Chapter Twenty-Five
Willow
I know it’s ending when the stickiness sets in.
I groan, looking down at my stiff, come-stained thighs. “How long have I been like this?” I croak.
The massive alpha, Silas, smiles apologetically. “We’ve been trying to keep you clean between rounds.”
“Dunno what for,” Kane grunts. “Like you better covered in come.”
At this, my stomach twinges, remnants of heat reluctant to leave my system. “Kane,” I whine.
His gaze flicks down to my hands, clutching my lower stomach, and darkens with concern. He slides his hands beneath mine. At first I cringe, but then his warmth seeps in, and I let out a tiny, appreciative purr.
Silas stands at the end of the bed. “You must be all kinds of sore.”
You’d know, I almost answer. Thanks to his enormous cock, my cervix feels like one big bruise.
“I’d like a bath,” I say instead. “Do you think you could get some water?”
Kane’s chest rumbles. “You’re joking.”
“No, I’m filthy.”
He kisses my neck, his tongue pressing flat against my pulse, turning the pain in my stomach to butterflies. “Taste clean to me.”
Silas clears his throat. “If all you need is water, I’m happy to oblige.”
Kane’s head snaps up. “No-one’s asking you.”
“I am,” I cut in. “I–I mean, if it’s not too much trouble.”
Silas smiles. It’s a practiced, perfect expression, almost completely symmetrical. How many other omegas has he smiled at like that? How many of their heats has he … serviced?
There are so many things I don’t know about him. Neither of these questions should even make my list. And yet, my inner omega aches at the thought of him being with someone else.
Silas moves for the door, and Kane snaps, “I’m not putting her in a damn bath.”
“Relax,” Silas rolls his eyes, “you can scent her again when she’s done.”
“That’s not the issue!”
“Then enlighten me. Because your omega needs to relax, and the two of us have a duty to see that she does.”
“ Relax ?” Kane scoffs. “That’s gotta be the stupidest—” Suddenly he stops. “Hang on. What kind of bath are we talking about?”
“The kind where you’re not slamming your knot into her.”
This time it’s not just me who blushes.
“I—” I avert my gaze. “I just want to be clean.”
There’s a moment of silence, and then, slowly, Kane loosens. “What, exactly,” he asks the other alpha, “do you think she means by ‘bath’?” Silas frowns like he doesn’t understand the question, so Kane goes on, “Maybe you didn’t see it—big old tub ‘round back?”
Silas double takes. “You mean outside ?”
Only now do I see where Kane is going with this. Any excuse to criticize my mandatory baths, and this grimy rogue will take it.
I huff. “A bath is a bath, isn’t it?”
Silas looks at me incredulously. “You’ll catch your death.”
“Then I’ll die clean .”
Kane and Silas give matching, chiding growls. The air grows thick with pheromones which, for the first time, aren’t in competition, but in agreement.
Despite everything, my inner omega preens.
“I’m getting the water,” Silas says at last, “and then I’m fixing you a real bath.” Before I can ask what he means, he turns his glare to Kane. “Keep her safe until I’m back.”
Maybe it’s Kane’s possessive inner alpha sweeping in, or maybe it’s because he’s taking Silas’s command to heart—but the second the other alpha is gone, he wraps me up tight, like he’ll never let me go.
Like he knows I don’t want him to.
***
Faint, floral notes linger in the air, peaking my omega’s interest.
Silas finds me sitting up in bed, rubbing sleep from my eyes. “Morning, little one.” He looks at the dark window. “Not that it’s morning. But you have been asleep for a few hours.”
“Oh.” I frown. “Really?” Somehow I’m still bone tired.
“Feeling up to that bath?”
As soon as he says the words, I’m reminded of the sticky, chafing feeling between my thighs. Not to mention my hair.
“Yes please,” I say.
He doesn’t ask before scooping me up beneath my legs, taking the bedsheet with us so I’m not exposed. We find Kane hunched over the fireplace, hauling a steaming bucket above the pot. My eyes widen as he pours it into the bathtub plonked in the center of the room.
“Is this …” I blink. “How did you even get this in here?”
Silas shrugs. “It’s only wood.”
Granted, it’s not that big—more of a barrel than a tub. But I’ve tried to lug the damn thing inside a couple times myself, and can say for certain that it’s a lot heavier than it looks.
Silas tests the water. “It’s too hot.”
Kane scoffs. “Not for Will.”
Slowly, Silas lowers me into the tub. The water is hot, but not quite scalding—the perfect sweet spot for an omega in the middle of winter. My muscles sting and promptly unwind as I sink down deeper. I can’t hold back a low moan of appreciation.
Kane grins. “That good, omega?”
I moan again, nodding.
He starts to say something else—words I’m barely conscious of over my own pleasure—about flower petals. The unmistakable pride in his voice makes my inner omega preen.
Alphas did all this … for me .
“Tip your head back, little one,” Silas says. Kane snarls, and he sighs. “ Willow .”
Eyes closed, I do as I’m told. Warm water trickles over my roots.
“What’re you doing?” Kane demands. Silas hushes him, his fingers gathering my hair, gently untangling as he works his way down.
Suddenly all I can think of is my mother. She used to wash my hair just like this. Wouldn’t let any of the maids touch it. She said my beauty was something precious.
“How are you so good at this?” I find myself asking, my voice barely above a whisper.
Silas pauses. “This?”
Washing me. Caring for me. Making me feel safe.
I sink deeper into the tub. “Never mind.”
It’s not until the water has well and truly cooled that I ask to be lifted out. Someone dries me off—Kane’s and Silas’s scents keep mixing together, soothing my inner omega further—before taking me back to bed. The sheets are cool, but dry. Maybe Kane shook them down while I was bathing.
Already I’m exhausted again, barely able to keep my eyes open. I hear the alphas bickering. Something about hunting.
“Don’t go,” I whimper.
Someone rests their hand on my forehead. “It’s alright,” Silas purrs. “He won’t be long.”
My heart clenches. “Kane?”
Kane elbows past Silas. “Right here.”
“You’re leaving?”
“You need to eat.” He scoffs. “You really think this village prick can hunt worth a damn?”
In truth, I don’t think it registered with me that Silas was a village any thing until this very moment. His clothes should’ve been the first giveaway, but then, he hasn’t been wearing those much since he got here.
“Sleep,” Kane says. “I’ll be back when you wake up.”
For some reason, my omega takes his trust to heart. However much he dislikes this other alpha, he must at least feel I’m in good hands.
“Yes, alpha,” I whisper.
Halfway standing, he growls hotly, his ruby eyes flickering. Silas ushers him out. My stomach twinges, remembering when Kane’s hands were there. Remembering when his knot was—
“Willow,” Silas chastises. “Give your body a few hours to recover.”
I smile tiredly. “And then …?”
He rubs my back, paying extra attention to the base of my spine, where all the tension seems to have settled. “And then we’ll take you, however your sweet pussy desires.”
Once again, I find myself wondering what kind of life Silas has lived to get here. Looking after an omega, a stranger, out in the middle of the wilds, with the uncanny timing and confidence to meet my every need. Do I even want to know?
Or will he be gone, as quickly as he appeared, before I even get a chance to ask?
I’m not sure which possibility frightens me more.