair, did you say it was? Bet it's a posh place."

"Very," I agreed, following him down into the messy kitchen where he would undoubtedly make egg and chips shortly.

"What's the wanker who lives there like?" he laughed.

I cleared my throat, immediately heading for the sink to wash up the day's dishes. "She's an unmated omega."

Dad choked a little on his chocolate biscuit. "You kept that very quiet, son."

"There's nothing really to say," I lied, turning my head to the side and discreetly giving the hoodie Inika hadn't even seen a quick sniff. Definitely no trace of omega on there.

"Well, don't get yourself in trouble is all," Dad said gruffly. "I was a young alpha once. Worked on a building site for an unmated omega customer. It was different times, of course."

I gave him a sidelong look. "What does that mean?"

"Free love and all that." His ears turned red. "I think she might have hired us because there were so many unmated working-class alphas on our crew."

I snorted, scrubbing the sink. "Different times, indeed. I'm extremely confident that had nothing to do with Inika Dara's decision to hire me."

But it might be a large part of why she was fucking me, and that was just fine. It wasn't like it could go anywhere anyway. We may as well enjoy ourselves.

What I wouldn't give to be back there now. To be anywhere but here.