21

johannes

THEY WERE ALL waiting when we got back.

Corentin, Dmitri, and Nikolai were standing in front of the stables, none of them looking pleased. Well, Corentin was on his phone right when we galloped up, but when he saw us, he ended the call, and then they all stood there, stony-faced, arms crossed over their chests. I knew this had been the right thing. I knew Aurelie and I had both needed this.

But I wasn't exactly relishing the consequences of all of this.

I helped her down off the horse and she leaned into me, scenting a sweet, satisfied scent that was all tangled up with mine. I loved that my scent was all over her. I put my arm around her. I never wanted to stop touching her, truth be told. I couldn't stop myself from letting out a rumbling purr as she smiled up at me.

Dmitri growled.

She turned to him, her body responding to him, probably through their bond.

I didn't want to let go of her.

But I did.

She went right to him. He put his hands all over her, and when he spoke, he didn't sound angry. More… agonized.

"Did he bite you?" he said in a strangled voice, lifting her chin, inspecting her neck.

"Oh, Dmitri." She soothed him. She moved his hand to his mark, her fingers over his as he had him stroke it. "Not yet, no."

Dmitri looked devastated. He stopped touching her. He backed up. He gave me a look, and it was pained.

I flinched. Maybe this was worse than his being angry.

Corentin stepped forward and pulled her in against his chest. He kissed her, a quick kiss. "Love, I think I have to go. I have issues with the business."

She jerked back from that, surprised. "Oh."

"I know. But I'm not like your idle rich prince boys, with people paying me an income just because I sported a knot," he said.

Fuck him. I rolled my eyes.

He kissed her forehead. "I'll be in touch." He backed off. "Maybe it'll be better this way, anyway? You and I can have something, just us, when I can steal you away, and the three of you—" He gestured to me, Nikolai, and Dmitri. "Can work out whatever's going on there. I don't need to be part of it."

Aurelie stiffened. "Yes, you do."

Corentin sighed. "Well. Later. I really do need to go. It's a bit of an emergency, or I wouldn't, I promise."

"Well," she said, "if it's an emergency…"

He kissed her again. "Goodbye, my love. I'll be in touch as soon as I can." Then he gave the rest of us a careless wave and walked off in the direction of the castle.

Aurelie looked from Dmitri, who'd stopped touching her, to Corentin's back, and then over to me.

I closed the distance between us in two steps and wrapped my arm around her again. She sighed into me, relaxing immediately.

Dmitri's nostrils flared. "We need to have a discussion about how this works."

Well. He wasn't wrong, I supposed.

aurelie

WE WERE SITTING in a room on the first floor of the castle with a big screen, and Dmitri had hooked a laptop up to it and was in the middle of what was essentially a Powerpoint presentation on "How We Will Share the Omega."

I was sitting in between Johannes and Nikolai on a couch, but none of us were touching.

Dmitri gestured with a little laser pointer at the elaborate schedule he'd worked up. "So, as you can see, everyone's covered. We also have time set up for group time, and I think once a month should be adequate for that. I've worked in time for Nikolai and me and Nikolai and Johannes as well. So, what I'll do is email this to everyone, and we can refer to it whenever we need to. Questions?"

"There's no time for me, Johannes, and Nikolai together," I said. "And that's how we're doing my bites with them."

Dmitri shook his head. "Out of the question. If Corentin were still here, I intended to negotiate with him, because I know you want his bite, and I'm happy to let you and him have a separate relationship. As you see, he's on the schedule. But as for bites, I haven't decided yet."

I squirmed.

"Omega," said Dmitri, his voice commanding and intense.

It made me get a little slick. I let out a yip, wanting him.

"Leave this to me," he said. "You'll get your bites, and I'll be sure that you'll enjoy every moment of it. What we need to avoid is whatever happened this morning with you and Johannes, however. We were out of our minds when we couldn't find you. You can't imagine. If I hadn't been able to feel you through the bond, I would have lost it. I knew you were safe and happy, however, so that was some consolation, but you left without telling me."

"Seriously?" I glared at him. "Are you my alpha or my jailer, Dmitri?"

"Don't be dramatic," he said. "If your mother goes somewhere, does she have the common courtesy to let your father know where she is?"

"You could have texted us," I said.

"We did," said Nikolai in a very quiet voice. "But I suppose you two were too busy to look at your damned phones."

"Nik, I tried to talk to you this morning," said Johannes.

"You didn't try very hard," said Nikolai. "You didn't say, ‘Nik, I know we promised each other we'd do everything with the omega together, but I'm going off to knot her on my own.' That's not what you said."

"Wait, you promised what?" I said to Johannes.

"I need to know this," said Dmitri. "What does that do to the schedule? If you two are sharing her during both of your times, that means both of you get double time with the omega, and I need to—"

"I will not be on a schedule!" I yelled it.

All of them turned and looked at me.

"I'm not a thing," I said in a lethal voice. "You do not pass me around. No."

"Yes, omega," said Dmitri smoothly, putting all of his alpha dominance behind it. "You will submit to this."

His voice pushed into me, making my clit swell, making my inner walls clench. I gasped. I shivered. "No," I said, balling up my hands in fists. "No, Dmitri, no."

Dmitri looked at me, perplexed, as if he didn't know what to do with me if I was defiant.

"She said no," said Johannes mildly. "I think we respect that, don't you?"

"What did you do to her?" said Dmitri.

"Knotted her," said Johannes. "Made her come like, what? Four times?" He grinned at me.

I smirked, ducking down my head.

"Licked her pussy," said Johannes. "Oh, and talked. We talked a lot, and I didn't just order her around."

"She's an omega. She likes to be ordered around," countered Dmitri.

I squirmed again, because that made my pussy twitch.

Dmitri leaned forward, his voice liquid. "Omega. You'd like to strip down for us, wouldn't you, get on your hands and knees and present your pretty ass and pussy for your alphas to look at?"

I started to obey, because I did want to do that, a lot.

"Aurelie, no," said Johannes in a calm voice.

I hesitated.

"How's your ass today, sweet girl?" said Dmitri, his voice gentle.

I gasped. "M-maybe a little sore, but…"

"But you'd like to take me there again, wouldn't you?" he urged.

"Yes," I gasped, my body going very, very taut.

"We'll all go to the nest just as soon as we agree on the schedule," said Dmitri. "Pull down your top and flash us all your pretty tits, just quickly, hmm?"

I did it.

Everyone reacted, and all their scents filled the air, making slick pour out of me. I whined.

"Good girl," said Dmitri. "Touch my mark, sweet girl."

I did it.

"That feel good?" whispered Dmitri.

"Yes," I breathed.

"You're being a fucking asshole," said Johannes, but he sounded really turned on.

"I worked very hard on this schedule," said Dmitri. "This was hours of work, and we will use it, and you'll get used to it. Tell your alpha that you accept what's best for you. Tell your husband that you'll be a very good submissive wife."

I moaned. I shook my head. Too far, maybe. It was the husband-wife business, I thought. It took it to another level, and I didn't want that. "No one asked you to make a schedule, Dmitri," I protested. "No one asked you to put in hours of work."

"It's my job," he said. "I'm the pack leader, and I see a need, and I meet it. It's my responsibility to make sure our pack works smoothly, and that's what I intend to do."

"Well, that's not what I want," I managed.

Dmitri was quiet.

"I don't like being told who to fuck and when like this either," said Nikolai. "If anyone cares what I think, which… no one does." He was sardonic and expressionless.

Dmitri turned on him. "Nik, you and I need to talk, actually. Johannes said that you think I'm homophobic? Why didn't you feel like you could say that to me?"

Nikolai smiled a rueful smile. "Perfect, Johannes. Perfect. So glad you decided to thrust yourself into the middle of my relationship with Dmitri. I appreciate that so much, let me tell you."

"I'm sorry," said Johannes. "I guess you did sort of say that to me in confidence, and maybe I shouldn't have shared."

Dmitri sat back in his chair and looked at the ceiling. "This is not exactly easy for me. Sharing her, sharing my mate with other men, it rankles, but I'm trying to do it—"

"No, you're not," I said.

He gestured at the schedule. "What is this?"

"It's you trying to make sure you have control over everything I do with everyone, so that I belong to you."

"You do belong to me," he said.

"But you don't belong to me," I said.

"Yes, I do."

"Then we should have equal say. It shouldn't be about me submitting to whatever you fucking want," I said.

"Do you want to make the schedule?" Dmitri spread his hands. "Because, let me tell you, it's not easy to keep everything balanced and make sure it's fair. But if you want to try, go right ahead."

"When I was working for Sector Unius," said Nikolai, "we had meetings like this, with schedules like this. People told me, ‘Go seduce this alpha, get him to talk, find out when he's selling his stocks, let him do whatever he wants to you. Let him kick you if that gets him going. Let him come all over your face. Let him hold you down and shove his dick in your unstretched asshole. Let him—'"

"Oh, Nikolai," I interrupted, turning to him. "I'm so sorry."

He glanced at me, sucking in a sharp breath. He'd been expressionless but a ripple of intense pain went over his features and then it was gone. He ducked down his head. "I'm not a thing either, Dmitri," he muttered. "I don't belong to you." He stood up.

"Nik, that's not… it's not supposed to be like that," said Dmitri. He got to his feet, too. "I didn't even think about that when I was—"

"No, you didn't," said Nikolai with a shrug. "But then you don't, Dmitri. I realize you don't. You never do. I spent all this time thinking you rescued me, that you set me free. And all along, I was never free. I just became a slave to a different master." He let out a bemused laugh. "Fuck this." He walked out of the room.

Dmitri went after him. "You aren't a slave , for fuck's sake."

Nikolai shut the door firmly in Dmitri's face.

Dmitri opened the door.

"You follow me, and I will maim you," came Nikolai's voice.

Dmitri stopped moving. He stood in the doorway, shaking his head. Then, sighing, he shut it. His shoulders slumped.

Johannes got up. "I need to…" Then he sat back down. "No, better let him calm down. He won't like it if I get in his face right now." He shook his head. "Why are you such a jackass, Dmitri?"

Dmitri's emotions came through our bond and they hit me, a tangled mess of guilt and shame and sheer pain. "I don't know. I don't mean to be." His voice wasn't strong. I thought he sounded close to tears.

"Dmitri," I whispered.

He yanked the door open. "I need to be alone for a bit," he muttered, and then he walked out, too.