Chapter 13 If we go down, we go down together

I’d forgotten what it’s like to have an omega in the house. Forgotten how their sweet scent can linger in a room or on the furniture, how good it is to have it tangled up with my packs. I’d forgotten how my alpha feels more settled with having her here, just down the hall from me. Safe.

Haven is safe while she’s here, and I am so fucking grateful for it.

I have the distinct impression that she’s not safe at home, that my intuition about her father turning her into a puppet is correct. It’s in the way she hesitates after we ask her if she wants to do something with us, pauses like she’s searching for any commands he might have given her that would prevent it.

It’s in how she’s not the quiet little mouse we thought she was. She laughs and jokes and has outbursts. She isn’t always poised and perfect like she is with her father.

I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed it, though.

But I fucking have. The more time I spend with that little omega, the more certain I am that she’s not worthy of the hell we’re going to rain down on her. Not in the slightest.

If only the rest of my pack could see the same.

But Hale is dead set on this course, so sure that it’s the only way to get what we want, to make her father hurt. It’s like he doesn’t listen when she talks, when she says things like her happiness at the moment is irrelevant. That she’s never had a fucking nest in her own house.

The idea of that still makes my alpha hot with rage. I’d had to leave the room with that fucking revelation or risk tossing her over my shoulder and carrying her to the nest just down the fucking hall from her bedroom. Where I undoubtedly would have snarled at her to make it her own.

My alpha needed to be the one to provide that for her, and I couldn’t let that happen. If she built a nest over the week she’s here, and then has to leave it behind, it would be bad enough. But building one here, knowing she felt safe enough with us to do it, and then following through on this fucked up plan?

That would be catastrophic.

For her and for me.

I’m already struggling enough as it is. I’m really not sure I can go through with this. Not sure I can stand by and let them ruin her this way. The very real alpha urge to bundle her up and drive her far away from my pack is something I fight against every fucking day she’s here.

That coupled with fighting the need to touch her, kiss her, see to her physical and mental comfort? Well, I’m fucking exhausted, and she’s only been here for two full days.

We have five more to get through.

I’m honestly not sure I can make it. But if I don’t, I know my pack will record any sexual encounter Haven and I have. I know they’ll add it to that stupid scoresheet. Even though I told them I don’t want to participate. It’s very ‘if we go down, then we do down together.’

They won’t let me escape the fallout from this.

And I hate them for it.

Why are we even a pack? Why am I still here?

Because the idea of being alone isn’t something I can bear.

I’m not cut out for it. No alpha is. It’s why lone alphas go feral if left alone for too long.

Besides, we’ve been through so much shit together. If we could survive that, we can survive this… Only problem is I’m not sure I want to. Not if it means destroying Haven.

We haven’t talked about it, but I know the plan is still on. I can tell by the way the three of them go tight lipped as soon as I enter the room.

It makes my heart hurt, and all of my instincts flare. For her and for me.

Haven’s bright laugh filters to me over open grass, drawing my attention across the field to where she’s been tossing a football back and forth with Jude and Tic. She squeals when Jude tosses her over his shoulder and carries her and the ball down the field, as Tic chases after them.

I honestly don’t know how he can handle the duplicity. Jude is by far the softest of us all. His heart is generally a warm place, a good place. It froze over for a while there, but since spending time with Haven, I’ve seen it thaw, seen that same goodness emerge.

“If we go through with this,” I say to Hale, lounging next to me. “It’s going to destroy him.”

“He was already fucking destroyed, Creed. And we are going through with it.” He says the words, but I don’t feel the conviction behind them, not anymore. It’s enough to make hope bloom in my chest.

I had tried to think of ways around this, of protecting Haven. Including stealing Jude’s laptop and destroying every fucking video or photographic evidence they have of their sexual encounters with Haven, the video of her being involved in an altercation with Luca Falcone, but I know Jude is likely to have a backup of his backups, so it’s not like that would actually accomplish anything.

But maybe I won’t have to do anything. Maybe she’ll sway all of them away from that devastation just by being her sunshiny self. Fuck, I hope that will be the case.

“Button!” Jude yells at the same time Tic calls out her name. It’s not with the same lighthearted tone they’ve been calling to her for the last ten minutes as they play around. No, now there’s a hint of panic in their voices. Panic that Haven must not pick up because she keeps running, her arms wrapped around the football as she darts away from them, laughing, straight toward a drop off she can’t see because it’s at the top of a hill and she’s too short.

Hale and I leap to our feet and take off after her, straining to reach her in time. Jesus fucking Christ she’s going to run right over the edge and break her damn neck. “Haven, stop!” I roar at her.

Hale does the same, only he infuses his alpha bark into it and she slams to a stop, her body leaning forward with the momentum, her feet firmly planted on the ground. She falls to the grass, dropping the ball in favor of catching her weight on her hands and knees, but she still hits the ground hard enough that I see her wince, before she collapses all the way.

The four of us slide to a stop next to her still form. She has her arms wrapped around her head, her knees drawn up to her chest as she curls in on herself. She’s shaking. Trembling.

“Are you hurt?” I demand, reaching toward her, only for her to flinch away from me. “Haven, baby girl,” I try again, gentling my tone. “Are you hurt?”

“No.” Her head shakes, but she doesn’t look at us.

We relax slightly, even though my alpha still wants me to strip her down and check every inch of her for injury, for scrapes or bruises. Jude places a soft hand on her shoulder, running circles over her back. “Can you look at us, button?”

Another shake of her head. Hale blows out a breath, clearly fed up with her reluctance. “Little mouse, look at me.”

She takes a deep shuddering breath and then rolls over, letting us see the tears on her cheeks, the devastation and some other emotion I can’t place in her eyes. “You barked at me,” she chokes out in accusation, gray eyes focused on Hale.

Her expression, the emotion in her tone, is enough to gut me. To make my insides spill out all over the browning grass along with her tears. Hale’s brow furrows, and he reaches outs to cup her face, pausing when she scrambles away from him, away from us.

“No,” she shakes her head. “No, don’t touch me. I’m not ready for you to touch me.”

Hale curls his fingers into a fist and knocks it against his knee a few times. “Okay, mouse. I just… you needed to stop. You were going to hurt yourself.”

“By running?” she scoffs, anger replacing her hurt and fear. Fuck. I realize that emotion I couldn’t place. It was fucking fear. She’s scared of us. “I might not look it, but running is actually something I’m good at. I ran a marathon a year ago, Hale.”

He slides his icy blue gaze over her, a decidedly heated look taking over his face. “Actually, mouse, you do look like you run, and I cannot wait to test out your endurance, but you were running straight at a cliff.”

Haven’s mouth drops open and she blinks at him. “What? No, I wasn’t.”

“You were, omega,” Tic growls out. “You ignored us and were running straight at a fucking cliff. Hale did what he did to keep you safe.”

Frowning, Haven scrambles around until she’s on all fours, and Jesus, she really shouldn’t present her ass like that to four alphas, but she crawls forward, before pushing to a stand, and finishing the distance at a much slower pace, staring down at the ten-foot drop.

The four of us follow her, standing in a semicircle at her back as she looks at the gravelly beach below. She still smells like fear and anger and stress, but I don’t know if it’s because of Hale barking at her, or because she could have really hurt herself.

Her little fists clench at her sides as she stares out. “Please don’t use a bark on me again.”

“Never,” I agree readily. I suspect this is more than just her not liking the feeling, but even if it were just that, I wouldn’t blame her. How fucked up is it that her instincts, her physiology, mean she has to listen to an alpha bark? She has no other choice.

I’ve only experienced an alpha barking at me once, before I presented, and it was the worst feeling to not have control over my own body.

Tic and Jude agree as well, but Hale hesitates. Haven turns toward him, her chin tilted back to meet his gaze. “Please, Hale? If I promise to listen without the bark?”

His jaw tenses and releases, and then he gives a jerky nod. “But you actually have to listen, little mouse, you can’t just say you will then ignore me when you choose.”

Half her mouth curls into a smile. “I promise to listen to you, Hale. But I can’t promise I’ll do as you say.”

Sassy fucking omega.

Hale must think so too, because he growls and lunges forward, throwing her over his shoulder. One hand clamped over her thighs to hold her steady and safe and the other smacking hard on her ass.

Haven gasps, then moans. Wiggling in his hold as he gives a low dirty chuckle. “You like that, mouse?” He spanks her again and this time there’s no gasp, just a moan. Her scent turns back to being sweet and spicy, tingling over my tongue in the best way.

God, what I wouldn’t give to taste it right from the source, her mouth or her pussy, but I can’t. I won’t. Not until I know my pack won’t use it against her.

Our prime stops next to the blanket, dropping to his knees and then flipping Haven off of his shoulder and onto the ground. She lands with a soft oof, but stays where he places her, looking up at us with a gentle flush on her cheeks.

The four of us kneel next to her. I can tell where this is going to go, know it in my bones that they’re going to push Haven physically. After all, that’s what this is all about, isn’t it? Wooing her, making her feel safe with us, so that we can use her to destroy her father.

I swallow thickly. “You’re bleeding,” I say, nodding at her knees, and the scrapes there. “We should get you home to get those cleaned up.”

She blinks. “They’re fine, Creed. I’ll survive.”

Hale glares at me. “Yeah, Creed. She’s fine, aren’t you, little mouse? More than fine.” He leans over her and takes her mouth in a filthy kiss. She moans, her hands coming up to clutch at his shoulders, trying to pull him on top of her. But he doesn’t budge from his kneeling position.

Jude uses her distraction to pull his phone out of his pocket and prop it up against a plate of cheese. I know without asking that he’s recording, that anything done here will be on the scoreboard the second we get home.

A moan from the omega draws my attention back in time to see Hale flip up the hem of her flirty sundress. He growls and the rest of us do, too. “Little mouse,” our prime purrs. “Did you forget something before we left the house?”

Haven gives him a bright smile. “Nope.”

“Hmm,” Tic strokes a finger along the cleft where her thigh meets her hip, making goosebumps pop up all over her skin and her nipples pucker. “So you normally leave the house without panties?”

“You normally play touch football with your pussy hanging out?” Jude asks, licking his lips lasciviously.

Haven shrugs. “Well, I don’t normally play touch football. I’m more of a full contact kind of girl.” And then she giggles, shaking her head at herself, cheeks flushed bright red in embarrassment as she slaps a hand over her face. So fucking adorable. “Tell me I didn’t actually just say that!”

Hale chuckles and pulls her hand from her face, lifting it to nip at her fingertips. “You did just say that, mouse.”

She groans. “Shoot me now.”

“Do you want to know what I think, mouse?” Hale asks, sucking one of her fingers into his mouth, making her giggling stop entirely as she looks up at him with wide eyes.

“What’s that?”

“I think-” He drops her hand and uses both his thumbs to spread her pussy lips, showing us every inch of her glistening pink glory. All four of us groan. “You were hoping something like this would happen. You got all slicked up waiting for us to find out, didn’t you, mouse?”

She whimpers and nods in answer.

I should put a stop to this. I know I should. We’re in the middle of a public park, for fuck’s sake. Anyone could walk by, see Haven with her skirt flipped up and her pussy on display, but fuck if that doesn’t make it somehow better.

Haven must think so too, because she’s dripping slick, soaking the blanket spread out on the grass. “What do you need, omega?” Hale growls. “Tell me.”

She hesitates, looking at all four of us circled around her, huddled with her at our center, the way it should be with a pack and their omega. Her cheeks turn this gorgeous shade of pink the longer she looks at us. “Can’t you see what I need?” she asks, not meeting our eyes. “I’m dripping.”

Hale chuckles low and dirty, running a single finger down her slit, making her gasp. She watches through heavy-lidded eyes as he lifts his slick covered finger to his mouth and sucks. “I can see that. But I need you to tell me.”

“Can I taste?” Jude asks, already leaning forward, like he’s going to bury his face between her thighs. Hale’s hand on his shoulder stops him, and Jude growls, his alpha hating being kept from the omega’s pussy.

“Maybe,” Hale says almost lazily, but his stare on the girl between us is fucking intense. “If Haven asks for it. But she won’t get anything from any of us until she does.”

She lets out a cross between a moan and a growl, like she can’t decide if she’s turned on or angry about them not just giving her what she wants. Not me though. I already know I won’t be touching her, even if it kills me not to. I will not take this step with her. Once I do, I won’t be able to stop.

Hale leans over, hand hovering over that wet hot spot between her legs. “Beg for it, omega,” he orders.

Haven’s thighs spread wider, splitting her lower lips, showing off how wet she is, her little swollen clit, how much she loves his dominance. “Please, Hale. Please. I need to come. Please, make me come.”

He grins and drops his mouth to hers. At the same time, he plunges two fingers inside her. “Good girl,” he murmurs against her parted lips. “How many times, hmm? One from each of us?” He glances at me as he says it, his eyes holding a challenge, like he thinks I won’t be able to tell her no if she asks me, begs me to touch her.

But I fucking can and I will. Watch me, motherfucker.

“Yes.” Haven nods, hips rolling up to meet the thrusts of his fingers. “Yes, please. I want your cocks inside me.”

Fuck. Her easy admittance to what she wants, what she needs, has my balls drawing up, my cock tightening. I want to give that to her, feel the tight clamp of her muscles around my dick, my knot. I want to fill her with my cum. To fucking breed her. Fuck a baby into her.

But more than that, I want to do right by her. I want her to trust me and know that I’ve earned that trust. I will not fuck Haven Bell, not until I know it won’t be used against her.

Hale kisses her. “We aren’t going to fuck you here, mouse. But we can still make you come, can’t we? In fact, I think you’re right on the edge already, aren’t you? Such a greedy little pussy you have, sucking my fingers in.” She moans when he adds a third digit, when his motions become harder, faster. “Gonna come for me, mouse?” He asks. “Gonna spill all over my fucking hand, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” she gasps. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh fuck, yes.”

He grins up at her and then lunges down, sucking her clit into her mouth and she cries out as she comes. Tic’s mouth muffles the sound as he kisses her, but it’s still so fucking sweet. There’s a gush of slick, just like Hale predicted, and the air around us turns sticky sweet with the scent.

My mouth fucking waters with the need to taste, but I’m stronger than this, than Hale’s fucked up bullshit games. No, you aren’t , my alpha snarls at me. For him, it’s simple.

There’s a willing omega spread out in front of us, one that will take my cock and my knot, one that I can fill with my cum and make a baby with. It’s all he fucking wants. But alpha instincts don’t consider things like her emotions, her feelings, how fucking hurt she’ll be when she finds out what we’re doing.

My alpha is pretty sure that with enough knots and babies, she’ll forgive us anything.

If only that were true.

“My turn,” Jude all but snarls as he shoulders Hale from between Haven’s legs. He makes an animalistic sound as his nose nudges against her clit, inhaling deeply. Then he licks her. Haven moans. She doesn’t notice that both Hale and Jude didn’t hunker down between her thighs, staying to the side of her open legs. She doesn’t notice that Jude’s phone is propped up by her feet. All she knows is the feeling of his tongue on her, his fingers thrusting deep, dragging over her g-spot, making her head thrash against the picnic blanket.

Hale laughs at her reaction. One of his hands looping around her knee to pull her open wider. “Fuck her good,” he tells Jude, who snarls again, not liking being told how to please the omega.

There’s some part of me that thinks I should put a stop to this, that I should tell them all to fuck off, bundle Haven up and get her the fuck away from here. But there’s a larger part of me that feels like this is right.

Not the recording her thing, not the ever present lingering thought that this might be used to hurt her and her father. But the four of us, surrounding her, bringing her pleasure, our focus only on her, on what she needs? Yeah, that feels right. Really fucking right.

This is what a pack is supposed to be like, focused on our omega.

Not fucking fractured like we have been for far too long.

Haven moans, her fingers digging into Jude’s light hair as she fucks his face, taking what she needs from him. He groans and licks and bites at her, making her cry out again. Tic has the bodice of her dress pulled down, his mouth latched over one of her nipples. The sound of Haven’s pleasure echoes around us.

She doesn’t give a fuck that we’re in public, she’s just focused on getting what she needs and apparently, that’s a turn on for me. I’m leaking pre-cum like a faucet and have the feeling by the time this is over, the front of my jeans will be soaked through.

That’s only becomes more likely when Hale wiggles his fingers under my nose, forcing me to get a deep whiff of Haven’s scent. Her arousal still coats his hand. “Want a taste, brother?” he taunts, tapping against my mouth. And good fuck, I really do. I want to taste her, want to swallow her down and-

I cut off the thought. “I know what you’re fucking doing,” I growl at him, slapping his hand away.

“Oh? And what’s that?”

I grit my teeth and don’t answer. Haven’s right fucking there and I will not hash this out with him again, not while she might overhear, not even if she’s so blissed out on pleasure.

Jude grunts and I watch as Haven wrenches his head closer with her grip on his hair, crying out his name as she comes. Another gush of slick soaks into the blanket.

Jude’s hips are all but grinding into the grass as he licks her down from her high. Her fingers relax and she blinks up at Tic, who smiles down at her, his lips swollen from kissing her and sucking on her breasts.

“More?” he asks, and she gives him this adorable giddy little smile as she nods eagerly.

“Yes, please.”

Jude and Tic trade places, still kneeling at her side, not blocking the camera. “Fuck, angel,” Tic mutters, as he slides two fingers inside her. “You’re so fucking tight.”

She whimpers. “I know. I haven’t-” The four of us go still at the start of that sentence. If she says she’s a virgin, I’m ending this now. I swear to fuck I will. No way in hell is she giving it to one of us unworthy motherfuckers. But from the feelings coming through the pack bonds, I’d have a fight on my hands.

Apparently, the idea of being her first is something all of us really fucking like.

“I haven’t had sex in a while,” she finishes and I blow out a breath.

“How long?” Jude asks at the same time that Hale growls out, “ Who ?” I wonder if he realizes he sounds like he’s planning on hunting them down and ripping them apart for touching what’s ours.

Haven’s eyes flutter closed as Tic methodically works her higher. She doesn’t realize it now, but she’s in for a long fucking wait with Tic. He’ll bring her right to the edge then back off, leaving her wanting, repeatedly.

He never loses control, never goes feral with the need to make his partner come. He’s motions are practiced and careful, only ever exactly what he needs to bring them to the edge, until they’re crying, begging for release, and that when he lets them tumble over.

“Who, little mouse?” Hale demands to know.

“An omega at the academy,” she moans out. “Oh, yes, Tic. Right there. Right there. Don’t stop.”

He stops.

She grunts in displeasure.

“So you haven’t fucked an alpha?” the question pops out of me before I can stop it, and Haven looks at me with lust hazed eyes.

“No. No alphas. No knots. Just an omega who felt good but didn’t feel right .” The last word turns into a moan as Tic drops his head and starts working her up again.

Haven misses the way we all eye each other, a silent competition starting up on who’s going to be the one to knot her first. It won’t be me. I know that much, and I fucking hate that. My alpha is salivating at the idea of taking that first.

I fucking want all of her firsts, but I know that’s not going to happen.

“Fuck, Tic. Please .”

The man currently tormenting her clit chuckles. “Such a dirty mouth on you, angel.”

Haven lifts her head and glares down at him. “Is that what it’ll take for you to make me come? You want me to fucking swear? To talk dirty to you, Tic? I thought you would know what you’re doing down there, but apparently-”

She moans when he nips at her inner thigh in warning. “Don’t say something you’ll regret, angel. But good to know you’ve thought about me.”

Her brow wrinkles as she looks up at him. “Of course I have. And I thought you’d have me screaming by now.”

Another warning nip to her thigh as he growls. “Careful.”

Haven rolls her eyes and shrugs. “Of what? You pussyfooting around my pussy? Not giving me what I need?” Her gray eyes move to me. “You wanna give me what I need, Creed? You wanna make me come?”

There’s a loud smacking sound and Haven’s eyes widen as she lets out a pained cry that turns to a moan. Tic slapped her clit. Hard. He draws his palm back and does it again. This time, Haven whines. “Do. Not. Ask. Another. Man. To. Make. You. Come. When. My. Fingers. Are. Inside You.” He bites off each word, punctuating them with a hard thrust of his hand.

“Make me come and I won’t have to,” she bites back.

And just like that, Haven accomplishes something I didn’t think was possible. Tic loses his calm, methodical demeanor. He’s fingers fuck in and out of her at a rapid pace, the noises obscene. “This what you want, omega? You want your alpha to make you come?” He adds a third finger, then a fourth. “You want my whole fucking fist inside you, stretching you, filling you like my knot will?”

Haven’s making senseless noises now. Jude has his cock out, stroking hard and fast in time to Tic’s thrusts. “Oh, yeah, just like that. Fuck her so fucking hard.” It’s not the least bit surprising. Jude’s always enjoyed watching.

What is surprising is that Hale has his out too, the turgid length red and angry looking, his knuckles white as he punishes his dick in hard, fast strokes. “Gonna come all over your tits, omega,” he grits out. “Gonna mark you up, make you smell like mine.”

“Oh, fuck yeah,” Jude groans.

My hand moves to grip my dick through my jeans. The need to come, to join in so fucking strong. It only gets worse when Tic reaches between his legs, working his cock in time with his fingers in her body. They’re going to mark her as a pack all together and I’m… not. I won’t.

I grit my teeth and move my hand away from my throbbing dick, watch as Jude demands, “Open that pretty mouth of yours, Haven.” As soon as she does, sticking her tongue out, he explodes all over her face, groaning.

Hale does the same, breathing hard as his hips buck, spilling over the pink tips of her nipples, the soft creamy mounds of her tits. Haven moans, crying out and at the same fucking time, Tic lunges up, spraying his release all over her fucking pussy lips, painting her in sticky white.

Claimed.

That’s what she looks like, lying there, panting, covered in their cum, smelling like our pack, like everyone but me. Haven smells like ours, looks like ours. That’s only solidified when Hale swipes a finger over her lips and cheeks, then through his cum on her chest, and finally, gathering up Tic’s from between her legs.

“Keep those thighs spread nice and wide for me, mouse,” he murmurs, before using his fingers to fuck their cum inside her. “Such a good omega for us,” he coos. “Such a pretty filthy little omega, letting us make you come like a whore in the middle of the park.”

Haven moans, hips rolling up to meet his thrusts. “Be a good girl, and keep our cum inside you, okay? It makes you smell like ours.” He lifts his eyes to glare at me. “Well, almost ours. We’ve still got one more to go, don’t we?”

I shake my head. “No.” I try to say the word with conviction, but it comes out as a whisper. Hale grins. He knows I’m barely holding on, that I’m about to snap, to give in. But more than anything, when I claim Haven—if I claim Haven—I want to know that she’s actually mine.

“Creed?” she says my name in that husky voice of hers and I’m so fucking tempted to give in, to give her what she wants, what she needs. If there wasn’t the game still at play, if I didn’t know that Jude set up his phone to record, down near Haven’s feet shooting up her body for the perfect shot of her pussy and her face, if I hadn’t seen how the three of them remain conscious of the camera, moving around it so she’s always fully in frame, I might actually give in.

My cock is throbbing and my jaw is throbbing, my tongue hungers for her taste. I want to lick up every drop of her arousal, bury my face between her thighs and never come up for fucking air, but I don’t want them to record it. To add points to the scoresheet for me, which I know they will.

I stroke a finger over her flushed, sweaty cheek, and it makes my palms tingle with the need to stroke over her entire body, to feel her lush little frame under mine, her softness give way for every hard inch of me. But… “Not here,” I say quietly, not bothering to expound.

Her mouth parts and her lower lip quivers. Tears form in her pretty gray eyes. “You don’t want me?”

I should just tell her I don’t. I should end this now, give a reason for my keeping my distance. If I reject her, maybe she’ll keep her distance too, make it easier on me so I don’t feel like I’m tearing myself apart over what is right and what I want to do, what my body craves.

But the moisture shimmering on her lower lashes makes it so I can’t lie to her. “I didn’t say that, baby girl. I want you… I just... want to take it slow, okay? I’m not one to just dive into the physical stuff, and I’m not into public fucking.”

Her eyes drop to my cock, straining against the zipper of my wet jeans. “You seem to like it just fine.”

A sharp bark of laughter from every one of my pack mates. They know I’m lying through my teeth. And they could make this better for me and for Haven by just promising not to record us together, not to use it against her. But they won’t. Not yet.

Which means I have to bide my time.

Haven lets out a shaking breath. “It’s okay, Creed. You don’t have to lie.” I am lying. I was. And it’s like she can feel it, feel that I’m being untruthful. “You don’t want me and,” she nods as she blinks, sending those hovering tears over her temples to wet her hair. “That’s okay. It just… I’ll have to find-” she cuts off and stares up at the sky.

“You’ll have to find what, angel?” Tic asks, sounding like he already knows, and he hates what she stopped herself from saying.

“I’ll have to find a pack that all want me. That’s-that’s all.” Her lips curl into a tremulous smile, one that breaks my fucking heart as she cups my cheek, thumb stroking over my cheekbone. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, so I’ll…” She flicks her gaze at the other alphas and I growl to have her eyes back on me. “I’ll leave,” she finishes simply. “I’ll go home.”

“No, you fucking won’t,” Hale snarls, the depth of his anger at the idea a dead giveaway for how he actually feels for this girl.

Haven pushes up until she’s sitting and, as she does, the mask she wears around everyone else, everyone except Ren, slips over her face. She smooths the skirt of her dress down her thighs, covering her pink and swollen pussy from us. “We know this won’t work if one pack member isn’t all in on me, right? I’m not going to force Creed to spend time with me if he doesn’t want to.”

“I want to,” I say.

But she ignores me. “Honestly, it’ll be better for me if I don’t… If we keep going as we’re going, I’m going to get attached and I’ll be fucking devastated when you break up with me.”

“Who says we’re breaking up with you, button?”

Her gray eyes flit to me and away as she shrugs. “It’s okay. Really. It’s best if we know it’s not going to work out now.”

Hale barks out an unamused laugh. “Stop trying to break up with us, mouse. It’s not happening.” He tilts his head to glare at me out of the corner of his eye. “Creed wants you. Badly . He’s just taking it slow, playing the long game.”

My jaw ticks as I grit my teeth around the need to tear him apart, to lay into him. How can he still be so fucking focused on the game? How can that be all he sees when Haven shines like the fucking sun, blinding with her warm brilliance?

Haven’s looking at me now with a hope in her eyes, like she needs me to confirm it. I glance at Jude’s phone, knowing it’s still running, recording every fucking interaction. I swallow thickly and resolve to ignore it.

Here is an omega asking for reassurance from her alpha, one of them at least. I don’t know if she’s even admitted it to herself yet, but that’s what she’s doing. Already thinking of us as pack, as hers.

I lean forward and press a soft kiss to her mouth. Nothing like I want to do, nothing deep and hungry. My tongue doesn’t breech her lips, doesn’t taste her. I keep my hands away from her lush little body, one planted on the blanket by her hip, the other resting lightly against her neck. It would be so fucking easy to press my palm against her throat, tighten my fingers to hear more of those delicious gasping moans she makes.

But I don’t. I do nothing more than press my mouth against hers, softly, gently, reverently.

It’s what she deserves from me, from us. And I hate that’s not what she’s getting.

I pull back and she leans forward, chasing me. But I hold her back with my palm on her neck. “I do want you, baby girl,” I murmur softly. “Badly. But all of my reasons from before stand. And I-” I hesitate, not sure how this will be received by my pack mates, but she needs to hear the truth from me to help her settle. “I want you to be sure about us, really fucking sure, before doing anything physical with you. Because once I start, I won’t be able to stop. I won’t be able to let you go. You get me?”

A furrow appears on her brow as she takes in my words, mulls over them. Then she smiles softly and cups my cheek, thumb brushing against my bottom lip. “You’re protecting yourself, Creed. I get it. Believe me, I understand how important that is.” Her other hand comes up to join the first, holding my face steady as she meets my eyes. “You’re safe with me.” It’s a promise. One I know she means. Haven will never hurt me. Would probably never even think of hurting me, but that’s because she doesn’t know why she’s here with us.

Once she finds out, that might change.

We’ve been so focused on getting revenge on her father for what happened to Janie, that we didn’t consider what we would do if Haven decides to get revenge on us.

Staring at her now as she holds my face in her small hands and earnestly promises not to hurt me, I’m not sure I would do anything. If, after all of this is over, Haven Bell decides she wants to burn my world to the ground, I think I might hand her the fucking match and hold my arms wide in welcome.

“You’re safe with me,” she repeats, making sure I understand, that I hear her.

“I know,” I say gruffly, lungs tight, heart thumping wildly in my chest. “I know, baby girl.”

Thumbs still stroking, she leans her forehead against mine and closes her eyes. “Good. Now, will you kiss me like you mean it?”

I laugh, fighting the urge to tell her I do mean it. Every touch, every glance, every kiss is real for me. Even if it’s not the case for my pack mates, it’s true for me.

I kiss her again, instead, telling her with my mouth what I can’t say with my words. My tongue parts her lips and I get my first real taste of Haven Bell, pineapple and chili, lime and a faint floral note at the end. It’s fucking delicious.

I want more.

I want everything from her.

But I know I won’t get it.

And I won’t be another alpha that takes from her, only to break her later.

So I end the kiss well before I’m ready, pulling back and away from her, noticing when Jude swipes up his phone and tucks it into his pocket. The look on his face is enough to let me know by the end of the day I’ll have my first points on the scoreboard.

It makes me feel fucking sick.

Something must show on my face, because Haven’s smile falls, a flicker of confusion on her face. But then Jude’s draping an arm around her shoulders and nuzzling into her neck, kissing along her skin. “Mmm, maybe we should head home and get something to eat.”

Our girl laughs, looking at the spread of picnic food we didn’t finish. “Really? You want to eat more?”

He playfully nips along her jaw, and her eyes flutter closed. “I always want to eat, Haven. Always. And apparently, I really love feeding you. So let’s go do that.”

She gives a dazed nod, firmly under the spell of the pack golden retriever. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

“We also need to clean up those scrapes,” Tic says, glaring at her knees and the blood smeared there.

Haven laughs and leans over to kiss him. “It’s fine. I’ve had worse than scraped knees before.”

“But what about scraped knees and palms?” Jude asks, lifting her left hand to press a kiss to the abrasions.

“That too.”

I get the impression that she means a lot worse, and I want to ask about it, want to know if her father is even more of an asshole behind closed doors, but bite the words back. She’ll tell us about it when she wants to, if she wants to, if she can.

The way she reacted to Hale barking at her has me more and more certain that she’s not entirely in control of her own actions, not where her father is concerned.

The five of us work together to pick up the remains of our picnic and in minutes we’re heading back to the car. Or Jude and Tic are heading back to the car with Haven tucked between them, but Hale keeps me in place with a hand on my arm, holding me back from following right on their heels.

“You need to get on board with this,” he growls at me. “Fucking fast. If she leaves or cuts us off because of your hesitation, because you aren’t all fucking in, then that will be on you . Our failure will be on fucking you .”

I fold my arms over my chest and meet him glare for glare. “You sure that’s what you’re worried about? Failing on this one facet of our plan? There are plenty of other fucking things we can do to get revenge, Hale, and you know it.” I drop my arms and my aggressive stance, willing him to see that I’m not the enemy here, I’m not his rival. “Just admit you don’t want her to leave because you actually fucking like her, want her. Please, Hale.”

His jaw flexes as he looks across the field to where Haven’s laughing, probably at something Jude said. “This is the path,” he says tonelessly. “We agreed this is the path, Creed.”

I blow out a breath in disappointment. “She doesn’t deserve this. You know she doesn’t.”

His hand claps onto the back of my neck, turning me to follow them. “Maybe not. Doesn’t change that we’re doing it. Do you need a reminder of why that’s the case?”

I know what he’s asking. The stockpile of photos we have on hand just in case one of us falters, just in case we started to doubt if revenge was the right course of action. The ones that display a broken and beaten omega, dead eyes and shattered body.

My stomach lurches at the memory of those photos, at what was done to an innocent girl. “No,” I say, hoarsely. “No, I don’t need the reminder.” I already see them in my head every time I close my eyes. Well, not every time, not recently. Now images of Haven take precedence. Much more pleasant, more forgiving on my psyche, even if it fills me with guilt.

“But I don’t know how you can’t see the similarities… Haven is like Janie, Hale. She’s innocent.” I try to shake his hand off, but he doesn’t let me go.

“Her father fucking isn’t. And that’s what this is about. Not Haven. Not about what she deserves. Frederick Bell. He’s who all this is for.” He leans closer to me, his hand tightening on the back of my neck to hold me steady as he delivers his final blow. “Janie would be so fucking disappointed in you, Creed.” His fingers tighten to the point of pain and then he releases me, slaps my back and jogs after Haven, Tic and Jude.

The worst part is, he’s right.