Chapter Thirty-One Rosemary

I had been comparing everywhere on this journey to my father's cottage, and this was the first time a building had come up short. However, the heat in my brain recognized that this was where my alphas were taking me to quench the fires that were raging through me, and so it somehow seemed like the coziest home that ever was.

I was sliding off the horse and tearing at the laces of my dress before either of the alphas dismounted. Bastian directed Cantor to secure the beasts, then ushered me inside, even as I grumbled in frustration. Every flick without an alpha in me was one flick too many. He could take me in a pigsty or on the forest floor, as long as he took me already.

I was so empty I ached. I needed his cock, needed his knot. My brain kept up a steady beat of alpha alpha alpha .

Thankfully, Bastian didn't waste time in the hut. He coaxed my fingers away and unlaced the overdress for me, then tossed it on a rickety table, leaving me in my petticoats and shift. I lifted my arms, thinking he would remove those too, but instead he gently restrained me, careful to grab my forearms close to the elbow to avoid my raw wrists.

"How do you feel, Rosemary?" he asked, searching my eyes. "Sore? Nauseated? Dizzy?"

"Horny," I complained and tried to catch his lips with mine. The big alpha growled in response and the sound cut through me so sharply I whimpered.

"Omega," he said and his words were edged with alpha bark. The magical command had my spine snapping straight. "Tell me how you feel ."

"Hot and achy, and like I'll die if I don't get to come," I said in a rush. His bark was the strongest I'd ever experienced. Was it the heat? Or was it just him?

"I don't think you're concussed," Bastian admitted, peering at my eyes again.

"Alphaaa," I whined and struggled against his hold. "Please alpha, it hurts . Please touch me."

He pursed his lips at me and I could almost see the indecision in his eyes. He wanted me though. If I could only… I struggled harder, fighting his hold until he growled at me again. "Be still, omega. Tell me why you fled from Cantor."

My body immediately obeyed his command, freezing in place. My brain turned over his question, not quite understanding. "You… you pulled me inside the cabin, away from him," I said at last.

"No, I'm talking about yesterday," Bastian clarified. "You told Cantor that he could touch you and…"

I blinked at him, the hazy gold mist in my brain receding slightly as I struggled to fasten on his words. Struggled to find a reason I would ever say no to touch, to sex, to…

"Omega!" Bastian barked at me again.

"I… I don't know. He was touching me and it was good and then… and then…"

The mists receded even further and I fell limp against his hold, although it still felt like fiery ants were crawling over every part of my skin. Bastian pulled me closer, into his body, though he kept his huge hands wrapped around my arms.

"I didn't do it on purpose," I whispered. "I think my body remembered all those other men. The alphas and the betas…"

Bastian stiffened, his hands like steel. Like shackles. "What other alphas?"

"My father used to sell me…" I flinched as he snarled, so close to me, the sound lanced through my gut as if I'd been punched.

I doubled over, wailing, as the cramping in my stomach grew worse than it had been so far. It felt like my womb was a fist, clenching hard enough to break my own bones.

"Hush, hush, omega, it's OK," Cantor crooned from behind me, brushing my hair from my face. "Little star, you're OK. You're OK now." He pulled me from Bastian, wrapping his arms around me and glaring over my shoulder at the other man.

"You have to be gentle ," he snapped. "She has no nest here, and no bonded mates."

"I know that," Bastian said. "I was just trying to make sure we weren't going to… shit. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, alpha," I wept, hardly understanding what they were talking about. "They didn't… they didn't fuck me. They would touch me or um… touch themselves. Sometimes they would use my mouth."

Cantor stood rigidly, his body stiff as a tree behind me, but his hands soothed me, running firmly up and down my back, and stroking my hair.

I couldn't see Bastian but he seemed to be choking on his own involuntary growls, trying without success to swallow them down.

"He didn't want to diminish my value," I continued, hoarsely. It felt like my brain was burning from equal parts shame and lust. I didn't know whether I was still being compelled. The words just kept coming out. "He didn't know if they'd want me unknotted."

"What does that mean? If who would want you?" Bastian's voice was rough and almost frail compared with its usual, velvety strength.

"My father wasn't sure if… if being knotted mattered," I said. "He wanted to sell me to… to the highest bidder, I guess, but we were a small village and rich alphas, or um… rich people never traveled there." I swallowed hard. My throat was parched. "I'm not a.. a virgin, but I've never taken a knot and he thought…"

In spite of the painful words I was vomiting up, the heat started to creep back on me, too urgent to be denied. It felt like something disgusting now, the gold muddied and chipped, tarnished by my memories. I rocked in Cantor's arms, not knowing if I was soothing myself or just starting to grind against him all over again.

"I think he gave up and that's why he tried to sell me to those bounty hunters. They told my father they needed a good price because they were going to sell me on to your king. Then they just attacked him and took me and the money anyway." I laughed bitterly. My father had deserved that double-cross, whether he had survived it or not. He deserved even worse.

"They were taking me to the capital when Ivan managed to sneak me away from them. He saved me. Then you captured us."

Bastian stopped the flood of words with a heavy hand on my shoulder and I thought, at first, that he was going to correct me. To say that his pack had also been saving me.

And maybe they did. Bastian and Cantor had certainly saved me today.

It might have been the heat talking but my stupid omega heart would pick them over almost any other fate right about now.

However, Bastian just smoothed his hands down my arms and changed the subject. "Have you had a heat before, sweet omega?"

"N… No." As the conversation turned away from terrible things, to different, more immediate terrible things, my body slipped deeper into the heat. Goosebumps crawled up my arms, following his hands over my heated skin. He stepped closer, wedging me between them, pressing me harder into Cantor's body. I moaned with satisfaction.

"It's too easy to consent to things you might not really want during a heat. I don't want you to have any regrets when you come back to yourself. We need to…" He hesitated. "We need to have our hands on you at least. Mouths would be better." The big alpha left the best part unspoken, but he didn't have to say it.

"Most importantly, you need to come," he said huskily. "Probably more than once to reduce the pain, especially if we don't knot you. If you do come, this pre-heat should settle down and we can get you home safely." He stroked a hand up my neck and abruptly tugged a fistful of my hair, bringing my face around from where I had it buried in Cantor's throat. I met my amber-eyed alpha's gaze, my own eyes wide with shock at his sudden, assertive move.

"I'm sorry, little Wildcat, but I need to use my bark on you again, one more time, so you can tell us your true boundaries." He licked his lips, then leaned forward. I eagerly lifted my mouth, hoping to kiss him, but he kept a firm hold of my hair and only allowed me close enough to skim the tips of our noses together.

"Here are your choices, Wildcat," he said, so close I could feel his breath on my lips. "You can make yourself come under your skirts with our hands stroking you elsewhere. It… it might work." Doubt flavored his words and my body utterly rejected them. Why would we do that when we could do so much else?

"Or," Bastian continued, "we can use our hands or mouths to make you come. Either one or both of us." He searched my eyes and then swallowed, before his eyes hardened. "Tell me now, Rosemary, before you sink deeper. What would you want us to do if you were not under the influence of the heat?"

His question held a bite of bark in it and I once again found myself answering immediately.

"I… I want Cantor to make me come. I want you here too. Hands, mouth… It doesn't matter. Please, alpha, I won't take it back this time, I promise." My voice became that thin, plaintive whine that embarrassed me so much, but I couldn't control it. "I didn't blame Cantor before, it was my fault, alpha, pleeeeasse."

I whimpered the please in a way that I vaguely knew would make me cringe at some point, but I had gone past caring. I burned . If they didn't hurry up and do something about it, I was ready to run into the woods and find some other alpha who would.

"It's not your fault… oh hells."

Bastian put a hand to my feverish face and I pressed into him, rubbing against his palm like a cat, scent marking him and trying to cool my overheated skin all at once.

He growled, low and deep, and pulled me from Cantor's embrace entirely. For a moment, the deepest part of me wailed that he was going to betray us, use us for his own ends and leave us wanting, just like all the others.

But instead, Bastian sat in the only chair in the room and drew me onto his lap, facing out. He let each of my legs hook over his thighs, then spread his own legs wide. My petticoats fell in a thick curtain, hiding my core, but I still felt exposed, spread open and secured. The sensation inflamed my senses further. I squirmed against him, fighting to get even closer to a man I was already completely pressed against.

"Cantor," Bastian said, a tinge of bark still lacing his tone. Both Cantor and I flinched and Bastian cleared his throat.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Cantor, come over here and kneel in between her legs."

For half a second I was confused. He was commanding my alpha… Shouldn't they both be commanding me ? But then Cantor approached and sank down on the dusty floor in front of me, and all thought flew from my head.

Pain stabbed my belly again as my body cramped, desperate for these alphas to do something, anything, and I let loose a long, low whine. Bastian slipped one hand around my throat, pressing gently, but firm enough that something settled in me.

Sweat dripped down Cantor's face as he swayed before me, his eyes fixed on the space between my open thighs.

"Get in under her skirts," Bastian said, his voice almost entirely growl, but without the commanding bark. I squirmed against him and he let loose a ragged purr, the noise rattling against my back and soothing me instantly. It didn't have the same overwhelming force as Davos' purr, but it did ease my trembling limbs and mitigated some of the aching pain.

"Alpha, please, please fuck me. Cantor, please," I begged and he looked up, meeting my eyes with his, almost black with desire. I didn't know what was happening. Why was he just kneeling there, not touching me?

Whatever was in my own eyes seemed to snap him into action, but instead of getting rid of his clothes and mine like I desperately wanted him to, he simply dove under my petticoats. The strangeness of it flooded me with another wave of arousal and I giggled hysterically.

"She's wearing underclothes," Cantor said, his voice muffled. I jumped like I had been electrocuted as his hand finally, finally slid up my thigh and then stroked down my cloth-covered slit. I rocked my hips forward, desperate for more pressure, but Cantor withdrew his fingers.

I let loose another whine, this one guttural, with hints of a growl.

"Alpha! Please, please, it hurts!"

"Just rip them off," Bastian snapped. "Rip them off and get your mouth on her already, she's in pain." Bastian shifted his grip on my arm, letting his thumb caress the skin of my shoulder, and then murmured in my ear. "We'll take the edge off first and see how that helps. Then we'll do it better the next time. And the time after that." He nuzzled the side of my face. "All night long if we have to, my darling Wildcat. Cantor has a very, very good work ethic. And I enjoy a good show."

His breath caressed my ear and I rubbed my cheek against his mouth, momentarily distracted from my need, although it was difficult to concentrate on his words.

I was brought back my current priority by a sharp tug at my underclothes and a tearing noise. Air hit my flooded pussy, cooling it slightly and emphasizing the amount of slick that was dripping down, no longer hindered by the cloth.

The cool touch of air on my labia lasted for only a few moments before a hot mouth latched onto me.

Pleasure and relief shot through me, and an overwhelming urge for more. I rocked my hips up into the unseen mouth, barely thinking about the fact that it was Cantor there. It was only firms lips moving, and a hot tongue darting out, indiscriminately laving around my folds and clit.

I moaned out loud, a keening, animal sound and became aware that Bastian was hard as a rock at the small of my back. He was nibbling on my ear now.

"Cantor," I gasped. "Bastian." Saying their names over and over like a chant as my desperate body flung itself quickly into orgasm. I bucked my hips and trembled through it, my cunt clenching on nothing as Cantor immediately withdrew his tongue. The loss felt devastating, and I had to bite back yet another whimper.

The fact that I could stop the noise from escaping seemed significant.

The heat receded slightly, and I flushed with mild embarrassment as awareness threatened to intrude. However, my heat was still hovering, still licking my skin with flames and, more than my dignity, I still wanted these two alphas.

"Shhhh, darling omega, such a good, good girl," Bastian crooned in my ear. "How do you feel, little Wildcat?"

"I… I still want more?"

"Mmm, that's good," he said. "You're doing so well."

I preened under the praise, even as part of me knew it was nonsensical. It was sex talk and meant nothing. I was just sitting there. Really, I should stop all this. Poor Cantor was still stuck under my petticoats. They were only thin cotton, but he must be sweltering, trapped against my heated skin, drowning in my scent. I could feel his cooling breath on me, but that was all. He didn't make a sound, or touch me at all. Maybe he really didn't like it. Maybe he wanted to stop and that was why he withdrew so quickly after I came.

I whimpered again at the thought, this time unable to hold the sound back.

"Do you need Cantor to press harder, little omega?" Bastian whispered, his voice hoarse. I twisted as far as possible with my legs spread so wide, to look him in the eyes.

"He doesn't have to…" I spoke haltingly. "Not… Not if he doesn't…"

Bastian blinked at me then glanced down at the lump of alpha under my petticoats. He finally seemed to realize that Cantor wasn't moving. His lips thinned in disapproval.

"God's knot, Cantor, what are you doing?"

Cantor gave a muffled reply and Bastian released my arm to fumble at the skirts. He grasped a fistful of cloth, then paused and asked, "May I?"

I nodded, touched that he asked, even as I felt myself slowly slipping back into the heat. The gold haze drifted higher. Would this never end? Would I feel this thrumming need in the center of my body forever?

Bastian flipped up my skirts, exposing Cantor- and my naked pussy- to the room. He then clasped my other arm, as if he needed to pin me in place. Maybe he did.

"Cantor, for fuck's sake, what are you doing?"

Cantor rocked back on his heels. He was shaking, his face twisted with need. The sight of him, so obviously upset, coaxed another low whine from my throat. The big, pale alpha locked eyes with me before he lunged up. He smacked his lips into mine so hard it hurt, his tongue delving deeply into my mouth.

I moaned in response and stroked my own tongue over his, his taste mixing with my own into a heady concoction that stoked my burning need back to the same intense heights as before.

We made out for long moments until my hips began to rock so urgently that the chair was creaking under our weight.

I turned my face and groaned, "Please, Cantor, I need you to…."

"What do you need, Little Star," Cantor asked, his voice so low and harsh he almost seemed like a stranger, but his rich scent coaxed me forward, fastening my mouth to the ruddy bare skin of his throat. I ran my tongue along it, tasting him, and he groaned like the noise was being ripped from his body.

"Need you," I said, panting, in between nips at his skin. I wanted to devour him. I wanted him to devour me. "Need all of you. Touch me, taste me, fuck me, please ."

"You heard the omega," Bastian grunted. "What the fuck is the problem?"

Cantor shuddered as I scraped my teeth up the curve of his ear. I struggled to free my hands, wanting to grip his hair and force him down where he belonged, but Bastian held me tight.

"You're hurting her by resisting," Bastian hissed. "Get down there and keep your fingers and mouth on her until I say otherwise."

I paused my ministrations and looked back and forth between them. Their manner was so strange… Was Cantor being forced to do this?

Horror penetrated the golden fog and I tried to draw back.

"No, no," I babbled. "If he doesn't want me…"

"He wants you," Bastian bit out. "He wants you too much and he's never been with someone before. He asked me to guide him so he wouldn't do anything to hurt you, but he's not following my orders."

Cantor growled, low and feral, and I stared into his face, seeking the truth of Bastian's words. His pupils were almost completely blown, so that I could barely see a sliver of green. Such dark orbs were strange in his pale face, but I could see the tinge of fear in them. Fear for me.

I had hurt something in this gentle man when I withdrew from him before and he was struggling with it. I gritted my teeth and forced the heat back even more.

"Bastian, let me have one hand free, please," I asked, calmly.

Bastian released my hand immediately, and my first instinct was to touch myself, to claw at my own skin until my heat was relieved. Which… was probably partly why the alpha had been restraining me. Good call.

Fighting that instinct, I cupped Cantor's huge, dear face with my palm. His blown-out eyes stayed fastened on mine, almost feral with need.

"I want you, sweet alpha," I said, coaxing him closer with a gentle tug at his jaw. He came without resistance, hungrily claiming my lips with a dominance that almost flung me back into uncontrollable heat there and then.

However, when I pulled back, he immediately did the same, eyes still fastened on me like a predator on prey.

"I need you, Cantor," I said, my voice husky. "I need you to make me come until I… Until Bastian tells you to stop." That felt like a very dangerous, and very necessary game.

"You won't hurt me. And if you need to come yourself, well…" My voice dropped into a low murmur. "That would be just fine. OK?"

To my relief, he nodded, and swallowed hard in anticipation.

Without any more hesitation, I guided Cantor down, until his pale blond hair was pressing into my lower belly.

His mouth latched onto me without any further restraint, his hands coming up to grip my thighs, and it was like a dam bursting. He dug his tongue into me and ate me like he was starved.

As soon as his tongue found my clit I careened over the edge of another small orgasm, this one sweet and sharp, but he didn't stop. Sensitive, I went to push him away, to ease him back, but Bastian grabbed my arm and fastened his lips to mine, leaving me no room to object. His crisp, sweet flavor burst on my tongue as yet another orgasm ripped through me, hard on the heels of the previous one. Cantor had started slow, but he was quickly figuring out exactly how to play my body. I squealed onto Bastian's mouth as I came, and he purred with satisfaction as his packmate did not. Fucking. Stop. Now that he'd found my clit, he focused in on it with precision, lapping and suckling until I thought I couldn't bear the sensations any longer.

And then he trailed a long, thick finger down my slit and pushed it slowly into me.

This time I almost screamed as pleasure rushed through me, on and on while Cantor suckled my flesh and Bastian made love to my mouth.

I crested the wave of pleasure until it crashed and I fell into darkness.