58. Aleks

ALEKS

The management at St. Elizabeth's were extremely understanding towards Ben and I needing more time off. It wasn't like that at most workplaces. If you were an alpha and blocked out five to seven days for a "medical event", everyone knew what that meant.

Good luck avoiding the comments when you returned.

Do you need an ice pack for your dick? I bet it's just a shrivelled raisin now!

Your back probably looks like you fell backwards into a pile of rakes!

Should I send an industrial grade wet vacuum to your house? Hahahahha.

And those were just the ones said to your face.

Everyone found it so funny.

None of them understood.

Because when I watched Hazel with her alphas, all I could see was how vulnerable she was. How little control she had over herself and how afraid that must make her.

I lived for the moments when she was lucid and I had my girl with me. When I could make sure she knew that she was loved and she was safe.

"Aleks," Hazel called out. She was lying on her side, knotted with Ben behind her.

I was already there when she reached for me. "Hey pretty girl."

I carefully cleaned her sweat-lined face with a cool washcloth and kissed her burning skin. I stuck a quickly melting ice cube under her tongue and she sucked on it dutifully.

"That feels good," she mumbled. I slipped her another one as soon as the first one disintegrated.

"I'm going to get you something to drink as well, ok?" I glanced at Ben over her shoulder. "Think you can get her in a sitting position?"

He nodded, using the wall of the nest to hold himself up with Hazel in his lap. I had an insulated bottle keeping a smoothie ice cold for her. She took a tentative sip, made a hungry noise of appreciation before sucking ferociously.

"Not too fast, gorgeous," I cautioned. "I don't want you to feel sick." I kept dabbing her skin with washcloths. Ben carefully collected her hair up into his hands and I laid one across her neck and shoulders.

"I don't like feeling out of control," she admitted quietly between sips.

My chest tightened with sympathy. "I know. You have your bonds now. They'll never let you go, surely you feel that?"

A small smile. "I do." Hazel ran her fingertips across my lips before letting her hand cradle my chin. "I'm just missing one more."

I kissed her palm, trying to stem the butterflies in my gut. "Ready wherever you are, beautiful."

She looked down at where Ben's knot was stuffed deep in her. "Maybe not while another man is inside me," she said blandly. "Even if he is our prime."

Ben chuckled easily and kissed her shoulder. "You two will get your moment." He wiggled slightly making Hazel yelp. "Give it, oh I don't know, another fifteen minutes?"

I spent the time making sure Hazel drank and ate a little. I updated her on a groundbreaking new development in a decades old missing persons case that just made the news, hoping it made her feel a little more normal.

"The body was in the walls of the house?" she asked in hushed whispers.

I nodded earnestly. "Just stuffed in there, wrapped in a tarp and bricked up."

"Aaand there goes my knot," Ben said, looking queasy. He slipped out of her and none of us blinked an eye at the rush of their combined fluids. Ben passed Hazel to me and looked over to where Remy was snoring under a blanket.

"I'm gonna have a nap too," he sighed.

Hazel threw her arms forcefully around my neck. I was wildly unprepared, the momentum enough to send us backwards. She landed on top of me, her boobs squashed in my face.

I don't need air. Let me stay in this pillow perfection forever.

Hazel squeaked and unfortunately for me, scooted back down.

I could see her pupils starting to blow out, the flush beginning to take over her cheeks. I was about to lose her again.

"I want to do it now," she said, urgently. "While I still know what I'm doing. I want you to know that I want this, not in heat Hazel." Her palm found my chest, fingers splayed to touch me. "And you have to promise me you'll complete your side too."

I lifted my chin. "I'm yours, Hazel. I know it might seem like we've only started something recently. But I've been yours for a while."

The expression on her face would be etched on my soul forever. She kissed my neck and cradled my head. Her teeth scraped lightly, then pressure and a sharp pain. My fingertips instinctively clenched at her waist.

I could feel the bond grow like a small flower. A small green shoot emerged from the dirt, expanding and rising, the tiniest bud forming. She wanted a field of them, just for me, so I always had somewhere to lay my head.

The corner of my eyes burned and I couldn't stop the tear escaping.

"Oh. Aleks," she said softly.

"I love you more than I know what to do with," I confessed. "And it still doesn't feel like enough."

"It's enough. You're more than enough," she told me fiercely. "I love you too."

Our lips met, a perfect fit. There was a powerful pulse of need in her bond that felt foreign to all the tender emotions she was feeling. Hazel blinked, feeling the haze of her heat ensnaring her.

"I love you." She gave me one last kiss. It was gentle at first before it turned hungry and grasping. Her pussy was positioned perfectly over my cock and she began to slide herself along it. Covering me with her slick until I was so hard I could barely think.

"Does my omega need to come again?" I asked, my voice rough.

She didn't reply, fully back in the clutches of her heat. I didn't need an answer at all in the end, because she managed to position herself just right and sheath my entire length inside her.

"Oh, fuck, Hazel." Ordinarily I would've wanted to eat her out at least three times before fucking her but I had to give her what she needed right now. My hands flew to her hips. "Like this," I murmured, guiding her to grind back and forth on me instead of bouncing up and down. I loved how perfect this position was for her heat — the focus was on stimulating her clit and it meant I could last longer for her.

And the fact that I didn't have a knot was a good thing here.

Three orgasms later she was whimpering and boneless. Laying on top of me with only just enough energy to nuzzle at my neck, a dreamy satisfied mewl escaping her every now and then.

She wants my scent. Even when she's in heat and I'm a beta.

There was really no reason to keep doubting my place here anymore.

I knew she wanted it. But my hand still shook when I pushed aside her damp hair and exposed the side of her neck. I completely lacked the alpha impulse to bite and hurting her didn't feel right. Ben and Remy's bondmarks were stark on her skin. It had been unspoken between all of us to mark her on the side that didn't hold Adrian's fading bondmark out of respect.

Do this and you'll always have a family.

Do this and you're hers forever.

I bent down and with as much care as possible, added my bite beside the teeth marks of my packmates.

The single flower exploded into a field of white.

I had no idea.

No idea it could be like this.

The feeling was unassailable. How could anyone tell me I didn't belong in a pack when it felt like this?

Hazel had a contented smile on her face, burying her head even deeper into the crook of my shoulder. She let out a little sigh and fell asleep with my cock inside her.

I still hadn't come.

This was going to be a long heat.