34. Harrison

34

Harrison

W hat the hell were we thinking?! We never should have come here.

Meggie smells like a freshly baked pie straight out of the oven. There's an undertone to her scent, almost like she's been topped with vanilla ice cream and served up on a platter. It wouldn't be as bad if she was bonded, but an unbonded omega, perfuming on the verge of going into heat. Fuck!

I'm a few tables over, hiding behind a newspaper like some kind of spy from a black and white movie, but the moment I smell Meggie, I'm pushing through the crowded cafe tables to get to her.

Just as I'm closing in, I spot Declan, gun drawn, charging across the street with three French police officers—all alphas—stopping traffic to get to us. Knox sees them too, curses, and bolts. I'm close enough to trip him, so he loses his balance and knocks into a table. It tips and crashes, landing him on his ass just long enough for Declan to reach us and cuff him.

I give the DEA agent one curt nod, which he returns before I charge after Oz and my omega. Good thing Oz had the wherewithal to get her out of there fast. He's running full speed down the sidewalk with her in his arms bridal style.

As I chase them, I worry Declan might send one of the other men after us to arrest Meggie, but to my relief there are no pounding footsteps behind me, and when I look back, Declan and his men are all occupied with Knox who isn't going down without a fight.

The second we come in view of the van, the door flies open and Ellis is reaching for Meggie. Oz hands her off while he climbs into the car. I swing in a beat after them and slam the door shut. "Go!"

McQuinn peels out into traffic, Nils in the passenger seat next to him. Dante, Ellis, and Meggie are in the back. And Oz and I sit in the middle.

"You okay?" I ask, twisting to look at Meggie.

Her brows are adorably pinched, and there's a slight sheen of sweat on her forehead. She pinches her lips and nods.

"Words, omega," Dante says.

"I'm okay. I still feel clear-headed, not like before, but I don't… I don't know how long that'll be true." Her head drops as she wrings her hands in her lap. "We left the pills. In all the commotion—"

"It's okay, sunshine." Ellis puts his arm around her and pulls her into his side, kissing her temple.

Nils turns so he can see us from the front seat. "I did some quick research while you were meeting with Knox. It looks like there's no way to stop it now that it's started, anyway, but we might be able to speed it up."

"And how do we do that, Dr. Hart?" Meggie snaps.

I wince. Meggie can be assertive, but there's a bite to her tone that isn't usually there.

"I'll play doctor," Oz grins, trying to break the rising tension. "Get you in some stirrups…"

A wave of buttery green apple aroma fills the van, and I'm hard before my brain can even process the smell.

"Shut the fuck up, Oz," Ellis snaps.

Meggie's hand in his, he uses his other hand to adjust his pants around his erection, an action Meggie notices. Licking her lips, her scent intensifies.

We're fucked.

"We need a plan." I'm their pack alpha. I need control over this situation. "Nils, how do we speed this up?"

"Knot her. A lot. There are no conclusive studies, but a lot of anecdotal evidence that the more knots an omega takes during heat, the faster the fever will break."

"Knot the hell out of her. Got it," McQuinn says. "This is a plan I can get behind."

As excited as that thought makes me, there's no way we can take care of her in the Olympic Village, and we all know it. We'll have to find somewhere else. "So we go back to our rooms, pack up our things, and—"

"She can't go anywhere like this," Oz says. "She smells like walking sex! We're gonna send the whole Olympic Village into a rut if they get a whiff of her."

The thought has me growling. Dante, too.

"Meggie stays in the van." Dante's words are terse.

"Should we roll the windows down?" McQuinn asks from the front, catching my gaze in the rearview mirror. "It's pretty hot today."

That's an understatement in more ways than one.

Nils gives a sharp laugh. "And create a scent trail leading every alpha in France to us? No, horrible idea, babe."

"Stop that," Ellis says. His focus is on Meggie's legs. She's rubbing her hands over them slowly and sensually. I'm not sure she even knows she's doing it.

And it's so fucking sexy. I'm not strong enough for this.

"I think… the fever's coming back," she whimpers.

I swallow thickly. I've never experienced an omega in heat before, or the effect it has on an alpha, and it's… fuck .

"I need… another…"

The van bucks as we hit a curb and jerk to the left.

"Sorry!" McQuinn shouts. "Focusing is hard—everything's fucking hard."

"Say ‘ hard ' one more time," Nils urges, his hand landing on McQuinn's thigh.

"Shut up!" Dante barks.

Meggie moans.

We all fly forward, seatbelts digging into our sternums as McQuinn slams on the brakes outside the entrance to the village. There's no way we can drive through security like this.

"Everyone out," I order. "I'll stay here with Meggie." I'm being selfish, but I'm the biggest and strongest, plus my bark is the worst. I'm guarding our girl. "Get her scent neutralizers, anything that says ‘deodorizing' on it, and some clothes."

"What's the plan?" Dante's hand hovers over the door handle. "We won't find a hotel with availability in the middle of the Olympics. Half the world is here. Are we just gonna drive out to the middle of nowhere and rut her in the grass like animals?"

Meggie's head rolls back at the idea, and her moan is sweet torture.

"Just go," I snap. "Quickly."

My pack mates leave, and I'm suddenly rethinking my desire to be left alone with Meggie. This is going to test every ounce of strength I have.

"I hate feeling out of control like this," Meggie whispers.

My responding chuckle is dark. "You're not the only one, love."

Before I know what I'm doing, I'm moving back to sit with her. Her body is scorching, her cheeks are flushed, and she won't stop the little pink tip of her tongue from licking her lips despite my request that she knock it off. This was a miscalculation. I shouldn't have moved to sit next to her. Should have dragged my butt to the front seat and put her gorgeous ass as far away as possible.

My self-control is only so strong, and I don't want to lose it while she's got heat fever brain. But I don't know if I can hold off when her smell is so… I can't even describe it.

And once we find some place to go, and my pack mates are helping her through her first heat, how am I going to stay away?

I try to ignore her draw and focus on looking up hotels with heat suites on my phone.

"Harrison." Her words are breathy.

It's impossible to ignore her when she's like this. She's got her head laid back, resting on the seat, her neck exposed, and that fucking little tongue licking her lips again. Her hands aren't just rubbing her legs now, they're moving up and down her sides, over her breasts, up into her hair. Everywhere I want to touch.

"Can you please stop that?" I say.

"What?"

"Touching yourself like that."

"Oh." She sits on her hands. "Sorry. It was helping. Keeping me… grounded." She bites her bottom lip hard enough to leave a mark. "I didn't know it would… hurt like this." Her face scrunches and she bows over with a curse as another cramp hits.

I can't stand to see her in pain. "Come here."

I unbuckle her seat belt and pull her into my lap, holding her against me. Her head nuzzles between my neck and shoulder and she sighs.

"Better?"

"A little."

We sit like that for a few minutes and she seems calmer, but then she looks up at me with those big beautiful eyes. "Kiss me."

I want to obey before she finishes saying it, but I try to fight the urge. If I kiss her, I don't know if I'll be able to stop. Not right now.

"Meggie." I can't fight the way my body leans closer, but I somehow keep myself from going too far and rest my forehead against hers.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I mean, I do… but I don't understand it." Her voice sounds small, and afraid. Her warm hands run along my arms, but she doesn't try to take the kiss I know she wants. "I'm so fucking horny," she giggles.

"I can tell." My own chuckle is deep.

Growing up, I thought something was wrong with me. I remember my high school and college friends "slaying pussy" and "grabbing ass" while I had no interest in the conquest.

But Meggie…

Oh, Meggie. I want to lay her down on a bed of roses and eat her out with legs splayed open on the dining room table. It's more than how much I want her. She means something to me. Something real.

"Help me," she shifts to plant little kisses along my cheek.

"Beautiful girl, you're not right in the head right now."

She draws back and looks as if she might punch me. "Don't mansplain my own brain to me, Harrison Hart."

I'm not sure if I should laugh or duck for cover.

"Yes, I'm super fucking horny. But I'm not out-of-my-mind insane."

My brain tacks on the unspoken, not yet .

She lands a punch on my thigh that almost has enough force to hurt. "I've wanted you for months, Harrison! And you want me! You know how much it hurt when you got up and left me on the airplane and told Oz to sit by me instead? You know how fucking sexy it was watching you beat the shit out of Daniel when you rescued me? I always sat on the same barstool for breakfast because that one morning you sat next to me, and I kept hoping you'd do it again. When I came with your hand over my mouth, that first day we got here, I felt like I was going to explode. And when you kissed me after the party…"

She stops and swallows, then wets her damn tempting lips again. There are tears pooling in the corner of her eyes. And her voice shakes as she continues, "And you want me. You do! God, that day in the office when you almost bit me, holy fuck Harrison."

Her pupils are blown, but I do see my Meggie in there. She's going into heat, but she's not lost to her need yet. I know that, and I know the only thing holding me back is me. My own fear that I'm not enough for her. That she deserves better.

And she does.

But she wants me. She's proved that all along, and all I can do is try to be a man worthy of her. Maybe being worthy of her starts with taking care of her. Right here and now. When she needs me.

"We're alone. I'm crawling out of my skin. And I want you. I need you. Please. Please, don't leave me like this. I'm so damn wet I—"

"Fuck it."

I grab the back of her neck, slam my lips to hers, swallow her little yelp of surprise, and suck that pretty pink tongue into my mouth. Her hands fly around my neck, and I know I'm kissing her too hard, but she must like it because she pulls me closer and holds me tighter.

"Yes," she moans as I kiss my way down her neck, arching her into me.

"Meggie," I growl as her hands roam up my thighs.

"If I'm really going into heat," she pants, "I want you there. Keep me safe, alpha."

The honorific makes my pulse jump. My already hard cock swells as my knot expands even more. "I'm not going anywhere, love."

She pulls back just long enough to wriggle out of her pants. Fuck, she's not wearing her swim suit anymore, or any panties, and her wet center is even more stunning than I imagined. She steals my breath right out of my chest, but I won't take her in the backseat of a van. No matter how much my body wants me to.

The first time I'm inside her, I'm giving her everything. My heart. My knot. Everything. That's not going to happen in a van in the parking lot of the Olympic Village.

Pulling her towards me, she straddles my legs and attacks me with kisses.

"Please," she whimpers.

I'm a goner. I have been for months.

Sliding a hand up her thigh, I sink a finger into her. I haven't been with many women—two, to be exact—but she is the wettest, most glorious beauty, and I'm completely awestruck by her.

Her hands on my cheeks, she drowns me in kisses and nips my lower lip as I let my fingers explore. Rocking her hips, she shows me the motion she wants, and I slip a second finger into her core.

"Beautiful girl." I try my best to swallow her sounds and give thanks for the tinted windows.

Her orgasm hits fast and hard. Her head in the crook of my neck, she bites at my shoulder as her body writhes over mine. Heat builds in my core until I'm burning up as much as she is. The surge of her sweet scent makes my cock throb, pulse, explode. I come in my pants like a fucking teenager, but how can I help it? Meggie has me so strung out that her scent alone could make me come. And feeling her on top of me? I never stood a chance.

I kiss her forehead and her hot breaths warm my neck as we both try to settle our breathing. Withdrawing my fingers from her, I shift so I can help her back into her pants even though she's beyond soaked from her slick.

Giving a contented sigh, Meggie settles onto my lap and lays her head on my shoulder. Her fever has receded, but these contented moments won't last much longer. Soon she'll be in full heat and nothing will satisfy her but an alpha's knot.

"You okay, love?"

"Mmhmm." She stretches languidly. "Much—"

A bolt of sunlight jerks us both from our post-orgasm bliss as the van's side door slides open. But it isn't one of our pack mates on the other side.

It's Ava.