"Were you a bodyguard or something?"
Oh, my sweet omega. I hugged her tighter. "Or something. I did what she wanted. We all did."
Well, then," Sadie started, screwing up her face. "Why would you make a deal with a fairy? Why not have Gabe or Hudson or Leo-"
"I didn't know them," I said. "Not like I do now. I was an idiot, a lone wolf looking for an omega, and I found one. But she was taken, Sadie. And I... I did a stupid thing."
Her brows raised. "What, did you try some kind of love spell?"
"It wasn't just a love spell, it was marketed to me as the love spell. Though the cold queen said she had no idea how long it would take," I said. "Sweetheart, I thought I was in love. I probably was in love. She never loved me."
My omega grumbled at me. "So, you go and make a bad deal with a fairy, get yourself turned into her pet, and now you're all twitchy around her because what; you think she wants you back? Worse? Better?"
"She won't want me back, but she might want payment. I got her in the end, you know. The spell worked. And it made us both miserable. It was nothing but hell and when she broke it off? I felt worse than ever."
I could just remember the look on Maria's face when she'd told me to go fuck myself. Then she'd started dating Gabe and slowly working her way through the shifter community, though she didn't know that. And bit by bit, I'd found my way out of those feelings. I realized I'd only wanted to passionately knock boots, not fall in love with a human girl like her.
There'd been other girls in between Maria and Sadie, but none of them had caught my attention like my mate had. Hell, even Marie didn't hold a candle to the heat I felt when I had Sadie in my arms. I lowered my head again and breathed her scent, reassuring myself that this was real, that she was real, and that everything was going to be okay. Entirely un-alpha of me, but I didn't care, I wanted to take comfort from my mate for once.
"Are you sure she won't want to mess with you? If she does, we need to be ready for it," Sadie said, reaching up to stroke my head. "And I'm scared for you. If she dragged you in that deep in the past for a spell, you gotta promise me something."
"Anything, sweetheart."
I felt her draw back. She took my head in her hands and eyed me. "No matter what happens, you don't sacrifice yourself for any of us. We fight together, as a group, or we don't fight at all. We're a pack, Xav. We need to act like one, especially while Hudson is so hurt."
Translation? Sadie wasn't going to risk any of us if she didn't have to. I imagined she was probably starting to get the idea of the shape of this thing, or the potential it had to be, as we were skirting along. She was offering an olive branch to a guy whose fellow shifter had gone rabid. She was trying to get me to promise deep, dark things with a lot of ill intentions attached to them.
Worse, she was right. I couldn't throw myself to the Blackstalks if it came down to it. Everything counted on our pack staying together and managing to draw others onto the solid side of justice on our side.
"Xavion," she prompted, her brows disappearing into her hair.
I cradled her against me and sighed. "I promise I won't do anything more than I have to do to keep my pack safe. And that's the best I can give you, Sadie. Because if it comes down to me or you taking a bullet, you know exactly who it will be."
"I'm not worried about bullets," she sighed, hugging me back. "I'm worried about you."
"I love you, too," I murmured and hoped the conflict wouldn't come to any of that.
Chapter Twelve
Sadie
Xavion and I snuggled together until the door closed downstairs, as quiet as it could. Werewolf senses made it awfully hard for someone to sneak up on us and I slid away from my miserable man to peek out. Gabe walked up to the room, his face drawn, his pace utterly exhausted. I pulled him into my arms and drew him over to Xavion. Half of my pack with me, one stuck at the vet, the other on guard duty.
"How is he?" I murmured, hoping to keep the pups asleep. They were usually pretty good about it, but Norrin had been waking up during conversations downstairs after they'd gone to bed, as of late.
Gabe sighed and rubbed my back for a moment, then looked at Xavion rather than me. "We moved him to the hospital. Darien and the cats are on our side."
"The corvids probably are," Xavion shrugged. "It didn't go great."
"It didn't go great?" Gabe repeated, heat in his voice. "Hudson's down, the world is on the brink of discovery secrets we can't possibly let them know, and it didn't go great?"
I slid between them, shushing them. "There's no reason to get into a fight over this stuff. We're doing what we can. And that's all the support I can ask of any of you."
Both men eyed me rather than each other, which was a start. I nestled under Xavion's chin once more and invited Gabe to cuddle in with us. Relief washed over me when he did. He sighed once more. "Sorry. It's just, Hudson's not doing great, Sadie. Doc couldn't do much for him and he stopped responding to treatment."
"You moved him to a hospital, you said. What did they give you for a prognosis?" An invisible fist tightened around my heart, but what was I going to do? I only knew some emergency veterinary medicine. I wasn't a doctor.
Gabe struggled visibly to compose himself. I put a hand on his arm as he spoke. "Poor, but they hope they can do something for him. I had to tell them that we found him out in the woods. Darien covered for me, said that he'd been hiking and that he'd called me when he recognized Hudson out there. We had to make it look authentic and I... I've never had to do that. Doctors don't usually pose such a problem."
"Alashia's going to pay for making it so tough. So is the Nightflight," I told him. "And Hudson's gonna be okay. He has to be."
"He doesn't have to be anything other than dead," Leo said, leaning in the doorway.
I scowled at him as Gabe's shoulders trembled. "There's no reason to think so ill of someone while they're still breathing."
"I called over at Fairway to check up on him, figuring that's the only place you'd trust him to, Gabe. They said he went into cardiac arrest briefly, but that he's back. There's no way that Ioane would try to screw with us, right?" Leo asked, looking at Xavion. "Because I can't imagine anyone being down this long just for getting smashed into a wall."
Xavion paused. "I don't think Ioane would, nor anyone else that works at the veterinary clinic. And there's always someone on staff in case one of the overnight patients have a problem."
"Could someone have gotten in there and screwed with him?" I asked, looking around at my pack. "We have enemies, both business and community-based. Though I'd hazard a guess that it'd be most likely people in the community that could pull something like that. I don't think our business competitors would recognize Hudson as a wolf."
We'd changed the dog food bag pictures at my request. Having Hudson's wolf eyes on them, or any of my men in their wolf bodies, was too much of a risk. It'd been a silly decision they'd made when they were starting out, but with the popularity of the brand surging, there was no reason to give the world access to my men like that.
Leo came over to sit beside us, his brow crumpled in worry. "I don't think anyone on the business side could do it, either, but we didn't consider that Eskal would do something so stupid for those eggs. We've been underestimating people and it's costing us. I suggest that we send a family member to sit by Hudson's side as much as the hospital will allow. If not a family member, maybe our allies can help us."
"You think we need to guard him?" Gabe asked.
"I think if we'd already been guarding him, he'd be home right now. Sadie, you sent the other guys to talk to allies. What are you going to have me do?"
I looked at Leo and tried not to sigh, myself. He was a hot-headed, silly sort who didn't always work best with diplomatic negotiation. I didn't know why that was and I-. No. It was time to stop wondering things, time to start asking questions. "I didn't think you'd want to go deal with it, honestly. Besides, you're the type that'd rather punch someone in the face than
play nice. Why?"
"Why?" he repeated, blinking curiously at me.
I nodded. "Why? You draw more bees with honey than manure. I don't know why you decide you have to pick a fight. I love you, but if I wanted someone's brained, you'd be the first person I called."
"And you don't? It seems to me we might do better if we started breaking a few heads instead of letting them run all over us," Leo said.
Silent, I watched him and waited for him to understand what I was saying. If I'd asked Leo to do something in particular, like go talk to someone or encourage them to work with us, he'd have followed it to the letter. Yet, it was entirely possible that it could have gone to trash, too, because he decided to pop a joke at the wrong time or tease the wrong person.
After a moment, Leo grumbled. "I think it's the best approach, anyway. And it doesn't matter what I think, does it? You're going to do whatever you've decided to do."
"I'm going to encourage all of us to work for what I think is safest for everyone involved," I said. "I'm not trying to make us sit back on our hands, Leo. Trying to make people calm themselves down and get closer is... it's... I think it's all we have left in the face of this."
He leaned in and nestled my neck, then paused to breathe my scent. His voice came out in a growl. "Our omega wants what she wants. You're going into heat, love. I'd do anything you told me to do."
"But you wouldn't be happy about it," I said, shivering as he pressed his lips to my throat, then crept up beneath my chin.
With everything such a mess, I hadn't been paying much attention to the calendar as of late. Xavion's hands ran over my ribs, fingertips disappearing beneath the hem of my shirt. I snapped at him, squirming away from Leo, and eyed the three of them. "We don't have time for this."
"Sadie, we haven't had time for this for a while," Gabe said. "A quick bit of fun in the woods is one thing. Before that, we've been run ragged. You've been running on fumes. And all of us could blow off a little steam."
My skin flushed as if his voice were a physical thing, disappearing under my waistband and sneaking into the dark, soft place I kept locked away but for four wonderful alphas in my life. After all that had happened in the past short while, they were the only alphas I wanted to see any time soon. The pressure built on me and I chewed my lower lip, watching the three of them watching me. If I wasn't careful, my nipples were going to pop right off my breasts.
I throbbed, desperate for their touch, and let it wash over me as they crept forward. It wasn't quite stalking, but it was close enough. An alpha's presence is enough for some sensitive omegas to throw themselves on the ground. I was lucky in that I wasn't that sensitive, but they were plenty for me. Gabe was right. It wasn't about them trying to push me into something; it was just instinct. I'd ignored my past two heats for work and it had been hell, feeling lonely and uncomfortable the entire time.
I didn't want that anymore.
I wanted my pack.
Gabe got to me first, taking my hand in his and drawing me to him. I slid to my hands and knees, reaching for the clasp of his belt with one hand while Xavion's fingers crawled down my spine to rest on my ass. I lowered my head, all submission and pleading, only to arch back against him and pant.
I don't know how I got Gabe's pants open, but it was just as fast as I found myself naked and on all fours, Leo's tongue lashing over my clit as he stroked Xavion off behind me. It was a damn better place for him to put his mouth to use, let me tell you. I wrapped my lips around Gabe's head and slid down it, finally burying my nose in the soft, springy hair at his root.
His fingers twisted in my hair, a gasp leaving him as he arched toward me. I'd spent months learning to control my gag reflex early on in our collective relationship, and by that point I was a damned pro. I held my breath for a count of twenty before I had to pull back, Gabe's hands tightening against me as he tried to resist my movement. I put my hand on his thigh, refusing to let him dictate what was going on up front, and withdrew.
"If you're going to be all bossy, you won't get any fun," I promised him, then licked his tip like a lollipop.
Gabe tipped his head back and clenched his teeth. "Stubborn."
"If you wanted a sweet little omega who obeyed all the time, you should have shopped around," I said, grinning from ear to ear.
Nothing made me feel better than my pack. I dragged his hips forward again, taking him down to the groin once more and stiffened as Leo's tongue got a little more excited. In and out of me it leapt, then slipped in once more and took to exploring. My toes curled and my legs trembled, heat building in my stomach. Too soon, too fast, I swirled around Gabe's shaft as I sucked it, mind drifting away to some sort of steamy wonderland.
Then a slick, thick finger slid into the last orifice that wasn't occupied and I whimpered, my eyes squeezing shut. The boys usually shared well, but having everything filled at once was a rare treat. Xav's pants hit the floor near my shoulder as a second finger slipped in with the first, thrusting into me slowly but surely, preparing me for what was to come.
Leo's arms slid around my hips and drew me down, Xavion following him. Fur sprouted along Leo's arms and I had to draw back from Gabe to gasp as the head of a half-shifted cock rested against my entrance. Between the bodies of human and wolf lay something that was half of each, with padded fingers and a knot that kept me begging for more. I looked down at him and saw wolfish eyes, sharp teeth in a grin, and felt those insistent hands, never paws, drawing me down, down, down.
I followed, sinking on to him fully in one easy movement. Xavion growled, the sound of an alpha who knew he was about to get what he wanted. He tipped my shoulders forward and I happily bobbed my head back onto Gabe's length, even as a second, thicker head rested against my ass. Trembling like a leaf, I cried out as Leo bucked into me.
Gabe dragged me forward, thrusting into my throat as Xavion entered me from behind. They needed to keep me quiet, but the taking of an omega in such a way is a turn-on that I can't possibly explain. It's the dominance factor, I think. Between the three of them, I could only really keep my balance as the pair behind me slammed into my body as a pair and Gabe kept me thoroughly gagged.
Together, my remaining pack and I undulated as a group. Leo shuddered beneath me and pulled himself up, brushing my hair out of the way to sink his teeth into the top of my shoulder. Everything else on an omega heals quickly, but not an alpha's bite. The old echo of scars from his past bites were present there along my shoulder, across my neck, and even atop one breast. I wore them all with pride, the marks that showed the rest of the world that I belonged to my men as much as they did to me.
Thinking of that, I had an idea. I worked Gabe a bit more vigorously, not willing to leave him waiting while I had my fun. He snarled, cutting off the sound so he wouldn't wake the kids, and the first hot spurt of cum shot down my throat and into my belly, completely bypassing my tongue. His hips met my lips in sharp succession, grinding for all he was worth as the orgasm left him half blind and panting above me.
Only then did I draw away from him, kiss his hip, and twist like a snake down to snap my jaws on Leo's ear.
My alpha groaned beneath me, his thrust a little more violent than the last. "Baby girl, what the hell are you doing?"
"Marking you, too," I told him around the bite, somehow resisting the urge to wiggle my tail at them.
Xavion snorted from behind me, his hands tightening on my hips. "Give an omega an inch, I swear."
"Don't be so hard on yourself," Gabe gasped, flopping down in front of us and stretching his legs out. "I'm sure you're at least two or three inches."
Leo gave a breathy laugh and gently shook me off. "You want to mark us, use your claws."
I blinked at the idea of that and gave him a very curious look. He nodded and I tipped forward, let out a quiet noise as Xav's knot bumped against me. Thank goodness we kept lube in most rooms these days. You just never knew when the urge to mate was going to hit you-
Neither of my men warned me
. I cried out as they knotted me at the same time, bodies rutting me in tandem. My claws blossomed from the tips of my nails, raking Leo's chest as I rode him raw and Xav kept me tipped forward, the head of Leo's cock grinding into my g-spot with every downward drop.
A hand wrapped tight in my hair from behind, tugging on it in just that right way that makes you see sharp lines in your vision but doesn't really hurt. Xav used it to guide me back down after every jerked away from the two of them. Tied as we were, there wasn't much thrusting any of us could do, but I did the most available to us.
My orgasm hit me in a surprise, a shock of pleasure slamming through my senses and driving me back into Leo and Xav in a heap.
Blood dotted the undersides of my claws. I looked down at Leo, who was all grins and savage pleasure, and saw I'd actually slashed him open. It was a thin thing, nothing more than he’d pick up from a thorn or a barbed wire fence, but the fact that I'd done it sent me to pressing my lips together and whining down at him.
Puppy Problems: A Reverse Harem Werewolf Romance (Her Secret Menagerie Book 3) Page 11