Chapter Twenty-Six

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Now Playing: The Grey- Bad Omens

I can’t really explain why I am hovering outside of the guest room at nearly one in the morning. My soul was restless without Omen lying beside me. After spending the day with Titan’s family, she’d been too exhausted to spend time with the rest of us. I’d barely managed to rush her through a shower with how sleepy she was.

Cracking the door open, I peek inside and hope I didn’t accidentally wake her. I’m surprised to find Nexus and Nebula already curled around her on the bed. Their bonds are content in a way none of us have managed over the past few months. She’s the missing piece holding us together, and I wish we had all seen that sooner.

“This bed isn’t big enough,” Titan grumbles from behind me. His voice is low, but he manages to startle me enough a squeak slips through my lips.

Our other mates peek at us from across the room, small smiles stretching across their faces when they see us hovering in the doorway.

“We’ll make it work,” I mention as I slip inside. “But we have to be out of here before she wakes up.”

Nexus scoots closer to Omen, gently guiding her to lean on Nebula’s chest. The small lines of tension around her eyes smooth away with the small bit of contact. He sighs, and I realize the distance she’s keeping between them must be difficult. Especially for a newly bonded pair. Most mates are inseparable after they bond. Their instincts often demand they stick close to help form their connection fully.

Titan slips in behind Nexus, wrapping his arm over our alpha’s hip so he can lay his hand on Omen’s thigh. Watching all three alphas relax in her presence fuels my determination to earn our omega’s forgiveness. They need her as much as she needs them, they’ve just been too stubborn to admit it.

“C’mon, babyboy,” Nebula rumbles as he shifts his thighs to make room for me to curl against Omen’s legs. I try not to jostle them too much as I crawl onto the bed. Titan is definitely right, this bed’s not big enough. Hopefully, we can convince her to move into the nest soon.

Then we can sneak in to cuddle with her every night without playing human Tetris to fit around her.

After spending yesterday out with Titan, today seems like the perfect opportunity to relax at home with Omen. Being around a lot of new people is something I remember overwhelms her. Though I suppose she may feel differently now she doesn’t have to hide her past as Sarah Montgomery.

Grabbing a tray of breakfast bagels and hot tea, I head toward the guest room. My goal for today is to find a way to get her to move into the nest.

One of the omega books I picked up says it can be detrimental for them to go without a proper nest for too long, and our girl already has enough on her plate dealing with the effects of the rejection. Her stubbornness is only going to keep hurting her.

I’m only a few steps down the hallway when Nebula runs past me and slams into the guest room. Hurrying after him, my heart starts to race when a pained cry flows out of the door.

Rich, sweet honeysuckle slams against me as soon as I cross the threshold to Omen’s room. My dick is instantly hard and throbbing, digging painfully into the zipper of my jeans. It’s a heavenly torment.

I stumble closer to the bed, needing to see Omen. When I find her, my heart cracks in half. She’s curled in her makeshift nest, face buried in one of our shirts. Pain-filled whimpers fall from her lips mixing with the sobbed words being muffled by the fabric. I strain to make out what she is saying, silently hoping she isn’t asking me to leave.

The front of my thighs brush against the edge of the bed and I can finally understand her.

“Please don’t go! Please! Please don’t leave me! Please !”

Shit, this isn’t good at all. She’s still asleep and having a heat wave. The combination has her trapped in a nightmare of my pack’s creation. We left her to suffer through a horrendous heat alone, all except Nexus who helped her until it broke. In the end, he abandoned her too.

Hearing another cry of pain shakes me from the lust filling my mind. I look to Nebula where he stands on the other side of the bed, his hands fisted at his sides and his eyes wild. “We need to ease her, but Neb… I–I don’t know how we can fix this.”

Earning her trust when we’ve clearly decimated any ounce of it we had gained before seems like an impossible task. How do you come back from this? No amount of groveling seems adequate enough for the ruin we’ve wrought in our omega.

Titan and Nexus come running into the room, most likely having sensed our stress. Their faces are as grim as my own when the reality of our situation dawns on them. Titan’s large palm runs down his face at the same time Nexus turns and bolts back out of the room.

My mouth opens and parts in shock, but Titan just shakes his head. “I can’t–if I stay to help ease her I don’t know that I can hold myself back from bonding her. Nex’ nearly bonded her during the last heat, it would take divine intervention for him to not sink his teeth into her this time.”

Nebula takes several measured steps back, his hands fisted at his sides. Navy blue eyes find mine and I can see his regret in them. “Help her, baby,” he grits out. “You can ease the spike enough to gain her some clarity, then she can decide who will knot her.”

“Neb…” My words trail off as she lets out another ragged cry.

“She doesn’t want me here. I won’t take another decision away from her.”

“Okay.” I blow out a breath, sending a quick plea for Fate to guide me. I really hope I don’t mess this up. It’s been so long since I’ve even looked at a woman, let alone touched one so intimately. “Come on, Callisto, she’s your mate. You can do this,” I hype myself up as I crawl across the bed toward her.

“Hey, starlight.” Watery, red-rimmed eyes glance up at me. Her bottom lip trembles for a moment, and then she’s reaches for me. I go willingly, letting her pull me to lay against her overheated skin.

She’s so beautiful. A meteor shower sparking across the sky on a starless night. The soft curve of her breasts and swell of her hips entrances me. Even with the sharp angle of her hip bones from the weight she’s lost, her body deserves to be sculpted and displayed in museums for lifetimes to come.

My fingers trail lightly down the floral tattoo on her sternum, following the design beneath her breasts. I cup one in my palm, feeling its weight and sighing at her softness. She’s perfect.

Leaning down, I run my tongue around one peaked nipple before I scrape my teeth over the bud. She shudders beneath me, her hand tugging at my clothes and hair trying to pull me closer.

Between the mass of blankets and the heat coming off of her skin, I’m already sweating. One-handed, I rip my t-shirt off and let it join the pile around us. She whimpers, those hazy green eyes flicking around the room like she’s searching for something. Or maybe she’s trying to find someone–one of her alphas.

“Shhh,” I soothe her. One hand runs through her tangled hair while I gently move her to her back. “It’s okay, my darling Omega. I’m here. I’ve got you.”

Her hips lift off the bed, her bare pussy grinding against the front of my jeans and smearing the fabric with her slick. This is torture, the visible signs of her pain and the feral edge of her reactions. I’ve never seen an omega in heat before, not even for a spike, and I’m not sure I like how not-Omen my girl is. Perhaps this animalistic quality is a result of her rejection and a normal heat won’t be so consuming.

Trailing my hand down her stomach to her mound, I gently cup her pussy and groan from how soaked she is. “Such a good girl. Nice and wet for your mates. I’m going to make you feel good now.”

I don’t think she can hear me, but it feels right to praise her. She certainly deserves it. Even before we messed everything up she deserved the world, now we’re reaching for the edges of the universe hoping it will be enough to bring her back to us.

Using my thumb, I rub shallow circles around her clit while two of my fingers slip into her core. The hot pulse of her walls around the digits nearly steals my breath. If she feels this good now, what would it feel like when she was shattering with me deep inside her?

I keep a steady rhythm, building her up slowly. A few strong orgasms will help ease the spike faster than multiple small ones. My mouth returns to her breasts, nipping and nuzzling the soft skin as I work her up.

I put more pressure on her clit when I start to feel her walls pulsing around my fingers. Her hands claw against my back, nails digging into my skin and pulling my hair. She grinds against my hand in time with each thrust of my fingers until she stiffens, her muscles locking seconds before she comes.

The sexiest moan spills from her lips and I can’t hold myself back from claiming them, taking the sound deep into my own lungs so this moment can live with me forever. “There you go,” I breathe against her lips. “Such a good Omega. Coming so pretty for your Beta. Can you give me another one with my fingers or do you need more?”

Her tongue darts across her lips like she’s drinking me in. Those frenzied eyes dart between my face and the hand I still have buried in her pussy. “More,” she finally pleads.

Pressing another kiss to her lips, I trail them down her body leaving little love bites on her skin. My teeth sink into her thigh hard enough to bruise, and my dick jerks in my jeans when I lick the flavor of her slick from my lips. She’s so sweet, a warm honey rather than the floral notes of her scent.

I pin her hips with one arm while I use the fingers of my other hand to spread her open. The prettiest pink pussy awaits me, clenching around nothing and silently begging me to sink myself so deep inside of her she’ll never be able to walk without thinking of me.

Ignoring my raging hard-on, I flatten my tongue and run it along her center, from ass to clit I catch as much of her juices as I can. Omen writhes beneath my arm, bucking her hips in short jerks as she tries to use my tongue to get herself off. If my girl wants to take control, I will gladly let her. I’m submissive by nature, so taking the lead is something I’ve always struggled with.

Wrapping both arms around her hips I flip us over so she’s on top. “Use me, starlight. Drown me in your slick.”

Her long hair tickles my thighs as she throws her head back and starts to grind against my tongue. She isn’t very patient, moving faster and faster chasing the pleasure her body needs. I reach one hand up to palm her swaying breasts, plucking at her nipple to heighten the sensations flowing through her.

When it’s clear she’s close but isn’t getting there fast enough, I slip my fingers down and sink them into her center. My tongue lashes her clit in furious passes until she’s moaning incoherently above me. Slick flows in tiny rivers down my wrist as she soaks me.

When she nearly collapses, I flip us to our sides. Using my cleaner hand, I reach over and press the back of my hand to her forehead. Thankfully, the worst of the heat spike seems to have passed. I hold her against me, pulling one of her thinner blankets over to prevent her temperature from dropping too quickly. I don’t want to risk her going into shock.

I’m not sure how long we lay there–long enough for my pants to dry–before she starts to stir. Bright, lucid green eyes blink at me, her brows furrowed.

“You had another heat spike,” I tell her solemnly. As much as I wish she had the chance to choose us without the pressure of a life-or-death situation on her hands, that isn’t a path I can offer her.

Her eyes fall to my bare chest, cataloging her nakedness and the scent of heat and arousal still heavy in the air. “You–” Her voice cracks, sore from breaking down before I found her. I’m careful not to jostle her as I reach for the bottle of water on her nightstand. She drinks half of it before she hands it back, a shy smile on her lips. “You helped me through it?”

“I did. I hope that’s okay.”

Omen nods slowly. “Thank you. For not leaving.”

My arms tighten around her, the guilt in my chest growing with the sincere gratitude in her voice. “Don’t thank me for that. You never should have had to experience this alone, not while we were available to help you.”

Shaky hands cover her face, hiding from me. “I want to believe you, but I–I just–”

A sob slips through her palms, slamming into my heart with the weight of a runaway train. I pull her back against me as she breaks down. The rampant emotions leftover from the heat spike and the deterioration in her body collide to create an overflow of emotions even she cannot control. Her body shakes as she cries, so I cling to her tighter.

Never again will she suffer alone. I’ll always be here to hold her. We all will.

Resting my cheek against the top of her head, I sing softly. The same songs I use when we soak in the tub upstairs. Lyrics meant to soothe the ache in her broken heart. It’s the only way I know to reach her. To help her understand how much I regret ever doubting her. To prove I’ve seen the error in my inaction and am determined to make up for it.

Slowly, her sobs turn to sniffles, and her shaking to trembles. “I’m–”

“No apologies,” I cut her off. “I haven’t proven it to you yet, but I will. I’m here, Omen. For now and forever. I’ll be your harbor when you need to weather the storms our rejection caused.”

Studying me, she offers me a shaky smile. She’s pliant against me for several wonderful minutes before she starts to stretch out her limbs, straining to sit up. She winces, biting her lip to hold back a cry at the soreness in her body. I help steady her by supporting her back. Tears stream down her cheeks and her lungs heave by the time she’s upright.

“Starlight…”

“I’m terrified, Cal,” she whispers through a fresh wave of tears. “Of the damage being done to my body. What if the harm that’s been done leaves permanent effects? What if this state of fatigue and weakness is my new normal?”

Her head turns to face me, her expression so full of uncertainty it guts me all over again. “But I’m more afraid of my future with you and your pack. What happens the next time Nebula is reminded who my family is? Will he leave me again? Would the rest of you go with him? Is pain and rejection awaiting me the next time some part of my personality or past is too difficult for you to hear?”

“Oh, Omen.” Her stiff shoulders warn me against it, but I sit up and pull her into my lap anyway. I won’t let her sit beside me, drowning in uncertainty, when I can hold her against me and reassure her. “What happened before will never happen again, I swear it. We all know how badly we messed up. The damage we’ve done has been shown to us in detail over the past two months, and we hate ourselves for it. But we’re also determined to make it better. You’re ours, starlight, and we are yours. Endlessly for eternity.”

She still seems hesitant, and I understand why. We still have so much to prove to her. Unfortunately, the chemical rejection destroying her body isn’t giving us the time we need to fix things. Even with Nebula bonded to her, it isn’t stopping her decline.

“Take the bond with Nexus,” I whisper. My forehead presses to hers, and I stare into those stunning sea glass eyes. “Take the bond so your body can start to heal. Then we will prove you will always be ours. Give us a chance to prove ourselves. If… If you still can’t believe us we’ll help you find another pack and you can sever the bond with Nexus before you leave.”

Omen gapes at me, her eyes wide with shock. “You–Are you–Why would you offer me that?”

“You deserve the world, starlight, and if living without us is the way you get it, that is the most important thing of all.”