Sammie reached down and lifted me into his arms. I wrapped my legs around his waist and snuggled my face into his neck. We made it back to his room, Flint slipping in behind us and closing the door, before he began stripping me naked and fucking me like I was the best thing since apple pie.
I wore Sammie’s shirt to class the next morning, which was how I ended up in the boy’s locker room, pressed between the wall and the hard body of my Alpha mate. “I hate that I’m all the way in Nîso, and can’t be with you at night like they can,” Bobby growled, kissing down the long column of my neck. When he dipped his tongue into the hollow of my throat, I threw my head back as he ran it in one flat, hard stroke back to the point of my chin. He nipped and sucked at my skin like he was starving for just a taste. “Even Monster gets to see you at night.” His hand wrapped around my throat, his thumb keeping my chin tilted up so he could sip at my lips like he owned them.
He totally did.
I clawed at his shoulders and he ground his hips into mine. “So move on campus for a while. You’re my mate. They’d let you,” I gasped, as his hand slid between our bodies and under my skirt. He found my clit quickly, rubbing softly, before rolling his hips again, this time grinding his hips against his hand that was poised perfectly over my fucking happy place.
“Jesus, Bobby. Please.” I didn’t even care that my words were a desperate whimper, or that anyone could walk in here. He rolled his hips a couple of more times before groaning himself.
“Fuck, baby, you drive me crazy,” he says, pulling his hand from my underwear despite my whimper, but thankfully using it to unzip his jeans quickly, pulling out the hard length of his cock. He pushed my panties to the side and slammed into me in one hard thrust, as a small scream burst from my throat.
“Shh, baby. Someone will hear,” he cooed, but then slammed into me again. I bit his shoulder, not hard enough to break the skin, but with enough force to muffle my moans as he quickly snapped his hips into mine with short, shallow thrusts.
The concrete wall cooled my back, which was good because the front half of my body was on fire. Bobby’s heavy thrusts scraped me up and down the wall, and there was a light sting where the rough surface was scraping my back.
That edge of pain made it so much better. I looked up at Bobby. “Choke me, Alpha,” I moaned, and Bobby’s whole body shuddered at my words. His hand slipped up from my hips to my throat, and wrapped his long fingers around my neck. He tilted my head back with his hand and kissed me almost savagely. The pressure increasing around my throat seemed to be directly related to the pressure in my lower belly, as an intense pleasure swept down my body.
My nails dug into his shoulders, and too soon I was screaming his name with his flesh between my teeth. My wolf rode me hard, urging me to take our mate, but with willpower I didn’t know I had, I turned my head and just breathed in his scent as my orgasm hit me in waves.
Bobby wasn’t done though, thrusting into me with ragged strokes. “Fuck, god, I love you. I’m going to come,” he groaned, slipping out of me.
I wiggled out of his arms, sliding to my knees and grabbing his cock. He grabbed my head, his moan just as loud as mine. I looked up at him, my grin smug satisfaction. “Shh baby, someone will hear,” I teased and then sucked him into my mouth, pushing him back until he was touching the back of my throat. He tangled his hands in my hair, and I was glad I’d gone with a messy bun style today. He only managed a couple of thrusts before he came down the back of my throat, leaning into the wall, gasping. Looking down at me, he cocked an eyebrow. “Been practicing?”
I give him my own cocky look back. “Complaining?”
He pulled me from the ground and back into his arms. He kissed me hard, possessing me, and it was so damn right. I had no idea how I’d missed it for so long. Of course we were mates. This pull in my chest wasn’t puppy love. It was my soul reaching out for its other half. And now?
Now it was being pulled in all sorts of directions.
“Never, baby.” He nuzzled my hair. “Jealous, hell yeah. Insanely jealous. I’m going to talk to Alistair. See if I can move in because I want in on whatever you guys have going on every night. I don’t want you to forget about me when you are being tag-teamed by two hot guys.”
I slapped his arm. “As if I could ever forget about you, dumbass.” Then I kissed him softly, leaning up to whisper in his ear. “You should see them together, Bobby. They are so fucking beautiful, I swear I could orgasm just watching them.”
Bobby groaned again, kissing me once more, his tongue slipping past my teeth to thrust into my mouth. “Soon, baby, I’m going to fuck you while we watch them together. And then we’ll swap until we’re all sweaty, satisfied messes. We are going to have the most content Pack North America has ever seen.”
As one, we thought of Monster. I knew he was thinking of him too, because the shadows chased out the hope in his eyes, and worry replaced them. “When are you seeing your parents?”
I wiggled from his arms and slid back to my feet, straightening my skirt. “Saturday. It's Family Day, so we’re going home. I’ll bring it up then. Mom will be okay about it, you know what she’s like. But Brody is going to shit bricks.”
Bobby just nodded, reaching into the front of my bag to grab my hairbrush. He gently untangled my hair from its hair tie, and it flowed messily down my back. He ran the brush down my hair and I resisted the urge to purr. There was something insanely intimate about this act, even though he’d just given me an orgasm, and I’d just had my mouth around his dick.
This little act of service though? It meant something to me. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized he’d been doing these things for me for years.
Making sure I ate first at barbeques. Helping to pick out my prom dress, even though he didn’t take me. Making sure I was safe at all my fights. Giving me his hoodie and dressing me in his scent.
He’d been doing these things for as long as I could remember, and now it all made sense. “I’m such an idiot, you know that right? All this time, we’ve been meant for each other. So many wasted years.”
He leaned forward, kissing my shoulder. “Nah, baby. We just had to grow into the people we were destined to become first. We are exactly where we’re meant to be.”
36
Flint
I wanted to scream. Just scream and scream into the abyss and hope that someone would hear me in time to pull me out.
No, that was unfair. Carmen was there, her arms around my neck, desperately trying to keep me afloat, but with every passing night, I was being dragged deeper. And I would just drag her down with me in the end.
I looked at the big screen across the conference table, and Azar’s face was filled with sympathy.
“I’m sorry, Flint. The Council searched all the locations you suggested and came up with nothing. We will keep an eye on the underground, but until he weasels his way back out of his hole, we’ve got nothing.”
They were haunting my dreams, but I couldn't help them. It was eating me alive. Still, I nodded. “I’ll try harder.”
Alistair sat beside me, and for the first time, I’d met his wife. Layla. She had a baby in a sling across her body, and it was sound asleep. She was on my other side, and like she could feel me floundering, she reached out and grabbed my hand. She didn’t give me false platitudes about how we’d catch him, or how we’d save them. No, she just held me like she was a lifeline I could cling to.
It made me want to cry. That little baby didn’t know how lucky it was. At least its mother wouldn’t sell it to the highest bidder.
Azar was still talking, but she mustn’t have needed much from me, because Alistair seemed to be answering all her questions fine.
The baby woke and started fussing, and Layla removed her hand to free it from the sling. I mourned the loss of her warmth, but the baby needed her more than I did.
But she just handed the baby to me, and I took it instinctively. I mean, if someone thrusts a baby at you, it's not like
you can ‘Not it!’ and let it drop to the ground. I tucked it into my arm like I saw them do in movies.
“Feel his newness. His potential. His life.” She looked down at the baby with big golden eyes in my arms. “He doesn’t know that the world can be bad. He doesn’t know that people like Rook exist. All he knows is that you didn’t let him fall. That you caught him when he needed it.” She squeezed my arm. “We’re your arms. We’ll catch you if you fall, Flint.”
I swallowed hard, desperate not to cry in front of these people. I nodded, not dragging my eyes from the baby who’d stopped fussing to just stare at me. Layla looked back at the screen, and Azar was staring at me too. Something passed between the two women, and then Azar was signing off.
I handed the baby gently back to Layla. I looked at Alistair, and Locke who was leaning against the wall in the corner. “I, uh, thanks. I better go to class.”
I ran out of the room like a chickenshit, tearing from this wing of the building toward the dorms where I could just break down in peace.
I was too caught up in my panic, I ran straight into someone. I bounced off a chest, and I scrabbled to my feet, ready to cut someone to just relieve a bit of this pressure.
Bobby was there, frowning in concern. “Flint. Are you okay?”
His lips were swollen, a bite mark on his neck from our girl. I looked at the big guy who had an aura of such calm assurance, like he knew the way things were going to go, that he made me feel scattered.
“I— Fuck, Bobby, I—” What did I even say? I was sinking. Panic clawed at my gut, and Bobby must have seen it because he grabbed my hand and led me through the school until we were standing outside Carmen’s room.
He unlocked it with a key from his pocket, gently guiding me into the room. It smelled of Carmen, and it eased something in me slightly. Bobby took my face into his hands, his thumbs pressing tightly into my cheekbones.
“You are Pack, Flint. You are mine. Tell me what you need.”
I shrugged, my eyes burning. “I don’t know. I feel so helpless. So fucking tired.”
I rubbed my face, my hands coming away damp, and I stared at the moisture on my hand. Tears. As if seeing them broke something in me, I let out a ragged sob. My body curled as the tears just burst out of me. Years and years of tears flooded down my cheeks, and I was dragged into Bobby’s arms.
This was so fucking weak, and disgust warred with the need for comfort until I was clawing at his back like I was trying to simultaneously pull him closer and push him away. I just cried out years of injustice. Of being used by evil men for evil purposes. Of violence and violation.
And Bobby held me the whole time, his calm aura keeping away the worst of the demons. Somehow, he slid his shirt off, and tugged my own tear-soaked shirt off too. “Get into the bed, Flint. Skin to skin contact helps the shifters. I promise I’m not trying to come onto you. I just think maybe, after all these years, you might be touch-starved.”
I was too wrung out to protest, and as I climbed beneath Carmen’s blankets, Bobby hopped in beside me. Her scent wrapped around me, and he pulled me against his body, curling himself around me like he was protecting me from anything that would hurt me ever again. It wasn’t sexual, although I’d almost prefer it was. I’d feel less vulnerable.
Instead, it was something more. It was family. It was comfort and protection, which made me feel weak all over again. I had been my own savior for so long, the walls around my heart so strong that I thought nothing could make them crumble. However, the smallest crack had destroyed them like an Achilles heel.
I’d let myself have this moment of weakness. Tomorrow, I would beat someone's face in to remind myself that I was a man if I had to. But today, I soaked in Bobby’s strength, and let a decade of pain seep from my soul like bad blood.
He ran his hand over my skin as he whispered something in Cree. I didn’t even realize he spoke the language, and while I had no idea what he was saying, I knew that it was a vow. I had nothing to give him back but pain. Monster and I were a lot alike in that way. We came with nothing but baggage. Bobby, Sammie and Carmen didn’t deserve that, but they were the same in that way too. They both had an absolute certainty of their place in this world. And then they’d bundled us to them, the lost and the hopeless, and gave us a place too.
Exhaustion sunk over my skin. I fell into a dreamless sleep, the steady hum of Bobby singing some kind of lullaby. Tomorrow I would be strong. Today, I would sleep.
I woke to soft lips kissing my face. “Flint, wake up.”
I lifted my face towards those lips, like a sunflower searching for the sun. A soft touch to my own, as those lips kissed me back, had me sighing happily. “Get up. I’ve got a surprise.”
I stretched and realized Bobby was gone. I didn’t know if I was relieved or saddened that he’d left while I slept.
There was a low chuckle from the corner of the room. I rolled over and Bobby was smiling softly at me. “Don’t worry, Fireball.”
I snorted. “Not worried, just looking for the warm spot.”
They both laughed at me, and I had to admit, that was a pretty poor deflection even for me. I pulled back the blankets and searched the floor for my shirt. Before I could put it on, Carmen was in my arms, nuzzling against my skin like she was the one who needed comforting. When she gently bit my nipple as she pulled away, I growled.
“Is my surprise an orgy? Because I’m very sure that would make me feel better.”
Bobby laughed and I looked at him, but quickly darted my gaze back to the girl in my arms. I was… embarrassed by my weakness. He’d seen me at my most vulnerable and I wasn’t sure how we regained equal footing.
I sighed against her hair when she squeezed me tight. “Nope, not an orgy. I want to say it's better, but really, that would be a lie.”
She dragged me out of the room as soon as I had my shirt on, and then out of the dorm wing. She led me through the Academy and into the woods at the back. “If we are going to sacrifice me to the gods of dirty sex, I’m ready,” I joked, and she gave me a secret grin.
“We only do that on Saturdays.” She pulled me into a clearing, and I was surprised that there were a few dozen Academy seniors hanging around, most chatting in small groups or standing around fire bins that littered the area.
In the middle was the undeniable circle of a ring. “Holy shit, is this Fight Club?”
Bobby laughed. “Well, if it was, the first rule is we can’t talk about it.” He shook his head and led us toward Carmen’s brother, Christopher. He was glaring at Sammie’s sister, or maybe it was at the lion shifter, Bohdie.
Given what I saw the other night, I was going with the latter.
Bobby looked around at the crowd. “There are a lot of different supes at this school, each with different hierarchies and structures. Sometimes we have disagreements, so back when the school first started, Micah set up fight night. He oversees it, to step in if something goes wrong. But otherwise, this is where we settle dominance fights, arguments over territory, all that kind of shit. Mouse thought that maybe you’d like to work out some of your tension on the face of someone who’d slighted her this month.”
Oh yeah. “The big, ugly fuck with the mouth?”
Carmen grinned. “Yep. I thought I might join you. The couple that fights together stays together, right?”
I laughed, my chest feeling lighter at the thought. Which was probably not a good thing, that physical violence gave me relief. But we were all a little fucked up so I wasn’t going to beat myself up over it.
I kissed her hard, and she wrapped her arms around my neck, deepening it. She was so damn perfect. Micah growled and stepped into the ring, a basket of protective equipment at his feet.
“Alright, you guys know the rules, but just in case you’re stupid, here they are. You will wear the protective equipment, I don’t care how badass you are.” He looked directly at us and I grinned. He shook his head. “The fights go until you or your opponent tap out, or I say stop. If you f
ail to stop, I will shift and tear your fucking head off. Only one fight per night, so make sure you aren’t wasting it on something trivial. Lastly, no shifting, no powers. We settle this in our human forms only. You are only as strong as your human form, so learn to fight in it or go home. Any questions? No? Okay, first contenders, step up.”
No one spoke, and the nervous energy in the clearing ratcheted up. There was silence, but then Christopher stepped forward into the ring.
He looked at Carmen, his head tilting toward Enit. Carmen rolled her eyes, and grabbed my hand, and we moved around the circle until we were standing beside her sister. Neither of them seemed worried, and given what I knew about Christopher’s personality, I doubted this was the first time he’d been in the ring.
“Well, here’s a goddamn surprise,” Micah grumbled. “Okay, who are you challenging today?”
“Bohdie, the lion Alpha.”
Enit gasped, and Micah rolled his eyes. “Shocker. Do you accept?” he asked Bohdie, and of course, the lion Alpha nodded. “Fine, equipment on. I don’t want to have to call either of your parents and tell them that you stupidly murdered each other.”
With that, he stepped from the ring. I was interested to see how Carmen’s brother fought. He had that same coiled violence in him, but I had a feeling he lacked her discipline. Being an Alpha could be a limitation like that sometimes.
The two Alphas shed their shirts, and both put on sparring gloves and headgear. That was it. The extent of the protective gear. Well, fair enough. I could work with that.
Finally, Micah called fight, looking bored but I could tell his senses were attuned to the fight. He was talking to another guy, easily in his forties, tall and dark with a lot of tattoos. Someone leaned close. “He’s one of the founders, a human. His packmates funded the building of the Academy.”
And now he came out to watch us fight. Interesting.
Enit was basically vibrating with anxiety beside me, despite the fact that Carmen had her arm around her sister’s shoulders.
Rebels and Runaways: Eden Academy Book One Page 23