Chapter 14

Ethan and Cole disappeared into the situation room they'd commandeered in their search for Shae and had continued to use while they investigated the Jackals and everything else. I told Ethan that I'd be in my office, but I got distracted along the way when I caught a trail of eucalyptus and mint heading toward the barracks. I hadn't got to be alone with my girl for more than a minute or two, outside of the hospital, in too long and I needed her.

Our pack had a suite in the barracks that was set aside for us and that was where I found her. I swiped my access card and walked into the room, but I didn't make it far before the sight inside I stopped in my tracks.

My girl must have been down in the gym or sparring because she was… what's that turn of phrase people used about women sweating? She was fucking glistening. She fixed a cocky grin on me as she patted her neck and chest with a towel. After tossing the towel into a hamper, she turned her back to me and bent fully at the waist under the guise of untying her shoes but I knew better. She leaned her head to the side and I let her know exactly what the view of her round ass stretching those thin pants did to me by palming my cock over my jeans. She bit her lip as I walked behind her and ran my hands along her hips, tugging her back until my hardness pressed against her ass.

Grinding back into me slightly as she straightened had a groan leaving my mouth as our scents both hung heavily around us.

"Are you needy, gorgeous? Want me to fill that tight pussy or bend you back over and make you come on my face?"

Jade arched her back and tipped her chin up for a kiss. I wrapped my hand underneath her jaw as I pressed my lips to hers. I was ready to deepen the kiss when she pulled back and spun around to face me.

"What I want is to not go another day without feeling you through a bond. I hate it, Theo."

Her beautiful brown eyes were lined with the beginnings of tears, and it tore at me. I bent slightly to get my hands behind her thighs and lifted. She didn't need any instruction from me as she wrapped her arm around my neck and her legs around my waist. My girl was strong and, with those deliciously powerful thighs squeezing my waist, I barely had to hold her at all. I brought my arms around her back and squeezed her into my chest. She buried her face into my neck and breathed deeply.

The relationship she had with me was different to those she had with her other mates and Ethan. I knew that the only other person she felt comfortable breaking in front of was Miles, but that was her best friend. One of the gifts she gave me was that she let me care for her the way she cared for everyone else. How fucking stupid I'd been to think she wasn't struggling without that connection between us in just the same way that I was.

"I'm sorry, babe. I thought that, with everything going on, with your bonds with the others, that you were alright. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid to try; afraid for it not to work."

She leaned back until she could press her forehead to mine.

"It doesn't matter how many bonds I have, idiot. Not feeling you is like a piece of my soul has been ripped away. I'm slowly bleeding out. I need you."

Fucking hell. I was screwing up. I remembered her words from the hospital and took a deep breath, letting her scent wash over me and calm me.

"No more waiting."

My lips crashed into hers and our tongues danced as I moved us until her back was pressed to the wall and she ground her hot pussy against my hard length, trapped behind my jeans. I groaned against her lips.

"Theo. I don't want a quick fuck against the wall."

"What do you need, babe?"

"Slow. I want to feel you."

Her voice cracked on the word feel and I was done for.

I stepped back from the wall and set her down carefully before stepping back. I started to undress and she did the same. I pulled my shirt over my head and started on my pants as she began to unzip the front of her sports bra. Her eyes were hooded, her bottom lip tucked between her teeth, and her hand stalled with the zipper just halfway down on her bra by the time I'd shoved my pants and boxers off and gripped my hard cock. Giving it a slow stroke, I grinned at her.

"You sure know how to boost a guy's ego, gorgeous."

She smiled fully at me and my breath caught. She was so fucking beautiful. Jade quickly finished taking off her bra and I licked my lips at the sight of her dark nipples pebbling in the cool air. She peeled off her pants and underwear so fast that I was sad about not getting more of a show before I mentally smacked myself, because she was naked and closing the gap between us again.

Before she could, I crowded into her and walked her back until her legs hit the twin bed in the space. I frowned down at it and growled.

"We need a bigger fucking bed in here."

She laughed but it cut off on a gasp as I bent and sucked her nipple into my mouth, flicking it with my tongue a few times before I bent further and grabbed the blankets and pillows off the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"If I'm going to take my time, I'm not doing it in that tiny ass bed."

I spread the blankets out on the floor and dropped the pillows onto them before I laid down.

Jade started to straddle me but, as much as I loved the sight of my girl's pussy stretched around my dick as she rode me, I wanted something else first.

"Not yet, Jade." I tugged her hips forward as I moved down so I could get my mouth on her faster. "Sit on my face."

I hadn't intended for a bark to lace my words but, when it did, Jade bared her teeth and growled.

Her fingers reached into the longer hair at the top of my head, fisting it tightly and forcing my head back. My neck extended in a way that my instincts recognized as incredibly vulnerable but I held myself still, eyes locked on hers.

"This is new territory for us, Theo. I know you didn't mean for that to be a command, but we've always been equals when it comes to us. I don't want that to change. I need that with you."

Her voice shook, like she was holding back her emotions while fighting the Alpha urge to assert her dominance. I brought my hands up to the backs of her thick, powerfully muscled thighs, squeezing to get her attention and break the spiral of her thoughts.

"That doesn't change, gorgeous. I'm still getting used to this being part of me. How my emotions and desires turn what I'm saying into a command. I'm sorry."

I took advantage of the small range of motion I had with her still gripping my hair and pressed a kiss into the skin of her inner thigh. Jade shuddered and sank lower into me as the tension left her body.

"I can't promise I won't mess up again while I'm figuring it out, but I would never want your submission. You are the person who lets me be myself, fully and unrestrained, meeting me there and not expecting my submission because of what I was. I want to be there for you, to care for you, fight beside you, witness your joy and your pleasure. Be by your side, never more or less, just together."

Jade nodded and a single tear fell down her cheek as she curled down, nearly doubling over to reach my mouth in a sweet kiss. When she straightened back up, the heat was in her eyes again and I licked my lips. I gently pulled on the back of her thighs, encouraging her to sit. Sifting her fingers through my hair again, this time with the gentler, delicious scrape of her nails that she knew I loved, had a purr rising from my chest as she brought her pussy to my mouth.

Fuck, I would never get tired of the taste of her, or Ethan for that matter. I flattened my tongue and licked from her entrance to her clit before flicking it with my tongue in light, rapid strokes. My brain knew that her wetness didn't actually taste like mint, just like Ethan's cum didn't really taste like icing. Pheromones were tricky fuckers. I licked around her clit before sucking gently again and resuming the flicking motion that drove my girl crazy.

There was a challenge in giving head that I fucking loved. It was easier to please your partner when it came to sex, even the laziest partner got lucky now and again, but using your mouth? That meant you had to pay attention to them, especially if your partner was a person with a pussy. I'd spent hours between my woman's thighs, learning what she liked, what she didn't, and listening to her. Not just the sounds she made or the words she said but what made her lock tighten or those inner muscles clench.

Her hands went behind her to brace herself on my chest, hips moving gently as she rode my face. Back arched, full tits thrust out and her head thrown back—goddamn. Nothing had ever looked so fucking beautiful. My cock leaked precum all over where it rested against my stomach. I shifted my hands from the back of her thighs to the round globes of her ass and squeezed.

I waited until the motion of her hips became less rhythmic and I slipped the middle and ring fingers of my right hand into the wet heat of her channel and rubbed against the slightly rougher spot inside her. Jade cried out and bowed forward bracing herself with her hands above my head. I closed my eyes and sucked on her clit as I felt her pussy spasm and her lock tighten. I slid one of my fingers out of her so I could keep up the pressure on her g-spot but not get locked inside her.

"Oh right th—yes!"

I gently lapped at her clit, bringing her back down, and watched her while her breaths heaved, eyes closed, mouth open, and little jerks of her muscles signaled the aftershocks still rolling though her. Jade had gone nearly boneless at the force of her orgasm, and I took that opportunity to switch our positions, thankful that I'd met her halfway so that when I flipped her over, her head landed on the pillows and a happy little laugh huffed out of her. I pressed a kiss to the inside of her thigh before moving up and bracketing her head with my hands as I lined up my length with her opening.

"I love you, Jade."

"I love you too… Theo."

My name was a gasping cry as I filled her with one smooth thrust. I rolled my hips and pressed kisses into her neck and jaw before landing on her lips. I could feel the swelling at the base of my cock that I had learned was my knot. I didn't have to worry about hurting Ethan, but I never wanted to hurt Jade by not realizing I'd gone too deep. Plus, I knew where I wanted my bite and it would be easier to reach if she was on top.

I rolled us again, bringing another laugh out of her that ended on a moan as she sank that tight heat back down onto me.

"Ride me, gorgeous. Take what you need. Make me yours again."

She leaned down, pressing those perfect, full tits against my chest. And, fuck, why did such a simple thing feel so damn good?

Jade moved faster, bouncing as much as she could with her lock tightening, careful not to bear down too much on my knot.

"Give me your tongue, Theo."

I kissed her with everything I had and pressed my tongue into her mouth, this time around knowing what was coming.

She sucked lightly on my tongue before sinking her teeth in. The rush of my orgasm couldn't drown out the blazing connection between us being restored. Tears ran over my hands where I held her face but the love and joy she was pouring into the bond told me they were the good kind.

I thrust up into Jade, bent my knees, and pushed gently on the space between her tits until she was leaning back on my thighs. I rubbed her clit where it peeked out and kept up that rhythm of slow thrusts. Her lock was tightening around my cock, and it hurt some, like it always had, but not enough to take away from how good it felt to be inside her. Jade's hands were braced on my stomach, her head thrown back. She was a fucking goddess, and I couldn't wait anymore.

"Come on, babe. Give it to me."

Her moans got sharper and I curled up to lock my lips around the dark bud of her nipple, sucking hard and feeling her pussy spasm as her lock fully snapped in place and she cried out. I dipped my mouth to the sensitive curve on the underside of her breast and struck.

The sharp taste of her blood on my tongue and the way she gripped my head to her while she spasmed, her orgasm getting more intense as I licked and sucked on the bite, made me purr. Mine.

"Oh fuck. Oh fuck, Theo!"

I laid back and she followed, collapsing on my chest. We both were breathing heavily and I closed my eyes. I used to have to reach for the bond before, when it was just her claim on me, but now it was right at the front of my mind. Her love. Her joy. The bone-deep satisfaction and pure relief at being connected again. My vision blurred from the tears rushing to my eyes and I wrapped my arms around her.

Her lock was loosening and my knot had gone down enough that when I squeezed her to me, she slid fully onto the last few inches, making us both groan. We rolled to our sides and I wrapped a blanket around us.

"Theo?"

"Yeah, gorgeous?"

"You claimed me."

"Fuckin' right I did."

"That means you can claim Ethan."

The hand that I'd been absently running along her back and her side paused. I hadn't been thinking about anyone but her until she brought up our Omega.

The smile that split my face was broad and mirrored by her.

"I can. We can pack him up now!"

I slid from her heat, rolling onto my back and punched at the air, making her laugh then roll on top of me. Jade peppered my face with kisses before she pulled back with a grimace.

"I need a shower. I have a meeting soon with the rest of the board to update them. As proud as I am to be scent marked by my mates, I don't want cum coating my thighs when I face Miles" dad and my uncle."

A laugh boomed out of me and I gave her ass a little slap before standing and carrying her into the ensuite bathroom. I'd let her get clean but the first chance we got, I was going to claim Ethan and then fuck both of my mates in the nest.

Jade pushed a teasing exasperation down the bond to me as I stepped into the shower, pulling her in behind me. I couldn't fucking wait.