Chapter Five

Ben

I know Desie would rather sleep in the nest. We"ve been sleeping in it for so long that it feels strange not to, which is the reason I want to be in here. I don"t think I want to sleep in the bed without Michael and Seth, and I know Desie wouldn"t like it, either. She"d toss and turn all night and we"d still end up on the floor with Michael before sunrise. That"s probably how it"s going to turn out anyway. I"ll just carry the mattress in there like we used to do before Seth came to us.

That feels like a lifetime ago. Seth fits with us so well that it feels strange and almost difficult to think about how it was before he came. It was oddly instantaneous. Part of what made it so awful when Michael and I were being held at the Back House is believing he could give up on us so easily. We didn"t know what to do, there was no conversation when he left. I remember feeling so torn about it. We couldn"t have someone near Desie who was capable of hurting another omega like that, but it felt so very wrong to push Seth away. Then he just walked away without a fight. It hurt.

But he came back. He got Desie out and he came for me and Michael. And now he"s laid up in her bed with a gunshot wound just when we were starting to feel like we"d be alright. Will it always be like this? Will there be people coming after us all the time? I don"t want to live like that. I just want my pack to be safe and okay. I want us to all get old and fat together.

"What"s wrong, Ben?" Desie asks, pushing her pants over her hips and down her legs.

I watch each new bit of skin appear as the fabric sinks to the floor and shake myself out of my dark musings. "Nothing now. Be naked with me."

Her full lips twist up in a smile. "You going to behave?"

"No," I respond, openly grinning.

She lifts her shirt up and over her head and drops it on the floor with her pants. "Well, you have to. Seth needs to rest and Michael will pout."

"They can hear everything we say in this room. They"re just across the hall."

Desie reaches back, her back arching as she unclasps her bra. She drops it on the pile of clothes too, then the panties. "Exactly. We both have to behave. Scoot over."

I scoot just an inch or two and lift the blankets for her to get into the bed next to me. The mood in the house isn"t right for me to do all the things running through my mind, especially with Seth trying to heal just a few feet away, but that doesn"t mean I don"t want to. I"m rock hard against her ass when she tucks in next to me.

"You said you"d be good," Desie whispers.

"I am being good," I purr against her ear. "I can"t help that I get hard every single time I see you naked. You don"t even have to be naked, D. All you have to do is be close to me for me to want you." Enough pleasure winds through our bond that I"m tempted to be very, very bad. I thrust my hips once, just enough to let my cock press against her a little harder. "And I never said I was going to be good. That was all you, baby."

"Benjamin!" she hisses.

I smile into her shoulder and drag her as close to me as I can until her back is flush with my chest and her ass and thighs are tight against me. "Go to sleep, Desie. I"ll be good tonight."

I kiss her shoulder and tuck my nose into her hair. I"ve never minded her hair being in my face when we sleep. I like keeping the scent of it clouding around me all night. Michael minds, though. He usually gathers it all up and tucks it under her pillow. He says it tickles his face and keeps him awake. He might say that but whenever I happen to wake up in the night he"s almost always got his nose buried in her hair behind her ear. I don"t know how she can sleep like that.

Desie fidgets and wiggles for what feels like several hours. It"s torture. My dick has stayed hard or mostly hard the whole time. At first, it was just pressing against her, but now it"s wedged between her ass cheeks and I"m gritting my teeth in an effort to keep being good. I know that"s why she"s so restless. The scent of her arousal is driving me insane. We"re both going to be tired in the morning.

As the light of dawn creeps through the slits in the blinds, all I can think about is how much I hate being right sometimes. I"m exhausted, and if the look on Desie"s face is anything to go by she"s a little more than exhausted. She"s tired. Cranky. Frustrated. Clinking her spoon on every bit of the inside of her cup as she stirs her coffee.

I can"t imagine why.

"Do you think Michael and Seth will sleep long?" she asks softly.

I take the cup from her hands and put it on the counter before I lift her onto the edge of it. "Probably not."

She bites her lip to keep herself from squealing and grasps my shoulders. "What are you doing?"

"What I thought about doing all night," I purr against her neck.

"We can"t!" she hisses. "We"ll wake them. And Seth needs to rest."

I nip her earlobe and run my palm up her thigh. "Seth will be fine. He"d be more upset about me letting you spend the morning pouting and needy than missing some beauty sleep."

"I am not pouting," she argues. "Or needy." But her hips shift eagerly when I start working her panties down her legs.

I yank them off when I get them to her knees and toss them over my shoulder. "Uh huh." I sink my fingers into her hair to haul her in for a kiss. "Not needy at all," I murmur, sucking her bottom lip into my mouth.

Desie hitches her legs around my hips and pulls me closer, reaching down to shove at the waist of my shorts.. "We have to be quiet."

She"s already soaking wet. I knew she would be. Both of us are more than ready for this. "No we don"t," I tell her, and thrust my hips. Her gasp bounces around the kitchen and turns into a sharp cry when I adjust the angle and thrust again.

I push her shirt up and over her breasts and move a hand up to cup one and pluck at the nipple. Her back arches and I bend to suck sharply on the dusky point. "Fucking gorgeous, Desie. God, I love fucking you."

Then Michael strolls into the kitchen.

He rests his hip against the counter next to Desie and reaches to turn her face towards his. "Good morning," he says, and kisses her as deeply as I"m fucking her. He kisses her until she throws her head back, gasping for breath. "You didn"t sleep well at all, did you?"

She slowly shakes her head.

"That"s terrible," Michael hums. "Maybe Ben will tire you out and you can have a nap."

"How"s Seth?" she asks, her words jumping every time my hips move.

"He"s alright," Michael answers, trying not to smile. "He"ll be happy to know you"re worried about him." He kisses her again, and pushes his hand between our bodies to stroke her clit. She gasps his name and digs her heels into the backs of my thighs. "Cum for us, Desie. Let me hear it. I could feel how much you needed it all night. Cum all over Ben"s cock. I"ll help you." His knuckles press against my abdomen as his fingers move and I feel her getting tighter and wetter around me.

"Don"t stop," she moans.

"We won"t," Michael purrs into her ear. "Cum for us."

She cries out again.

"Now, Desie," I growl, lifting her knees for more leverage.

Her eyes roll back and her head drops to the side, offering Michael her neck. He mouths the raised mark and she sucks in a breath.

My knot is so swollen and hot as it"s pressed against her entrance over and over. The need to push it inside her is almost overwhelming.

"Give it to me," she pants.

"Cum first," I hiss.

"Please, Ben," she groans. "I need it."

"And I need you to cum," Michael growls again and does something to her clit that makes her eyes roll shut. "Cum for us and you can have his knot." Then he covers the mark on her neck with his mouth just as I thrust inside her,hitting that perfect spot, and I"m not sure if she could be any more relieved by her orgasm when it crashes through her than I am.

I fuck my knot inside her with every wave that washes through us and kiss her damp forehead when I can"t get any deeper.

Michael kisses her cheek and picks up her forgotten coffee and turns to walk back down the hall.

"That"s mine, Michael," Desie mumbles.

"Mine now," he winks, and takes a sip as he walks away.

"You"re both awful, you know that?" Desie asks when I reach into the cabinet above her head for another cup. My knot tugs against her body as I stretch for the coffee pot, but it doesn"t hurt. It feels good and she shivers with the pleasure of it.

I nod my head and pour coffee into the cup. "Well aware. I don"t think I can reach the fridge from here, so you"re going to have to drink this black." Her nose wrinkles and I rub the tip of mine against it. "Coffee isn"t good for omegas, anyway. I"ll drink this and then I"ll make you a nice cup of tea." I glance down at our connected bodies. "Eventually."

"I don"t drink that much coffee, Ben. You know that. Just when I"m extra tired," she yawns.

One tiny cup of coffee isn"t going to do anything to combat the exhaustion I"m trying to ignore. The stress of yesterday and not getting enough sleep is catching up to me before the day has even started. I take a sip and put the cup on the counter. I grip her thighs to get a firm grip on her. "We"re going to the floor to wait this out," I tell her. "Ready?"

She nods and wraps her arms around my shoulders.

"I"m a terrible omega," she yawns again once we"re settled on the ground.

"What?" I jerk my head back to look at her. "No, you"re not. You"re a perfect omega."

"No, really," she says quietly. "One of my alphas is down the hall with a bullet wound and here I am-"

"Doing exactly what you should be doing, Des. You have three alphas to take care of, and all three of us are going to take care of you. Seth is alright. He"ll probably be good as new by tomorrow. You needed attention. You needed attention all night, but we had to be good. As soon as we"re ready we"ll go down the hall and you can bombard Seth with worry, okay?"

She nods. "Okay."

~

"You shouldn"t be up," Desie fusses when we find Seth sitting on the side of the bed. "You need to be resting."

He stops eyeing his boots and turns to smile at her. "I"m alright. I"m not even bleeding anymore. Not much, anyway. We can"t wait around for me to get to one hundred percent, Desir"ee. We need to contact Lopez and see what he"s heard."

"Or if he"s behind it," I mutter quietly.

Desie rolls her eyes. "He isn"t behind anything. That wouldn"t make sense, Benjamin."

Seth sighs. "As much as I hate to agree with her, I don"t think he"s behind what happened yesterday, either. But he may know something about it, or he could listen for information."

Desie bends to pick up Seth"s boots and puts them beside the door. Then she stands in front of him with her hands on her hips. "These are phone calls, Seth Pratchett. You"re not stepping a toe outside of this house until you don"t have a hole in your side."

Now my eyes are rolling, but Seth"s mouth turns up. "It"s more of a dent, darlin. I"ll be alright to go check on some things."

"Absolutely not. You can call him and anyone else you feel like you need to speak to. What do you want for lunch?"

And that"s the end of that.

Seth is easy to get along with as far as food goes. The only thing he"s not really into is peas. Michael ends up making one of Desie's favorite comfort foods, weenie and eggs on warm tortillas, and Seth starts making calls after we"re finished.

The first one is to Lopez. His pack is settling into itself as much as they can and things seem to be going fairly well for them. He doesn"t know anything about the attack yesterday, but he was sufficiently upset about it that even I don"t think he had anything to do with it.

"I"ll ask around without being obvious. An attack like that, with the obvious attempt on both you and the Johnson child would make waves among the organization; especially if it was unsuccessful. I"ll contact you if I hear of anything at all, no matter how insignificant. And you all are well?"

Seth glances at me, then Michael, and clears his throat. "We"re good. Thank you, Lopez."

"Elijah, please."

"Thank you, Elijah. We"ll check in again soon."

He ends the call and drags his hand down his face. "I"m glad he didn"t know. I don"t want to worry about him more than I already do."

All I can do is nod. I don"t trust Elijah Lopez. He can be the most altruistic motherfucker on the planet for the rest of his life, but I"ll always be weary of him. What I do know is that we need to figure out where this attack came from and who ordered it before Desie"s next heat...which is soon.

"Hey, Desie."

"Hey, Ben," she smiles.

"How long exactly until you go into heat again?"

"About five weeks," Michael answers. "Why?"

"No reason," I say. "Just wondering if we can figure all this shit out and fix it before then."

Seth rubs his face again. I don"t know how he does that without flipping up his eyepatch.

"How much longer does Talia have before the baby comes?" Michael asks.

"Four weeks," Desie answers. "Stop rubbing your face, Seth. It"s going to be alright. My brothers will help keep watch. And Minos will support us if we need it."

Seth looks at me, and I look at Ben.

Fuck.